Snatched (29 page)

Standing off to the side of the stage, the newsreader looked suitably sombre as the camera panned to her now.

‘That was an appeal for information about the whereabouts of fifteen year old, Nicky Day, who has been missing for two weeks, following a fire which destroyed the family home.

‘As you’ve just heard, the family are deeply concerned for Nicky’s safety, as are the police, who are working tirelessly to find her. There have been several reported sightings since her disappearance, but the police are asking the public to report anything they may have seen, or anything they’ve heard about Nicky, to them.

‘Here on the Fitton Estate, members of the local residents’ association have organised a fund-raising event in Nicky’s name, and I’m joined by the chairwoman, and Nicky Day’s next-door neighbour, Pauline Wilson. Mrs Wilson, could you tell us how it’s been going so far?’

‘Oh, very good,’ Pauline said, casting nervous little glances at the camera. ‘Everybody’s been very supportive.’

‘And you’re expecting to raise quite a significant amount of money for the family, I believe?’

‘Well, I don’t know about significant,’ Pauline said cautiously. ‘I mean, none of us is exactly rich round here, so we wouldn’t expect any massive donations, or anything. But we’re all doing what we can, and that’s what counts.’ Warming to her theme now, she said, ‘It’s a bit like the old days, I suppose. If there was a crisis in the community, everyone got together to help their neighbours out. And that’s what we’re trying to do here – get things back to the way they used to be.’

‘Wonderful,’ the newsreader said, smiling as she turned back to the camera. ‘So, there we have it . . . a true display of community spirit. And if anybody would like to make a donation to the Nicky Day Fund, you should contact Pauline Wilson at the Fitton Community Centre here in Rusholme.’

Holding the smile until she’d received the all-clear, the newsreader thanked Pauline and headed over to speak with her crew.

Going to Sue and Terry as they came down off the stage, Jay said, ‘That was really good. Well done.’

‘I thought I was going to faint,’ Sue said, dabbing at her nose with a tissue. Reaching for Connor’s hand when Tina brought him over, she said, ‘Has he been okay?’

‘Fine,’ Tina said. ‘And that was great – both of you.’

Thanking her, Terry excused himself when he spotted Leanne heading their way. Intercepting her before she could get to Sue, he took her by the arm and walked her outside and around the corner. Just about to apologise for going ahead with the appeal without talking to her about it first, he was shocked when she threw herself into his arms.

‘You were amazing,’ she gushed, kissing him proudly. ‘And you looked absolutely fantastic. Shame
she
looked such a mess,’ she added snidely. ‘But, oh, well . . . we can’t all be gorgeous.’ Grinning excitedly now, she said, ‘Ooh, I can’t wait to see it on the news. What time did they say it’s going to be on?’

‘Not sure,’ Terry murmured warily, wondering where this sudden change of attitude had come from.

‘Well, see if you can find out,’ Leanne said. ‘’Cos I really don’t want to miss it. Oh, and I’d best ring my dad to tell him to watch it.’

‘He wouldn’t be interested,’ Terry said, taking his tobacco out of his pocket to roll himself a much-needed cigarette.

‘He would,’ Leanne said, grinning at him now. ‘’Cos we’ve made friends again. And he’s said he doesn’t mind about you and me any more, so isn’t that great?’

‘Yeah, right,’ Terry muttered cynically.

‘It’s true,’ Leanne insisted. ‘Honest. I was sat in his car with him earlier, and he just came out with it. He said life’s too short to be falling out, so if he’s got to accept us to get things back on track with me, then he will.’

‘And you believed him?’

‘Course – why wouldn’t I?’

‘Because he hates me,’ Terry reminded her bluntly. ‘And he’s spent the last year trying to kill me, or get his mates to do it for him.’

‘Oh, that’s all in the past,’ Leanne said breezily. ‘We’re friends again, and I’m happy, so you should be too. Oh, and I want to invite him round for dinner next week, by the way.’

‘You’ve got to be joking!’ Terry snorted, looking at her as if she’d gone mad.

‘No, I’m serious,’ she said, a hint of a frown on her brow now. ‘And I hope you’re not going to make things difficult for me after I just let you do that appeal with
her
without complaining?’

Sighing, Terry licked the Rizla paper to secure his cigarette. So
that
was why she’d been smiling up at him like that the whole time they’d been filming: because she’d been planning to whack him with this and use her earlier cooperation as a tool to blackmail him into agreeing to it.

‘Anyway, I’d have thought you’d be grateful that he’s willing to forgive you,’ Leanne said now.

‘
Grateful
?’ Terry repeated incredulously. ‘Christ, you’ve got a short memory, haven’t you? It’s only a week since you were slagging him off for getting too friendly with Sue.’

‘Yeah, well, that was your fault for jumping to conclusions,’ Leanne reminded him. ‘Anyway, it wasn’t true, so forget it.’

Glancing around when someone came out of the community centre just then, Leanne folded her arms when she saw the newsreader heading onto the grass, followed by the cameraman carrying a hand-held rig. Biting her lip when they stopped to talk to some of the people who had come back outside, she wondered how to get herself into the frame without Terry accusing her of using Nicky’s disappearance to get herself on TV. She was pretty sure they’d got a couple of good shots of her in the hall, but that wasn’t enough. She wanted to be interviewed – to let them know who she was, and do the
I’m-so-concerned
routine she’d been practising in her head.

Interrupting her thoughts as he lit his smoke, Terry said, ‘Right, I’ll have this, then I’ll go and thank Pauline and we can get off.’

‘Aw, do we have to go now?’ Leanne moaned. ‘Me and the girls were looking forward to seeing that band later. And I really,
really
want to do the karaoke, seeing as we can’t do it at home any more.’

She’d slipped that last bit in to make him feel guilty in case he had any objections, but she needn’t have bothered, because Terry was actually relieved at the thought of having a few hours alone. It would give him a chance to think everything over – and there was a
lot
to think about. Not least, how he was going to pick Connor up for the day tomorrow without Leanne, as he’d arranged earlier with Sue.

And why the hell he’d asked Sue to keep the visit secret.

He’d only done it to avoid making Leanne feel excluded, but now if she found out she’d think that he and Sue were conspiring behind her back. And God only knew what
Sue
was thinking. But he couldn’t undo it now, so he’d just have to pray that Sue didn’t get spiteful and use it as a weapon to get between him and Leanne.

‘
Terry
?’ Leanne moaned, almost hopping with frustration now as she waited for an answer. ‘Can I stay, or what?’

‘Yeah, sure,’ Terry said, forcing himself to smile. ‘I’ve got a bit of a headache, so I might go to bed early. You stay as long as you want and enjoy yourself.’

Grinning, Leanne gave him a kiss. ‘Don’t forget to tape the news for me.’

Promising that he wouldn’t, Terry watched as she tripped happily away and made her way through the crowd – trying to look like she wasn’t even aware that she was getting closer to the newsreader and the cameraman with every step.

Rushing around the corner just then, Jay stopped in her tracks when she saw Terry. ‘Oh, you’re still here?’ she said, sounding surprised. ‘You disappeared so fast after filming, I thought you’d escaped.’

‘Will be doing in a minute,’ Terry said, smiling at her choice of words because he guessed that that was exactly what she was doing. ‘Just going to finish this, then I need to thank Pauline and make a getaway while I’ve got the chance.’

Saying, ‘I don’t blame you,’ Jay slipped her hands into her jacket pockets. ‘Everything okay?’ she asked then.

Guessing that she meant with him and Leanne, Terry nodded. ‘Yeah, fine. Lee’s staying on for a while. She wants to see the band and do the karaoke.’

‘Oh, well, at least she’s enjoying herself,’ Jay said diplomatically. ‘And you must be relieved it’s over?’

‘You can say that again,’ Terry murmured. Then, looking at her, he said, ‘Thanks for your help, by the way. I thought it was going to be murder – with Sue, and that. But you made it a lot easier.’

Telling him that it was her pleasure, Jay glanced at her watch. ‘I’d best go before DI Hilton changes his mind about going back with the TV crew and comes after me for a lift. I’ll call round in a couple of days and let you know if we get any response from the appeal.’

‘Do you think it’ll do any good?’ Terry asked.

‘I certainly hope so. At the very least I expect we’ll have a lot of calls from people who remember seeing her that day. And that’s good, because it’ll give us more to work on.’ Looking into his eyes now, Jay said, ‘Don’t worry, Mr Day, she will turn up eventually.’

Holding her gaze for a moment, Terry said, ‘Thanks. But can you do me a favour and call me Terry? It sounds really weird to be called mister.’

Smiling, Jay said, ‘I’ll try to remember.’ Saying goodbye then, she left him there and headed into the car park.

Back inside the hall, Pauline was flitting around like a woman possessed, barking orders at her ladies as she tried to put the room back to rights before the evening activities got under way.

Sitting at the corner table where Terry had spent most of that morning, Sue gazed unseeingly out across the room, her mind too full of what had just happened to pay any attention to what was going on around her.

Things today had not turned out at all like she’d expected. She hadn’t expected for everyone to be so nice to her, for a start. And then there’d been Dave kissing her like that – although she’d kind of expected that to happen at
some
point. But she’d never expected to suddenly find herself on TV. Or to be in the same room as Leanne without one of them trying to kill the other. But what had really knocked her back was the fact that she and Terry had managed to speak civilly to each other, with none of the accusations and dirty looks that usually accompanied their meetings.

Sue had never imagined that she would
ever
hear herself taking some of the blame for their split, because she’d only ever thought of herself as the victim until now. But now that she’d said it, she had to admit that she had played a part in the breakdown of their marriage. Terry had been the man of her dreams, yet she’d totally taken him for granted; leaving him to go out to work while she slopped about in her pyjamas crying post-natal depression. It was no wonder he’d stopped fancying her and gone after a girl who still took pride in her appearance. But it was too late for shoulda-woulda-couldas. She’d lost him, and she just had to accept it and get over it.

Still, she couldn’t help but wonder why Terry had asked her not to tell anybody that he would be picking Connor up tomorrow. It could only be because he didn’t want Leanne to find out. But if everything was so good between them, why would he hide something like that from her? Surely Leanne couldn’t object to him seeing his own son. Or was it
Sue
she was objecting to him seeing? And if so, why? Unless she thought Sue was a threat.

But why would she think that, after everything that had happened? She’d won Terry’s heart, stealing him away not just from Sue but from his kids as well. And he’d stayed with her, despite all the trouble that had arisen from it, so he must love her.

‘Sue? . . .
Sue
?’

Glancing up when Pauline’s voice filtered through, Sue said, ‘Sorry. I was miles away.’

‘Are you all right?’ Pauline asked. ‘Can I get you anything? A cup of tea? Something to eat?’

‘Tea would be nice, thanks.’

‘Right you are,’ Pauline said, giving her a motherly smile. ‘Oh, and in case you’re wondering about Connor, he’s had a sandwich, and I’ve just sent him outside for a bit before it gets too cold.’

‘Oh,’ Sue murmured, frowning now. ‘He’s not on his own, is he?’

‘I told Lynne to get Jackie and Irene to watch him, so he’ll be safe,’ Pauline assured her. ‘And it’ll do him good to play with some of the other kiddies, so stop fretting and relax. This is supposed to be a fun day.’

Nodding, Sue smiled. ‘I know. And I am trying.’

Saying, ‘Good girl,’ Pauline bustled away to get her a cup of tea.

Jackie and Irene were busy serving in the refreshment tent. Nodding at Lynne who was trying to tell her something, Irene said, ‘Of course, luvvie. Whatever you say.’

‘What was that about?’ Jackie asked when Lynne had scuttled out again.

‘God knows,’ Irene chuckled. ‘Talks like a mouse, so I couldn’t hear a flaming word. Probably more orders from Queen Pauline, though, so I’m not really fussed.’

Back outside the tent, Lynne leaned down and smiled at Connor. ‘Right, you go and have a play, and if you want anything, just ask Auntie Irene or Auntie Jackie because they’re looking after you. Okay?’

Unnerved when Connor just peered blankly back at her, she gave him a tentative pat on the head and hurried away. She knew it wasn’t his fault, but she’d been a bit scared of him since the fire. And every time she looked at him, she had an urge to cross herself, as if he were some kind of creepy little jinx.

Standing where Lynne had left him, Connor felt invisible as adults constantly barged past him on their way in or out of the refreshments tent. Almost knocked over by one man, he edged away from the entrance flap after a while, and sidled around to the back of the tent.

It was already shrouded in shadow round there, and most of the people who had been milling about had moved around to the brighter side. Glad of the solitude, Connor sat down and drew his knees up to his chest. Resting his head on them, he closed his eyes, wondering when this would be over so he could go home.