A few moments later, we were sitting at a table, with beer and a packet of crisps between us.
'I don't know where to begin. You're Jo's friend, right?'
'Right.'
'Does she go away a lot?'
'It depends. She does different projects for different publishing companies trade mags, things like that and some of them involve research. There was one I remember for a children's encyclopedia and she had to write brief paragraphs about British trees, so she went around visiting three hundred yews, things like that.'
'And she's reliable?'
'Usually very. She depends on her editing work to make ends meet.'
'Does she stand you up much?'
He looked thoughtful. 'As I said, she's reliable.'
'So, she's not here and she should be. She's not on holiday or anything. Something's wrong.'
'Maybe not,' Ben said quietly, staring into his beer. 'She might have gone away somewhere to finish her work. She did that sometimes. Her parents own a cottage in Dorset. Very quiet, no interruptions
'Can you call her there? Have you got a mobile on you?'
'No interruptions, including no phone.'
'What about her mobile?'
IOI
'I've called that number several times already.'
'Oh.'
'Or she might be with her parents. Her father's ill. Cancer. Perhaps he's got worse. Have you tried them?'
'I didn't know about them.'
'And then she's got this on-off boyfriend, Carlo. The last I knew it was off, but maybe it's on again and she's there. Have you tried him?'
I took a deep breath. Was I all right? 'No,' I said. 'I didn't know about him. Or, at least, I don't remember knowing about him. But she would have told you, if you were going to meet her.'
He shrugged. 'I'm just her friend. Friendships can be put on the back burner.'
'Sometimes.'
'Jo gets depressed,' he said slowly, frowning. 'I mean, really depressed, not just down. I thought she was coming out of it.' He finished his beer and wiped his mouth with the side of his hand. 'I'll go back to the flat with you and we can call the people who are close to her Carlo, her parents and find out if they've heard from her.' He put his hand in the pocket of his coat and fished out a phone. 'Use this. Ring someone, a friend, a colleague, the police, whatever. Say you're with me. Then we can go and make those calls.'
'This is kind of you .. .' I began.
'It's not kind. Jo's my friend.'
'I don't need to make the call,' I said, while a voice inside me said, 'Oh, yes, you do, you stupid, stupid, stupid woman.'
'Suit yourself.'
On the way back, I told him how I'd found Jo's flat because of the receipt and key in the glove compartment of my car.
'It was in the police pound,' I said. 'I had to pay over a hundred pounds to retrieve it, and now it's got a bloody clamp on it. Look.' I pointed, then gawped. It wasn't there any more. There was just a space where it had been. 'It's gone. It's bloody gone again. How is that possible? I thought the whole point of a clamp is you can't move it.'
'It's probably back in the pound.' He was trying not to smile.
'Shit.'
I opened a bottle of wine. My hands were shaking again, so it took ages to pull out the cork. Ben dialled a number, listened, then spoke. He was clearly not talking to Jo's mother. He put the phone down and turned to me. 'That was the woman who dog-sits for them. They're on holiday and won't be back until the day after tomorrow.'
I poured him a glass of wine but he didn't touch it. He put on his glasses, opened the telephone directory and flicked through it.
'Carlo? Hi, Carlo, it's Ben, Ben Brody .. . Yes, that's right, Jo's friend .. . What? No, I haven't seen her lately, I was rather wondering if you .. . No, no, I won't tell her that from you. No.'
He replaced the phone and turned to me. 'Apparently it's off with Carlo. He wasn't in a very good mood.'
'So what do we do now?' I said, then noticed the 'we' and took a hefty gulp of wine.
'Have you got anything to eat? I'm starving. Jo and I were meant to be going out for a meal tonight.'
I opened the fridge door. 'Eggs, bread, cheese. Lettuce. Pasta, I guess.'
'Shall I make us scrambled eggs?'
'I'd like that.'
He took off his coat and his jacket, and found a pan in the large cupboard, a wooden spoon in the top drawer. He knew where everything was. I sat back and watched him. He took a long time over it; he was very methodical. I drank another glass of wine. I felt exhausted, rather fragile, and a bit drunk. And I was fed up with being scared all the time, of always being on my guard. I couldn't do it any more.
'Tell me what Jo's like,' I said.
'Hang on, one piece of toast or two?'
'One. With lots of butter.'
'Here we are.'
ICM
I sat at the kitchen table with him and we ate our scrambled eggs in silence. I drank some more wine.
'She's quite shy until you get to know her,' he said, after his last mouthful. 'Self-reliant. Frugal. She only buys what she needs. Never go shopping with her. She takes ages choosing the tiniest thing then has to compare prices in different shops. Neat, she hates disorder. Better at listening than talking. What else? She grew up in the country, has a younger brother who lives in America and is a sound engineer, is pretty close to her parents, has lots of friends, though usually sees people one-to-one. She doesn't like big groups.'
'What about her relationship with this Carlo?'
'Hopeless, really. He's just a young idiot.' He sounded harshly dismissive, and I must have looked a bit surprised, because he added, 'She could do better. She should meet someone who adores her.'
'We should all do that,' I said, lightly.
'And she's a depressive, I'd say. She has terrible low patches when she can hardly get out of bed. Which is why I'm worried.'
It was late. My day lay behind me like a long, laborious journey -Todd, that spooky telephone call, Inspector Cross, now this. Ben saw me give a giant yawn. He stood up and took his coat from the arm of the sofa. 'I should go,' he said. 'I'll be in touch.'
'Is that all?'
'What d'you mean?'
'Well, she's still missing, isn't she? More missing than ever. So what's next? You can't just leave it like that, can you?'
'No, of course not. I thought I should drive to the cottage in Dorset. I've been there before and I think I can remember where it is. If she's not there, I'll phone around her friends. Then if nothing comes of that, I'll go and see her parents. After that well, I guess I'll go to the police.'
'I'd quite like to come with you to the cottage. If that's all right.' I hadn't known that I was going to say that. The words came out in a rush, and he turned a surprised face to look at me. 'When are you thinking of going?'
'Well, now.'
'You mean, right this minute? Drive through the night?'
'I might as well. I'm not tired, and I haven't drunk much. And I've got an important meeting tomorrow afternoon, so I can't go tomorrow. And you've made me anxious.'
