The Night Away: An absolutely unputdownable psychological thriller Read online

  ‘I don’t have a lover.’

  ‘You’ve hated every minute of being a mum.’

  ‘That’s not true.’

  ‘Mum thinks you’re Little Miss Perfect and I’m the fuck-up, but actually it’s—’

  Something inside Amber snaps. ‘Oh, shut up, for God’s sake. This isn’t about your jealousy or your relationship with Mum. It isn’t about us, Ruby. It’s about Mabel.’

  Ruby swings round. ‘Yes, absolutely. You asked me over for an honest conversation, Amber, but you’re the one who’s lying, not me.’

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Day Seven without Mabel

  Ruby squeezes Lewis’s arm as they stand in the front garden of number 74. ‘Thanks for being here,’ she says. ‘Means a lot to me.’

  ‘It’s important to be seen together,’ he replies. ‘A show of solidarity.’

  ‘Yes. I guess.’

  It’s Saturday morning, the day of the reconstruction. Ruby has loaned her jacket and bobble hat to the police officer picked to play her role – a woman of her height with a similar hairstyle, although facially completely unalike. Ruby offered to do it herself, but DI Benedict was worried that she might get attacked by a member of the public on route. Feelings against her and Lewis are still running high on social media, and although they were both released without charge, the police haven’t yet publicly exonerated them. She is still being treated as a witness, but she feels increasingly like a suspect, Lewis even more so. That’s why they have to be here today. To tough it out; be as cooperative as possible and behave as if they’ve nothing to hide. It’s the truth anyway.

  The front garden looks like a location shoot, littered with open metal boxes full of camera equipment, and hefty bearded guys muttering into their phones. Ruby and Lewis huddle in the downstairs neighbour’s porch, trying to keep out of the way. The garden offers a safe haven; neither public nor press can touch them here. Two uniformed officers are guarding the gate, and sections of the street and park have been cordoned off with fresh plastic tape. The media have been forced back and are pushing against the tape like paparazzi waiting for a celebrity to emerge from the house. Their distasteful excitement stings the back of Ruby’s throat, making her want to throw up.

  She stamps her boots in the cold. She would rather be inside the flat, cradling a mug of coffee, but neither she nor Lewis is welcome there. Amber and George are holed up indoors, protected by bricks and mortar and the family liaison officer, who keeps popping in and out in order to talk to her colleagues, never missing the chance to throw them a furtive, almost hostile look. DI Benedict, the boss, is walking up and down the pavement, speaking earnestly into his phone with his hand cupped over the receiver. DS Ali Smart, to whom Ruby has taken a dislike for no rational reason, is sitting on the neighbour’s wall, making notes. In the park opposite, the rubberneckers are out in force, lining the route as if they’re about to watch a fun run or a cycle race. Several of them are clutching cups of takeaway coffee – the park café must be doing a roaring trade, Ruby thinks, curling her lip in disgust. Everyone seems to be busy but nothing is actually happening. It’s been like this for the past hour.

  ‘What’s going on?’ whispers Lewis, digging his hands into his pockets.

  She shrugs. ‘Not sure.’

  ‘Nervous?’

  ‘Very. I hope I’ve remembered everything properly.’

  When DS Smart asked her to detail the route she took last Saturday morning, Ruby struggled to disentangle the memory from the previous week. At first she told them that she’d gone to the farmers’ market stalls at the top end of the park, where she’d bought a wrap and a chocolate brownie. Then she sat on a bench and ate them, feeding a mouthful of brownie to Mabel. But when the police contacted the stallholder, he insisted he hadn’t been there last week. Suspicions were raised immediately and Ruby had to apologise for getting muddled. Even now, as she stands here replaying her actions in her head, she’s not sure about exactly what she did, or in what order.

  They went to the play area, she’s pretty sure of that. She took Mabel out of the buggy and sat on the swing with her on her lap, kicking off with her heel and gently swaying back and forth. Another mum was hovering impatiently with her three-year-old, expecting Ruby to get off immediately. If somebody was following them at the time, maybe the woman noticed. Ruby certainly didn’t, but she’d had no reason to be suspicious.

  Her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. There’s a kerfuffle in the hallway, and a guy with a headset rushes up to them.

  ‘Excuse me. Can you stand somewhere else – like over there?’ He points to the privet hedge on the other side of the safe area. ‘We need a clean shot of the babysitter leaving the house.’

  Don’t make me stand there, she thinks. They’ll eat me alive.

  ‘Yeah, sure,’ says Lewis, pulling at her to move. ‘But that’s too close to the crowds. Ruby needs protecting. She’s the significant witness,’ he adds importantly.

  ‘Yeah, I know … Okay, you can stand behind the van as long as you keep well back.’

  They go through the front gate and take up their new hiding place. Another five minutes pass, then the camera operator takes up position in front of the door. It opens and a young man backs the buggy out, turns it around, then backs it in again. The door closes. A few moments later, he comes out again, pushing the buggy forward this time, which according to Ruby is correct. The camera operator declares herself happy and he’s sent back inside. The rehearsal is over. It looks like they’re about to start for real.

  ‘Okay, here we go,’ whispers Ruby as action is called and the door opens yet again.

  This time, a distorted vision of herself emerges with Mabel’s buggy, which now has a large doll strapped into it.

  Ruby’s mouth dries. It’s like she’s starring in her own dream, watching herself from a distance while being simultaneously aware that this figure isn’t her at all. She realises that the woolly hat with its bright orange bobble looks stupid on a grown-up, and that the jacket has definitely seen better days. It came from a charity shop in the first place and has been abused ever since – worn in all weathers, stained with carelessly eaten meals, laid on muddy grass, squashed under bar stools, crumpled into makeshift pillows and cushions and never once washed. As she watches herself trundle the bright red buggy across the road, she thinks what an incongruous sight she makes – the pusher so worn and scruffy and the buggy so new and smart. That childish hat and that tatty jacket have become the costume for the worst moment in her life. She will never wear either again. After the reconstruction, she’s going to throw them both away.

  ‘Do you want to follow?’ Lewis asks as ‘Ruby’ and the buggy pass through the park gates and head off in the direction of the play area.

  ‘No way.’ She shudders. ‘I’ll stay here. If they’ve got any questions, they can send someone running back.’

  ‘Fair enough.’ He puts his hands in his pockets again and kicks the ground. ‘Still want me to hang around?’

  ‘Why? Do you need to be somewhere?’

  ‘No.’ He gestures with his head in the direction of the upstairs flat. ‘Just uncomfortable being here. I can feel waves of hate coming through the walls.’

  ‘Me too,’ she says. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Not your fault.’

  ‘Yeah, but you’re in this mess because of me.’

  ‘Not completely,’ he replies. She wonders what on earth he means.

  The film crew has charged ahead, followed by the media scrum. Apart from the officers guarding the garden, and a runner, they’re alone now. They lean against the back doors of the van in silence, each plagued by their own thoughts.

  Ruby is thinking about Mabel. She’s always there, a thick layer of worry spread over her life. In fact, Mabel is her life now. Nothing will ever be the same again. She can already tell that her relationship with Lewis is altered forever and may not survive this onslaught. He was very shaken by the pol
ice interview, even though he was willing to be questioned. She doesn’t know what went on, because so far he’s refused to confide in her about it. As soon as he came home, he took a beer from the fridge and went onto the patio. It was early evening and freezing cold, but he stood there for about twenty minutes, drinking by himself, staring into the darkness. At one point she stepped outside and asked if he was okay, but he waved her away with his can and said, ‘Just need some time to myself.’

  He’s still in that mood, locked into the room of himself, refusing to let her poke her head around the door, let alone walk in. There’s a strange atmosphere between them, a sense of distrust, even though on the surface they are vowing allegiance to each other. It will be like this for as long as Mabel is missing. If she’s never found – dead or alive – they will always be smeared with guilt. The stain may fade with time, but it will never come out completely, no matter how much they try to wash it away. Lewis has already had to take two weeks’ holiday from work – his inbox was jammed with hate mail, even death threats, and the escape room has had several bookings cancelled on account of him being ‘a paedophile’. He will probably have to resign.

  ‘They’re coming back now,’ he says. Ruby looks up to see her impersonator pass through the gates, pause briefly at the pavement edge as if checking for traffic, and then calmly cross the road. It doesn’t look quite right. Then she remembers. She was hurrying. Mabel had done a stinky nappy and she was rushing home to change her. A memory stutters into life.

  ‘Lewis? Do you remember? You called me,’ she says, nudging him. ‘You called me just as I was opening the front door.’

  He looks at her doubtfully. ‘Don’t think so. It was between eleven and twelve, right? I was in the middle of running a game; the bookings were back-to-back, I had no time for a break.’

  ‘But I remember it really clearly; it’s just come back to me. I unlocked the door and my phone started ringing, so I pushed the buggy inside and—’

  ‘That was the week before,’ he says. ‘When George and Amber were on their night away. I was at home, off sick.’

  ‘Oh yes …’ Her expression dulls. ‘I’m getting muddled up again.’ She watches herself take a key out of her trouser pocket and unlock the door. The bright red buggy is pushed inside and the door closes with its characteristic judder. Somebody shouts out, ‘Cut!’ but Ruby’s memory keeps playing. Yes, it’s coming back to her now. She kicked the door shut behind her while she spoke to Lewis. Then she took Mabel out of the buggy and went straight upstairs to the nursery to relieve her of the dirty nappy.

  ‘Oh my God,’ she says under her breath.

  Lewis turns to her. ‘What is it?’

  ‘I left the key in the door.’

  ‘What? Last Saturday?’

  ‘No, no, the week before.’

  ‘Well it wouldn’t be the first time,’ he says unhelpfully. ‘You’ve done it at least twice at the flat when you’ve come home pissed. So how come you’ve only just realised?’

  ‘When Amber came home the next day, she asked me for the key but I couldn’t find it.’

  ‘That doesn’t necessarily mean—’

  ‘Oh God! Now I understand!’ Her hand leaps to her mouth. The memory is churning at full speed now, sending her head into a spin. ‘In the morning, when I got up, I had this really weird experience. There was a feeding bottle on the draining board in the kitchen; it had been washed and left to dry. I couldn’t remember giving it to Mabel or cleaning it or anything. And she slept in late, as if she’d been up in the night and needed a lie-in.’

  Lewis scratches his head. ‘Okay … so you think someone took the key from the door, then came back at night and let themselves in? Like for a snoop about?’

  ‘Yes! Exactly. They found Mabel, took her out of her cot and gave her a bottle.’ Ruby feels a cold chill spreading through her veins. ‘Urgh … it’s disgusting.’

  ‘Really creepy,’ he agrees. ‘If that’s what happened.’

  ‘It did. I’m sure of it.’

  ‘Hmm …’ He looks sceptical. ‘And you didn’t hear anything?’

  ‘No, you know how deeply I sleep.’ The memory sparks again. ‘But I remember that in the morning, the baby monitor was switched off and I thought at the time it was really odd because I was sure I’d turned it on when she went down. I was really cross with myself for forgetting to do it.’

  ‘Excuse me,’ says the bearded crew guy, trolleying a large metal box towards them. ‘We’re packing up now.’ They move away from the van and stand by the privet hedge.

  ‘This is really bad, Rubes,’ Lewis says. ‘You’re in deep shit.’

  ‘I know. But I’m going to have to tell the police. It’s an important piece of evidence.’

  ‘I’m not sure they’ll believe you, that’s the trouble.’ His forehead creases with concern. ‘It sounds like you’ve made it up to get us off the hook.’

  ‘But it’s the truth! Everyone’s concentrating on last Saturday, but it’s the week before that matters. That’s when it all started. They’ll have to do the reconstruction again. I need to tell them now.’ She turns on her heel and makes for the front door.

  ‘Just hold on!’ He pulls at her sleeve. ‘Think it through first, get your facts organised. When did you realise that you’d lost the key?’

  She hesitates. ‘I didn’t, that’s the thing. When I couldn’t find it, I assumed I’d just mislaid it. Then it turned up in the flat a few days later, so I stopped worrying about it.’

  ‘What?’ He wrinkles his nose. ‘Well surely, that means you didn’t leave it in the door.’

  ‘But I did. I know I did,’ she insists. ‘The memory was buried deep in my subconscious. The abductor must have left the key in the flat so we wouldn’t get suspicious.’

  ‘In which case they couldn’t have got back in! Ruby, none of this makes any sense.’

  ‘I need to talk to Amber, ask her exactly when and how she found the key.’

  ‘She doesn’t want to talk to you.’

  ‘I know … I feel so bad. I’ve been so angry with her for blaming me – blaming us – and it turns out it was my fault all along.’ She feels the tears marshalling. ‘God, I even accused her of having an affair – of Mabel not being George’s baby. How mean was that?’

  ‘Ruby—’

  ‘I’ve got to talk to her!’

  ‘Before you wade in, I think we should—’

  But she doesn’t care what Lewis thinks. She knows she’s on to something, that this is important, that the answer is there, ready to be teased out. She barges her way through the film crew and the police guard and bangs loudly on Amber’s door.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Day Seven without Mabel

  Amber turns anxiously to Sally. ‘Who’s that? I thought there was a guard outside.’

  ‘There is. Don’t worry, I’ll get it.’ Sally rises and goes downstairs.

  ‘This is crazy,’ says George. ‘We can’t even answer our own front door any more.’ He leaps impatiently from the sofa and starts pacing around the room.

  ‘Shh!’

  Amber listens. Somebody is trying to persuade Sally to let them in. She knows from those persistent tones that it’s Ruby. Her sister has been shivering outside all morning, observing the reconstruction. Even though they parted on very bad terms two days ago, Amber still feels bad about not letting her wait indoors. But George wouldn’t hear of it, and anyway, Lewis is with her. She doesn’t want to see him if she can help it. He makes her feel scared.

  Her thoughts twist into a knot. The idea of him wanting to harm a little baby is monstrous, but seeing that photo taken from CCTV unnerved her. It’s been blown up and analysed to the nth degree, but the results are inconclusive. The police can’t say for sure that it’s Lewis carrying Mabel, but as he’s of a similar height and build, he can’t be ruled out either.

  ‘Amber! I have to speak to you,’ says Ruby, bursting into the lounge.

  Sally is close behind. ‘Are
you okay with this?’ she asks. ‘I’m sorry, but she barged past me. She says it’s to do with the investigation.’

  ‘I can speak for myself, thanks … Amber, please? This is really important.’

  ‘Going to finally tell the truth, is that it?’ snarls George.

  ‘I’ve always told the truth – always.’ Ruby shoots Amber an appealing look.

  ‘Go on then.’ Amber gestures at her sister to sit down.

  Ruby takes the small upright chair by the desk. She leans forward, hands gripped over her knees. ‘I think I know what happened,’ she says. ‘Not last Saturday, but the one before. I think I know how the abductor got hold of the key.’

  ‘And you’ve only just remembered?’ George says incredulously. ‘That sounds a bit convenient.’

  ‘Please, listen!’ Ruby draws in her breath. ‘That weekend, when you had your night away, remember when you came home and asked me for the key, I couldn’t find it?’

  ‘Yes …’ replies Amber slowly. ‘But it wasn’t lost, I found it later, it was in the flat—’

  ‘Yeah, I know, but …’ Ruby swallows hard. ‘The thing is, I think I left it in the front door when I came back from the park. The next morning, when I got up, I noticed a few odd things. The baby monitor wasn’t on, and a clean, empty bottle was sitting on the draining board, which I was certain I hadn’t given to Mabel …’ She pauses. ‘I know it sounds absurd, but I think the abductor let themselves in that night and spent time with her.’

  ‘Oh my God,’ gasps Amber.

  Sally can’t contain herself a second longer. She reaches for her notebook. ‘This is completely game-changing. Why didn’t you mention it before, Ruby?’