Dead Simple

something?’
    ‘You haven’t missed anything – not that I can see. But it is now about…’ Grace checked his watch. ‘Nine on a Friday night. Short of heading out into Ashdown Forest with a shovel and a flashlight, I’m not sure what else we can achieve.’
    ‘There must be something that we’re missing.’
    ‘There’s always something, Glenn. What very few people understand is the importance of serendipity in our job.’
    ‘You mean luck?’
    ‘You know the old joke about the golfer?’
    ‘Tell me.’
    ‘He says, “It’s a strange thing…the more I practise, the luckier I get.”’
    Branson grinned. ‘So maybe we haven’t practised enough.’
    ‘I think we’ve practised enough. Tomorrow’s the big day. If Mr Michael Harrison is playing the joke of all jokes, then tomorrow will be the moment of truth.’
    ‘And if he’s not?’
    ‘Then we go to Plan B.’
    ‘Which is what?’
    ‘I have no idea.’ Grace squinted at him across the top of his glass. ‘I’m just your lunch date. Remember?’

39
    Ashley, in her white towelling dressing gown, was slouched on her bed watching a Sex in the City repeat playing on the plasma television screen, when the telephone rang. She sat up with a start, nearly spilling some of the Sauvignon Blanc in the glass she was holding. Her alarm clock said 11.18 p.m. It was late.
    She answered it with a nervous, near-breathless, ‘Yeshello?’
    ‘Ashley? I hope I haven’t woken you, love?’
    Ashley put her wine glass down on her bedside table, grabbed the remote and muted the sound. It was Gill Harrison, Michael’s mother. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Not at all. I can’t sleep anyhow. I haven’t slept a wink since – Tuesday. I’m going to take a pill in a little while – the doctor gave me some – said they would knock me out.’ In the background she heard Bobo, Gill’s little white shih-tzu, barking.
    ‘I want you to think again, Ashley. I really think you must cancel the reception tomorrow.’
    Ashley took a deep breath. ‘Gill – we discussed it all yesterday and today. We can’t get anything refunded cancelling this late; we have people coming from all over the place – like my uncle from Canada who’s giving me away.’
    ‘He’s a nice man,’ Gill said. ‘Poor fellow’s come all this way.’
    ‘We adore each other,’ Ashley said. ‘He took the whole week off just so he could be at the rehearsal on Monday.’
    ‘Where’s he staying?’
    ‘In London – at the Lanesborough. He always stays at the best.’ She was quiet for a moment. ‘Of course, I’ve told him, but he said he would come down anyway to give me support. I’ve managed to stop my other girlfriends in Canada – four of them were coming over – and I have other friends in London I’ve convinced not to come – the phone’s been ringing off the hook for the past couple of days.’
    ‘Here, too.’
    ‘The problem is Michael has friends and colleagues invited from all over England – and the Continent. I’ve tried to contact as many people as possible, and so has Mark – but – we need at least to look after those who do turn up. And I still think Michael might.’
    ‘I don’t think so, love, not now.’
    ‘Gill, Michael played all kinds of pranks on his friends when they got married – two of them only made it to the church minutes before the wedding began, because of what he did to them. Michael could still be somewhere, locked up or tied up, not knowing anything about what has happened. He might still be planning – or trying – to make it.’
    ‘You’re a lovely girl, and you are a kind person – it’s going to be devastating for you to be at the church and he doesn’t arrive. You have got to accept that something has happened to him. Four people are dead, love. Michael must have heard about them – if he is OK.’
    Ashley sniffed, then began to sob. For some moments she cried inconsolably, dabbing her eyes with a tissue she had plucked from a box on her bedside table. Then, sniffing hard, she said, ‘I’m trying so damned hard, but I’m not coping. I just – I – keep – praying he’s going to turn up – every time the phone rings I think it’s going to be him – you know – that he’ll be laughing, explaining it’s all been some dumb joke.’
    ‘Michael’s a good boy,’ Gill said. ‘He’s never been cruel – this is too cruel. He wouldn’t do this; it’s not in him.’
    There was a long silence. Finally Ashley broke it.