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CHAPTER SEVEN

She still loves me

Mary and I went back to the police station and I showed them the letter. They just looked at me sadly.

‘It’s difficult when your wife leaves you,’ one of the policemen said.

I tried to tell them that I didn’t think it was true, that this madman had taken her somewhere. But they didn’t believe me. They said that Tom wouldn’t do something like that. They just told me to go home.

I drove back to London that evening. I wasn’t going to stay in that house by the sea a moment longer. Mary was very kind. She said she would ring if she heard anything. I decided I was going to try and see Melissa. She was Linda’s friend and she had to help me find her. She’d understand why I was worried, I thought.

As I drove the car fast along the country roads towards London I thought about all the things that had happened. I couldn’t believe that Linda had left me. I knew we had some difficult times, and sometimes she didn’t like me to spend so much time at the office. But that was because she wanted to be with me. She loved me. Then I tried to remember the last time she’d said she loved me…

The first thing I did when I got back to the flat was to phone Melissa. I wanted her to come with me and speak to the police, to tell them Linda wouldn’t leave me.

‘Melissa, is that you? It’s Carl here.’

‘What is it, Carl?’ She didn’t want to speak to me.

‘It’s about Linda. You must believe me. Something has happened to her,’ I said quickly.

‘What are you talking about, Carl? How do you know? She was all right on Friday,’ she answered.

‘Of course she was all right on Friday. She went to that party with you, didn’t she?’ Melissa didn’t say anything, so I went on. ‘She was coming down to our house in Little Moreton after the party, but she didn’t arrive. I thought she had missed the train or something. Didn’t you get my message,’ I asked.

‘Yes, Carl. I got your message, but she wasn’t with me.’ Melissa didn’t sound worried at all. Didn’t anyone understand that my wife had disappeared and was probably with some madman who might hurt her?

‘For God’s sake, Melissa. There’s this man in Little Moreton who is completely mad. He lives in an old car on the beach and he put this fish head in my bed. He’s got Linda. I’m sure he has.’ I thought that Melissa would understand how serious it was, but I thought I heard her laughing.

‘Carl, really,’ she said. ‘Are you mad? You know Linda was unhappy with you. That’s why she was staying with me. You were in love with work. Not with her. You left her alone too much. She was very unhappy. I don’t know anything else, but I’m sure you don’t need to worry about her. Look, I’m busy, I have to go.’ She put the phone down.

I was angry that Melissa didn’t think it was serious. Also she had no idea how much Linda and I loved each other. She was wrong about everything.

I went into the kitchen of our flat to make myself a cup of coffee. There were two dirty cups in the sink. I was sure I had not left them there. Had Linda come back to the flat after the party? I went into the bedroom and opened the wardrobe. Linda had taken most of her clothes to Melissa’s house the week before, but she’d left a yellow dress in there. It was a party dress. I remembered the yellow shoes I’d found on the beach.

I was now sure that she had come back to the flat during the weekend. I went back into the kitchen and looked at the cups. One of the cups had lipstick on it. The other cup had sugar in it. Linda didn’t take sugar in her coffee. I didn’t understand what was going on. If Linda had come back to the flat after the party, why hadn’t she phoned me? As I sat down at the table with my coffee the phone rang. It was Mary.

‘What is it? Have they found Linda? Is she all right?’ My questions came so fast that I didn’t wait for Mary to answer them.

‘Slow down, Carl, slow down. Nothing like that. I thought you wanted to know if there was any news. It’s just that-‘

‘I’m sorry, Mary. Things are so difficult for me. You know Linda’s friend, Melissa, she won’t tell me anything. She thinks it’s a big joke and says I should stop worrying. Anyway, what is it? What have you heard?’

‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘I just wanted to see if you were all right.’

‘I’m OK,’ I said. I didn’t want to tell her about the coffee cups I had found.

‘Carl, I just think the police are right. I don’t think Tom has anything to do with your wife.’

‘Well, I don’t agree,’ I said. ‘I think he’s done something to her.’

Mary could hear my anger. She was silent at the other end of the phone. ‘And what’s this village policeman going to do about it,’ I went on, shouting at her now. ‘He cut the head off that fish. And how did he get a key to the house?’

‘I don’t know,’ Mary said, ‘though the house used to belong to his family. Maybe he has an old key?’

‘Well, it’s not his house now. It’s mine. Mine and Linda’s. The man is mad. They should put him in prison.’

Mary was silent again. I realised it was wrong to be angry at Mary.

‘I’m sorry, Mary. You’ve been very kind to me. I don’t know what to think anymore…’

‘That’s OK,’ Mary said.

‘Listen, if you hear anything about Linda will you ring me, please? I have to work tomorrow, but-‘ I gave Mary my phone number at work, thanked her again for being so kind and put the phone down.

I went to work that week, but it was very difficult. I didn’t tell anybody there about what had happened. I knew they wouldn’t understand, but I couldn’t concentrate on work and I didn’t sleep very well. Every time the phone rang I thought it would be Linda, but it wasn’t- she didn’t ring.

Mary didn’t ring either. On Thursday it was the Great Moreton police who rang me. I was at work and it was difficult to talk.

‘Mr Anderson, it’s PC Grant from Great Moreton police station. We have discovered a body on the beach-‘ As soon as I heard those words I stopped listening. I could see the body of my wife on the stones of the beach. The cold sea was washing over her legs. She was wearing a yellow dress and yellow shoes. She was dead but still very beautiful… My life was over.

‘he’s been in the sea a couple of days. I am afraid we do need to speak to you as soon as possible.’ I heard the word ‘he’s’ and almost shouted down the phone.

‘It’s a man’s body, is it?’ I was so happy. I nearly laughed until I saw people in the office were looking at me.

‘Yes, sir. I said it was the body of Tom Parker. We would like you to come down to Great Moreton as soon as possible to talk to us. We need to know where you have been for the last few days and so on.’ PC Grant spoke slowly and politely. I knew this was serious.

‘Where do you think I’ve been? I’ve been at work. I’m at work now. How did you get my number?’ My voice was getting louder. People in the office had started to look interested.

I wanted to stop this conversation. ‘I’ll come down as soon as possible. Is there any other news?’

‘No, sir. Are you asking about Mrs Anderson? I thought she would be back home by now-‘

‘Well, she isn’t.’ If we’d been in the same room I would have hit PC Grant. ‘And I want to know what you are doing about it.’

‘Sorry to hear that. We could talk about your wife as well. I’ll expect you soon, then?’

Suddenly I felt as if I’d done something wrong. What did the policeman mean by ‘we could talk about my wife as well’? Did he think I’d killed Tom Parker? Did he think I’d killed my wife, too?

I told my boss I had to take two days holiday. I said there was a problem with the house. I couldn’t give him the real reason. He wasn’t very happy about it.

I went back to the flat and put some clean clothes in a bag. I saw the yellow dress again and put it into the bag with my clothes. I don’t know why exactly. I thought maybe Linda might need it. Then I got in the car and drove to Little Moreton.