Before I Say I Do Page 3

  Talbot herself appeared to have the magazine lifestyle. She was wealthy, young and beautiful, with a show-home London apartment. Research had shown she ran her own jewellery business. But none of that mattered now. Talbot was just like anyone else suffering, scared that it might be permanent.

  ‘Do you think this could be related to your work, Mr Rowthorn?’ Kowalski asked. The killer question. Loxton braced herself for Mrs Rowthorn’s outburst.

  ‘Charles?’ Mrs Rowthorn put her hand to her mouth.

  ‘No,’ Mr Rowthorn said. ‘We have threats all the time. People get upset about the odd article but there’s been nothing recently. Nothing to merit this sort of scenario. Should I put out a press release?’ Mr Rowthorn asked.

  ‘Not yet, but I’ll discuss it with the Commander,’ Kowalski said. Loxton was surprised at his political insight. He was doing his best to make them believe this case was the police’s top priority. In cases like this, either the family were the obvious suspects, or they were the last to know what was going on in their loved one’s life. Loxton wondered if Rowthorn had a second life. Maybe a wife already, who he’d been hiding from his mother and fiancée? It was amazing what people could get up to. And it was more likely than a kidnap scenario.

  ‘Miss Talbot, we need to speak with your family to make sure they haven’t seen him,’ Loxton said. ‘What are their contact details?’

  Talbot looked down towards the floor and Webb touched her shoulder.

  ‘Her mother and father died in a car crash years ago,’ Webb said.

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that, Julia.’ Loxton handed Talbot a pen and paper. ‘Could you write down the names of Mark’s friends on here, and their contact numbers, if you have them?’

  Talbot nodded and stared at the pen and paper in her hand.

  ‘We also need to do a search of your flat.’

  ‘Of course,’ Talbot said and carried on staring at the pen and paper.

  ‘Is that really necessary?’ Mr Rowthorn said exasperated. ‘You can tell what sort of people we are. It’s not like he’s hiding in the bathroom.’

  ‘I’m afraid we have to, sir,’ Kowalski said. ‘We’ll need to ask David a few questions too, as he was the last person to see Mark.’

  Mr Rowthorn nodded but he was frowning. He was used to being obeyed.

  Loxton and Kowalski left the room and went down a narrow corridor. Before they reached the rear of the flat, Loxton could hear a man arguing in a low voice in one of the bedrooms.

  ‘Do you think I’m crazy?’ The male’s voice was an angry whisper. ‘I’m not going to tell them anything about that, so calm the fuck down. Don’t threaten me.’

  Loxton glanced at Kowalski.

  ‘Look, I’ve got to go.’ The man was whispering now. ‘If I hear anything, I’ll let you know.’

  The man was in the master bedroom and jolted when he saw them outside in the corridor. He fumbled to end the call. Loxton went into the bedroom and Kowalski followed, closing the door behind him so they had the man alone.

  ‘Hello, I’m DC Loxton and this is DC Kowalski,’ Loxton said.

  ‘Sorry, you gave me a start. You’re as quiet as cats. I’m David Steele.’ Steele was in his early thirties, tanned, and had short black hair which matched his dark eyes. His sandalwood aftershave was overpowering, and Loxton tried not to sneeze.

  ‘Sorry, we didn’t want to disturb you,’ Loxton said. ‘Your phone call sounded important.’

  ‘Just a friend,’ Steele said. ‘We’re organising a search party to check out Mark’s usual pubs and things. In case he’s gone there. Julia’s going to start a Facebook page. This is all just so fucking weird.’

  ‘We just need to ask you a few questions,’ Kowalski said. ‘You were the last person to see Mark?’

  ‘Yes . . . Yes, I was.’

  ‘When did you last see him?’ Loxton asked.

  ‘When we picked up the suits from the Yardsmen yesterday afternoon.’

  ‘Yesterday afternoon?’ Kowalski asked.

  ‘Yes, he just said he had to go.’ Steele shrugged. ‘I . . . I thought he’d forgotten something.’

  ‘Go where?’

  Steele looked uncomfortable, running his hands through his hair repeatedly, and then crossing his arms in front of him to stop himself. ‘I don’t know. He just left.’

  Loxton glanced at Kowalski. The body language was unmistakable, a repetitive tick – the first lie. ‘Is that what you’d both planned?’

  ‘No. He dumped all the suits on me. I had to take a cab on my own to get them back here.’

  ‘Did he say where he was going? Who he was seeing?’ Loxton asked.

  ‘No.’ Steele rubbed the back of his neck. ‘He was a bit agitated. I thought maybe he’d forgotten to do something.’

  ‘Had he been acting agitated before?’

  ‘He was getting married. His mother and Julia had been butting heads about their perfect day. It’s not been easy for him.’

  ‘Did you see him again, after you split up at the Yardsmen?’ Loxton said.

  ‘We were supposed to be going for dinner and a few beers. I was meant to crash here with him last night. All that bad luck stuff.’

  ‘And?’ Kowalski asked.

  ‘He never showed up.’ Steele shrugged. ‘I kept trying to call him, but it went straight to voicemail. I guessed he’d had last-minute nerves and gone for a drink.’

  ‘And you didn’t think it was odd that you weren’t invited along for this drink?’ Loxton glanced around the bedroom. She noted that, like the living room, there were no photographs or pictures on the walls.

  ‘Sometimes he likes being on his own. He’s always been like that. When it got late, I tried calling again, but his phone was off. I thought he was letting off some steam. I don’t know.’ Steele seemed lost as he looked at Kowalski and then Loxton. His mobile bleeped and he ignored it. ‘I slept in the spare room. In the morning I tried again, but his phone was still off.’

  ‘And you didn’t tell anyone?’ Loxton knew he was lying, but she wasn’t sure about what or why. To cover for Rowthorn or to protect himself?

  ‘I thought that maybe he’d convinced Julia that he could stay the night with her. When he wasn’t at the hotel this morning, I didn’t know what to do. I kept expecting him to turn up at any minute.’

  ‘You waited until the wedding ceremony was due to begin before you told anyone. Why?’

  Steele ran his fingers through his hair. ‘I guess I’d convinced myself he was just running late. I didn’t want to drop him in it, make a fuss. He’s always late. It’s no big deal, he’s always there in the end. When the registrar wanted to speak to him before the ceremony, that’s when we realized, his family and me, that no one had seen or heard from him. None of us could get hold of him. It was surreal.’

  ‘Was he having problems?’

  Steele squirmed under her scrutiny. ‘The usual. Work’s been tough at the bank. Settling down was scary. But nothing out of the ordinary.’

  ‘Do you work together?’ Loxton asked.

  ‘Well, not exactly. We both work at City Enterprises. It’s a trading bank in the City. It’s huge.’

  ‘And you said it’s been tough?’ She tilted her head to the side, wondering what he was omitting.

  ‘There have been a few sackings.’ Steele gave a half-shrug. ‘Some money went missing, but that’s not that unusual in a bank that size. The management have got pretty tough, but that’s got nothing to do with this.’

  ‘What do you think has happened to Mark?’ Loxton watched Steele carefully.

  ‘Honestly, I don’t know.’ Steele put his hands out as if in surrender. As soon as someone used the word ‘honestly’, Loxton knew they were being untruthful.

  ‘People don’t just disappear into thin air,’ Kowalski said, disbelief palpable in his voice. ‘There are signs. Problems. You’re his best man. You must know something.’

  ‘We won’t tell his parents or Julia, if that’s what you’re worried ab
out.’ Loxton tried to look as friendly as possible. ‘It’ll be between you, us and Mark.’

  Steele shook his head. ‘Mark’s like a brother to me. If I knew anything, I’d tell you. But I can’t help you.’

  ‘If you’re covering for him, you need to stop, because this could be serious,’ Loxton said, her voice harder than she meant it to sound. She couldn’t help thinking that Steele was lying to her.

  ‘I’m not covering for him,’ Steele replied angrily, folding his arms across his chest. ‘I told you, I’ve got no idea where he is.’

  ‘What were you talking about on the phone just now?’

  ‘That’s none of your business.’ Steele glared at her. He looked ready to hit her, but kept his arms folded. He had a temper.

  ‘What was it you mustn’t tell us?’ Loxton asked.

  ‘That was a private conversation and nothing to do with this.’

  ‘I don’t believe you.’ Loxton stared at him. ‘Who was threatening you?’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about and I don’t have to listen to this.’ He tried to manoeuvre around them, but Loxton remained in front of the bedroom door. She wasn’t done with him yet.

  Kowalski shrugged and stepped aside. Loxton threw Kowalski an annoyed look, but he ignored her. ‘No one’s asking you to stay,’ Kowalski said. ‘You’re free to go. Thanks for your time, it was most helpful.’

  Steele cursed under his breath and stormed out of the bedroom past Loxton.

  ‘He’s a shit liar.’ Loxton closed the door behind him.

  ‘We’ll get his mobile number off Julia and get his phone records,’ Kowalski said. ‘See who he was just talking with. No point arguing with him, he clearly wasn’t going to tell us anything.’

  ‘I just can’t stand people lying to me.’ She pulled on blue plastic gloves and began rifling through the chest of drawers, pulling out socks and T-shirts.

  ‘You might be in the wrong job . . .’ Kowalski stood watching her.

  ‘He knows something. If he cared about Rowthorn, instead of his own skin, then he’d tell us.’

  ‘Life’s not that simple.’ Kowalski pulled on his own gloves and went to the wardrobe and started searching. ‘Sometimes trying to get witnesses to trust you means they open up later.’

  They continued in silence. It took her for ever to go through the top drawer of balled-up socks. Kowalski was tearing through the wardrobe, as if the whole exercise was a waste of time.

  She pulled out the emptied drawer, checking along each side. Kowalski rolled his eyes at her. ‘This isn’t a drugs raid, Loxton.’

  ‘You’d be amazed what people have hidden away,’ she said.

  He shook his head, moving on to the bed, pulling off the cream satin sheets.

  Loxton turned back to the chest of drawers. The second drawer contained Talbot’s running gear, folded neatly.

  In the third drawer down she found a photo album. She pulled it out and flicked through the pages, looking for anything out of place among the photos of Talbot and Rowthorn. The pictures showed them on beaches and mountains and spa retreats. At parties with friends and dinners for two. They were a good-looking couple.

  ‘What you got?’ Kowalski said.

  ‘I’m getting a photo for the house-to-house and missing posters. If it even goes that far.’ Part of her hoped Rowthorn would turn up any minute, hungover and sorry, so she could get back to her stabbings. The other part of her felt something was wrong – very wrong.

  Kowalski looked over his shoulder. ‘They look pretty solid, don’t they? You never can tell who’s going to make it and who’s not.’

  She pulled a photo from the last page of the album: a close-up of Rowthorn and Talbot. ‘This will have to do. There’s never a photo of him on his own.’

  ‘Lucky him,’ Kowalski said.

  Loxton hauled out the final drawer.

  ‘This idiot will have turned up by tomorrow and this will all have been a waste of time,’ Kowalski said. ‘I hate missing person inquiries – a whole lot of nothing.’ His brow furrowed, making him look more sullen than usual.

  Loxton turned the heavy oak drawer over to check the bottom, her arms aching with the effort. Then her whole body tightened.

  There was a mobile phone taped to the underside of the drawer. She pulled the masking tape off and took the phone. Kowalski’s breath was on the back of her neck as he craned down to see. She touched the screen, holding her breath, but the lock screen flashed. An unread message appeared: ‘I know what you did and you’re going to burn.’

  *

  All eyes fell onto Loxton as she entered the living room. ‘Miss Talbot, we’ll be getting out of your way now. But before we do, I need your permission to take a few of Mark’s belongings. They could help us to find him. We need to take his mobiles, laptops and passport.’

  ‘You’ve found something?’ Talbot sat up in the armchair she’d been slumped in. Not so vacant after all. ‘Please, is he all right?’

  ‘We are treating Mr Rowthorn’s disappearance as a missing persons case, which means we must take these types of items as standard procedure. Can you confirm that this is his mobile?’ Loxton held out the hidden mobile so Talbot could see it.

  ‘I haven’t seen that one before.’ Talbot pointed at the phone in Loxton’s hand. ‘This iPhone here is his work phone.’ She pointed at an iPhone on the coffee table in front of her. ‘He was going to leave it at home. He promised he wouldn’t take it on our honeymoon.’ Her lower lip trembled.

  ‘Thank you.’ Loxton took the iPhone and then crouched in front of Talbot. ‘I need to take a photograph of him too. Is it all right if I take this one?’

  ‘Please . . . can you make sure I get it back? That’s from the weekend he proposed to me.’

  ‘Of course. I need any other mobiles or computers he has here too.’

  Kowalski picked up a silver Mac laptop from the coffee table. ‘Is this Mark’s laptop?’

  ‘Yes, but you can’t just take it,’ Talbot said. ‘He needs it. He’s always on it.’ Her hands reached out towards the laptop.

  ‘We need to check it,’ Loxton said. ‘We’ll bring it straight back.’

  Talbot’s gaze drifted onto the ring she still held. Loxton was losing her, and she needed a good rapport with this woman to help her find Rowthorn.

  ‘I’ve never seen a ring like that,’ Loxton said.

  ‘It’s my wedding band,’ Talbot said. ‘I made one for Mark too; he should still have it.’

  ‘You made this?’ The ring was exquisite.

  ‘I’m a jeweller. The silver and gold are melted down and intertwined for ever. They can’t be separated.’ She held the ring up towards Loxton.

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ Loxton said.

  ‘They’ll find him,’ Webb said to Talbot. ‘That’s their job. We’ve got to let them do their job.’

  Talbot looked at her friend and leaned back into the armchair, wrapping her arms around herself. She began to rock back and forth.

  ‘We’ll be in contact, Julia,’ Loxton said.‘And if anything changes, we’ll call you right away. I’m sure he’s fine.’ Loxton found herself telling the lie while thinking of what she’d already found. Lying was second nature to her. Eight years in the police had trained her well. She’d lied to the dying, promising them that everything would be all right, that they’d see their loved ones again. She lied to suspects, coaxing them to put their knives down, promising them she’d do her best to stop them from getting locked up. Lying was the bread and butter of her job.

  Loxton headed towards the door.

  Talbot stood up, as if to say something, but whatever it was, she thought better of it. Loxton had the nagging feeling that she wasn’t the only one holding things back. Talbot was hiding things too.

  Chapter 4

  Julia Talbot

  Sunday

  I turned back to my strange party of guests.

  David, uncomfortable in the corner of my living room, every few seconds chec
king his mobile as he sheltered beside the bookcase.

  Elizabeth was wringing her hands, terrified, and kept looking at Charles. Lucy was looking at me, her eyes full of concern. I could tell she had so much she wanted to say, but not in front of the others.

  I hated this.

  Should I have told the police? It had nothing to do with Mark disappearing and would just confuse things, bringing suspicion on me that I didn’t need.

  ‘It’s going to be all right.’ Lucy patted my arm. I felt like I didn’t have room to breathe. ‘He’ll be back soon.’

  I nodded my head a little to stop her going on. That policewoman had looked concerned when she’d come back into the living room, as if she’d found something bad. What had she seen?

  ‘Try to drink some tea.’ Lucy pushed the mug towards me. She’d put extra sugar in it, which made it too sweet. I sipped it anyway, but it made my stomach churn more.

  ‘Did the police talk to you, David?’ I asked.

  ‘Yeah, they just asked me a few pointless questions. They think he’ll be back by tomorrow.’ David shrugged.

  ‘Did they say that?’ I stared into his face searching for some sort of reassurance. I’d heard raised voices and seen David’s face when he’d come back into the room. He hadn’t looked happy.

  ‘Not exactly, but they implied it. They thought I knew where he was, as if I have a clue.’ He shook his head and rubbed his forehead with his fingertips, screwing up his eyes for a second. Then the old David was back as he ran his fingers through his hair.

  ‘They think he’s just gone off somewhere?’ Elizabeth looked desperate.

  ‘Well, I guess it happens a lot.’ David shrugged again. ‘There’s a lot of pressure with these weddings . . .’ David wouldn’t look at me. He focused on Elizabeth.

  ‘If I just knew he was all right . . .’ I looked at the gold and silver band in my palm. I remembered melting them together on my kiln in my workshop and watching as it changed from burning red molten metal into a shining promise. Where had it gone so wrong?

  ‘What shall we do now?’ David asked. He was eager to get away from us all. Knock back a drink and forget all about it for the rest of the evening. I knew how he worked.