I Could Be You Page 2

  She nearly hadn’t gone. But a few days later, half mad with loneliness and grief, she’d taken a bottle of Pinot from the fridge and wandered along the beach as the sun was going down. The two women sat on the bench outside the mobile home, watching Jake play on the shingle while they chatted about everything and nothing.

  Remembering that evening now, Dee realised she was the one who’d done most of the talking. Telling Katie about her divorce, the deaths of both her parents and her regret at never having had children of her own. Katie had been a sympathetic listener and it ended up being the first of many nights when the two women had shared a bottle of wine together while night crept in across the wide-open sky.

  Before she could stop herself, Dee was crying. Big, gulping sobs that shook her body. As she tears rolled down her cheeks, she thought how she was every bit as pathetic as those people who’d cried when Princess Diana died, and every time there was a terrorist attack in London. But it made no difference. She couldn’t stop crying for the beautiful young woman with the lovely smile and the little boy who would never see his mother again.

  Two

  Dee

  Dee barely slept. Her mind refused to shut down. All she could think of was Jake. Obsessively wondering where he was and who could have taken him. She kept her phone by her bed and checked the news sites throughout the night, desperate to read that he had been found.

  Ed Mitchell and his team had done a good job getting the story out quickly. The hit and run was covered by all the major sites, although the information they had to work with was pretty sketchy. The police hadn’t formally identified the victim yet, but they asked anyone with information on Katie Hope or her son Jake to contact them immediately. A photo of Katie and Jake was used with the stories, and Dee found herself looking at this repeatedly.

  It was a recent photo. Mother and son posing by the water, both of them smiling. A splash of blue sea behind them. They looked so happy. Over the last few months, Dee, Katie and Jake had spent so much time on the beach together – having picnics, building stone sculptures that collapsed within seconds of being constructed, splashing about in the sea, and generally having the sort of silly fun you could only have with young kids. But Dee hadn’t taken this photo, and she’d never seen it before. She tried to think of anyone else who could have taken it, but she’d always thought she was Katie’s only friend.

  At 7.30, she was still in bed, flicking through the internet and social media, when she heard guitar chords playing and the low, gravelly growl of a man singing about love. She grabbed her phone and checked the caller ID before answering, even though she already had a good idea who it would be.

  ‘You took your time,’ she said.

  ‘I was at a charity event at the Winter Garden last night,’ Louise replied. ‘By the time I got away, it was after midnight. I figured you might be asleep by then.’

  ‘Very considerate of you.’

  Dee got out of bed and pulled open the curtains, blinking against the bright sunlight. Her house was in the curve of a bay that stretched along the coast from Hastings in the east to the white chalk cliffs at the southern edge of the South Downs in the west. From her bedroom, she was able to see the buildings lining Hastings seafront on her left. To her right, she got an unwanted view of the sprawling complex of apartments and town houses that made up Sovereign Harbour.

  The area had been wasteland when Dee was a child. Now, alongside the houses and apartments, the harbour was home to a busy marina, a selection of bars, restaurants, shops, a cinema and a gym. Dee hated it for no reason other than the sheer fact that it existed. As far as she was concerned, the only good thing you could say about it was that its sprawl didn’t stretch as far as the quiet road where she lived.

  ‘So,’ Louise said. ‘I was wondering if you fancied meeting up this evening? Go for a drink and a bite to eat. I haven’t seen you properly in ages.’

  The thought of sitting in a restaurant eating good food and drinking wine while Jake was out there somewhere, scared and traumatised and missing his mummy, was unthinkable.

  ‘I don’t know, Lou. I’m not sure I can face something like that.’

  ‘It might cheer you up. And dinner’s on me, by the way. Come on, Dee. I miss you.’

  ‘You don’t have to work so hard at pretending. I know the real reason you’re calling. And it’s okay. I’d probably do the same in your shoes.’

  ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ Louise said, the outrage in her voice making Dee smile. ‘All right.’ Louise tried again. ‘I heard what happened. And I want to make sure you’re okay, that’s all.’

  ‘What have you heard exactly?’ Dee said.

  ‘I know they haven’t formally identified the body. That’s usually because they haven’t been able to track down any next of kin.’

  ‘She had nobody,’ Dee said. ‘I never thought about it while she was alive. But looking back, it seems odd. I mean, everyone has somebody, right? The only people who ever visited were her students. Apart from them, it was always just the two of them, Katie and Jake.’

  ‘She had you. I know how much you helped with Jake. That must have meant so much to her. I keep thinking, if one of my kids was missing like that, how would I feel? I couldn’t bear it.’

  ‘He was with her,’ Dee said. ‘When the car hit her. But by the time I arrived, the buggy was empty. It’s awful, Lou. Someone ran her over and took her child. It has to be the father, doesn’t it? He’s found her and he’s killed her and taken his son. And if he’s killed Katie, that means he’s a bad person. Jake can’t be with a man like that. He’ll be scared and missing his mum. He’s never been separated from her before.’

  ‘Hey,’ Louise said. ‘Try to stay calm, Dee. You can’t know for sure that’s what happened. Maybe Jake was on a play date or something when it happened.’

  ‘She had his buggy. Why would she have the buggy if she didn’t have Jake?’

  ‘I don’t know, Dee. I’m sorry.’

  ‘Do you remember that story I covered a while back?’ Dee said. ‘Casey Hall – the boy who disappeared from his front garden in south London?’

  ‘I remember. His stepdad killed him.’

  ‘It was the last big story I did before Mum got sick. Casey was missing for three weeks before they found his body. Everyone knew it was the stepdad. They just couldn’t prove it.’

  ‘I remember how much it upset you. This must feel as if history’s repeating itself.’

  She was right. That was exactly how it felt. Only a million times worse, because Dee had never met Casey Hall, whereas she loved Jake as much as it was possible to love a child that wasn’t your own.

  On the beach, a man was walking along the shoreline. His body was silhouetted in the sun, still low against the water. Dee’s stomach lurched as she realised who it was. As if sensing her eyes on him, Alex Mackey looked up to where she was standing and waved.

  Dee’s face flushed hot and she turned away quickly without waving back, hoping he’d get the hint. Her mind flashed back to two nights ago. The look on his face when she leaned into him and whispered that she’d like him to stay the night.

  ‘Listen,’ Louise said. ‘I’ve got to go. Spin class in ten minutes. I’ll be working on this story most of the day. The police are putting a call out for volunteers later this morning. We’re pushing it on our website and social media. I think a lot of people will volunteer. Everyone wants to help find the missing boy. You should come along.’

  ‘I’ll see.’ Dee knew she wouldn’t be there. The truth was, she couldn’t face the idea of being amongst a group of strangers who’d never met Katie or Jake, all pretending they cared.

  ‘Come to dinner with me this evening, at least,’ Louise said. ‘Even if you don’t feel like it, it’ll do you good. You shouldn’t be alone at a time like this. I’ll spend as much time as I can today trying to find out what’s going on with the investigation. I promise I’ll tell you everything I know.’ She had Dee, and she knew it. />
  ‘Where do you want to go?’

  ‘The new sushi place on Grove Road. I’ll book a table. Seven o’clock. Okay, gotta rush. See you later. And try not to worry, Dee. Chances are Jake will be found soon.’

  ‘Let’s hope so,’ Dee said. ‘Enjoy your class.’

  She risked a glance out the window. The beach was empty, no sign of Alex. She breathed out a sigh of relief, grateful he’d decided not to try to talk to her about what had – or, more accurately, hadn’t – happened between them.

  * * *

  Dee spent the rest of the morning watching the news channels and checking for updates online. Nothing had changed since the story first appeared late last night. Even the local newspaper, the Eastbourne Recorder, was light on detail.

  Woman killed in hit-and-run accident. Victim believed to be local piano teacher Katie Hope. Police hunt under way to find victim’s two-year-old son, Jake.

  Underneath, details of how to volunteer in the search, and a phone number for people to call if they had information on Katie or Jake.

  As editor-in-chief of the Recorder, Louise could have included a bit more detail, Dee thought. Her cousin needed to spend more time at her computer and less time on a stationary bicycle in the company of similarly skinny and body-obsessed airheads. The fact that Dee herself had been one of those body-obsessed airheads for many years was beside the point. Louise was a journalist, and surely the only thing that mattered now was doing every single thing she could to make sure every single person in East Sussex knew a little boy was missing.

  By the afternoon, Dee had to get out of the house. The relentless switching between TV channels and scrolling through her phone. The suffocating sense of helplessness. Her skin itched with the need to be doing something. To be out there on the beach and in the town, searching for Jake.

  A wave of heat hit her as she slid back the bifold doors and stepped outside. She stood on the deck, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the bright sunshine. Gradually the world around her came into focus – sun-bleached shingle, a still blue sea dotted with the crisp white sails of the dinghies from the sailing club in Pevensey. Further along the beach she could see a group of forty or fifty people moving slowly along the shoreline, and guessed these were the volunteers searching for Jake.

  She stepped off the deck and walked across the shingle to the edge of the water, and along the strip of sand that only appeared when the tide was out. She walked as far as the Martello tower at Normans Bay, scanning every bit of sea and beach. Even by the water, the air was so thick and heavy it felt like she was walking through soup. When she couldn’t stand the heat any longer, she turned around and retraced her steps.

  She hadn’t expected to find him, but even so, the sense of despair increased the closer she got to her house. She left the beach, clambering over the shingle onto the road. Narrow, with no proper surface, it was more of a track than a road. A track that led from Pevensey Bay Road to the only two houses on this quiet stretch of beach – Dee’s house, and the mobile home where Katie and Jake had lived.

  The entrance to the road was cordoned off. Police tape and a row of traffic cones prevented any vehicles from coming through. The white tent was still there too, although Dee knew they would have taken Katie’s body to the morgue by now. She wondered when the post-mortem would be done and whether it would reveal any useful information.

  As she walked towards the tent, she saw a car approach and pull up alongside the row of cones. The driver’s door opened and Ed Mitchell got out. A small, round woman with short dark hair pushed open the passenger door and stood beside him.

  ‘Mind if we ask you a few more questions?’ Ed said. ‘This is my colleague, Detective Constable Rachel Lewis.’

  ‘Is this to do with Jake?’ Dee asked, trying to read his face. ‘Have you found him yet?’

  ‘Could we go inside for a few minutes?’ DC Lewis said. Dee didn’t know why she bothered. Ed was already pushing open the front door and stepping into the house.

  ‘And if we could have some coffee,’ he added, ‘that would be great. We’ve been out all day and we’re in need of a caffeine hit.’

  Downstairs, the house was open-plan. Kitchen, sitting room and dining area all merged into one big space. Along the south side, large windows gave uninterrupted views of the coast. Dee made coffee while Ed settled himself on the sofa in the living area. Rachel Lewis perched beside him, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

  ‘Beautiful house,’ Ed said. ‘I remember my mother telling me about it.’

  ‘Your mother?’ Dee carried a tray – cafetière, cups, jug of milk, sugar bowl and spoons – across to the low table in front of him, setting it down and telling him to help himself.

  ‘She was in the same book club as your mum,’ Ed said. ‘You would have met her at the funeral, I’m sure.’

  ‘Possibly. That day’s all a bit of a blur, to be honest.’

  ‘Of course.’ Ed leaned forward and poured coffee for all three of them.

  ‘I’ll let you help yourselves to milk and sugar,’ he said, as if he was the host, not her.

  ‘How kind,’ Dee said.

  If he noticed the sarcasm, he didn’t show it.

  ‘Your dad built this place?’ he asked.

  ‘Designed it. He was an architect. But you probably know that. I’d forgotten what it’s like, you know. Being back here and realising everyone knows everything about you. I definitely didn’t miss that when I lived in London.’

  Ed smiled, and his face was suddenly shockingly handsome.

  ‘It’s not always a bad thing,’ he said. ‘There’s a sense of community in a town like this. You don’t get that so much in London, I’m guessing.’

  ‘You’re wrong about that.’ Dee thought of Greenwich and all the friends she’d had there. ‘The only difference in London is that you can choose your own community. I preferred that.’

  Ed took a sip of his coffee.

  ‘Ah, that’s good. You planning on going back to the big smoke any time soon, or are you going to settle here?’

  The truth was, Dee had no idea what she was doing with her life, but she wasn’t about to share this with Ed Mitchell.

  ‘Why are you here?’ she asked. ‘If it’s Jake, tell me. I need to know.’

  ‘We haven’t found Jake,’ Ed said. ‘Not yet. We’re here to ask you some more questions about Katie.’

  ‘I’ve already told you everything I know.’ Dee wanted to scream at him. Or hit him. What the hell was he thinking, sitting here drinking coffee and looking like he had all the time in the world when there was a child missing? ‘You should be out looking for Jake, not wasting your time asking me questions I’ve already answered.’

  ‘You were Katie’s landlady,’ DC Lewis said. ‘Is that right?’

  Dee forced herself to concentrate. The sooner she answered their questions, the sooner they’d be back out there trying to find Jake.

  ‘Mum set up the initial rental agreement. Then when she died, I took that over along with everything else.’

  ‘And Katie had been living here for about two years?’ Lewis asked.

  ‘Closer to two and a half. Like I told Ed yesterday. I wasn’t living here then, but I remember seeing her when I came to visit. She was pregnant when she moved in. Mum was a bit worried about whether she’d be able to pay the rent. If she wasn’t working, you know. But she felt sorry for her and was willing to risk it. And there’s never been any problem with that. I mean, it’s a mobile home so we don’t charge much. She pays on time every month.’

  ‘Cash?’

  ‘Standing order from her bank account to mine. I closed all Mum’s accounts after she died. Katie transferred the standing order to me when I asked her to.’

  ‘You said she was pregnant,’ Ed said. ‘You’re sure about that?’

  ‘One hundred per cent.’

  ‘How far gone when she moved in?’ Lewis asked.

  ‘Six or seven months, maybe. Does it matter?’

  ‘
Bear with us for now,’ Ed said. ‘So she moved in and had the baby. Did she ever mention the father?’

  ‘I knew it,’ Dee said. ‘It’s him, isn’t it? He killed her and now he’s taken Jake.’

  ‘Where was she before she came here?’ Lewis asked.

  ‘Bristol. Although I don’t think that’s where she was from originally. Her accent… she sounded London, maybe. She wasn’t a northerner, anyway. Apart from that, I really couldn’t say. Is it the father? Because if it is, I can’t help you. I’ve no idea who he is. Katie never mentioned him. When I asked her about him, she said Jake was the product of a one-night stand. She didn’t like to talk about it, so I never asked about it again.’

  ‘Would she have had to give references?’ Lewis asked. ‘Is that something your mother would have asked for? From previous landlords or an employer, for instance.’

  ‘Maybe.’ Dee stood up, that sense of needing to do something back stronger than ever now she knew the police still hadn’t found Jake. ‘We can check,’ she said. ‘Mum’s office is through here. Let’s take a look.’

  The office was a small room at the side of the house. It was this room, more than any other in the house, that reminded Dee of her mother. This was where she used to sit every day, working on her cases, reading the newspaper and doing the Times crossword.

  A grey filing cabinet stood in one corner of the room. Dee knew that any files relating to work or finances would be in the bottom drawer. The other drawers were set aside for family matters: photo albums, old school reports, out-of-date passports, all the memories of the life their little family shared before Dee grew up and her father died, followed by her mother a year later.

  As expected, Katie’s file was in the bottom drawer. It contained a copy of her tenancy agreement, a reference from her previous landlord in Bristol stating that she had been an ideal tenant, and a letter from a software development company in Shoreditch confirming her employment record.