‘Why don’t you two have a chat in the garden?’ he suggested. ‘I’ll bring you some drinks. And some of Laura’s home-made chocolate cake, maybe?’ He glanced questioningly at her.
‘Oh, that would be lovely, wouldn’t it, darling?’ Sherry declared, striding towards the kitchen without waiting for Laura to answer.
Laura stared incredulously after her. She’s not here to apologise. She’s not trying to protect me. She’s protecting herself, she wanted to scream. But she couldn’t.
And her mother knew she wouldn’t.
Twenty-Six
Sarah
After phoning in sick at work – feeling horribly guilty – Sarah had steeled herself to call Steve. She’d been surprised when, sounding as if he’d expected her to ring, he’d invited her to come to the house. What was he doing there, she wondered, when he would normally be at work? Her hand shook with nerves as she rang the doorbell. She imagined he would be annoyed, realising she’d been digging into Laura’s past, whatever he knew or didn’t know about her.
‘Hi.’ He smiled warily as he pulled the front door open, as if he too was nervous. Sarah had to wonder why he would be. ‘Laura’s in the back garden,’ he said. ‘We can talk in the kitchen.’
‘No.’ She quickly declined. She didn’t want to see Laura, who might well come in from the garden – was bound to, in fact – if she knew she were here. She wanted to speak to Steve first. ‘If it’s okay with you, I’d rather talk here. I have something to show you.’ She pulled her phone from her pocket, hit the screen-on button and handed it to him with the relevant page already loaded.
Steve looked puzzled as he scanned it.
‘It’s Laura’s Facebook page,’ she explained. ‘Scroll down.’
He glanced guardedly at her and then did as she asked, his brow furrowing as he studied the various photographs.
‘She has a child,’ Sarah said. ‘Or it looks to me like she does. She’s also been married, which she categorically told me she hadn’t. Did you know?’
Steve said nothing, but she could see he was troubled. ‘He looks like Ollie.’ She pointed out the blindingly obvious. ‘You must see that?’
Sighing heavily, he looked up at last. ‘There are some things you need to know. Come through to the lounge,’ he said, his tone weary as he led the way.
Sarah glanced cautiously towards the kitchen and then followed him.
Going to the patio doors, Steve nodded towards the lawn. ‘That’s Laura’s mother,’ he said.
Sarah followed his gaze in surprise. Laura had said they didn’t get on. From what she had heard when the woman had called unannounced, it was obvious they didn’t. They seemed to be getting along now. She watched, confused, as Laura’s mother appeared to fuss over her, leaning across the garden table to smooth her hair from her face and then taking hold of her hand.
‘They’re having a chat,’ Steve filled her in. ‘They have some issues. I’m hoping they might be able to resolve them. At least start talking to each other.’
Sarah didn’t let on that she was aware of the issues. ‘About what?’ she asked.
Steve took a moment. ‘A lost child,’ he confided, looking at her cautiously. ‘It seems Laura once had a little brother.’
‘Had?’ Sarah’s heart skipped a beat. ‘Oh my God. Do you mean …? Is he …?’
Gathering what she was asking, Steve shrugged uncertainly. ‘They don’t know. He went missing.’ His expression was a mixture of compassion and confusion as he glanced out into the garden again. ‘I don’t have all the details, to be honest. I spoke to Laura’s mother. She filled me in on some of it. Laura obviously doesn’t find it easy to talk about.’
So Laura had never spoken to Steve about this? Why ever not? Sarah scanned his face. He looked as shocked and bewildered as she felt. ‘And the child on her profile?’ she asked. ‘Did you know about him?’
Steve ran a hand over his neck. ‘No … no, I didn’t,’ he admitted at length. ‘She’s never mentioned him. She doesn’t have contact with him, as far as I know.’
But surely she would have? Unless there was some terrible reason she couldn’t? Sarah was growing more bewildered by the second. ‘He looks like Ollie,’ she said again, wondering why Steve hadn’t commented on it.
He drew in a long breath. ‘It’s probably just a coincidence,’ he said.
Rubbish. He didn’t believe that. She didn’t. It was more than a coincidence, she was sure it was. Her heart ached for Laura and her mother both, but she was struggling to digest this latest revelation. It made no sense that Laura hadn’t told Steve any of it. She had to be hiding things from him for a reason.
‘Don’t you think you should have all the details, Steve?’ She stared at him, wondering how he couldn’t see that something was very wrong here. ‘These aren’t just trifling things she’s overlooked mentioning, are they? They’re huge, life-changing things. Why wouldn’t she have mentioned them?’
He averted his gaze. ‘I’ve told you, they’re not things she feels comfortable talking about.’
‘Oh, right.’ Sarah laughed in disbelief. There was an awful bloody lot the woman didn’t feel comfortable talking about, wasn’t there? ‘And you’re okay with that, are you? Quite happy to have her involved in Ollie’s—’
‘Don’t start that again, Sarah.’ Turning away from the window, Steve walked away from her.
‘Start what?’ Not sure she was hearing him right, Sarah followed him. ‘You should have known about these things, Steve,’ she said forcefully. ‘Especially about her missing brother; every last detail. How can you possibly contemplate leaving your own child in the care of a woman who was involved in the circumstances surrounding a child’s disappearance when you don’t know all the facts?’
‘Right.’ He stopped, his expression agitated as he turned to face her. ‘And you know all there is to know about this Joe character you’re seeing, do you, who’s undoubtedly perfect?’
Unbelievable. What the hell had Joe got to do with any of this? ‘Actually, I do,’ she countered, her heart squeezing, because it seemed that she didn’t know everything there was to know about him, like the fact that he’d been continuing to see his ex-wife, fixing her bloody bath taps for her while she was no doubt in a suitable state of undress ready to climb into it. ‘As I tried to tell you when you first met him, we were at school together. We went out together. I’ve known him practically all my life.’
‘Not quite all,’ he corrected her, with a tight smile. ‘There are a few years in between where Joe was presumably living his life, therefore he also has a history. Has he been married?’
‘Yes,’ she answered, although it was completely irrelevant. ‘And he told me he had been. He’s never been anything but—’
‘Does he have kids?’ Steve went on, before she could finish.
‘No,’ she provided patiently. ‘He wanted children, but—’