Deborah Crombie - In A Dark House

“Know your wife,” Gemma finished for him, the light dawning. “Is that why you didn’t want to leave Harriet on her own, because you were afraid she’d call her mum?” She looked at the suitcase, crammed with clothing, a little girl’s T-shirt spilling over the side. “You weren’t packing for a day away, Tony, that much is obvious. You’d never have thought you could just take Harriet off for a day without Laura suing to revoke your custody. And you’d have been in trouble with the hospital for failing to let them know you were going to be absent.” She tilted her head to one side, thinking, then said slowly, “Unless it didn’t matter, because you weren’t coming back. Where were you taking her, Tony?”

He stared at her defiantly, and for a moment she thought he would deny it. Then he closed his eyes, and the tension seemed to seep from his body.

“Prague,” he whispered. “I was taking her to Prague.”

“IT’S A BEAUTIFUL place, Prague, the city of the spires,” Tony went on dreamily, as if repeating a story he’d told himself many times. “My family’s Czech. I thought they could help us. There’s always a need for qualified doctors in Eastern Europe – I was sure I could find a job, start over.”

“Wait a minute,” Kincaid said, his voice rising in disbelief. “I don’t care what you meant to do. Why the hell did you come bursting into the shelter accusing Kath Warren of helping your wife abduct your child, when all the time you knew you’d left Harriet with someone else?”

Tony Novak raised his head and blinked at him. His hungover state was still evident in his glazed and red-rimmed eyes, but he spoke clearly enough. “At first, I thought Harriet might have asked Beth to take her home, or to the hospital, and that Harriet might have told her mother I’d taken her out of school. Laura would’ve gone spare, I can tell you – packed everything up and walked out, just to spite me.

“But then, the longer I tried to find Beth, the odder it seemed that she’d just vanished without a trace. If Beth had taken Harriet to Laura, why wouldn’t she have rung me, or met me where we’d arranged, to tell me what happened?”

“Did Beth know what you meant to do?” asked Gemma.

Tony nodded, draining the last of the tea Gemma had made him. “I’d rung her the night before. I told her I thought Laura was planning to abduct Harriet – that Laura had been threatening me with it for months, and then on Sunday when I brought Harriet back late, she was furious. She said it would be the last time I’d have that chance, and I could tell she meant to do something drastic. I was afraid if I didn’t take Harriet, I’d never see my daughter again.”

“But why did you need to go to the house, after you’d picked Harriet up? Surely you could have bought Harriet anything she needed?”

“I had to get her passport. Laura kept all the legal documents, and I couldn’t get Harriet into the EU without her passport.”

“Then why not pick Harriet up after you’d got the passport,” Kincaid said, “rather than involving Beth at all?”

“I needed Harriet’s key. When I dropped off Harriet and Beth, I kept Harriet’s backpack. And I had to pick Harriet up before school started, because once she’d gone inside, the school wouldn’t release her to me. Laura’s instructions, thanks to the shelter’s advice,” Tony added, his face tightening with anger and resentment.

Kincaid stood and paced a few steps. The smell of sweat and stale alcohol in the small, stuffy room was making him edgy. “Where did you let them out of the car?” he asked, trying to keep Tony on track.

“We talked for a bit. I told Harriet I had a surprise for her, a treat, but that first Beth was going to take her shopping. Then I dropped them at London Bridge Station and said I’d pick Harriet up there in three hours. I wanted to be across the Channel before Laura realized Harriet hadn’t come home from school.”

“You didn’t think Harriet would object to leaving her home and her mother?” Gemma asked sharply, her disapproval obvious for the first time.

Tony rubbed at his face again, avoiding her gaze. “Harriet loves me,” he said. “She never wants to leave me after our weekends together, and I know she was worried that Laura meant to separate us. I thought – I thought I’d explain things to her once we’d left England, ask her to give it a try. If she didn’t like it after a few weeks, she could go home. And I meant to let Laura know Harriet was safe, as soon as we were well away.”

“It’s still inexcusable, taking a child away from her mother-”

“What gives mothers special dispensation?” Tony retorted, anger flaring again. “What would you do if someone was going to take your child away from you? How would you feel?”

Kincaid saw Gemma glance at him, eyes wide, and he knew they were both thinking of Kit.

“Tony,” she said, “why would Laura be so determined to separate you and Harriet? Is there something you’re not telling us?”

“What?” He glared at her. “You think I mistreat my child? Is that what you’re suggesting?”

“No. I-”

“Then you can just bloody well fuck yourself.” He half rose from the sofa, his fists clenching. “I told you, I love my daughter. I’ve never done anything worse than have her back a few minutes late from one of our weekends.” He sank down again, his face contorting, and pressed his knuckles hard against his mouth to stop it trembling. “Oh, Jesus. I couldn’t bear it if something’s happened to Harriet.”

“Then why-”

“Laura’s jealous. That’s the truth of it. She’s always been jealous of the fact that Harriet preferred me to her. When she found out about the women I’d been seeing, that was just an excuse to end the marriage, because she could never admit the truth, even to herself.”

Kincaid’s first response was to put Tony’s statement down to self-justification, the bitter fallout of a failed relationship. Then he thought of Kath Warren’s tactfully expressed dislike of Laura Novak and of the equally unflattering portrait painted by Laura’s next-door neighbor. But if Tony’s assessment was accurate, did that tell them anything about what had happened to Harriet?

He said, “Tony, if Laura had been planning to disappear with Harriet, don’t you think Harriet would have told you?”

“Laura can be… harsh, if she feels Harriet’s disobeyed her. Harriet might have been afraid to speak.”

“She didn’t say anything when you picked her up on Friday morning?”

“No. But I didn’t give her a chance. Beth was there and I – I put Harriet off when she tried to talk to me. I thought she was just worried that her mum would be angry I was taking her out of school. I didn’t think it would matter, once we were gone.”

Leaning forward, Gemma said intently, “I don’t see how Laura could have gone away with Harriet without alerting the neighbors. She’d have to have taken a few things-”

“You don’t know Laura. She could have had an emergency getaway kit stashed at the hospital-”

Gemma was shaking her head. “Tony, none of this makes sense. Laura wasn’t at the hospital. She didn’t show up for work on Friday. And she left Harriet with the child minder on Thursday night, saying she had to work night duty, but she didn’t. We’ve checked.”

He stared at her. “What?”

“You’re sure she wasn’t at home when you went in to get Harriet’s passport?”

“Of course I’m bloody sure! Do you think she’d have let me walk merrily out of the house with Harriet’s passport in my pocket?”