Coming Home to Jasmine Cottage Page 18

  ‘Now then Charlie.’ Edward Wright nodded a welcome. ‘Not got the little one with you today?’ He looked round Charlie as though he half-expected Maisie to be hiding behind him.

  Something deep in his stomach twisted. She had to be here. ‘Er, no.’ The panic was rising again, blocking his throat. His daughter was six years old, and he didn’t know where she was. ‘I was wondering if she was here?’

  ‘Oh no.’ Edward frowned. ‘We’ve not seen her for a couple of hours, she played with Ted and the guinea pigs then he came back here for a drink on his own.’ He half turned and shouted. ‘Not seen the little one have you, Beth?’

  ‘Little one? Maisie?’ Beth Wright appeared from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a tea towel. ‘Hello there Charlie. No, I’ve not seen her. The kiddies played with the guinea pigs for a bit, then Ted wanted to come back to help me make the cakes, I did ask her but she said no. Not that I would have brought her back without asking first, seeing as it’s Sunday and you’re not working.’ She smiled. ‘Not in her bedroom or playing with little Treacle?’

  ‘No.’ Charlie grimaced. ‘And there’s no sign of the dog either. She came in while I was on the phone, but had disappeared by the time I put it down. I was only on for a few minutes, I just thought she’d have come over here.’

  ‘I’d check under the bed and in the wardrobe love, they can be little horrors at this age, full of mischief.’ She gave Ted, who had followed her from the kitchen, his hands sticky with dough, a quick hug. ‘You’ve not seen Maisie have you love?’

  ‘No. She went in. She wanted to play with Roo not me.’ He stared up at Charlie.

  ‘I better go back and have another look.’ With a wave, Charlie strode back down to the path and towards their home. It wasn’t like Maisie to ignore him when he called her, but she had been upset and acting a bit out of character lately. Maybe he’d got it wrong again, maybe breaking the developing relationship she had with Lucy was the wrong thing to do. He’d talk to her properly when he found her, explain.

  The house felt strange when Charlie walked back in and shrugged his jacket off. The uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach grew. It was too empty, echoingly empty, it didn’t feel like his daughter or dog were there hiding.

  There would be a welcome. A shout, a bark.

  There was nothing.

  He shook off the feeling of foreboding. ‘Maisie?’

  He got on his hands and knees, looked under the bed, from both sides. Flinging the wardrobe doors open, he rooted in the belongings at the bottom, pushing stuff to one side, throwing things out from the bottom, even though it was clear she wasn’t there.

  ‘Maisie, you can come out now.’ He pulled the drawers open, even though she was too big to fit in them. ‘It’s not funny now.’ The last he muttered roughly under his breath as he wheeled round, spotted the cupboards and yanked the doors open. Even though there was no way she could be in them. Even though she’d never, ever hidden there.

  Dragging his fingers through his hair he spun round, then headed back into the bathroom, which he’d already checked. Then he ran back down the stairs, and to his own bedroom, checking under his bed on his hands and knees.

  Then he sank back and stared round. Where the hell was she? Where hadn’t he looked?

  The game had gone on far too long, Maisie couldn’t keep hidden and quiet for this long. And even if she had been hiding, Roo would have made a noise.

  There was something wrong. Something very wrong.

  Her boots had gone from the basket. Her coat wasn’t flung on the chair as it usually was, or abandoned on her bedroom floor.

  He looked at the coat pegs again, there was something else wrong, something missing. Then he realised.

  The little rucksack that she took to school wasn’t there.

  He was painfully aware of the hollow feeling in his stomach, the thud of his heartbeat in his ears as he dashed round the house one more time, then scoured the garden and the shrubby bushes that without their summer leaves offered little cover anyway.

  Grabbing his car keys he ran out, drove the short distance to the farmhouse and ran back up the path.

  Beth Wright was on the doorstep before he reached it. ‘No sign, love?’

  Her calm tone didn’t help. ‘She’s not there, definitely not there.’ He’d already wasted far too much time fruitlessly searching. ‘Look I’m going to pop down to Lucy’s and check she isn’t there.’ There was a chance. A remote chance. ‘She’s obviously missing Lucy like mad, and she knows the way. We’ve walked it often enough.’ It would be easy. He glanced at his phone, surely Lucy would have let him know if she’d turned up alone? ‘What if she’s had an accident?’ He looked blindly at Beth. If she’d walked down the road, anything could have happened. She was small, a car might not have seen her. She could have slipped. Fallen.

  ‘I’m sure she’s not, dear.’ She put a steadying hand on his arm. ‘Now don’t you get worked up, I’m sure she’s just in one of the sheds, or been picking dandelions for that guinea pig and lost track of time. She’ll have just wandered a bit too far.’

  ‘Yes, I’m sure you’re right. But she doesn’t normally …’ She never went anywhere without asking.

  ‘You go down and check with Lucy, love, and we’ll check round the farm. Our Helen can go and sit in your house in case she turns up while you’re away, don’t want her getting upset, do we?’

  ‘No.’ He tried to smile, but it wasn’t happening. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘You take your time, love. We’ve got your number so we’ll call if we see her before you get back.’

  Charlie was torn between speeding the short distance into the village centre, and getting there as quickly as he could, or taking his time and making sure he checked out all the hedgerows on the way. As he turned the car out of the entrance to the farm he took a deep breath and eased his foot off the accelerator.

  He had to calm down, be logical. Beth had a point, she could have just wandered off further than she meant to, she’d be totally unaware of the scare she was giving him.

  But why had she taken her rucksack?

  His foot came down heavier on the accelerator.

  If she’d headed for Lucy she would be well on her way now. Unless she’d had an accident, was lying injured.

  His heart rate increased, clammy perspiration building up on the back of his neck, even though the weather was cold.

  Roo wouldn’t leave her. He’d keep her warm. He’d bark.

  Pulling up outside Lucy’s cottage, Charlie was out of the car almost before he’d pulled the handbrake on and with a brief rap on the door he barged in – and almost ran into Jamie Harwood.

  Lucy looked at him, eyes open wide in alarm, a flush of guilt on her features as her hand dropped from Jamie’s arm. As his arm dropped from round her shoulders.

  ‘For Christ’s sake.’ The words were out before he could stop them.

  ‘Catch you later.’ Jamie raised a hand in apology and was out of the door before Charlie could say another word.

  ‘He’s just got married.’ He stared at Lucy. ‘To your friend.’

  ‘I know.’ She glared back. ‘You’re jumping to conclusions again, and really silly ones. It was a thank you hug.’

  ‘A thank you? For what? No, no, it doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter.’ And it didn’t, he knew it didn’t. Lucy was kind, nice, people liked her. People hugged her. He wanted to hug her.

  ‘Charlie, you’re being—’

  ‘Sorry.’ He held up a hand to stop her talking, then raked his fingers through his hair. ‘Maisie is missing.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’ve lost Maisie. She’s gone.’ Charlie flung his arms up in the air.

  ‘What do you mean gone?’ She was frowning at him, but he didn’t want to say the words again – in case they were true. ‘Josie’s back? But she can’t …’

  ‘Not Josie.’ He shook his head in frustration. ‘No, she’s just gone. She’s not in the house. She’s missi
ng. I was on the phone talking to Sal about her bloody puppy thing, then I turned round and she was gone, and so was Roo.’ He covered his face with his hands, he had to get a grip. ‘God, you really don’t think …?’ Something twisted in his gut. ‘What if Josie has come back, what if she’s taken matters into her own hands? She was so bloody worked up last time we talked.’ The words rasped in his throat. ‘No. She couldn’t. Not again. She couldn’t just take her.’

  ‘Charlie, no, that doesn’t make sense. She wouldn’t even be able to find your place without somebody on the farm seeing her, would she?’

  He took a deep breath. ‘No.’ Let the air slowly escape from his lungs. ‘No.’ He was being ridiculous. He’d spoken to her only the other day, not even Josie could have booked flights and hatched a plan like this.

  ‘Tell me what’s happened. Slowly.’

  ‘I thought she might come here to you, we’ve got to go and—’

  ‘Charlie stop.’

  He stopped. Looked straight into that direct blue gaze and stopped.

  ‘Charlie I need to say this now, I’ll explain later about why Jamie was here, okay? But right now you need to tell me what’s happened with Maisie.’

  ‘She was in the garden with Ted,’ he took a deep breath, ‘she came in while I was on the phone to Sal, she went upstairs. I never heard her come back down or go out again, but when I went to find her she’d gone. Disappeared.’

  ‘You’ve looked round the farm.’

  ‘Of course I’ve looked—’ He pulled himself up, softened his tone even though he wanted to hang on to the anger. ‘She’s not on the farm, Beth said they’d keep an eye out.’

  ‘Why would she go? Has something happened?’

  ‘You.’ He stared at her, and the truth slowly dawned on him. Maisie wasn’t just missing, she’d run away. ‘This wouldn’t have happened if you …’ The words hung, he shouldn’t have said that.

  ‘If I what?’ She looked at him quizzically.

  ‘We. Not you. We. If we hadn’t been involved this wouldn’t have happened.’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

  ‘She’s not just wandered off. She’s run away because she was upset that nobody loved her, we weren’t seeing you anymore and …’

  ‘Oh, Charlie.’ She closed the gap then, and put a hand up to his face. Her palm cool, skin soft, and he wanted to lean into it, close his eyes. Cry. Instead he gritted his teeth. Rested his hand over hers.

  ‘It doesn’t matter about you and …’

  ‘Charlie, me and Jamie are planning something for Sally. A surprise, with Matt. Sorry I should have told you before, I know I should, but it was getting the right time when Sal wasn’t about, and Maisie wasn’t in hearing distance. I’ll explain later, okay?’

  He nodded, not really caring. All he wanted right now was to find Maisie. ‘She’s taken her coat and her bag, I don’t know what’s in it. Hell.’ Frustration coursed through him, rippling through the worry.

  ‘Bag?’

  ‘The school bag, rucksack, it’s gone. I was only on the phone for a few minutes, ten minutes tops. She’d come back in and marched upstairs and I never heard her come back down. But she was upset, about the costume.’

  ‘Costume?’

  ‘The flaming nativity, I said I didn’t know how to make a costume, she said to come and ask you, but I said we couldn’t.’ He pulled his shoulders back, tried to ignore the tightening band around his forehead, the throbbing in his temple. ‘She was upset, nearly crying, but I thought she was okay. Christ, Lucy I was only trying to do the best thing, calm Josie down, but I wasn’t doing the right thing for Maisie. She misses you like hell.’ He shut his eyes briefly. ‘So do I.’

  ‘I miss her.’ Her voice was soft. ‘I miss both of you.’ She took a breath, then seemed to focus, switch into common-sense mode. ‘Right, let’s ring around and get the whole village checking. You call Matt and the landlord at the Taverner’s and they can check at that end, I’ll call Sally and Jamie, I’ll ask them to get hold of Jim, and if I tell Jill she can let Timothy know.’

  ‘You don’t think it’s a bit …’

  ‘It’s fine, if the whole village knows then somebody will soon spot her.’ She’d picked up her mobile and Charlie followed suit. ‘We’ll soon find her, she can’t have gone far.’ She looked at him reassuringly, her voice soft. ‘She might be home in her bedroom by now.’

  ‘I hope so.’ There was something therapeutic about making the calls, the calm responses and the feeling of doing something, but after the two short conversations he suddenly felt helpless again. His daughter was out there somewhere, on a freezing November afternoon. At best she’d be cold, lost and frightened. At worst … Well he couldn’t think like that. But they had to find her before the light began to fade, before it got even colder.

  ‘You get back to the farm, Charlie and organise a search there. I’ll stay here for a bit just in case she does make her way here.’

  The words she didn’t say hung between them. If she was heading there, why hadn’t he passed her on his way over?

  ‘Thanks, Lucy, look I know I’ve made some bad decisions, and I think trying to keep away from you is one of my bigge—’ The jangle of his phone stopped him dead.

  ‘Charlie? It’s Beth Wright here, lovey.’

  ‘Has she …?’

  ‘No sign of her yet dear, but I’m sure she’ll be back soon. Your little dog has turned up though. Yapping away he was, and he’s a right state, a right mucky mess. Smells like he’s been in a ditch.’ Charlie felt his heart lurch. If the dog had been in a ditch, where was his daughter?

  ‘From the state I’d say he’s been across the fields so we’re going to have a look down by the bottom field. We’ve brought the cows in, so don’t you go worrying about them.’

  ‘I’m on my way back.’ He glanced at Lucy. ‘Did you hear?’

  She nodded. ‘You go, I’ll let everybody know and then I’ll follow you over. We’ll soon find her Charlie, she can’t have gone far or Roo wouldn’t have found his way back. Go on, go.’

  A muddy Roo was ecstatic to see Charlie, and bounced around like his namesake but was absolutely no use at all when he was asked where Maisie was. He sat down and barked. Then lay down, his chin on his paws and fixed his puzzled gaze on Charlie.

  Fishing out a spare lead, he clipped it on to the dog’s collar. Even though the terrier was showing no inclination to lead the way, maybe if they got close to where Maisie was he’d take over and take Charlie to her.

  Jim’s Landrover pulled up as he made his way back outside.

  ‘Lucy just rang me, lad. I’ve got an idea. We’ll find her, Charlie boy. Timothy is checking round by the school and on the green just to be on the safe side, and Jill is going to stop by the church and village hall, she said Maisie was quite taken with the church when they took them down there the other day. Right lad.’ He patted Roo on the head. ‘I’ll get out of your way. I think from the state of that dog this is a job for boots and a stick.’ He gave Charlie a friendly thump on the arm, and grabbing his walking stick from the back of the vehicle he set off in the direction of the cow shed.

  Chapter 18

  By the time Lucy had rung round everybody with an update it was 1 p.m. She bit her lip as she pulled her scarf and jacket on, painfully aware that soon the light would start to fade and the slightly chilly day would turn distinctly colder.

  She’d half expected Charlie to call her the moment he got back to the farm, saying that Maisie had turned up. But he hadn’t.

  Piper looked up expectantly as she pulled her boots on, and after a moment’s hesitation she clipped the puppy’s lead on. The dog was only young, but she always had her nose to the ground, sniffing out exciting smells, and she did like Maisie, and Lucy was pretty sure that a dog’s hearing was better than a human’s. If Maisie did cry out, then maybe Piper would respond. It was a slim hope, but right now Lucy would do anything that might mean Maisie was back with them quicker.

&n
bsp; She tried to push the horrible thoughts of Maisie being lost or stuck somewhere to the back of her mind. If she was hurt, stuck out in the dark all alone …. It didn’t bear thinking about.

  Slamming the door shut behind her Lucy headed back up the lane towards the veterinary surgery. She’d have one quick look there before walking on towards the farm – and she would scour the ditches and hedgerows on the way.

  The fingers of her hand clutching Piper’s lead were soon frozen, she’d lost all feeling in the tips, and as she shoved her hands in her pockets a sudden pang of fear clutched her. If she was this cold already, how did Maisie feel?

  The surgery was in darkness. All shut up, the blinds down. She’d popped in earlier to see what Sally’s puppy party was about, but the party was over now, the building empty and quiet.

  With Piper beside her she walked round the edges of the car park before checking round the building. The outhouses around the back, where the surgery kept supplies, were firmly locked but she banged on the doors and shouted just in case. There was no answering bark or shout. She edged her way behind the bins, desperately hoping to find Maisie curled up somewhere. There was no sign of anybody. She knew Sally and Jamie had joined the search and had no doubt checked the surgery before they went, but there was always the chance that Maisie had got there after they left.

  But she hadn’t. There was no sign that anybody had been there.

  Biting her lip, Lucy hurried up the lane, breaking into a trot, Piper loping along at her side. Just past the surgery she knew there was a stile and a public footpath that would take her across the fields and straight to Wright’s farm. It would be a lot quicker than heading back into the village square.

  She was glad now that she’d spent the summer in Langtry Meadows, and not headed back to her old home. It had been a good summer, and she’d spent many happy days exploring the place with Jim as her guide. He’d instantly bonded with little Maisie, his gentle manner soon making her forget her shyness, and he obviously loved the company. As they’d wandered along the footpaths he’d pointed out flowers to her, showed her where the mice had built their nests, told her tales about the old woodland and how he’d helped lay the hedges when he was young.