Schemer (39 page)

Stephanie had learned the art of holding her emotions within herself. Smashing and ripping things up was not going to make Wayne walk back through the door and she had needed to get her act together for the sake of the kids. Her doctor had prescribed her some sleeping pills, and since Steph had been taking them she had behaved much more rationally. This had obviously rubbed off on Dannielle, as her daughter now seemed brighter and far less clingy. As for Tyler, he was in a little world of his own, and since Steph had been taking him to the park on a regular basis, he hadn’t mentioned his father at all.

Tammy still insisted that Wayne’s disappearance had something to do with Barry Franklin, but Stephanie didn’t believe so. Since her mum had gone back to live at her own house just over a fortnight ago, Barry had become Stephanie’s rock. Every day he popped round to help her with the kids and give her some moral support, and Steph didn’t believe his kindnesses were the actions of a guilty man. Tammy, on the other hand, had been of little help. She was so busy working and planning her new life in Spain with Richard, that Stephanie had barely seen her best friend. Tonight, however, they were going out for a farewell meal together. Tammy was moving abroad next week, so it would be the last get-together they would have for God knows how long. In a way, Steph was pleased that she and Tammy had drifted apart over the past six months or so. Tammy’s high-flying career, then meeting Richard, had spelt an end to their regular routine of spending lots of time together, and in a way it kind of made Tammy’s departure easier for Stephanie to deal with.

Hearing the phone ringing, Stephanie dashed into the lounge to answer it. When Wayne had first gone missing, her heart had leapt every time the bloody thing had rung, but as the weeks had passed, Steph refused to build her hopes up any more.

‘All right, darling? How are you today? I bet you’re looking forward to your night out with Tammy, aren’t you?’ Pam asked her daughter.

‘Not really, Mum. It’s another person I’m losing and I know it’s gonna be sad.’

‘Now don’t think of it like that, love. I’m sure Tammy will want you to visit her regularly in Spain, and a couple of holidays a year in the sunshine will do you the world of bloody good.’

‘What am I meant to travel out there with, Mum? Shirt buttons? Apart from the few grand that I have in my bank account, I’m penniless, and I’ve only got three months left in this place until I’m turfed out. I can’t work because of Tyler, so it looks like I’ll be going cap in hand to the council and the social soon, unless a miracle happens,’ Stephanie reminded her mother. Wayne had paid the first six months’ rent up front for their house in Chigwell, but after that she was in shit street.

Pam sighed. Being a loving mother, it was her duty to help her children in any crisis which might befall them in life, but for once she was stumped on how to help Steph. The mystery of Wayne’s disappearance had ripped the heart out of her beautiful daughter’s life, and for once there was sod all that Pam could do to rectify the situation. ‘What time you dropping the kids over to me, love? And don’t be worrying about picking ’em up early tomorrow – I’ll cook a nice roast dinner for ’em. I can do you a little dinner if you want as well?’

‘Don’t worry about cooking for me, Mum, but it’d be great if you can keep the kids until late afternoon tomorrow. Barry’s gonna take me out for lunch. He said it will cheer me up after saying goodbye to Tammy tonight.’

‘Aw, that’s kind of him.’

‘I’ll bring the kids over as soon as the police have been and gone. They’re popping round in a minute to drop the bits off they took from the house,’ Steph told Pam. The police had taken several pieces of paperwork and Wayne’s mobile phone to see if they could find any clues as to what might have happened to him.

‘Will you be OK speaking to the police on your own? Or is Barry gonna be there with you?’ Pam asked, worriedly.

‘Barry’s going over to Dagenham to see Wayne’s grandparents again. He said they’re a crafty pair of old sods and might know more than they’re letting on. He reckons they must know where Wayne’s dad is in Greece, but there’s no way that Wayne can have gone there as he never had his passport with him. Anyway, he would never just leave me and the kids in the lurch. Even the police said that Wayne had told everybody they had spoken to how much he loved his family.’

Pam didn’t know what to think. Barry had spoken to her on the quiet and he believed that there was no way in the world that Wayne would take his own life. ‘Between me and you, I reckon he’s done a runner,’ Barry had said.

‘I’d better go now, love. Aidan’ll be here soon and I want to get me housework done first. I’ll see you later on.’

Barry walked up to the bar to buy Wayne’s grandparents another drink. He had known Doris and Bill since he was a kid, and rather liked them, therefore had delivered his ‘concerned friend’ act with absolute precision. Barry hadn’t asked all the questions he had told Stephanie he was going to but, over lunch with her tomorrow, he would pretend that he had. Barry put the two pints of Guinness down on the table, then shook Bill’s hand and kissed Doris politely on the cheek.

‘Ain’t you having another one, son?’ Bill asked.

‘Nah, I can’t. My lunatic of a mother, who has barely spoken to me for weeks, has demanded that I take her and her pal out for dinner. Bloody dreading it, I am.’

Doris chuckled. Her and Bill had lived in Bethnal Green for years before they had moved to Dagenham and knew Marlene well.

Bill stood up and shook Barry’s hand. ‘Well, thanks for coming to see us again, lad. Me and Doll were saying what a good bloody mate you’ve been to our Wayne, searching for him and taking care of his family like you have. We’d have liked to have got more involved, but me and Doll have never got on brilliantly with that Stephanie. Between us and the kitchen sink, we’ve never really forgiven her for ruining yours and Wayne’s friendship.’

Thanking Bill for the compliment, Barry strolled out of the social club. The moment he got into his car, he laughed loudly. God sure did move in mysterious ways.

Pam opened the front door and was rather taken aback to see Angela standing there rather than Stephanie. ‘What do you want?’ she asked coldly. Pam hadn’t yet forgiven her youngest daughter for the fiasco she had caused at Stephanie’s hen night, nor what she had said to the police to embarrass her sister.

‘I’ve just come to say goodbye,’ Angela replied haughtily.

Pam looked her daughter up and down. In her black, cropped leather jacket, tight faded jeans and black leather boots that came over her knee, Pam thought how tarty she looked, but decided not to comment. ‘What do you mean you’ve come to say goodbye?’

‘Mummy,’ Aidan screamed with delight as he ran towards the front door. Twice his mum had taken him out in the past six weeks, and both times she had bought him loads of new toys. Wondering if Angela was taking him out again today, Aidan held his arms out for a cuddle.

‘Your hands are filthy, Aidan, and this is Mummy’s new jacket. Go and sit in the lounge while I speak to your nan for a minute,’ Angela said unfeelingly.

Seeing her grandson’s face crumple, Pam glared at her daughter. ‘Say what you’ve come to say and then go, Ange. That poor little mite is crying now, you wicked mare.’

‘I’m going to live in Greece for a while.’

Pam looked at Angela in bewilderment. Was this another one of her little games? ‘Greece is hundreds of miles away, ain’t it?’

‘Yes, and that’s exactly why I’m going there. I can’t get over the hurt and the pain of being accused of running away with Jacko. So, as far as I’m concerned, I haven’t got a family any more. I’m off to pastures new.’

‘Get in the kitchen, now!’ Pam growled at her daughter. She knew Angela’s tricks of turning things around and Pam couldn’t believe she was trying to blame the family for her selfish decision to depart to a foreign country.

‘You ain’t gonna make me change my mind. Roxy’s moving over there with me and we’ve got a good job to go to.’

Pam wasn’t very good with geography. The Isle of Wight was the furthest she had ever been in her life, but she knew Greece was nowhere near England. ‘You can’t go! What about Aidan? I know you don’t put yourself out to see him very much, but you’re still his bloody mother.’

‘Well, you can look after him for me, can’t you? Or, if you don’t want him, Jason will have him.’

‘We’re not talking about a fucking dog, Angela. This is your son, you heartless cow. He’s registered to you by the authorities, remember?’

‘Look, I ain’t arguing with you, Mum. I’ve made my mind up and I’m going. I dare say I might come back for the winter, and I’m not gonna inform the authorities I’ve gone, so you can still cash the child allowance. I’ll even send some money home every couple of months, if you want me to?’

As Pam looked at the coldness in her daughter’s eyes, and for the first time in her life, she could honestly say that she hated her. ‘I don’t want anything from you, Angela. Now get out of my house and don’t you ever, ever darken my doorstep again, understand?’

Angela shrugged. ‘Suits me, but I wanna say goodbye to Aidan before I leave.’

‘You leave that boy alone,’ Pam warned her.

Ignoring her mother’s orders, Angela marched into the living room. ‘Have you washed them chocolatey hands yet?’

‘Yeah, I wiped them with Nanny’s tissues,’ Aidan mumbled apologetically.

Pam couldn’t bear to be in the same room as Angela asked Aidan to sit on the sofa next to her and said, in a fake loving voice, ‘You know Mummy took you shopping recently, Aidan, and bought you all them lovely presents?’

‘Yeah! Do you wanna play with my car with me, Mummy?’ Aidan asked excitedly. The remote-controlled Porsche his mother had bought him was the best present he had ever had.

‘No, darling. Mummy has to leave soon and she won’t be able to see you for a while. I’ve got a new job, you see, and it’s a long way away.’

‘Can I come with you?’

‘No. I’d love to take you with me, but little boys aren’t allowed there,’ Angela lied.

Earwigging outside the door, Pam shook her head in repugnance. How she could have given birth to two such different daughters she would never know, and not for the first time in her life, Pam briefly wondered if the nurse had given her the wrong baby when she had taken Angela home.

‘When will you take me out again then, Mummy?’

‘I don’t know yet, but I promise you when I do I’ll buy you lots and lots of lovely presents. That’s why I’m going away to work. It’s not for me, I’m doing it for you. The money is much better where I’m going and it means I can buy you much better presents than ever before.’

Aidan threw his arms around his mother’s neck and held her tightly. All his friends at school had mums that picked them up every day and came to their nativity plays and sports days, and he really wished that his could be there too sometimes. ‘I love you, Mummy,’ he said.

Realizing that her son was crying, Angela stood up quickly. She felt a bit tearful herself and, in that split second, knew she must love him. Roxy had been shocked when she had taken the job abroad, and Angela had broken down as she had explained her reasons to her friend. ‘I ain’t a bad person, Rox, but I’m a crap parent, and Aidan is far better off being bought up by my mum, his dad, and his other grandparents,’ she had told her friend bluntly.

‘Please don’t go yet, Mummy,’ Aidan sobbed, as Angela put her hand on the handle of the door.

Bending down, Angela kissed her son on his forehead. ‘I have to go now, Aidan, but don’t you ever forget that Mummy loves you.’

Stephanie was dismayed when she walked into the restaurant in Buckhurst Hill and saw Richard sitting at the table alongside Tammy. She had said to her friend the other evening that she felt as though she barely knew Richard, but she hadn’t expected Tammy to bring him along with her. She had thought and wanted it would be just the two of them. A proper girlie farewell.

Tammy grinned as Steph walked towards her. ‘Don’t look so glum. Richard’s only staying with us for a little while as he’s off up town with his mates. He wanted to treat us to a nice bottle of champagne to start our evening off, didn’t you, babe?’ Tammy said.

Richard stood up and kissed Stephanie on the cheek. ‘Here, let me take your coat for you.’

Steph sat down and watched Richard stroll over to the coat stand. He had a dark grey suit on, a crisp white shirt that he wore unbuttoned to reveal his toned chest, and expensive-looking tan leather shoes. With his floppy dark hair, perfect teeth and killer smile, he really was a looker. ‘Well, I have to say, Tam, he is even more handsome than I thought he was when he came round mine. I was so worried about seeing Barry again for the first time in years, I didn’t take enough notice of Tricky Dicky. Wow, no wonder you’re giving up everything for him, mate.’

‘I am so sorry to hear about Wayne going missing, Stephanie. Tammy’s been telling me all about it, and I do hope he is found safe and well,’ Richard said, sitting back down at the table.

The mention of Wayne being found safe and well, along with Tammy lovingly squeezing Richard’s hand, was enough to make Stephanie’s eyes well up. She had been with Wayne since she was fifteen years old, and not being part of a couple any more was one of the hardest things she had ever had to deal with. Wayne had never been at home that much, but it was the intimacy of sharing a cuddle or a conversation about her day and the children that Steph missed the most. The thought of living the rest of her life as a lonely single parent worried Steph even more than the financial difficulties that were heading her way.

‘Are you OK?’ Tammy asked.

‘Yeah. I’m just thinking about how much I’m gonna miss you,’ Steph replied. She didn’t want to get into another long conversation about Wayne.

‘Let’s make a toast to the safe return of Wayne, shall we?’ Richard said, holding his glass aloft.

Stephanie joined Tammy in holding hers aloft and then made a toast of her own. ‘To Richard and my best friend Tammy. Wishing you all the best for your new life in Spain.’

Tammy and Richard both looked at one another and laughed. ‘To us,’ they said in unison.