Chapter 32
Kat was sitting at the breakfast table on Monday morning going over the bid one last time.
Harry was sick to death of talking about it and was making them breakfast. Kat wasn’t sure she could eat anything the way her stomach was churning, but she knew the food was his way of distracting himself just as her double and triple checking the numbers was her way of coping with the nerves.
She was excited too – if they could pull this off then it would be the start of something wonderful.
Her phone rang and, head still full of numbers, she swiped to answer it without looking. ‘Hello?’
‘Kat? It’s Debbie, love. Look I’m sorry to bother you on your day off but I’ve just arrived at work and the door’s locked. I’ve knocked and knocked but there’s no answer.’
Kat lowered her phone a second to check the time on the screen. It was quarter to nine, so her dad should’ve been in for ages. ‘Dad’s probably in the back and didn’t hear you. Have you tried calling him?’
‘Yes, a few times but there was no answer. I don’t think he’s here, love, the place is in complete darkness.’ Debbie went quiet for a moment then added, ‘I called the house number too but there was no answer.’
Shit. Kat glanced down at her pyjamas and then across the kitchen to where Harry had stopped stirring the pan in front of him and was watching her with a worried frown. She swallowed hard then said into the phone, ‘Give me ten minutes, Debbie, and I’ll be there.’ She rang off.
‘No,’ Harry said before she could say anything. ‘Whatever you’re about to say, Kat, just no. Not today.’
‘That was Debbie,’ she said, ignoring his protest. ‘She’s outside Java Brava and everything’s in darkness and she can’t get hold of my dad.’ She stood and folded her arms. ‘What do you want me to do, Harry? Leave Debbie standing outside in the cold?’
The smell of something burning hit her nose at the same moment Harry swore and shoved the saucepan away from the burner. He turned it off with a sharp twist of his fingers then huffed out a breath. ‘What do you mean she can’t get hold of your dad? Where is he?’
‘I have no idea. She’s tried his mobile and the house phone and can’t get an answer from either.’ Worry clawed at her insides like a cat trying to fight its way out of a bag. ‘I hope everything’s okay.’
They stared at each other and Kat watched as the anger in his eyes softened as he began to understand the implications of what no contact might mean. ‘I’ll come with you.’
God, she loved him so much. It was neither the time nor the place for the realisation to hit but there it was. ‘No. You stay here and I’ll go and find out what’s going on.’
‘I’m not letting you go on your own; what if it’s something awful?’
Kat gulped as the fear shot bile straight up her throat.
‘I’m sure it won’t be that bad. Mum’s probably making a scene about going into work and he’s trying to calm her down.
’ She placed a hand on his chest. ‘It’ll be okay.
’ She wasn’t sure who she was trying to reassure but she had to believe it until proven otherwise.
‘I’m going to go and let poor Debbie in and then I’ll head to their house and find out what’s going on. ’
He covered her hand with his. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?’
She gave him her best approximation of a smile. ‘Can I trust you not to lump my dad one when we get to their house and find out it’s just more of their drama?’
Harry gave a reluctant laugh. ‘Probably not.’ His eyes clouded with worry. ‘What about the meeting? Do you want me to try and postpone it?’
Kat shook her head. ‘We need Russ and Adam to have confidence in us and cancelling on them won’t look good. I’ll be back in time, I promise.’
He leaned down and rested his forehead against hers. ‘I’ll handle it. Go do what you need to do, Kitty.’
Kat grabbed clean underwear from her drawer then yanked on the jeans and sweatshirt she’d been lounging around the flat in the day before.
She didn’t even bother to look in the mirror at the state of her hair, because she simply didn’t have time to worry about it.
When she emerged from her room, Harry was waiting by the front door holding her coat ready for her to shove her arms into it.
‘I’ll be back,’ she promised him, but he only nodded and opened the door.
Kat hurried out and down the steps, cursing her parents as she ran.
Goddamn them for doing this to her again.
She tried both her parents’ mobiles and the house phone numerous times on the way to the coffee shop but there was no reply. She found poor Debbie huddled in her jacket, stamping her feet to ward off the cold as she chatted to a couple of disgruntled customers.
Kat ran up with the keys in her hand. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she apologised as she fumbled with the lock then hurried inside to disarm the alarm and flip on the lights.
‘It’s fine, love,’ Debbie assured her as she rushed past to the office, already unzipping her coat.
It wasn’t, but Kat appreciated the other woman’s calm, steady nature as she turned to smile at the waiting customers.
She knew them both, but then again she knew pretty much everyone in the village, even the ones she hadn’t been at school with.
‘I’m really, really sorry. Please come in and get warm.
Give us two minutes to sort ourselves out and whatever you want is on the house to thank you for being so patient. ’
‘Everything all right?’ Lydia Green asked as she wheeled in an enormous buggy and parked it beside her usual table. Her little girl, Olivia, was wrapped up in a blanket, fast asleep.
Lydia’s best friend, Milly, smiled at Kat as she unzipped her coat and hung it over the back of a chair. ‘I thought I was going to have to go without my caffeine fix there for a minute!’
‘We can’t have that!’ Kat said, returning the smile with genuine warmth.
She’d always been wary of Lydia, but Milly was a sweetheart.
‘And, yes, everything’s fine, thanks. We had a silly mix-up with the rota, that’s all.
’ Kat didn’t like how easily the lie came to her lips, but Lydia was a terrible gossip at the best of times and this was far, far from that.
‘You want your usual, ladies?’ Debbie called in a bright voice as she emerged from the office, still tying her apron around her waist. ‘A large latte and a cappuccino with an extra shot?’
‘Yes, please, Debs,’ Lydia replied. She turned to Kat with a calculating look. ‘On the house, you said?’
Kat could read her mind as easily as if a cartoon thought bubble had popped up above Lydia’s head.
‘That’s right, and add something to eat as well if you like.
It’s the least I can do under the circumstances.
’ Kat was past the point of worrying about the bottom line. Her dad would have to suck it up.
‘Give them whatever they want, Debs,’ she said, quietly, as she joined the other woman behind the counter.
Debbie nodded as she went through the routine that started the coffee machine going. ‘If you need to head home and check on things I’ll hold the fort.’
‘You sure?’ Leaving Debbie on her own without a supervisor was against the rules, but Kat couldn’t ignore the fear that was mounting inside every minute she heard nothing.
‘Of course, love.’
‘I’ll be quick as I can and I’ve got my phone,’ Kat said, already moving. ‘Call me if you need anything!’
She was out of breath by the time she reached the top of her parents’ road and she could feel her sweatshirt sticking to her back.
Kat slowed to a walk and tried to catch her breath as she reached the top of the path outside their house.
Her father’s car wasn’t on the drive, but he often parked it in the garage.
A horn toot-tooted behind her and she spun around to see Issy’s little blue car pulling up next to her.
The moment it stopped, Anya spilled out of the passenger seat and grabbed Kat in a hug. ‘Oh, Kat, are you okay?’
Kat hugged her back and watched in amazement as Chloe clambered out the back seat, an expression like thunder on her face.
Issy got out of the driving seat, an apron still covering her jeans and top as if she’d run straight out of the café – which, knowing Issy, she probably had.
‘What are you all doing here?’ Kat asked.
They all started talking at once. ‘Harry called Liam and told him what was going on so he’s looking after the café until Nan can get there to take over,’ Issy said.
‘It’s one of Davy’s days in the office so he’s looking after the hotel,’ Anya added.
‘What do you think we’re doing here, silly goose?’ Chloe said as she grabbed Kat and gave her a fierce hug. She stepped back and glared up at the house. ‘Have you been in yet?’
Kat shook her head. The churning in her stomach had ramped up to a full spin cycle now. ‘I only just got here. God, I hope they’re all right.’
‘I hope they’ve done us all a favour and murdered each other,’ Chloe muttered.
‘Chloe! My God!’ Anya gasped, eyes wide in horror.
‘What?’ Chloe demanded as she held out her hand to Kat for her keys. ‘I’m just saying what we’re all thinking.’
The same thought had flitted through Kat’s mind on the way over, but she’d dismissed it out of hand. Issy rolled her eyes. ‘This isn’t a bloody Netflix documentary, Chloe.’ She reached for Kat’s hand. ‘It’ll be okay.’
Kat squeezed her friend’s hand, grateful as always for her stalwart support. ‘It probably won’t, but I’m glad you’re all here with me.’
The house was empty. No sign of anyone and no sign of disturbance either, much to Kat’s relief. ‘Can you check the garage?’ she asked Anya as she took a slower look around downstairs after their madcap race to check all the rooms.
‘Of course.’
‘I’ll check in the kitchen,’ Issy offered as Chloe came over and handed Kat the couple of envelopes she’d found on the mat.
Kat ripped them open but one was a utility bill and the other a bank statement. Kat shoved them both back in their envelopes and put them on the sideboard. ‘Now what?’ she asked Chloe with a sigh.
Chloe shook her head. ‘I have no idea. They can’t have just vanished. When was the last time you spoke to them?’
‘I saw Dad at work on Thursday. He was taking Mum to that spa place in Port Petroc on Friday and then I was off over the weekend.’
‘Maybe they stayed at the spa?’ Chloe suggested, her voice suddenly hopeful. ‘Like a second honeymoon or something?’
Kat shook her head. ‘They can’t have because someone would’ve told me if the coffee shop didn’t open over the weekend.’
Chloe’s shoulders sagged. ‘No, I suppose not.’
‘There’s no sign of your dad’s car,’ Anya said, returning Kat’s keys to her.
‘And nothing in the kitchen,’ Issy said as she walked back in. ‘And I mean nothing. Not a dirty cup or plate, no crumbs on the board. I even checked the dishwasher but it’s completely empty.’
‘That’s so weird,’ Anya said. ‘Have you tried calling them again?’
Kat pulled out her phone and called her dad. It rang several times before switching to voicemail. ‘It’s Kat. Call me back ASAP. I’m getting really worried.’ The message was a variation of the half dozen she’d already left. She tried her mum’s and went through the same process.
‘Maybe they got abducted by aliens?’ Chloe suggested.
‘I’m definitely cancelling your Netflix subscription,’ Issy said with a laugh as she slung an arm around Chloe’s shoulders.
Kat laughed along with them and she felt something inside her relax.
There would be an explanation – one that didn’t involve murder or aliens – she just needed to figure it out.
‘Standing here isn’t getting us anywhere.
I’ll have to go back to the coffee shop because I can’t leave Debbie handling things on her own. ’
‘What about your meeting this afternoon?’ Anya asked.
‘I’ll have to figure something out if they’re not back by then because I’m not missing it.’ That was a non-negotiable. Kat had made a promise to Harry and she would not let him down.
‘I wasn’t sure if I should mention it, but Harry’s asked Liam if he’ll go in your place,’ Issy told her.
The wind went out of her and Kat sank down on the arm of the sofa. ‘He thinks I’m going to let him down.’
Issy crouched beside her and placed a comforting hand on her knee. ‘I’m sure he’s just trying to give you the time you need to deal with all this.’
‘I promised him that I’d be there, though.’
And he hadn’t believed her.
Not that Kat could blame him when she’d given him no proper cause to. The way she’d dropped everything and come running to once again try and sort out whatever problems her parents were causing, it was no wonder he didn’t trust her.
‘He’ll understand,’ Anya said, coming over to place an arm around her shoulders. ‘He knows how things are with your mum and dad.’
Kat raised her eyes and looked at Chloe. ‘And what do you think?’
Chloe snorted. ‘You already know what I think. But I’ll say it if you really need me to.’
‘It’s not my problem.’
Chloe reached out and took both Kat’s hands in hers. ‘Exactly.’