Chapter 49 Fenna – Day 11
Luke is busy strapping the children in the hire car.
Fenna keeps her eye on Rosie who is awkwardly posing for a photo with Theo under the shade of a fig tree.
Gerry has his professional camera in the air, instructing them both to smile.
Fenna can see that it’s forced. Rosie’s eyes dart around the driveway, her body tense.
A gnawing sensation spirals in her gut. She tries to ignore the voice at the back of her confused mind, the one that warns her not to trust this woman.
‘Daddy will get it in a minute, petal, sit back for me, please.’ Luke is growing frustrated with Alba squirming in her car seat. ‘Maybe Mummy will get your dolly?’
‘Give him a kiss on the cheek.’ Another click of Gerry’s camera before Marianne tells him he can take more photos when they get there. They don’t want to be late.
‘Fenna? Can you reach her doll? She’s thrown it in the front seat? Fenna?’ Luke grumbles.
‘Sure, sorry.’
‘You ok?’ Luke asks as she climbs into the stuffy car a moment later.
‘Fine.’
‘Is Rosie ok?’
‘Hmm?’ Fenna says, fumbling with her seatbelt.
‘She looks ill. Don’t you think?’
‘Ill?’
‘Yeah.’ He frowns, turning the air-conditioning to full max. ‘Something’s going on. She’s acting weird. Maybe she’s pregnant . . . That would explain the rushed proposal. Has she not told you anything?’
‘Me? No.’
She remembers what she saw on the TV earlier.
The local news was on whilst she was changing Raffi’s nappy.
Carla’s worried father sobbed at a press conference, her mother mute with pain, clutching a teddy bear.
Eight days without her medication. A dour-faced reporter showed a clip of police searching in undergrowth.
There’s going to be a vigil tonight in the centre of town.
The Frasers mustn’t know about this, otherwise they would cancel the engagement party. Wouldn’t they?
Luke puts the car into reverse. As the house grows smaller in the distance, a sinking feeling sloshes around the pit of her stomach. The air is charged as if secrets are going to explode.
Alba insists they play her nursery rhymes playlist, Fenna hasn’t got the energy to argue. A high-pitched rendition of ‘The Wheels On The Bus’ fills the car.
She had hoped Luke would compliment her outfit.
Her sage-green wrap dress, with a flowing tiered hem and easy nursing access, may not be the sexiest thing she owns but she thought he might pick up on the effort she’s made.
Instead, he’s distracted. Lost in his own thoughts.
He gestures in annoyance as a motorbike cuts him up.
A mosquito buzzes around her head. She slams a hand on the dash and kills it.
A few minutes into their journey she clears her throat. Time to bite the bullet. ‘Where were you when Danielle Dixon went missing?’
He takes his eyes off the road and gives her a confused look. ‘Why?’
‘I want to know.’
The playlist moves on to ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ and Alba starts to sing along. Her phone rings with a number she doesn’t recognise. She lets it go to voicemail.
‘So?’ She waits for his reply.
‘Why do you want to know?’ he asks again.
‘Why are you being defensive?’
‘I’m not! I can tell you exactly where I was that night. Stuck watching football with Gerry.’
‘Gerry hates football.’
‘I know, but Mum forced him to spend time with me. Bonding or some bollocks.’
‘So you didn’t meet up with Danielle?’
He stiffens. ‘What? No. Where has this come from?’
‘Nowhere. I never asked you before.’ Is it her imagination or is the vein in his neck more pronounced?
Alba carries on singing out of tune.
She remembers Giovanni saying Luke was seen talking to Carla at the bar on the night he went for drinks with Theo and Rosie. Rosie’s cryptic comments rush back. ‘Maybe ask him about Carla . . .’
‘And what about Carla?’
‘What about her?’
The synthetic smell of limes from the air freshener dangling down from the rearview mirror doesn’t help with the rush of nausea.
‘Do you know her?’
‘Only as much as you do.’ He forcefully changes gear. ‘Babe, I don’t know where this interrogation has come from, but I don’t have any secrets from you.’
Is he sweating? A ripple of panic washes over her. Her phone chimes with a voicemail. The sound pulls her from her spiralling thoughts and she plays the message. She’s half listening as she keeps an eye on Luke. He fumbles with the dials so a rush of cold air whirs from the vent.
The polite woman on the other end of the line introduces herself as the voicemail plays.
‘It’s PC Woods here. I’m investigating your home invasion, case number 0382. We’ve reviewed the footage from your neighbour’s security doorbell and there are some discrepancies . . .’
Fenna frowns.
‘That’s weird . . . The police want me to call them. Something to do with the burglary,’ Fenna says, replaying the message on loudspeaker. ‘God knows what that means.’
She hovers her finger over the button to return the call when Luke yells, ‘Wait.’
She jumps in her seat and her phone tumbles to the footwell. Raffi bursts into tears at the unexpected noise. Alba carries on singing, hitting the chorus with gusto.
‘What the hell, Luke? What’s wrong with you?’ Her seatbelt digs into her as she turns and leans into the rear of the car to stroke Raffi’s head. She gently shushes him. ‘It’s alright, darling. Daddy was being silly.’
‘I’m so sorry, Fenna.’ Luke’s voice crackles with emotion. ‘I’ve let you down.’
‘What do you mean?’ she asks turning back slowly.
He grips the steering wheel so tight she can see the whites of his knuckles. ‘I took a gamble and it didn’t pay off.’
‘What sort of a gamble?’ Her heart pounds.
His jaw flickers. ‘Jonno had a tip-off about this business scheme. All I had to do was invest into this new startup portfolio and I’d double my return.’
‘What?’ She tries to keep up. ‘What does this have to do with the burglary?’
There’s a moment of silence filled by the next track on Alba’s nursery rhyme playlist.
‘The company wasn’t legit. They were never going to pay me back. I got into a situation where I had to pay creditors but I was out of pocket myself. I needed to get inventive.’ Luke drops his voice. ‘But Jonno took it too far.’
‘What do you mean?’
The car bumps over a pothole.
‘We had a deal, a way to get some money, but I didn’t know he would come in whilst we were asleep—’
‘Jonno was in our house? You faked a break-in?’
‘I told you I was desperate . . .’ He trails off. He looks like he’s about to cry. ‘I thought I could buy myself time with the insurance claim. Tide us over for a bit.’
She presses her lips together and squeezes her hands against the seatbelt, trying to control her breathing. ‘Luke . . . That’s fraud. What if you got caught?’ She can’t believe this. His oafish best friend was behind it all?
‘I was desperate, Fen. We could have lost the house.’ A single tear falls down his flushed cheek.
She mutes the jazzy version of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ that’s playing. She can’t take any more.
‘Why didn’t you tell me you needed money? We have savings and—’
Alba cries at the interruption to her music. ‘Mama!’
Fenna rummages in the glove compartment for her tablet, trapping a finger, wincing at the pain shooting down her nailbed.
‘It’s all gone. I’ve used our savings to try and patch up the gaps but that wasn’t enough. So, I had to find another way.’ Luke wipes his eyes with the heel of his hand.
‘Our savings?’ She sucks her throbbing finger, desperately fighting everything not to raise her voice in front of the kids. Furious that she’s trapped in this confined space with him.
‘Gone . . .’
This must be a prank? He can’t be serious right now.
‘Fenna, I—’
‘Rosie was right . . . She told me not to trust you.’ Her voice is low. She picks up her phone, her hand trembling.
‘What? Wait. Please don’t call the police back. I’ll fix it,’ he begs.
‘How? They’ve said there are discrepancies. They must be onto us.’
‘I’ll fix it. I promise,’ he vows.
How has he kept this to himself? She presses her fingers to her temples and tries not to unleash the fury coursing through her. Her eyes dart to the children in the back of the car. Thankfully, Alba is glued to her tablet, she isn’t paying any attention to this catastrophic confession.
‘Your family is loaded . . .’ Fenna forces a juddering breath through her lips. ‘If you were so desperate for money why didn’t you ask them?’
‘They won’t help. I asked Mum for a loan but she told me to use Dad’s trust fund.
I couldn’t tell her it was gone, that we spent most of that on the renovation work.
I asked Theo. We didn’t meet to talk about me being his best man, I needed to get him alone to persuade him to help us.
But he refused. I literally begged him for a loan, and he turned me down.
’ His tone changes. Gone is the sadness, replaced with a flare of anger.
‘All I’ve done for him, and this is how he treats me. ’
‘I can’t believe this,’ she mutters, fanning her face. ‘Why did he say no?’
‘He thinks I’m irresponsible.’ He clicks his teeth. ‘I know it’s a lot to take in but listen, I’ve got a new plan. I’m going to speak to Richard at the party tonight.’
Richard’s luxury yacht springs to mind. He’s got plenty of money. She allows herself a moment to exhale.
‘And if he doesn’t help?’
He takes a breath. ‘The company will fold.’
She spins so fast that her neck twinges. ‘How are we going to pay the mortgage? The bills? My work won’t cover everything.’
‘I don’t know.’
She stares out of the window, unable to look at him for a second longer.
Anger fizzes through her veins. She fantasised about how they could move to Italy with the proceeds of their house sale.
They would live in the space and peace of Villa Speranza and enjoy the simple pleasures, buffered by their nest egg. Her dream has been shattered.
All their money has gone.
Her idiotic husband has lost them their savings and is at risk of a police investigation. She clenches her fists. She could literally kill him.