Underground

Chapter 9

 I sat at the kitchen table with photos and notes spread out in front of me. What was I missing? As if on cue a ping on my computer alerted me that I had received an email. Gordon had sent through copies of the case file. I skim read it. I found an address and phone number for John Paisley's parents' house in London. I looked at the clock. Who knew if that was still his parents' number? I searched the online White Pages for the Paisleys and came up with the same address and phone number. There were about twenty entries for J. Paisley, so I took my chances with his parents. I took a deep breath and dialled their number. After five rings a woman's voice answered.

"Hello, is that Mrs Paisley?"

"Yes."

"Mrs Paisley, my name is Adrienne Lockley. I'm calling from Australia. I was hoping to track down John." There was no answer. I thought the line was dead.

"I'll go and get him for you," Mrs Paisley finally replied. I heard the knock of the phone on a hard surface. Murmuring in the background got louder until finally, John picked up the phone.

"Hello, this is John."

"Hi John, I am calling from Australia. My name is Adrienne Lockley. My father investigated Alicia Haston's disappearance."

"Oh," he replied quietly.

"He was killed during the investigation, and I was wondering if I could ask you some questions?"

Silence.

"John?"

"Hang on a minute." I heard the television get louder and then softer. A door closed, blocking out all noise. "Sorry. I had to get away from the old girl."

"Oh, okay. Have you ever heard from Alicia again? I read that she was your ex-girlfriend at the time of her disappearance."

"I haven't heard from her since." This was going to need some prodding.

"I got your name from my father's old notepads. Did he ring you? His name was Thomas Lockley."

"I can't remember the guy's name. He called twice."

"Can you remember what you talked about?" I pushed.

"What do his notes say?" Come on John, talk to me!

"I only have the ones he kept at home, not the official ones," I lied, "I'm not accusing you of anything John. I'm sorry if I gave you that impression."

"Does it say why I came home?" he asked quietly.

"Because you had a fight with Alicia."

"Yeah. We fought because she found out she was pregnant," he mumbled.

"Pregnant?"

"Yeah. I'm not proud of myself." I believed him. "Her parents don't even know. My parents don't know. I've never told anyone because I told her to get rid of it and she wouldn't." He sobbed into the phone. I let him compose himself.

"John, did anyone know about it other than the two of you? Anyone in Australia?" I asked.

"She'd told her boss. She got her an appointment with a doctor at a community centre or something." He sniffed.

"Anybody else?" I asked.

"Your father knew about it when he rang me."

"He did?" I had never read anything in his notes to suggest that.

"Yeah. He asked if I knew. I told him no one else over here knew. He said if she didn't turn up it would come out and that I should tell her parents. I just hoped she turned up, you know. I did love her. I just freaked out because I was young and selfish. If only I could go back..." He sounded remorseful.