Phillips arched a single eyebrow as he said, ‘Didn’t it occur to you that your disappearance could be interpreted another way?’
‘Not until I saw it on the news,’ she replied, managing to hold his gaze in spite of the intimidation she was starting to feel. He’s not Marcus, she reminded herself forcefully. He doesn’t mean you any harm, at least not in the same way.
‘And you didn’t come forward then because?’ he prompted.
Marcy said, ‘Because we didn’t want to be found. I think that’s already been established.’
Phillips inhaled and glanced at Leo Johnson as he leaned back in his chair. ‘What I think,’ he said, addressing Claudia, ‘is that you assumed if your husband and sister-in-law came under investigation regarding your disappearance, which they did, it would delay them from trying to find you. In other words, you made your disappearance seem suspicious in order to buy yourselves some time.’
‘That’s not true,’ Claudia responded quickly, and heard the faint rasp in her voice that weakened her words. She never used to be so apprehensive or afraid to assert herself, but it would change, she determined, just not in time for this. ‘I had no idea Eugena would report us missing. If anything I expected her to try and find us herself, or employ someone to do it for her.’ Her eyes went briefly to her mother and she could see that their thoughts were the same – contacting the police to help find her brother’s missing wife had clearly backfired on Eugena in a way she should have foreseen, but apparently hadn’t. So perhaps she wasn’t quite so clever after all.
Marcy said, ‘My daughter has already apologized for the trouble we’ve caused, and I’d like to apologize, too. I should have contacted you sooner, I realize that, but the problem was – and remains – if the press finds out where we are, our attempts to start afresh will have been pointless.’
Phillips regarded her carefully apparently measuring his words before responding. ‘It’s going to be necessary to explain why the search has been called off, have you thought of that?’
Marcy nodded bleakly.
‘Do you have any answers?’
She said, ‘You wouldn’t have to give any details of where we are.’
After a moment he surprised her by saying, ‘No, we wouldn’t.’
Claudia wasn’t sure if she was understanding correctly. Was he really agreeing to keep their whereabouts a secret? Marcy was very still as she waited for him to continue.
Phillips stared at his empty mug and spoke almost as if he was only working this out now. ‘The press will bombard us with questions,’ he said, ‘but the only answer we need to give is that you’re alive and well and that we won’t be pursuing matters any further.’
Claudia and Marcy stared at him.
Johnson cleared his throat as Phillips went on, ‘Of course there’s nothing the police can do to stop a member of the press from launching a search of their own.’
Claudia’s eyes moved to him. ‘Do you think they will?’ she asked, certain they would. The press loved nothing more than exposés and exclusives. And then there was Eugena: on behalf of Marcus, she would certainly initiate a search, if she hadn’t already.
‘They won’t learn anything from us,’ Phillips assured them. ‘I haven’t shared anything with my team yet, and there’s no reason for anyone, either press or public, to be in touch with Leo here concerning yourselves. As long as you are able to keep your identities quiet, I see no reason why it can’t stay a secret.’
Claudia couldn’t think what to say. It was everything they’d hoped for, but there was more to it, she could sense it as solidly as if another presence had stolen into the room.
His head went down again, and he pressed his fingers to his eye sockets, digging in hard; the gesture of a fatigued and troubled man. ‘My daughter was the victim of a violent marriage,’ he confessed in a tone that belied the torment beneath it. ‘We – I – should have done more to protect her. There was a restraining order, but he got to her and … She was an only child and our lives have never been the same since we lost her.’
Tears instantly stung Claudia’s eyes to see how broken he was inside. A father who’d lost the most precious person in the world to him, and because of who he was, what he did for a living, he was unable to forgive himself. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said hoarsely.
He nodded briefly and his tone became crisp as he replied, ‘We don’t want the same happening to you.’ He stood and looked Claudia in the eye. ‘You have my number,’ he said, ‘but Leo is here, on the ground. Don’t be afraid to contact him if you feel the need to.’
Leo put his card on the table as he stood too. ‘Anything,’ he told them. ‘If you feel it needs checking out just call.’
Marcy thanked him, and Claudia could see that she was as dazed as her daughter was by the unexpected turn this had taken.
‘There’s just one other thing,’ Phillips said, before leaving. ‘According to your sister-in-law something is missing from the house. Can you throw any light on that?’
Heat spread all the way through Claudia as she pictured the attaché case, now hidden beneath her mother’s bed. ‘I don’t know what she means,’ she said, trying for confusion and hitting a note that was slightly too shrill. ‘Did she say what it was?’
He shook his head. ‘No, but she seemed keen to get it back.’
After the detectives had gone Claudia returned to the sitting room to find her mother gazing down at the street below, watching the two men getting into a car.
‘Do you think he believed me?’ Claudia asked, twisting her fingers anxiously.
Marcy turned back into the room. ‘About the attaché case? I don’t think it matters. He’s clearly not interested in pursuing it.’
Claudia stared at the empty mugs and cafetière on the table. ‘If we could work out a way of getting it to her do you think she’d stop trying to find us?’
Her mother replied without hesitation. ‘No, I don’t, and as far as I’m concerned the money at least belongs to you.’
Claudia didn’t argue with that, since she was only too aware that Marcus had taken the profit she’d made from the sale of her and Joel’s house to invest and she’d never seen as much as a single penny in return. Whether the cash in the briefcase covered the amount, she had no idea. She hadn’t counted it, but it was certainly a sizeable sum. ‘What about the documents?’ she said, certain they were of as much, if not more interest to Marcus and his sister.
Marcy shrugged. ‘Let’s hang on to them,’ she replied. ‘At least for now.’
CHAPTER SIX
‘Sorry I’m late,’ Andee apologized, sinking into a booth at the Seafront Café where one of her closest friends was waiting. ‘It’s been a crazy morning in the world of interior design. How are you? You look wonderful, as usual.’
Leanne Delaney twinkled happily. She was a striking woman in her mid-forties with a Pre-Raphaelite look about her that was at once romantic, earthy and fiery. ‘Right back at you,’ she smiled. ‘And don’t worry about being late, I’ve only just got here myself. I’ve ordered you a glass of white, tell me I did wrong.’