‘Shhh,’ the two nanny officers hissed in unison once more. ‘There’s a child asleep upstairs.’
‘Well, thank God for that!’ Kamran, bringing up the rear, broke in. ‘Is she OK?’
‘Mum, she’s fine, we’re all fine,’ I said tiredly. ‘Just something Lola and I appear to have got caught up in.’
‘Not a car crash then? Or… or… anabduction?’ Mum turned to the officers.
‘Mum, Lola’s fine. I’m fine.’
‘And Dean?’ she asked. ‘What’s he been up tonow?’
‘Now?’ The elder of the plain-clothed officers leaned in. ‘Does he often get up to things? Doyouknow where Mr Butterworth is?’ he asked, looking directly at Mum who, obviously feeling the unexplained guilt one always feels in the presence of the police, stuttered somewhat unbecomingly.
‘Dean…? Me…? No…? Why should I know where he is? More than likely in some floozy’s bed if I know Dean…’
‘I’m sorry.’ Kamran took charge. ‘It’s really late. It’s obvious Dean isn’t here. You could go and look next door – make sure he’s not come home. Whatever Mr Butterworth’s got himself involved in really has nothing to do with Jessica here or an eleven-year-old little girl. I suggest you all leave, take your blue lights with you and come back for a statement in the morning.’
‘Just let me have a word with my DI,’ the uniformed police officer said. ‘Need to pass it with him.’ After a two-minute conversation with someone on the other end, she turned to me. ‘Jessica, please don’t leave the house until someone returns to talk to you in the morning. Don’t take your daughter to school…’
‘School’s out,’ I said, sounding like a defeated Alice Cooper. ‘As well as it being Saturday tomorrow. And the only place I’m going is to bed. I promise we’ll be here in the morning. I’m not on some sort of doorstep curfew, am I?’
The four officers trooped out together, the two plain-clothed ones moving next door to look around Mum’s – I couldn’t call it Dean’s – garden. I just hoped they weren’t about to bash her door down as well in the hunt for the missing Dean.
* * *
‘What did you see at the theatre?’ I asked once Mum and Kamran were seated at my kitchen table with mugs of tea and I’d gone through the events of the evening again.
‘The Rocky Horror Showat the Grand,’ Mum said, pulling a face.
‘Not your thing, Mum, I wouldn’t have thought.’ I smiled tiredly, desperate for bed but also feeling anxious about being alone in the house with just Arthur for protection. I glanced across at the dog who, fast asleep in his bed in the corner of the kitchen, appeared to have had little interest in the comings and goings.
‘George has been wanting to revisit the production for years. Saw it when it was doing the rounds again apparently, and was ready for another session. Not much fun on your own, so we said we’d go with him.’
‘George?’ My head came up at that. ‘Your George?’ I stared at Kamran.
‘I suppose he is mine, being my brother.’ Kamran laughed. ‘You seem surprised? Right up his street what we saw tonight, if not exactly mine.’
‘Or mine,’ Mum put in, yawning.
‘That’s why he and Robyn get on so well,’ Kamran went on. ‘You know, their love of musical theatre.’
‘And he was with you tonight?’
‘Yes!’ Kamran laughed again. ‘I said.’
‘All night?’
‘Yes, we dropped him off at the apartment before we came out here.’ Mum and Kamran now both eyed me curiously.
‘D’you want us to stay here tonight, Jess?’ Mum asked. ‘I’m not sure you should be here by yourself. You’ve obviously had a shock. A fright.’
‘In Lola’s single bed?’ I smiled. ‘Lola’s fast asleep in mine.’
‘And is Joel fast asleep too?’ Mum stared at me for a good few seconds. ‘He’s not here, is he? Jess, where is he?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I just don’t know.’
32
