Dead and Buried (16 page)

‘I’ll put the heater on,’ he said. ‘Then we’ll drive round to the front of the property.’

They reversed, dipping in and out of potholes and went back along the lane. Joshua headed towards Two Oaks and turned off before they reached the village. The road was barely wide enough for one car. He drove for a couple of minutes then pulled over into one of the passing places that had been put there in case two cars came face to face in the lane. He left the engine running and slowed the windscreen wipers so they cleared the glass intermittently. Rose could see, about twenty metres along on the right, two large wooden gates. On one side of them was an electronic keypad and above it an audio link. At each side of the gates sat cameras that were meant to be seen from a distance. It all gave a look of fortification.

‘This guy’s seriously rich.’

‘Might he
just
be a businessman?’

‘No, for two reasons. His name is on one of the notebooks. So they’ve picked him out for some crime or other. Two, he started work as a normal salaried doctor. No one rises to this kind of wealth in ten years. Unless they’re doing something dodgy.’

Rose couldn’t help but shake her head. It was a statement built on such slight evidence. A house of cards provided by a tatty notebook and a list of Google links.

‘Shall we go and show the photos round?’ she said, keen to get it over with.

‘Yep,’ Joshua said.

The lights of a car showed in the distance. It was coming from the far end of the lane. It had its headlights on and wasn’t moving particularly fast.

‘I’ll just let this car pass then I’ll turn around,’ Joshua said.

It came closer. It was a large black car and when it got nearer Rose could see the three-pointed star badge of Mercedes. She tapped her fingers impatiently as they waited for it to pass. Now that the sightseeing was done she wanted to get on with the rest of the day. She wasn’t looking forward to knocking on people’s doors and holding up photos of her mum and Brendan but if it pleased Joshua then she was prepared to do it.

The car wasn’t getting any closer, though. It had slowed down and stopped just before the gates of Macon Parker’s property.

‘Why has it stopped?’ Joshua said lowly, as if talking to himself.

He switched the windscreen wipers to a faster setting so that they could see clearly out of the window. The Mercedes was almost level with the wooden gates. There seemed to be two people in it but Rose couldn’t make out whether they were male or female. The car flashed its lights at them.

‘They want us to pass. Maybe they’re going into the property.’

‘Do you think it’s Macon Parker?’

‘I don’t know. Let’s drive past and see. I’ll keep my eyes on the road – you look around. The notebook is there, with his photo. Find it. Then tell me if it’s him.’

Joshua moved the car out slowly as Rose rummaged through the papers and pulled out the notebook. She opened it. On the first page was the photo of Macon Parker. She looked up and saw that they were getting closer to the Mercedes. Their windscreen wipers were flicking from side to side. One moment the window was dappled with damp, the next it was clear.

‘The man in the driver’s seat is talking on a phone,’ Joshua said. ‘Maybe that’s why he’s pulled in. Maybe it’s nothing to do with the house. He’s just taking a call.’

Rose looked down at the photo and then tried to keep her attention on the man’s face as their car approached the Mercedes. The Mercedes’ windscreen looked steamed up but cleared as the wiper sketched a half circle and then went back again. They were a couple of car lengths away and Rose thought she could make out a woman in the passenger seat but she let her eyes go back to the man to focus on him and the photograph.

She was suddenly distracted, though. The wooden gates began to open. Small lights flashed on and off on the top of the gateposts and they inched back slowly.

‘The car is going into the grounds. It
must
be Macon Parker,’ Joshua said.

She leant forward as the Ford came up to the Mercedes. The man’s head was turned to the woman and she could see his phone clamped to his ear. The Mercedes started to move forward. The woman was staring out in front. Then the man lowered the phone and looked out of the window.

Rose felt a jolt of recognition. It went through her like an electric shock. She turned forty-five degrees in her seat and kept her eyes clamped on the two figures in the car. The rain smeared the windscreen but then it cleared and she stared hard at each face for a few seconds until the Ford passed the Mercedes and headed slowly on down the lane. Rose unhooked her seat belt and turned round, hanging over the back of the seat so as to keep her eyes on the disappearing Mercedes.

‘Was it him?’ Joshua said, pulling into the side of the lane.

She couldn’t answer. Her mouth was dry and she was holding on to the seat as though she might tumble back at any moment.

‘No,’ she said.

‘You all right?’ he said, puzzled.

She turned round and grabbed his hand.

‘It was Brendan and Mum. They were in that car. Both of them. Together.’

Joshua’s face tensed as the words sank in.

‘In that car?’

She nodded.

‘Are you sure?’

‘I saw them on Skype. I know what they look like now. It was them, Josh.’

The rain came down, drenching the car. In the lane she could see small rivulets forming, water running down the side and across the middle. The surface of the road seemed to glow.

‘It was. I’m not mistaken. I know my own mum.’

‘And Dad?’

‘He was driving. It was him.’

SIXTEEN

Joshua got out of the car.

‘Wait,’ Rose said.

He left the driver’s door hanging open and walked quickly up the lane towards the wooden gates of Macon Parker’s house. Rose leant across and pulled the door shut. Then she opened her door and followed him out. She called to him.

‘Josh, what are you doing?’

He ignored her and in moments was standing in front of the gates. She looked around, up and down the lane. It was deserted and yet she felt uneasy, as if someone must be around. She focused on the cameras perched on each side of the gates.
Someone
was watching, she was sure. She slammed the passenger door and walked towards Joshua.

At the gates he was moving from side to side, staring up at each camera.

‘What are you doing?’ she hissed.

‘I want them to see me. I want them to know that I am here. I’ve waited a long time for this.’

‘You can’t,’ she said, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket. ‘We have to hang on, to think this through. Remember that Munroe said they were working undercover . . .’

‘I don’t care,’ he said, jabbing at the buttons on the entry pad.

The rain was less heavy now but she felt it on her face. A voice came from the speaker and startled her.

‘Can I help you?’

It was a male voice but it wasn’t Brendan’s.

‘I need to see someone,’ Joshua said, looking up at the camera. ‘I need to see the man who just drove in here.’

‘Can you give me your name and the nature of your business?’ the voice said calmly.

Joshua hesitated. He swore under his breath.

‘What is your business?’ the voice repeated.

Rose leant over and spoke into the speaker.

‘The car that just came in here? It almost ran into us. Further along the lane. Really inconsiderate. We would like an apology.’

‘I think you should just move on,’ the voice said and Rose was sure she could hear a hint of a laugh.

‘We’re not going until we get an apology. Face to face,’ Joshua said.

He was still moving around looking agitated. Rose put her arm through his to try and anchor him. What did he think he was doing? Insisting on some face-to-face meeting when they simply weren’t ready for it? After five long years of waiting could they not have driven off and waited one more day?

There was a crackling sound on the intercom and the voice spoke again.

‘Wait there. Someone will be down.’

They stood together, staring at the wooden gate. She couldn’t quite believe it. Joshua’s hands were clenching and unclenching. Was this it? Were the gates going to open and reveal her mother and Brendan ready to be reunited with them?

The noise of a car approaching made Rose look round. It had turned into the lane from the direction that they’d come from earlier. It moved slowly and in seconds she saw that it was another Mercedes, dark red with tinted windows. One minute it was moving and then it came to a stop a couple of hundred metres or so away from them. Rose couldn’t see who was driving. The windows were smoky like giant sunglasses. She felt herself holding her breath. Whoever was in the car was most probably staring at them, wondering what was going on.

Was it Macon Parker?

The wooden gates made a noise and began to open slowly. Rose tensed. She didn’t know what to expect. Joshua took a couple of steps backwards but she let her hold on him drop away and stood her ground. The gates shifted slowly and she peered through the gap wondering if Brendan would be standing there. From behind she heard the car along the lane moving again. The gates continued to open, creaking a little, and in moments the gateway was clear and she could see Brendan standing by the side pillar, staring at both of them in disbelief.

‘Dad!’ Joshua said, his voice dropping to a whisper.

‘Josh, don’t say anything!’ Brendan said sharply.

The dark red Mercedes was beside them. Joshua hardly seemed to notice it. His face was twisted up. One of his hands was cupping his bandaged ear as if it was giving him pain. Brendan glanced at it and looked away. Rose swung round and looked beyond the gates to see if her mother was there. About a hundred metres up the driveway was the house. Her mother was not anywhere that she could see. Her eyes crept up the building, three storeys of it. The windows were too far away for her to spy anyone in them but she imagined that her mother was there at one of them, staring at the electric gates in shock.

To see seventeen-year-old Rose knocking for her.

From behind she heard the driver’s window slide down and she looked round to see a man’s face appear. The man in the photograph, Macon Parker.

‘Everything all right, Ben?’ he said.

Brendan walked to the side of the car.

‘Fine, Mr Parker. Just a couple of young people who’ve got lost on the country lanes, I think.’

Macon Parker nodded and the car window slid shut. Brendan put his arm out to edge Rose back from the pathway. The arm felt rigid and she realised that he hadn’t so much as made eye contact with her and he seemed to be ignoring Joshua completely. When the car glided past them he waited with his back to Joshua. He could have been a complete stranger.

Then he turned to both of them.

‘What are you doing here? How did you find this place? My God, Joshua what’s happened to your face?’

Joshua went to speak but Brendan shushed him.

‘This is putting Kathy and me in danger.’

‘Dad?’ Joshua said, a look of incomprehension on his face.

‘What
happened
to you? Rose, what’s been going on?’

Rose couldn’t answer. Joshua seemed distraught. Brendan looked back at the house, at the gates. He was becoming agitated.

‘Listen, there’s a village near here called Great Dunmow. Find a pub in it called the Three Kings. It’s open all day. Go there and Kathy and I will come at four o’clock. Leave now.’

He walked away from them without looking backwards. The gates began to close as though an operator had been watching the whole conversation and knew it was over. Rose walked across to Joshua and took his elbow.

‘Let’s go,’ she said.

He didn’t move though. He was reluctant to leave. He waited until the gates had shut completely and they were faced with solid planks of wood slotted together, impenetrable.

He followed her to the car, looking back from time to time. When he got in he sat very still for a minute as if he didn’t know what to do. He seemed to shiver a little as though someone had walked over his grave. She put her hand on his sleeve. It was damp just as hers was.

‘Just drive,’ she said. ‘We’ll find Great Dunmow.’

He didn’t move.

‘Josh, come on. We have to go there now.’

He seemed to pull himself together and started the car up.

It took about twenty minutes to reach Great Dunmow. It was bigger than Wickby, the largest of the villages they’d visited. There was a shopping area and several churches. They drove slowly, looking for the pub. After several false turns they found it on a turning off the main road through the town. It was set back off the street and had a small car park. They pulled into it and Joshua turned the engine off. The clock on the dashboard showed 3.16. They had just under forty-five minutes to wait.

‘What do you want to do?’ she said. ‘Go for a walk?’