Half the World Away - страница 55

‘These…’ Tom points to a burr at the edge of his rice ‘… these are the peppers?’

‘That’s right,’ Bradley says. ‘Sichuan pepper. It numbs the tongue. You feel that?’ He reaches for a tissue, wipes his moustache and chin.

‘It was Lori who found this place,’ Shona says.

Conversation stops.

‘Where can she be?’ Rosemary says, her eyes pained.

My chest is tight.

No one answers but then Shona says, ‘She loves finding new things, exploring.’

They reminisce and I feel an ache in my chest. Wanting her here, wanting her here to share this. I’m not sure that we’re any further forward but I’m glad we’ve met these people, that Lori had their friendship and a sense of belonging in this unfamiliar place.

We get a cab back – I haven’t the energy to walk to the bus. We must get in touch with Peter Dunne, our only liaison with the police, and tell him what we’ve learned. And I still need to call Nick. On the ride, beneath the underpass, I see a figure curled up, sleeping. Homeless, I guess.

I call Peter Dunne from Tom’s room, my phone on loudspeaker so we can both hear what’s said. It takes the consul a while to answer – it’s late, Saturday night: maybe he keeps office hours even with a situation like this, but eventually he’s on the line. He listens while I explain the content of the text from Lori to Shona and ask him if he knew about the project. There’s a very brief pause, then he says, ‘Not as such.’

‘We think it might be important, that perhaps she was taking photographs that Monday.’ An ugly thought curdles my stomach. I say it aloud: ‘Perhaps she was photographing the wrong thing… You said it’s a sensitive time.’

‘Mrs Maddox-’

‘Please, call me Jo.’

‘Jo, if the authorities detained Lorelei for any reason, for any length of time, I would have been informed. It happens – visa irregularities, misbehaviour or more serious incidents. I’m called from my bed often enough and together we agree on an appropriate way forward. I can assure you, we would know.’

He sounds so certain.

‘But if we can find out where she was,’ I say, ‘whom she was seeing, that could be important.’

‘I agree,’ he says.

‘Superintendent Yin,’ Tom says. ‘He never mentioned the project. Apparently he didn’t ask Lori’s friends about it. We think it’s been overlooked.’

‘They may well be carrying out enquiries into it but I’ll pass on your thoughts to make sure,’ Peter Dunne says.

The boys are in the garden when I get through. I tell Nick all about my day and share my concerns about the investigation. Like me, he’s surprised that we weren’t told about any of the new information as it was established.

‘But we’re in their hands,’ I say. ‘I don’t think complaining will get us anywhere.’ I tell him I’ll Skype the kids another time but will just say a quick hello for now.

Finn says they’re going to the museum and wishes I could come too.

‘I’m sorry, darling, but we’ll do something special when I come back.’

‘What?’ he says.

‘I don’t know. You think of something. Bye-bye now, I love you, bye-bye.’

‘I don’t want to go to the museum,’ Isaac says flat out.

I don’t want to be having this conversation. I try a bit of reverse psychology, ‘OK. You tell Daddy and he’ll see if you can stay with Penny or Sebastian. Daddy and Finn can go on their own.’

There is a long pause, then he makes a huffing sound. ‘They won’t know what to get,’ he says.

‘What to get where?’

‘From the shop,’ Isaac says irritably.

Ah. The highlight of any visit. ‘That’s true – and they’ve got some cool models there, and pens and stuff.’

‘When are you coming home?’ he says.

‘In a couple of weeks. And we’ll do something special then, whatever you like.’

‘Bye,’ he says, and I hear scuffling. I imagine him thrusting the phone at Nick.

‘Tell him I love him,’ I say to Nick. ‘Will do.’

‘And I love you.’

‘Love you too,’ he says.

As I lie in bed my mind roams over the conversations from the evening. We should talk to Oliver in the morning, see if he was the first subject for her project. But wouldn’t he have said so? He was there when we explained about the last sighting and the message to Shona. Then again, his English isn’t brilliant. We need to ask him directly. I think of how he slipped away so quickly, of his reticence, the fact that he didn’t answer his phone.