She could hear his footsteps as he walked away from her slowly, heard the heaviness of the door as he pulled it open and, as it shut behind him, she started to cry.

Chapter One Hundred and Four

Chapter One Hundred
and Four

‘I can’t believe that no one knows where she is, Michael. It’s just not possible. You’re wrong. You need to start sorting this out properly.’

Michael looked at his wife, at her perfectly made-up face, and her expensive designer clothes that she wore indoors like other people wore pyjamas. It was the middle of the night and she was fully dressed, acting as if it was the most natural thing in the world to be dressed like a fucking supermodel at three a.m., when it was anything but. And, to top it all, she had the nerve to question him. To challenge him about his missing daughter, as if he wasn’t even bothering to try and locate her. This from the mother who didn’t care enough to leave her home and help him with his search. He was tired, worried, and now he was also fucking annoyed. How dare she question him, when she hadn’t done anything at all to help?

‘Do you know what, Josephine? You’ve got a brass neck on you. I have been searching high and low for Jessie, I’ve mobilised the whole of the London police force, every fucker on my payroll, and I have made sure that every person our Jessie ever knew has been routed. What have you done? Other than repair your make-up, and reset your fucking hair? Oh, and let little Jake have a few minutes of your precious time with you? Playing the devoted nana, and keeping everything he touches as if it means anything to anyone else in the real world! Come on then – tell me, Josephine. I’m so fucking interested. You haven’t left this house for years. You hide in here like a fucking Nazi war criminal. We pretend it’s normal, you living in two rooms in a home that’s big enough to house a fucking army, but it’s not, Josephine, it’s not normal at all. Then you have the nerve to tell me that I’m not doing enough to find Jessie. Where the fuck do you get off?’

Josephine was white-faced at this attack on her, and she wasn’t able to answer her husband. His anger was so painful and raw. She had never seen him like this before. Somewhere in her head, she recognised he was telling her the truth, but it didn’t make it any easier to hear.