Soldier's Daughters (42 page)

He sank into the back seat of the black staff car and gave the driver the address. He hated doing things like this – being the bearer of bad news – but at least it was only ‘missing’ and not worse.

Yet.

He looked at the details of Luke’s next of kin. A friend. Was that a euphemism for something else? He didn’t think Luke looked gay but who knew these days. Anyway, even if Blake was, it was none of his business.

The driver zoomed along the main road to Andover, driving smoothly and expertly and soon they were turning off the A303 and heading into Andover itself. The driver followed the sat nav on the windscreen and pulled up outside a bike shop in a side street close to the town centre.

‘Are you sure this is it?’ asked Milward.

The driver looked at the address. ‘It’s the address you gave me, sir.’ He sounded defensive.

‘Fine.’ Milward stepped out of the car and stared at the bike shop, then he noticed a door to the side with several doorbells. He checked the name plates and found one with the name of Blake’s next of kin. He pressed it.

‘Who is it?’ asked a voice through the entry phone system.

‘Major Milward. From 1 Herts. I’ve, erm… I’ve got some news about Luke Blake.’

The door buzzed and Milward let himself in. As he climbed the tatty, lino-covered stairs he heard a door open. He looked up to the landing and saw a young lad staring at him, looking utterly bewildered.

‘You’d better come in,’ said the lad.

Milward followed him into a small living room where the TV was on and there were beer cans on the table along with the remains of a take-away.

‘Are you Peter North?’ he asked.

The lad nodded. ‘So what’s happened to Luke? And more importantly, why are you telling me?’

‘Because you’re his next of kin.’

‘What? Since when?’

‘He didn’t tell you?’

Peter shook his head. ‘No. I mean we’re mates, good mates, but we’re not related or nothing. Shit, I knew he hated his mum and dad but I didn’t know he hated them that much to cut them out of his life completely.’

Alan took off his beret and ran his fingers through his hair. ‘OK, you obviously know a lot more about Luke than me, maybe you could fill me in.’

‘Of course – as soon as you tell me why you’re here.’

‘Sure.’

Peter moved towards the kitchenette that led off the living room. ‘Brew?’

‘Please. Milk and two.’ He watched Peter fill the kettle before he said, ‘Luke is on exercise in Kenya and he’s gone missing. He’s been gone for about thirty-six hours now and the guys on the ground are getting really concerned.’

Peter switched the kettle on and turned to face Milward. He seemed to think about the news for a second or two. ‘So, it sounds pretty serious.’

Milward nodded. ‘It is – potentially. It might be very serious.’

‘Then I think it’s his dad you ought to be telling. I mean, of course I’m worried about my mate but it isn’t really any of my business. It isn’t that I don’t care – I do – but I’m not family, am I?’

‘Except you’re his designated next of kin.’

‘Yeah, well, his dad mightn’t see it like that. And what’s more his dad might make a whole heap of trouble for you if he finds out later he wasn’t put in the picture.’

‘Really?’ Milward was perplexed. How? Why?

Peter nodded. ‘You have no idea who Luke’s dad is, have you?’

Milward felt faintly exasperated. Of course he didn’t – otherwise he wouldn’t be breaking the news to this spotty youth.

‘Luke’s old man is General Pemberton-Blake.’ Milward felt himself reel. ‘Or is it General
Sir
Pemberton-Blake now? I seem to remember he got a gong recently,’ continued Peter, unaware of the effect his words had had on his visitor. ‘Anyway, he’s a big cheese. That’s why Luke joined as a squaddie. He always wanted to be in the army but he knew if he became an officer, his path would cross his father’s. They had a falling out and he told me he never wanted to see his dad again. He thought if he was in the ranks he’d be safe.’

‘Bloody hell.’

The kettle boiled and clicked off.

‘So are you going to visit Luke’s father?’

‘I think I better had.’

Andy Bailey barged into the CO’s tent.

‘Sorry, sir, but you’ve got to hear this.’

The CO looked up from a map of the ranges he was studying. ‘What?’

‘Blake’s father.’

I thought you told me earlier he didn’t have one; that his next of kin was a friend.’

‘Well, that’s not the case. Long story but it turns out that it’s only General Sir William Pemberton-Blake.’

The CO sank into a camping chair. Then he looked up sharply at his adjutant. ‘Don’t be so ridiculous, Andy. Just because they share a name doesn’t make them related.’

‘It does, Colonel. Alan Milward’s been to see him.’

‘Fucking hell.’

‘And he’s on his way out here.’

‘Jesus, that’s all we need.’

‘He and Sam Lewis’s dad are on the airtrooping flight that gets in tomorrow.’

The CO rolled his eyes. ‘I’d better go and pick them up myself. We can’t send a clerk like Corporal Cooper to meet that pair. How is she, by the way?’

‘On the mend. Once the medics pumped her full of antibiotics she began to rally in no time.’

‘And her charge – that hack?’

‘You mean Raven?’

‘I do indeed.’

‘Presumably, now that Blake and Sam’s next of kin have been informed he’s been allowed to file his story to the BBC,’ said Andy.

‘We could hardly stop him – anyway, MOD PR gave him the go-ahead. Does he know about Blake’s father?’

‘Not yet.’

The CO looked glum. ‘He will, though. He’s a reporter, he’ll find out.’

‘Would it be better if we tell him?’

The CO considered it and then nodded. ‘But not tonight. We’ve got to hope Blake and Lewis get found before their folks get here.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Actually, we’ve got to hope they get found before then, full stop.’ His shoulders drooped. ‘They can’t have much water and I am getting seriously worried now. Seriously worried.’

You and me both, thought Andy.

Maddy was exhausted. The contractions were coming regularly now – every twenty minutes – but nothing else seemed to be happening. The gas and air might be taking the edge off the pain but her labour had been going on properly for well over twelve hours and so far, apart from being strapped to a monitor, there was nothing to show for it.

‘Nathan wasn’t this slow,’ she said to her mother, who was sitting on the chair beside the bed in the delivery suite.

Her mother glanced up from her magazine. ‘All babies are different, darling.’

Maddy stared at her mother. What did she know? She’d only ever had the one. She didn’t have the strength to argue, besides which, if she did, she’d lose. Her mother liked to have the final word and Maddy had long since learned not to take her on.

Her mother put her magazine to one side. ‘When do you think Seb is going to get here?’

‘No idea.’ Maddy shifted to try and ease the ache in her back. ‘Look, Mum, why don’t you go back to mine and take over looking after Nathan? I’m sure Jenna would like to get back home and if anything happens I promise I’ll ring.’

‘I don’t like the idea of you being here on your own.’

‘Mum, I’ve got a call button and half a dozen nurses who will come running if I suddenly need urgent care.’

Her mother looked at her and sighed. ‘But it isn’t right.’

‘I’m a big girl, I can cope. Besides, there doesn’t seem much point in both of us losing out on a night’s sleep.’

‘But Seb should be here.’ Her mother tutted. ‘It’s not right that he’s abandoned you.’

‘He’s got to come back from Kenya. It’s not as if he’s rowing or something.’

‘I always knew that picking a husband who was a soldier was a bad idea.’

‘Don’t start, Mum.’

Her mother hurrumphed. ‘You could have done so much better.’

Maddy didn’t want to hear this. Her hormones were all over the place, the incident the previous day with Michelle was still playing on her mind, she was worried about imposing Nathan on Jenna, and the last thing she needed was to have to listen to her mother’s views on her husband.

‘Not now, Mum.’

‘You went to Oxford.’

‘So did Seb,’ she said wearily.

‘Only because he was a rower – I don’t think they’d have taken him on his academic results alone.’

‘You don’t know that.’

‘And even then he never really made it at rowing, did he?’

Something in Maddy got pulled too hard and it snapped. ‘Mum, shut up about Seb.’

Her mother stared at her. Her mouth opened and then shut. ‘Really!’ She said with an audible sniff.

Maddy could feel tears welling up. ‘Mum, you’re not helping, you know that, don’t you? Now is not the moment to tell me you don’t like Seb. You don’t have to, you know. He’s my husband, not yours.’ She banged her head against the pillow in frustration. Shit, if her mother ever found out about Michelle…

Her mother picked up her magazine and then grabbed her handbag off the floor. ‘I know when I’m not wanted.’

Maddy dashed the tears away with the palms of her hands. ‘Mum, you are. But you’d be more use looking after Nathan rather than telling me again that you think my husband is crap. He’s not, and I love him and if you can’t take that on board then I’m sorry because I’m not going to leave him.’ She gave her mother a defiant look as she wondered, momentarily, about the possibility of Seb leaving her for Michelle. No, she wasn’t going to think about that and she certainly wasn’t going to let Seb go without an almighty fight. At least she’d got that much clear in her head.

The door to the delivery suite opened and a midwife entered. ‘How are we getting along?’ she asked breezily, before she clocked the tense atmosphere. She looked from Maddy to her mother and back.

‘You carry on,’ said Mrs Peters with a sniff. ‘I am leaving.’ She gave her daughter a cold stare. ‘Ring if you need me.’ She swept out.

After the door shut there was a moment’s silence. ‘Oops,’ said the midwife. ‘I hope I didn’t make things worse.’

Maddy wondered about telling her how bad things
really
were and that to make things worse she’d have to go some, but instead shook her head. ‘No, nothing to do with you.’

‘Do you want to talk about it?’

The kind words tipped Maddy, in her fragile state, right over the emotional edge she’d been teetering on and a sob bubbled up. Then another. The midwife sat beside her and patted her hand.

‘I could tell you it’s hormones, that lots of mums get weepy at this point, but my instincts tell me it’s more than that. And I expect you’re missing your husband.’

Maddy nodded, wetly. ‘And Mum thinks he’s doing this deliberately.’

‘He had this all planned, did he? He knew the baby would decide to come well over a month early?’ The midwife sighed in understanding.

Maddy nodded. ‘Except at the rate this labour is going it’s not going to get here till the due date.’

The midwife patted her hand again. ‘Not on my watch. If it doesn’t get a move on soon we’ll crack out the dynamite and hurry things along.’

Maddy, feeling another contraction start to build, grabbed the gas and air mouthpiece and sucked on it. She puffed and panted and tried not to moan as she felt the waves of pain intensify.

‘That’s good,’ murmured the midwife, stroking her forehead. ‘You’re doing so well.’

The contraction faded and Maddy began to relax again. She shut her eyes as tiredness overtook the agony. When was it all going to be over? She wasn’t sure if she had the energy to see the process through.

As Michelle returned to the mess she knew that being suddenly confined to barracks would take some explaining. She also knew that if there was going to be any disciplinary action taken her father would, inevitably, hear about it. This time, she knew, she’d have to come clean. Own up to everything and not just about the fight. If, later, he found out what had precipitated it she couldn’t bear to think what the consequences might be. Anyway, her situation, right now, was so dire, what on earth could make it worse?

‘You did what?’ Major Flowers sank onto the bed in his room and stared at his daughter. ‘Why?’ he said after a long pause.

Michelle shrugged. ‘I… I can’t explain.’

‘Dear God, you’ve made some mistakes in your life but this one really takes the biscuit.’

Michelle hung her head. Except, even in this abject state, there was a part of her that refused to accept this was all her fault. As always, she looked about for a reason for her actions – for someone else who could share the blame. ‘It’s not my fault I’m such a mess. If you and Mum had stuck together, I wouldn’t have ended up screwing up all the time. It’s not my fault I’ve messed up, it’s because you left Mum for Janine.’

Her father snorted. ‘That’s right – it’s never your fault, is it? And as for what happened between your mum and me, it wasn’t about Janine.’

‘No?’

‘No. You are making judgements on a situation you know nothing about.’

‘And you aren’t? You know what my relationship with Seb was like?’

‘No, but I didn’t go stalking third parties to try and get my own way – Janine’s marriage was as dead in the water as mine. I don’t care what you surmised about your mother, but it takes two to make a marriage go sour, and your mother was, and very possibly still is, neat vinegar. Let’s face it, Michelle, she hasn’t even had the good grace to ask to see you in nearly twenty years so don’t you go blaming Janine for what happened when you were barely out of nappies.’

Michelle wasn’t convinced but she’d never heard any side of the story except her father’s so she didn’t have much of a counter-argument.

‘I wanted Seb’s wife to know the truth. I felt he wasn’t going to tell her what had been going on and that Maddy had a right to be put in the picture. She had to know her husband was being unfaithful. I was doing her a favour.’

Henry Flowers stared at his daughter and then shook his head. ‘A favour? Dear God, I wouldn’t want to be around when you decide to do someone a disservice. A favour?’ he repeated. ‘That’s bollocks and you know it. You wanted your own way and you didn’t care who got hurt as you bulldozed your way through to your objective. You’ve never had any regard for the feelings of other people, have you?’