Claire was having coffee in a café near to her hotel when the email from Dan arrived. It was 10am and she’d been hitting refresh pretty much continuously since 8am so her nerves were frayed. Still, he hadn’t kept her waiting too long, which she took to be a good sign. She could barely contain her excitement at the fact that he had replied to her. She opened the email and devoured the contents.
Claire, I’m really surprised to hear from you like this. I thought Pete was with you? What happened? Did you guys have an argument? He didn’t tell me he was back in the UK, when did he leave France?
I’m afraid I can’t help you, none of us have spoken to Pete since he left the company a few months ago. We all just thought he’d done a runner to be honest and was somewhere with you in the depths of the continent. I’ve been in touch with his wife Kate a few times and I’m not going to lie, I’ve been pretty pissed off with him that he’s made no effort to contact her or see the children at all. It’s pretty shitty behaviour. So if you do see him again, please tell him to strap on a pair and get in touch with his wife and kids. The girls were devastated when he left.
Sorry, Claire, I don’t mean to take it out on you but I think you’ve got more of a chance of hearing from him than me and he needs to hear this.
Dan.
She read and re-read the email, perplexed, trying to figure it out in her head. Dan thought Pete had gone to France; she thought he’d stayed with Kate. Neither of these things had happened, so where the hell was he? This didn’t make any sense whatsoever. She looked at Dan’s email signature, found his number and immediately dialled it. He picked up after three rings.
‘Hello?’
‘Dan, it’s Claire.’
‘Oh, hi, Claire.’ He seemed surprised to hear from her.
‘Look, I don’t know what’s going on but Pete never came to France. He left me waiting at the station and never showed up. He sent me a message telling me he’d changed his mind and that he was staying with Kate. I haven’t heard from him since.’
The silence went on for so long that she thought he’d been cut off.
‘Dan, are you there?’ she asked.
‘I’m here, Claire, I’m just really confused. He definitely didn’t stay with Kate: she hasn’t seen him since September. I’ve spoken to her a few times and I’m absolutely sure about that. So if he’s not with you, where is he?’
‘That’s exactly what I want to know.’
‘This is pretty messed up, Claire.’
‘I know.’
‘And he left his phone at home and deleted all his social media accounts too.’
‘I know. I’ve tried all of them.’
‘Do you think he’s just done a runner? Did he stick two fingers up to everything and just head to a beach in Thailand to be on his own?’
‘Possibly, but it doesn’t sound like Pete. I can’t understand why he’d do that and not make contact with anyone. For a few weeks maybe but it’s been months and no one has heard from him. I’m freaking out a bit now, Dan.’
‘He told me he’d got a new job, some tech firm, do you know which one it was?’
‘Yes, but I checked and he definitely doesn’t work there. That’s why I came to London, I couldn’t think of any other way to reach him. It wasn’t until I got here that I thought to email you. I should have thought of it ages ago, I’m kicking myself now.’
‘So what do we do now?’
She thought for a moment. ‘I don’t think we’ve got any other choice. We’re going to have to call the police.’
25
Kate
She looked at the police in surprise. ‘What do you mean, “a missing person”? He’s not missing, he’s in France with his girlfriend.’
The male officer shuffled in his seat, looking embarrassed while the woman spoke. ‘I appreciate that this is a very delicate situation, Mrs Garland, but we were contacted by a woman who claims that he disappeared some months ago and no one has heard from him since. Can you tell me exactly when you last saw your husband?’
‘Monday September 7th,’ she replied without hesitation. ‘He’d been having an affair for months and he left me. I found a note in our bedroom telling me that he had met someone else. I haven’t heard from him since.’
It wasn’t the full story but everything she had said was true and the police didn’t need to know about the confrontation that they’d had that morning or the agreement they’d subsequently made. No one did but her and Pete.
‘Do you still have the note?’ the officer asked. She nodded and went to retrieve it from its hiding place between the pages of a book in her bedside table. She’d thought about throwing it away a number of times but had never actually done it. The officers both read it before turning back to her. ‘Have you tried to contact him?’
‘I tried everything,’ she replied. ‘He left his phone at home and deactivated all his social media accounts. I messaged all his friends and family and I sent him a number of emails. I contacted one of his friends from work, Dan, and he told me that he’d left his job the week before. Eventually Dan agreed to meet me in person and he told me the whole story about Pete’s relationship with this woman – Claire. I assume it’s her who has reported him missing. Are you saying
