Fragile Minds Page 0,81

had a glimpse of what it must be like to be left here with this woman’s suppurating pain.

‘I’ve just signed up,’ Colin must have read Silver’s mind. There was a small hole in the toe of his Bart Simpson sock. ‘I’m off to ATC Pirbright next week for six months. Training. Can’t bloody wait. Hoping I get out to Afghanistan.’

‘Good lad,’ Silver nodded at him, inwardly appalled. That was all Brenda Malvern needed. Hopefully by the time Colin had trained, the government might have seen sense and actually pulled out of the deadly war-zone, but the idea of losing another child … Christ. ‘Army needs brave boys like you. But have you considered the police force instead?’

‘So, Sadie?’ the woman interrupted plaintively, as if she had been forgotten.

‘Yes.’ Silver’s heart felt heavy; he felt like he was wading through boggy mud, his feet sinking ever deeper. ‘It’s just – I have to tell you—’

‘Only I spoke to her last night.’ The dog yapped again, and the woman bowed her head and kissed the top of his, shushing him. ‘And she were in ever such a good mood.’

‘Last night?’ Silver stared at her. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure. I know my own daughter.’

‘Only, we – we’ve been worried that she was missing. Her flatmate Lucie – she—’

‘That little cow?’ the woman sniffed. ‘Wouldn’t trust a word she said.’

‘Ma!’ Colin was embarrassed. ‘Don’t be nasty.’

Silver looked at the lad’s thin flushing skin and his Adam’s apple, sharp as a child’s protractor above the grey t-shirt bearing the legend ‘Terminator lives’. A crush on Lucie Duffy? Only to be expected, he thought, with a girl that obviously sexual.

‘You’ve met her then? Lucie Duffy?’

‘Yeah. Went down to see Sadie’s graduation show last summer. Dead good, it were,’ Colin pulled a funny face, ‘if you like that sort of thing.’

Lucie had definitely said she didn’t know the Malvern family. Silver was right then: she had been lying. Why, though?

‘Right. Well, Lucie was worried that Sadie was missing,’ Silver went on. ‘And another – friend,’ he saw Paige’s cross little face, ‘mentioned a boyfriend. Had a funny nickname. The Prince?’

‘No,’ the woman was firm, unequivocal. ‘She’s not missing, and she’s got no time for men. Not with all the dancing. Not my Sadie. She’s on a, what do you call it?’ She stared at him. ‘A retreat.’

‘A retreat?’

‘Yeah. Something about tranquillity and her – finding her inner – oh, what were it, Col?’

‘Her inner child she said,’ he flushed further. ‘Didn’t make no sense to me.’

‘She were dead happy. And she were with her nice mate from the Academy. Taking a break from the tour of Southern England with that ballet company. Then they’re off abroad. Japan, I think she said. Doing ever so well, she is.’

‘Really?’ Silver was nonplussed. God only knew what web of lies Sadie Malvern had woven about her career. ‘Where? And which mate was it that she mentioned?’

‘What’s her name again, Colin?’ The woman looked at her son. ‘I can’t quite— Was it Mary?’

‘No, Ma.’ The pale-faced youth rolled his eyes at Silver, seeking male camaraderie now.

Silver gave an encouraging half-smile.

‘It were Meriel. Meriel Steele.’

SATURDAY 22ND JULY CLAUDIE

Down on the high street I hailed a cab, hastily applying mascara and blusher as I sat in the back, remembering the club-owner’s scorn last time, trying to make my hair look wild and tousled rather than like I’d just literally fallen out of bed.

I arrived at London Bridge around six and made my way past Southwark Cathedral. It was Evensong; the girls’ choir singing, the purity of their voices floating out into the dusky sky. For a moment I could almost believe that there was peace in this city. Then the air was riven by a siren, and I turned my back on the church, making my way to the club.

‘Can I see the American please?’ I asked, relieved it was a different doorman. He was white, shaven-headed and thickset, with tattoos on his neck. ‘Larry,’ I said as confidently as I could.

‘Wait here,’ he ordered. He had a strong accent that sounded something like Russian. I leant against the wall outside watching a malevolent shark of an aeroplane track the sky, expecting to be turned away again. I was surprised when, five minutes later, I was let down into the club.

I walked down the stairs and it was like entering hell: all red velvet and dim light, and hot beyond belief. I peeled off my parka and sat at the bar