The Sleeping and the Dead

That explained some of their anxiety. Mel had left in a strop after a fight. They’d be feeling guilty too.

‘What time did she leave home?’

‘Late,’ Richard said. ‘She told us she’d just go in for last orders. She knew you’d be working. We thought she’d be all right with you.’

Christ, Rosie thought. As if it’s my fault.

He went on. ‘It was probably about quarter-past ten. We went to bed soon after, assumed she’d go back to your house or Joe’s and let herself in late. It was only this morning when Eleanor got back from the gym that she realized Mel’s bed hadn’t been slept in.’ And had an attack of anxiety and guilt and summoned Richard back from work.

‘I’d already left the pub at ten,’ Rosie said. ‘Frank let me go early.’

‘Were any of her other friends in the pub?’

Rosie thought, shook her head. Monday was usually quiet; people spent all their money at the weekend. ‘Have you spoken to Frank?’

‘Frank?’

‘The manager. To check that she arrived there.’

‘Not yet. We didn’t want to make a lot of fuss until we were sure it was justified.’

‘Do you want me to phone him? He needn’t know she’s missing.’

‘Yes,’ Richard said. ‘That’d be helpful.’ Another flash of the smile.

Rosie would have preferred not to have an audience, but they obviously expected her to use the phone in the kitchen. She looked at her watch. Ten o’clock. Frank should be up by now. He answered quickly. ‘The Promenade. Frank speaking. How may I help you?’ Very brisk and efficient. He must have been expecting a call from his boss at headquarters.

‘Hi. It’s me. Rosie.’

‘Hey, lass. I hope you’re in a better mood than you were last night.’

‘Did Mel come in after I left?’

‘Aye but only to poke her head round the door to ask where you were. I’d have bought her a drink if she’d hung around. She looked like she could do with one.’

‘Do you know where she went after?’

‘No idea, pet.’

Rosie replaced the receiver. ‘Sorry,’ she said. Both Gillespies were staring at her. ‘She was there but only for a couple of minutes.’

Eleanor gave a little whimper. Rosie felt sorry for her though she’d never much taken to her before. She’d been friendly enough, but in a desperate way. She tried too hard to be one of the girls.

There was a knock on the door. Richard touched Eleanor’s hand, extinguishing the hope before it was lit. ‘That’ll be Joe.’

Joe looked shattered. He was still wearing his uniform from the supermarket. It had been one of his nights for work. Any other time Rosie would have teased him about the shiny grey trousers, the blazer with the company logo on the breast pocket.

Now she just said, ‘You must have had time to change.’ His night shift finished at seven thirty.

‘It’s been a nightmare. I borrowed my mum’s car. It broke down on the bypass on my way home. It took the AA an hour and a half to get there and then they couldn’t fix it. By the time they’d got it to the garage…’ He stopped, shrugged, turned to the Gillespies. ‘Anyway, I got your message.’

Richard seemed to have forgotten about the coffee. Rosie tipped some into a mug, waved the jug towards the others.

‘Yeah,’ Joe said. ‘Thanks.’ She poured one for him and replaced the jug on the hotplate.

‘Mel’s gone missing,’ Rosie said. ‘She came to see me at the Prom but I wasn’t there. She didn’t come to your house? It would have been between ten thirty and eleven.’ She felt the need to take charge. Even Richard seemed to have given in to lethargy. He was staring out of the window.

‘It was one of my regular work nights,’ Joe said. ‘She might have forgotten and gone to the house but no one would have been there. Mum and Dad were at the theatre and Grace spent the night with a mate.’ Grace was his thirteen-year-old sister.

They sat round the table looking at each other. Eleanor had moved away from the Aga to join them. Richard was at the head. He dragged his attention away from the garden. The chairman of the board, Rosie thought, trying to hold his team together.

‘She has other friends,’ he said. ‘She’ll have wanted to teach us a lesson. That’s what this is all about. It would be best if the kids phoned around.’ He looked at Rosie and Joe. ‘You know the names and the numbers and they’d be more likely to tell you the truth.’

They started with a pretence of enthusiasm, but soon it was obvious to them both that Mel wasn’t with any of the usual gang. Eleanor would have had them phoning all day. It was Joe, hollow-eyed and fraught, who said, ‘Look, I think you should go to the police.’

Eleanor and Richard shot a look at each other which Rosie couldn’t interpret.

‘This evening,’ Richard said. ‘I promise. If she’s not back this evening…’

Soon after, they left – Rosie to town to check on some places Mel might be and Joe to sleep. They were standing, talking together on the corner of the street before going their separate ways, when the Volvo pulled out of the drive and accelerated away. Richard Gillespie off to do some other deal. Rosie imagined Eleanor Gillespie curled up again in the wicker chair waiting for the phone to ring or the door to open.