Chapter 41
FORTY-ONE
Keswick
Quinn woke with a start and grabbed for her ringing mobile.
She had lost hope of hearing from Logan, but she thought the call might be from Jude, who might want to find out if there were any new developments and confirm that he was on his way.
She was surprised to discover that Gabe was up, and Max was no longer in his cot.
She could hear them chatting in the other room as Max inquired about breakfast.
“Hey,” Jude said when Quinn answered. He sounded unusually disgruntled, and she heard a lot of noise in the background, mostly people talking loudly.
“Hey, yourself. Are you on your way?”
“Not exactly. There is a power outage at the airport at Stuttgart.”
“Any foul play suspected?” Quinn asked, instantly alert. These days, one’s mind immediately went to bad actors rather than some more innocent explanation.
“Doesn’t look like it, but all flights are canceled. I will try again tomorrow. Power ought to be restored by then.” It got a little quieter as Jude must have exited the waiting area. “I’m heading back to base. Have you heard from the police?”
“Nothing since yesterday.”
“And Drew? Was he able to make any headway?”
“More than DI Malone had,” Quinn replied. “He was able to rule out Chrissy and Rafe, but he didn’t identify any new leads. It seems Chrissy was seriously ill. She returned to the Czech Republic to be with her family,” she said sadly.
“So she hasn’t come back to the UK?” Jude asked.
“Doesn’t look like it. I’m almost glad she wasn’t part of Max’s life,” Quinn mused. “It would have been traumatic for him to lose his mother as well as Rafe,” she said. And now he might lose his dad, she thought miserably but didn’t voice the thought. She didn’t want to say the words aloud.
“It will be all right,” Jude said.
“Will it?” Quinn asked. She wasn’t convinced.
“It has to be. Max has a family that loves him. We’ll see him through whatever happens.”
And us? Will we be all right? Quinn wanted to ask, but that wasn’t a question either of them could answer.
She heard Jude speaking to someone, maybe an Uber driver, and then he came back to her. “I’ll ring you tomorrow, but do let me know if there are any new developments.”
“I will,” she promised.
Quinn had just set her phone down on the bedside table when there was another incoming call. Drew. She snatched up the phone.
“Drew, hi. Anything?”
“I’m not sure yet. I was able to obtain Logan’s call register for the past three months.
No illuminating texts. Certain numbers repeat at regular intervals, yours among them.
There are calls from Jude, from a few friends, and from the hospital, presumably work-related.
Then, about two weeks ago, a new number crops up. ”
“Whose number?” Quinn asked.
“It’s from a pay-as-you-go number, but given the length of the calls, I’d say that a conversation took place, unless this person left very long voicemails. The last call was on the day Logan disappeared. In the afternoon.”
“What do you think this means?”
“This is just a working theory at this stage, but I think Logan got involved in something dodgy, realized he was in danger, and tried to lead whoever had come after him away from Max.”
“Did Logan make any calls after that day?” Quinn asked.
“No. He did not make any calls or log into any apps. I’m waiting for my guy to provide me with Logan’s banking data.”
Quinn didn’t bother to ask how Drew’s guy was able to obtain records that would require a warrant to access. She didn’t really care. At least Drew was doing something, unlike DI Malone, who’d gone silent.
“What do you hope to find?” she asked.
“Anything outside the normal pattern that might give insight into what he was up to. If Logan didn’t take out a large sum of money to see him through, then he would need to use his credit card or take out cash.
If he’s made no transactions over the past few days, chances are he is either lying low or he’s unable to. ”
She appreciated the euphemism, but she knew precisely what Drew was getting at. If Logan had no money on him and hadn’t used his cards, he was most likely dead.
“Quinn, I will do everything in my power to find Logan, but you have to prepare yourself for the possibility that whoever followed him to his house killed him, loaded his body in the boot of his car, then disposed of the body and torched the car to destroy any traces of Logan’s DNA.”
A sob tore from her chest. “He can’t be gone. I’ve lost so many people, Drew.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, love, but there’s no celestial scale of justice that says you can’t lose more than you can handle. Sometimes bad things happen. And sometimes, people make decisions that bring untold trouble into their lives.”
“And you think that’s what happened with Logan?” Quinn asked through tears.
“It’s too soon to say. He doesn’t have a record and has never been in any trouble with the law, but desperate people do desperate things. Perhaps he got into debt, or maybe he was being blackmailed. I will know more once I look at his bank statements.”
“OK. Thanks, Drew.”
Quinn must have looked despondent when she came out of the bedroom, since Gabe silently pulled her into his arms and held her.
“Are you OK, Aunt Quinn?” Max asked. His gaze was as penetrating as that of any police detective.
She nodded. “I’m fine, Max. Thank you. I just have a headache.” And she did. It was throbbing behind her eyes and radiating into her temples, no doubt brought on by stress.
“You should go for a walk,” Max said wisely. “Dad says fresh air is good for a headache.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” Gabe said. “Why don’t you have some breakfast, then take a nice, long walk around the lake. It will help you to clear your mind.”
He poured her a cup of coffee, fixed it the way she liked, and handed her the mug. Quinn took a grateful sip. Fresh air might be good, but caffeine was better.
“And then, before you know it, Jude will be here,” he added, no doubt hoping to cheer her up.
“He just rang. His flight was canceled. There’s a power outage at the airport.”
Gabe’s gaze slid to Max, who was clearly listening, his face set in lines of concentration.
“Is everything all right?” Gabe asked in a tone that was entirely too casual.
That was parent-speak for Should we be worried?
And also frustration with his inability to go online and see for himself what was happening.
A day without the internet and they both felt completely cut off.
It was as if the world beyond the boathouse had gone dark, the people and places they knew suddenly beyond their reach.
“Jude wasn’t concerned. He’ll try again tomorrow.”
“Good. In the meantime, I can take the kids out,” Gabe offered. “Keep them occupied.”
“Out where?”
“Well, fishing turned out to be a terrible idea, but Reggie mentioned that there are several entertainment centers in Barrow-in-Furness. There are arcades, bouncy castles, and maybe even go-karts. That should keep them happy for a few hours.”
“Isn’t that awfully far? And how will you get there if you can’t use your satnav?” Quinn asked.
“I’ll do it the old-fashioned way and use a map.”
“Maybe I should come with you.”
“Or maybe you should work on the new episode of Echoes. It will take your mind off things.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Quinn asked.
“It’s my pleasure.”
She was enormously grateful, but she also knew her husband well enough to understand that he needed to keep busy, and, in the way of alpha males everywhere, he needed to do something to fix the situation.
It made him feel better to be able to offer a solution, even if it involved taking the kids to an arcade and giving her the space to work.
“Emma will help me,” Gabe said. “She can keep an eye on Mia and Alex so that I can devote myself to looking after Max.”
“I love you,” Quinn said simply. “And thank you.”
“No thanks required.”
Quinn nodded. She felt a bit guilty, but the prospect of spending a few hours on her own won out.
She was worried and, despite a full night of sleep, felt tired and emotionally drained.
And she had to ring back Rhys, who’d left several messages.
She couldn’t keep putting him off, not when he had to put out a casting call for actors, scout a location, begin the process of designing sets and costumes, and do all the other myriad things that went into the production of an hour-long episode.
She took a quiet, solitary walk after breakfast, but when she got back she popped over to the guesthouse and asked Sam to print out directions to the amusement centers, then made sure Gabe and the children had everything they needed before setting off.
Once they were finally on their way, she settled in a deckchair and gazed out over the tranquil surface of the lake.
The water sparkled in the midday sun, and even the island that had seemed so dark and menacing last night now looked charming and picturesque.
Quinn drank in the peaceful silence, then reluctantly pulled out her mobile and phoned Rhys.