Missing Years ( Part 8)

Laura Crossley looked at the photograph on the hall table. She looked at it every day. It was her beloved Ray. It’ll be 25 years next month, she thought, since he went, vanished without a trace. She blamed herself of course, they had argued a few days before he left, about something stupid. Orange Peel!

Orange Peel for gods sake. She’d bitten his head off about leaving orange peel on the kitchen table after he had eaten the fruit. He’d snapped about her being so picky and it had turned into a full scale row. How stupid. He put on his running clothes and went out for a run, came back an hour later when everything had calmed down.

She’d often wondered if he had gone out to meet someone that day, decided he had had enough and then planned to run away with her a few days later. She knew he wasn’t dead, she just knew it. Something inside her told her so.

Even when the Police were looking for him and told her to expect the worse, she just knew he wasn’t dead, just knew it.

In her own mind there were only two possible reasons why he was missing.

Maybe he had fallen while he was out running, hit his head, and lost his memory. Maybe someone had picked him up, driven him somewhere to get help. Maybe then he had ended up living rough somewhere not knowing who or where he was. Maybe he was still out there roaming the streets somewhere far away.

Or, the most likely, was that he had run off with another woman. Maybe the argument they had a few days before had triggered it off, maybe he was under a lot of pressure at work and was having a mini breakdown, maybe he thought that by running away and making a new start somewhere all his troubles would go away.

But he definitely wasn’t dead. No way!

She’d kept hoping for him to come back, or be found somewhere and returned for almost 15 years.

Then she had met Jim Crossley. A good man, a kind man. He was 46 back then, a widower, his wife had died from breast cancer when she was only in her thirties. They had started going out and after a few years decide to move in together. She had sold the house and moved into his big house just a few miles away. Stacey liked him, which was a major factor in the decision. They had now been together for 10 years.

When Ray first left, Stacey was only three, she was now 28. Still single and living in her own flat just up the road in Brentwood. A career girl. Great job with Barclays. Just like her dad she was a winner. Had to be the best at everything she did. She didn’t remember her dad very much, just a few distant memories of him taking her for a walk in the park.

In a way, Laura was pleased, as this meant that she wasn’t too distressed that he had gone; now she only thought of Jim as her dad and that was a good thing.

They had tried for a baby in the first few years that they were together, but no good. Turned out that Jim had a very low sperm count and it would have been virtually impossible for her to get pregnant. But they decided they were happy together without another addition, they had Stacey of course and they both decided that that was enough.

Life was good, Jim had a good job in the City in reinsurance, they had no mortgage, a large house, a nice two bed apartment in Spain, money in the Bank, Jim was going to retire at 60 which was only 3 years away. Then they intended to have 6 months in England and then 6 months in Spain. It would be ideal.

She poured herself a coffee, sat down and then the phone rang.

“Laura, it’s Jane, you ok?”

“Yes, fine thanks Jane, why what’s up?”

“You haven’t heard anything from Romford Police then?”

Laura sat down again as if she was frightened she might fall over.

“Like what?”

“Well, John came home from the station yesterday and said that someone from up North was claiming to be Ray!”

Laura let the information sink in.

“Jane, I’ve heard that a lot over the years, but it always turns out to be a false alarm”

“No, he said this was different. It was a young guy about 30, dressed in running gear, was found out in the cold in the early hours saying he was Ray Samuels from Romford!”

Laura dropped the phone!