Times of Trouble (11 page)

‘
Oh, but you are
already, aren’t you? And I know you need the money.’

‘
No, no, I don’t want
anything to do with this. There’s nothing ’

‘
You help us find
her. We’ll make it worth your while.’

Before Vince could
finish his offer, his phone went dead. The man either had a bad
connection, or had just shat his pants, and hung up the
phone.

Vince was in no mood
to call again. So instead, he typed a text message to the
man.

‘
100,000 for Molly.
Find her and we won’t hurt anyone you love’

He felt pleased with
himself as he re-read the sent text message. Of course he wouldn’t
really pay the little shit anything like that much, but carrots and
sticks, that's how business worked. He didn't get a reply, but that
was of no concern. Surely this was all the incentive the man needed
to get himself, and Vince, out of the unfortunate situation they
had found themselves in?

Chapter 11

I didn’t hear from
Liam for the rest of the day. My impatience and curiosity
unquenched, I eventually went to bed, and suffered hours of broken
sleep. I had started to feel a bit guilty about how rude I had been
to him. And my reaction to his news seemed a bit over the top. So
what if Sophie worked as a prostitute? At least when her acting
career failed, she didn’t fall to bits. Like I did. She did what
she had to do to survive, without any help from her family. Which
was quite commendable, in a way. I would never feel good about her
choice, but Liam did say she wasn’t doing it anymore, so that had
to be a good thing. He had seemed quite concerned about Sophie: too
concerned for a con man. Or was he just a really good actor
himself? It wasn’t likely. When he told me about his
investigations, he seemed genuinely enthralled by his own story, as
if re-telling it was as satisfying as when it happened.

At 7:00am, two hours
before I usually woke up, my mobile rang. I answered it with a
muddled half awake greeting.

‘
Ellen
here.’

‘
Did I wake you?
Sorry about that, I can call back later.’

It was Liam. I sat
up. ‘No, that’s ok. I’m up, I was just...’

‘
Sorry about
yesterday... I really had to go...’

‘
Are you going to
come back over here today?’

It sounded like Liam
was in a car. I wondered if he was already on his way
over.

‘
Unfortunately I’m
not going to have time. I’ve just changed my flight. I’m going back
to Sydney this morning. There are things I need to urgently chase
up.’

‘
About Sophie? What
is it? Have you got a new lead?’

‘
Look, why don’t you
come to the airport, and meet me. I’ll have a few minutes to
explain more then.’

‘
Ok, I’ll see you
there. Text me which gate you’re leaving from.’

I was more confused
than ever. My suspicions about what he had been up to were cooling.
It was impossible not to be worried by his tone; he sounded really
anxious. I quickly showered and dressed, explaining to mum as I ran
out the door that I was borrowing her car to see Liam off at the
airport. When she heard he was flying back urgently to Sydney, her
face lit up with hope.

‘
Has he found
her?’

But I couldn’t give
her good news, as much as I would have liked to.

When I found Liam in
the departure lounge, he was wearing the same clothes as yesterday,
and looking far from relaxed. His air of confidence was completely
gone today. His face looked drawn and grey, his eyes red and his
hair didn’t look like it had been brushed. Much to my annoyance, he
still looked attractive.

‘
My flight boards in
15 minutes,’ he said.

‘
Can you tell me why
you’re going back? We don’t have time for a really drawn out
explanation...’

‘
I know, I know. I’ll
make it as quick as I can.’

I wanted him to get
to the point, but when he did, I wished he hadn’t said
anything.

‘
You remember I went
to see the property manager? He told me the previous tenant had
been murdered there. He said the man’s name was Danny
Wright.’

The word murder
crashed over me. ‘Sophie’s boyfriend was murdered? What about
Sophie?’ Suddenly my throat was dry.

‘
She wasn’t
there.’

‘
How do you know she
wasn’t there? How did Danny die? What the hell happened to him?’
Panic filled every pore of my body, and I felt like I was going to
faint.

‘
He was shot.
Apparently he must have opened the door to someone, and they shot
him in the face.’

I gasped. ‘But you
don’t know Sophie wasn’t there. How do you know she wasn’t taken by
whoever shot Danny? You don’t know!’ I was starting to get
hysterical. People sitting around us were staring, but I didn’t
care. ‘Liam, you can’t just tell me you know Sophie wasn’t there!
How do you know?’

‘
I’ve already told
you, I know she’s in Sydney!’

‘
And is she safe
there? Who shot Danny? Why would someone kill him? What’s going on
Liam?’ My voice cracked as I said ‘kill’. This was all starting to
become far too real.

Liam put his hand on
my knee, and looked me in the eyes, trying to calm me down. ‘I
understand you are frightened. I kept quiet about it before because
I didn’t want you and your mum to panic.’

‘
Shit Liam! You never
said anything about people getting shot! When did this happen?
Before or after Sophie emailed mum?’

‘
The day before.
That’s how I know she wasn’t there.’

‘
So do the police
know who did it? Do you have any idea? Why would Danny be killed?
What are you not telling me?’

‘
I’ve been trying to
find out who might have killed Danny. I’ve managed to work out that
whoever it is, they weren’t just after him.’

‘
How do you know
that?’

‘
Well, the email from
Sophie is a fairly big clue that she felt she was in
danger.’

‘
Of course she was
petrified. Her boyfriend had just been killed!’

‘
Yes, and also the
fact she’s been moving around so often that I haven’t been able to
track her down. The move to Sydney, I believe, was to get away from
the people who killed Danny.’

‘
People? How do you
know it’s more than one person?’

‘
I just do. There are
too many reasons to explain now. I think Sophie and Danny got
involved in something that made them a target.’

‘
So you have no more
idea than that?’

‘
That’s what I’ve
been working on. I don’t know why they‘re after her. Or why they
killed Danny.’

‘
What do you know
about him?’

‘
He owned a gym in
Brompton. But his other business was managing Sophie and Katie’s…
careers’.

‘
And who on earth is
Katie?’

‘
Katie Easton. She’s
a friend of Sophie’s. They worked together, back when Carla was
their boss. They met Danny through the gym, and sort of became a
trio, running their business together, working alternating nights
so that someone was always available when the clients called. I’m
pretty sure she’s in Sydney with Sophie.’

Any thoughts of a
huge scale con on Liam’s part had completely vanished. But the
reality of what he was telling me was much harder to bear than
having money stolen from mum.

‘
So these people,
Danny, Katie and Sophie, or Molly or whatever, they got into some
sort of situation where some people wanted them dead. And you’re
telling me that whoever these people are, they’ve killed Danny and
you think they are after Katie and Sophie now?’

‘
I don’t just think
so. I know they are.’

‘
And how do you know
Sophie - and Katie as well? - made it to Sydney?’

‘
A contact told me.
Someone I met who knew both the girls.’

That would have to do
for now. He wouldn’t have left London for Sydney unless he was
certain they were there. ‘And you haven’t got any idea where they
are in Sydney?’

Now Liam looked even
more concerned. ‘One of the things I did when I got to Sydney was
to visit the morgue. I wanted to find a contact there who would let
me know if... you know...someone came in who might
be...’

‘
I get what you’re
saying.’

‘
I paid him money to
keep me informed, and he called me yesterday evening.’

The blood drained
from my face.

‘
The description he
gave doesn’t match Sophie. But I think it is probably Katie,’ he
said quickly, knowing he was putting me out of my
misery.

‘
How can you be
sure?’

‘
Because I’ve got a
photo of Katie. She had dark skin. She was West Indian.’

I exhaled for what
seemed like the first time in minutes. There wasn’t time just then
to care that Sophie’s friend might be dead. It was Sophie I needed
information about.

‘
Ok, so you’re
telling me these people have possibly killed this Katie in Sydney.
And now they are going to be looking for Sophie. They weren’t
together?’

‘
I don’t know. I
don’t know where Sophie is.’

It was understandable
that Liam was rushing back to Sydney. If these people had found
Katie, it might not take them long to find Sophie. I felt small and
stupid for questioning Liam’s motives yesterday, when he was quite
obviously as worried as I was about what might happen.

People were starting
to stand up and queue to board the flight.

‘
Liam, you haven’t
told me who you gave the $30,000 to. What information did you get
for that money? You said in your email you got an address. Was it
somewhere Sophie was living in Sydney?’

Liam didn’t seem to
be listening. He started to flick through his back-pack, eventually
pulling out his boarding pass.

‘
About the money
Ellen, I’m really sorry you had to sell the piano. But honestly,
you’ve got to believe me, the money has been well spent. I would
still be in London, chasing my tail, if I hadn’t got that
lead.’

‘
But that’s the
thing. We can’t afford to pay you for the work you’re doing. The
money I’ve made off the piano has to cover the mortgage. I know you
are still working, and still have expenses. I regret now that I
accused you of being a, well, you know, not doing the right thing.
But I believe you now. I’m really sorry.’

It was the first time
I’d seen him come close to a smile all day. His expression showed
he understood how hard it was for me to admit this. Now he was
walking towards the line, his mind a million miles away from the
money trouble mum and I were facing, as was mine. He waved his
hand, brushing off what I was saying.

‘
Don’t worry about
the money Ellen. I won’t keep sending your mum payment requests for
now. We’ll sort if out once I’ve found Sophie. My parents have lent
me enough money to keep me going for a while.’

‘
Are you sure? I
mean, I don’t really have a choice but to accept your offer,
because we can’t take you off the case now...’

‘
Of course not. I’m
not willing to give up now anyway. I can live fairly cheaply in
Sydney. I’ve got enough friends there willing to offer their
couch.’

‘
So what are you
going to do now?’

‘
There’s something
else, Ellen.’

Liam was the last in
the queue, and he was about to be ushered through the departure
gate.

‘
Tell me
quickly.’

‘
Danny and Sophie’s
things were sent to the local charity shop. There was an envelope
slipped in-between the books, with a return address sticker for
Danny’s parents in Manchester. I thought it was worth talking to
them. But when I got there, the house was deserted. One of the
neighbours asked if I was looking for the Wrights. She told me they
had been killed in a car accident. Their car ran off the road and
hit a tree, just streets away from their house.’

‘
So what’s this got
to do with Sophie...’

The answer dawned on
me before I could finish the question.

‘
I looked up the
accident in a local newspaper. They died the day after Danny was
murdered. It’s just too much of a coincidence.’

‘
Jesus.’ What he said
hit me like a ton of bricks.

‘
I’ve got to fly.
I’ll call you, and let you know what I’m doing.’

‘
Ok, just be
careful...’ He was already gone.

I stood in the
departure lounge, watching Liam's plane take off. Usually when I
left the house, I couldn't wait to get home, which was one of the
reasons I so rarely went anywhere. I felt most comfortable in the
solitude of my room, or chatting to mum while she cooked, or
playing Picasso. But I didn't like the idea of going back to
monotonous hours of nothing. To mum's worried face. To a house
without a piano. It struck me I was jealous that Liam was so caught
up in the search. Jealous he was looking for my sister, while I sat
at home wondering what on earth was going on. Maybe I could help
him? Maybe I should be in Sydney too?