The Vanishing Point

7

Stephanie’s knees gave way beneath her. She crumpled to the ground with a soft moan, unable to believe the evidence of her eyes. Her eyelids fluttered and for a moment, she wondered whether she was going to faint. Then Nick was on his haunches next to her, his comforting arms around her. ‘Bloody hell,’ he said. ‘Did I just see what I think I saw? Bouncing down the steps of a place that looks like Dracula’s weekend retreat? Was that Scarlett?’

‘I can’t believe it,’ Stephanie said. ‘I was with her till right before she died. I saw her in her coffin.’ She shook her head, as if to clear it of craziness. ‘It can’t be Scarlett.’ Then the light dawned. ‘Think, Nick. Who’s missing? Who’s not where she’s supposed to be?’

Relief broke over him, lightening his expression. ‘Leanne. It’s Leanne.’

‘The devious, twisted bastards,’ Stephanie said, sounding almost admiring. ‘They’ve been plotting this ever since Scarlett told Leanne I was going to be Jimmy’s guardian. She’d grown to love him. She was desperate to keep him. And the selfish, greedy bastards figured out a way to do it that means they get access to a chunk of the money as well, with Simon set up as the doctor in the house. With Simon and Marina controlling the trust fund, I bet Simon and Leanne are sitting pretty out here in their castle in the woods.’

Nick stood up. ‘Thank Christ I didn’t go to Essex police with our theories about Leanne being murdered. I’d have been a bloody laughing stock. Nick the Greek with egg from head to toe.’

‘They’re still criminals, Nick. They abducted Jimmy and, like you said, they must be living high on the hog off the back of the TOmorrow trust. We’ve got as much leverage against Simon and Leanne as we had against Simon and Marina. We can still get Jimmy back.’

Nick’s answering smile was grim. ‘Damn right. I’m ready when you are.’

Fifteen minutes later, they set off up the short paved driveway. Nick had insisted they wait, sitting in the car with the doors open. ‘Don’t close the door. The click of the lock, that’s the kind of artificial sound that really carries in places like this. We’ll give them a little bit of time to settle into their normal routine. That way they’ll be nice and relaxed and not expecting the shit to hit the fan.’

Then he had a better idea. ‘Let’s push the car across the gateway. That way, if they decide to make a run for it or call reinforcements, they’re fucked.’

And so he let off the handbrake, and with scarcely a sound, they pushed the tinny little car forward until it completely blocked the entrance to the house. To get through themselves, they had to treat the car itself as a kind of passageway they had to scramble through.

Nick must be able to hear the thudding of her heart, Stephanie thought as they approached the house. It felt like wading through a fairy story. The house gleamed with recent maintenance, its shutters immaculate, its stucco spotless, its metalwork rust free. Window boxes filled with flowering bulbs perched on every sill and balustrade. Warm light glowed through the blinds in the ground-floor windows. The Brothers Grimm meet a TV makeover show.

They climbed the four steps to the porch as quietly as possible. Then, ignoring the doorbell, Nick hammered with his torch on the heavy wooden planks of the door. They heard no footsteps approaching, so closely did the door fit its frame. Without warning, it swung back on its hinges. The woman who answered it wasn’t facing them. She was looking over her shoulder, laughing at something someone inside had said or done.

Stephanie thought she was going to throw up.

The woman turned to them and all the animation and colour drained from her face. Lot’s wife must have looked a lot like that, Stephanie thought irrelevantly. Time itself seemed to slow as she struggled to make sense of what – or rather who – she was seeing. ‘Hi, Scarlett,’ she said. She heard Nick’s sharp intake of breath behind her. ‘Aren’t you going to ask us in?’