‘The best way forward?’
‘That’s it.’
‘For who – me? For Ben? The best way forward is to find Ben, right?’ She pushes her hands across the table in agitation. ‘Sorry, I don’t understand why there is anything else that needs doing right now.’
‘Obviously we want to find your husband, Mrs Elliot, and the Department are doing everything they can to make that happen.’
‘But,’ Alexis says, ‘in the meantime, it’s our job to leverage public interest for the best case scenario.’
‘As in putting the story out to help find him?’
‘More nuanced than that. We’ve got a whole team of experts working behind the scenes on stories like this every day.’
Ian presses his fingertips together as if to accentuate the seriousness of the situation and Mim feels like laughing at his theatrics.
‘If word gets out,’ he says, ‘you’ll have the media all over you. No one’s made contact with you?’
Mim thinks about the call register on her system. Raquel.
‘No,’ she says, ‘why would they? How could anyone know?’
He smiles. All teeth. ‘We just want what’s best for everyone.’
Alexis hands the tablet to Mim. ‘So there’s just a couple of things we need you to sign.’ She points with the stylus: ‘Just here and here.’
Mim takes the pen but Alexis keeps talking, leaving no space for questions.
‘These are the terms and conditions outlining our requirements of you while we manage this case. Basic things – exclusivity with media outlets, image permissions, approval of narrative etcetera, all really standard clauses.’
‘Can I take a minute?’ Mim gestures to the screen. She wants to read it, to try to understand, but Alexis is still talking and Ian has taken out another screen.
‘We’ll just ask you a few questions to build a better picture of the case.’
‘While you’re skimming through that.’
Mim glances up, back down. ‘Sure,’ she says.
‘Has Ben got any family, friends, acquaintances he might be with in the region?’
She looks up. ‘In Indo? No, I don’t… no.’
‘He’s a regular visitor to the area with work. He’s never led you to believe he visits anyone?’
‘No.’ Frustration flickers now. ‘I just said that. He works at the mine, he does his job, he comes home. He would tell me if he was visiting someone. He wouldn’t –’ she searches for the word to articulate it, ‘scare me like this.’
They both smile at her. ‘Of course,’ Alexis says.
‘Why, where do you think…’ she trails off.
Alexis and Ian exchange a glance designed for her to see.
Ian takes a gentle tone. ‘Look, we don’t normally tell people classified information, but in your case, we see no reason not to, it’s just that –’
‘Sometimes –’
‘Rarely –’
Alexis delivers the blow. ‘When we have cases of FIFO workers going AWOL, it’s often because of indiscretions.’
Mim cannot read the words on the screen now, she just frowns in confusion.
‘Marital indiscretions. Often with local women.’ Ian lowers his voice despite the fact that there is no one else in the room. Mim would laugh if she wasn’t so floored by the suggestion.
‘You think he’s left me?’
They both rush to shake their heads.
‘No, we don’t think that.’
‘At all.’
‘Not at all, in this case.’
But she cannot concentrate now. They’ve planted a fucking seed and they’re watching to see if it’ll take.
‘So, just so we’re on the same page, you’ve not told anyone as yet?’
‘No,’ she says.
Alexis performs a sad face. ‘Not even family?’
‘I don’t want to alarm them yet.’
‘Wise move.’ Ian is nodding. ‘You seem to be handling this all really well, Mrs Elliot. Can we call you Mim?’
She nods. Checks the time. Wants them out.
Ian goes on. ‘Know that we are one hundred per cent behind you. We have a range of support options for you, if you feel you need?’
‘Like?’ Mim asks, thinking a food delivery service wouldn’t go astray right now.
‘For instance,’ Alexis says slowly, ‘we can arrange care for the children during this stressful time.’
A nanny, even better. ‘So you’d send someone out?’
Alexis smiles. ‘It’s a residential service, actually. Temporary accommodation in one of our facilities.’
‘In a BestLife?’ Mim tries to keep her voice level. Wants to scream.
‘As I said, it’s one of a range of support measures you have available to you.’
‘Thanks,’ she says, evenly, ‘I’ll let you know.’
Ian gestures to a highlighted box on the screen in front of her and she signs her name with her index finger, skim reading as fast as she can through the dense wording. ‘And here,’ he says, flicking through the screens while Alexis continues to talk.
‘And the final thing is just that we ask you to remain at this address until we’ve resolved the matter.’
Ian adds, with a smile, ‘Just so it’s easy for all of our teams to get in touch with you at short notice.’
‘Of course.’
‘Part of that protocol is handing over your passport for the duration of the matter, really simple, no hassle, we just hang on to them, update yours and the children’s chips, and then put it all back to normal at the end, when it’s done.’
Mim nods but doesn’t move. Brain moving slowly now.
‘So…’ he looks at her expectantly.
‘We’ll take those now, thanks, Mrs Elliot,’ Alexis says firmly.
The passports are in a leather document wallet in the safe at the back of the study. She had laughed at Ben when he said he was getting one.
‘What do we need a safe for?’ she’d said.
‘Everyone has one.’
‘Bullshit!’
‘Well, I think it’s a good idea.’
She had mocked him as he set it up. ‘What are you going to put in there, huh? Your gun, our piles of cash?’
‘Piss off,’ he’d said and laughed. She’d let him sort the little pile, hard copies of their wills, the passports, the marriage certificate, the deeds for the house. Hacking being what it was now, there was a move back to storing the originals.
‘At least all the important stuff is in one place,’ he’d said when he was done.
She’d kissed him then. ‘You’re a fool, Benjamin Elliot,’ she’d said.
He’d kissed her back, quick and hot, and they broke away laughing when Essie walked in and squealed.
Now she doesn’t know where Ben is, and she is opening the safe he bought to keep things secure, and she is going to hand over her passport and those of her children, and in every single part of her this does not feel right, but what is there to do?
Refuse? Run? Pretend she doesn’t know where the passports are?
Like they said, it’s not as if she’s planning on using them.