Chapter 29
1st October 2015: 21:33 pm.
As Will walked in, I felt a sense of accomplishment for one thing today. I knew that he would know how to find out about the missing money. The next task would be just confronting Li and telling her the truth. That I knew that she had something to do with this whole kidnapping fiasco and that she should just return Barbara to me and let us get on with our lives. The consequences of this confrontation would be mine to suffer. As long as Barbara was safe. She was a mother, surely she couldn’t hurt her. As for Zhang, I wasn’t too sure. I needed the money otherwise I knew that I didn’t have a chance in winning if things got nasty. Money solved everything.
“Ted,” he grunted as he walked into my office. I could tell that John was confused so he formally introduced himself.
“John Carter of Rogers Capital Management Investments.”
Will just shook his hand. The guy had a grudge. I knew that he was bitter about Emma choosing me over him. He just had to get over it.
“What do you want?” Will spat out. You would have thought that it was his daughter that was missing, he looked stressed and worn out.
Me on the other hand, fuck knows how I was feeling right now.
“Would you like a drink? Coffee, tea or a glass of water?” Ruby asked as she hovered in the door way, not sure whether to call security or let Will stay.
“No, that’ll be all. Thank you, Ruby,” I said politely and then she nodded her head and closed the door.
John sat, not sure what to do with himself and then he got up and grabbed his laptop and sat again opposite my desk.
“Sit down, please,” I motioned for Will to sit next to John.
He shook his head. “What do you want?” he repeated it as if I never heard him the first time. I was exhausted and the idea of facing Will after all these years wasn’t exactly on my agenda.
“I want to know what happened to the money in the accounts.”
He came closer to my desk, and I could feel his anger as he slammed his hands on top of it. “Your daughter is missing and you want to know where the money is? What money?”
John started, “Well you see—”
“I don’t give a fuck. Look, I was out there looking for your daughter. Not for you. For her. Now, if this is what you’ve been ringing my phone about like a jealous lover then you’ve fucking wasted my time.”
I stood up, ‘Shit, for someone else’s daughter you’re really putting a lot of effort into it. Are you sure she’s mine and not yours?”
I didn’t know where the question came from. It had never entered my mind that Barbara might not be mine. She has my blue eyes, even my nose and shaped face. People often said that she was a female version of her dad.
He stood up ready to leave. “If she had any sense she would be mine!”
We gazed at each other as if in a war of stares. John was sitting probably feeling uncomfortable as he stood up and said, “I’ll leave you guys to it. I can tell that you’ve got a lot of history…”
“No worries, I was leaving. Ted just wasted my time. Seems like I’m more worried about his daughter than he is.”
He turned to leave the room. But he’d really pissed me off and I got up and moved away from the desk. “How fucking dare you. I already spent this morning at the police station.” I felt John brush past me as he swiftly left my office as if his life depended on it.
“Yeah! And have they found her?”
I shifted away from him as I mumbled, “No.”
He was going to say something but then my phone was ringing, and knowing that it could be Dad I quickly darted to my desk. Will followed me, probably hoping for some news too.
“Ted Rogers?” It was either Detective Russell or Dwight. I could tell by the formal voice that it had to be the police. And he didn’t formally introduce himself, I didn’t care who it was, as long as he had some news.
“The police,” I mouthed to Will. He sighed with relief as he sat down. I knew that he’d wanted to leave earlier. His hands were hovering on the chair arms in between stroking his beard. Will looked older. His clothes were tired and the bags under his eyes hadn’t developed as a result of him trying to find Barbara today. It must have been down to stress. I felt bad seeing him in this state, but then I had more important things to worry about. Barbara.
“Yes, this is he. Do you have any news about my daughter?”
“Well, we have some news. We think that we’ve found something. Do you know Spine Road East, South Cerney in the Cotswolds?”
“Yes, yes I know there. That’s one of my houses. Our holiday home. Is she there?” I asked, already grabbing my coat and thinking that I needed to leave asap.
“If you could come now, then we can talk. Can you come down now sir?”
“I’m on my way!”
I hung up my phone and I felt as if I had a glimmer of hope. Barbara was at our holiday home and I was just about to fill Will in on the call. That was when I looked up and Li was standing by the door. Ruby was besides herself. “I told her not to come in, but she insisted.”
Li merely pointed at Will, who was now standing by my side. “What’s going on and who is he?”
I was stressed and Li was throwing a tantrum while Emma was behind bars. To say that this whole thing was fucked up was an understatement. I ignored her as I moved past her and said, “He’s a friend.”
We both left my office and I knew that she would try to follow me. I lifted up my hand, a sign that I’d used with her time and time again, to tell her to leave me the fuck alone.