‘You know stuff all.’ The man took a deep breath and shook his head.
Natalie stepped back and huffed. ‘I know you can’t be happy about it. The whole town knows about Mary and Alan. I can’t grieve after I saw all their disgusting messages about what they’re going to do to each other on Alan’s phone. It had been going on over twenty-five years. Had I known all this when he was alive, I would never have forgiven him. He would have been out that door so fast—’
‘Nat, you know nothing about me and Mary. You wouldn’t know that we have the kind of relationship where we don’t mind the other having something on the side.’
Natalie went to speak but no words came out. That was the last response she expected.
‘What I care about is you upsetting my daughter and telling her that I’m not her father. I raised that little girl. I’ve been to all the parents’ evenings, the school sports days. I’ve stayed up with her through the night when she’s had flu, tummy aches and nightmares.’ He shook his head. ‘You’ve never had kids, you wouldn’t understand any of that – the bond between a father and a daughter. You came into our pub with the intention of ruining my family and I will never forgive you.’
The very thing that Natalie thought would get Kyle on her side had backfired. He didn’t care about the one thing that had torn her apart, Alan and Mary’s affair.
‘You know feck all. You and Laura, stay away from me and my family. If I so much as see you near my pub, I’ll call the police and report you for harassment.’
Anger ripped through Natalie. She roared and charged towards Kyle, knocking him onto the pavement outside the shop. Kyle stared back at her, silenced by her outburst that had floored him. She gasped and stepped back. What had she done?
Kyle stood and brushed himself down. ‘Stay away from my family. Last warning.’ With that, he left.
Natalie stumbled to the floor, doubling over as tears began to spill. As she wiped her face, she caught sight of something glistening on the pavement. Bending down, she picked up the bracelet, a delicate gold piece that had the word Mum engraved on it.
As she went to place it in her pocket to deal with later, she came face to face with Kate’s dad, his grandchildren holding a hand each.
‘Where did you get that?’ one of the little girls asked.
She held up the bracelet. ‘This, I found it on the floor. Right here.’
‘That’s Mummy’s bracelet. We bought that for her.’
‘Kate is missing and you have her bracelet. What have you done with her?’ the man shouted.
FIFTY
NATALIE
‘I just found the bracelet here on the path.’ Natalie passed the bracelet to Kate’s father.
‘That’s convenient. You’ve got her. What have you done with her?’
‘I swear. I haven’t seen Kate today.’
‘I don’t believe you. Is she up there in your flat? Have you had enough of trolling her? She trusted you.’
Natalie held an arm out. ‘She’s not there. Go up and have a look.’ Defeated she placed her head in her hands and sat down on the step, listening as Kate’s father charged through the door that led to her private quarters. His grandchildren cried as he charged through. Doors slammed and the man kept calling Kate’s name.
Everything could be fixed with a phone call. After all, Kate had been trying to call her non-stop. If she called her now, Kate would definitely answer and all this would go away. She pulled her phone from her pocket and pressed Kate’s number but the tone was dead. Taking a deep breath, she swallowed. Something was seriously wrong.
Kate’s dad thundered back down the stairs. Natalie waited, a nervous humming in her chest as the man approached her from behind, puffing and panting.
‘Kids, sit here.’ He led the children to the step and Kate’s dad sat next to Natalie. ‘Where is she? I swear if you’ve done something to her, I’ll never forgive you. I won’t lose another daughter. Where’s your boat?’
Natalie shook her head. ‘I don’t have a boat. I haven’t done anything to Kate. She came to me for help and I was trying to help her.’
‘Help her? From where I’m sitting, you could have lured her here to hurt her.’
‘I wouldn’t do that.’
‘Where is she?’ he shouts.
Natalie flinched. ‘I don’t know.’
