"What's Pippa doing here?" Rose turned to him, a hand still on Pippa's shoulder.
"Lisa asked me to watch her while she went off with some bloke who was hanging around outside for her," Lee lied, hoping the younger girl wouldn't say anything.
"Is that right?" Rose asked Pippa.
"I don't know Rose, Lisa thought he was creepy," Pippa replied, rubbing her eyes and thinking maybe she'd imagined Lisa was still there. "Lee said you'd get me a drink."
"Lee, why didn't ya get her one?" Rose wanted to know. "So Lisa went off did she?"
"Well yeah, what was I supposed to do Rose, leave Pippa on her own next door?" Lee asked her.
Pippa decided to stay quiet, she was sure she'd also heard her dad's voice and she had to have imagined that, he'd gone off to a wedding. Maybe she'd just been dreaming and Lisa really had gone off despite what she'd said earlier and she'd used it as an excuse to get Lee to look after her?
"Rose, take her back upstairs," Lee told Rose, trying to push her as Pippa got up. "Go on, I'll bring her some hot chocolate."
He thought that would buy him some time to see what Ricky was going to do about Lisa. It seemed cold to just dump the girl in an empty grave or whatever but if the police discovered her and found out Ricky was working there, he'd be the first person they questioned.
He'd heard through various sources that the lead detective at the local police station was a bit of an hard-ass, whose wife was messing around with another detective so he'd already be pissed off to start with. He surely wouldn't give Ricky an easy time if Lisa was reported missing, let alone finding her in a grave.
Rose led Pippa back upstairs to the spare bedroom, Rose seeing the young girl had already been in bed.
"What were you trying to tell me downstairs Pippa?" Rose asked her as the young girl climbed back into bed.
"I don't know Rose, I'd just woken up. Lee came up to me earlier and I asked him for a drink but he never told me Lisa had gone out," Pippa explained.
Rose sat on the side of the bed next to her, putting her arm around Pippa's shoulder.
"Well if she did, she did the right thing bringing you round here sweetheart, Lee's right she couldn't have left you all alone. Try to go back to sleep when Lee's brought you that drink, yeah?"
Pippa managed a nod.
"I'm still worried about Lisa though, I'm sure I heard voices when I went downstairs," Pippa was convinced.
"Hey, you imagine all sorts of things when ya get woken up," Rose tried to tell her.
"But Rose, I thought I heard her and Lee, then I thought I heard my dad. I crept out earlier, Lee went out to warn that Gary who was hanging around. Then it went quiet and I ran back to bed and pretended I'd been asleep."
Rose was beginning to wonder if Pippa hadn't imagined it but why would Ricky come all the way back from the wedding they'd gone to?
"Rose, I heard some funny noises after Lee came back inside," Pippa continued.
"What kind of noises?" Rose wanted to know and wondering what was taking Lee so long.
Pippa was convinced the noises weren't meant to be heard but they sounded like her mum and dad on a Saturday night when they'd been out and Lisa had stayed over. She tried to look up at Rose, whom she trusted.
"Noises like I've heard coming from my parents when they're having sex," she admitted. "I think she and Lee were having sex Rose."
Rose was about to get up and go confront Lee. So she was right, he and Lisa had betrayed her but how many more had Lee betrayed her with? She heard Lee coming up the stairs and half got up but stopped when he was carrying two mugs.
"I thought I might as well bring you one as well," he told her as he lifted the mug in his left hand.
When he'd got Rose to take Pippa back upstairs, Ricky had taken charge.
"Right, I'll get back to the wedding, it's doubtful Cate will realise I've gone off," he'd told Lee coldly.
"Don't you care you left your niece?" Lee had wanted to know.
"Are you going soft on me?" Ricky then asked him. "We can't go to the police and when they start asking where she is, you say nothing. Remember, your DNA is all over her, they'll arrest you first and ask questions later."
"What about Pippa? She already told Rose she heard something," Lee reminded Ricky.
"I'll deal with her in the morning, we'll tell her she was imagining it. Here, take my flask and put the stuff in her drink, it's tasteless," Ricky insisted as he got the hip-flask out of his jacket pocket and forced Lee into taking it.
"What if Rose believes her?" Lee complained as he took the flask.
"Well put some of that stuff in Rose's drink and she'll have forgotten by morning," Ricky insisted.
"You don't know Rose," Lee muttered to himself as he went off.
The combination of what Pippa had said plus staining the living room floor would surely make her suspicious but they needed Rose out of the way or she'd be asking loads of questions, like she always did.
Now, he was handing out the drinks, being careful to hand Rose the mug with the most stuff in it to knock her out for the night. Just let Ricky complain that the flask was now empty.
"Thanks. I'd have been back earlier but I either missed the bus 'cos it was early or it missed altogether. Feeling better sweetheart?" she asked Pippa, who was swallowing the drink even though it was hot.
"You might as well go straight to bed Rose, I'm thinking of staining the floorboards in the lounge," Lee told her, hoping he'd get away with it.
"Wow, where did ya get that idea from?" Rose laughed, getting a smile from Pippa, who Lee could see was already feeling the effects of the drugs.
"I've been meaning to do it, I was about to start when you got home. Don't worry, it'll be dry by morning, if we don't get up early."
"Pippa, you're staying here all night," Rose told her as Pippa lay down. "Geez, I can't believe Lisa would do such a thing when she'd said she didn't like him hanging around."
"Tell me about it," Lee complained, seeing the drugs were having no effect on Rose yet. He hoped she wasn't immune to them. "I mean she brings Pippa round in just her pyjamas and says that bloke was scaring her. The next minute, while I'm outside having a go at the bloke, she tells me it's okay and goes off with him."
That was a different story to what Pippa had just told her and now, she believed the young girl over her partner. She was suddenly feeling tired though, maybe it was the hot chocolate?
"Rose, go to bed, you look tired," Lee suggested.
"I'm fine," Rose told him as she suppressed a yawn, Pippa already with her eyes half closed.
"Rose, don't leave me," Pippa called out.
Rose finished her drink, thinking it had gone cold quickly.
"It's okay Pippa, go to sleep," Rose yawned, thinking she wouldn't make it to bed at this rate.
"I'll go make a start on that floor then?" Lee suggested.
Rose managed a 'Yeah' as she propped herself up on the bed and moved the other pillow.
Lee waited as he saw her drift off to sleep, he'd move her later or just leave her and say Pippa had gone home, though what Ricky had planned, he didn't know. Turning out the light, he went back downstairs to talk to Ricky.
"Did they finish the drinks?" Ricky asked him, his phone already in his hand to call for a taxi.
"Yeah, they were both out like a light. So, what do I do with Pippa in the morning then?" Lee wanted to know.
"Right, wait until we come back, Cate will see they're both missing and I'll come round here after she calls the police, then I'll convince Pippa that Lisa really did go off. Where's my flask? Cate will get suspicious if I don't have it with me."
Lee went back to the kitchen and returned with the flask, handing it back to Ricky, who shook it.
"You used all of it?" he asked Lee. "Geez are you trying to kill them both?"
"There wasn't that much in," Lee insisted.
"You are joking mate?" Ricky replied, forgetting they were no longer mates but they had to deal with this together. "There was enough in there for me to get half a dozen women to comply. It's only meant to be drunk in small amounts. Rose will have one hell of a headache when she wakes up. Go up and check on them before I leave, I don't know what it will do to Pippa."
"Why should I go?" Lee wanted to know.
"Because if she wakes up and sees me?" Ricky reminded him.
Lee begrudgingly went upstairs, thankful they both seemed to be asleep so he picked Rose up carefully and took her to their room. He wondered though if he should have just left her in the spare room because one of them would be sleeping there from now on. Rose would be bound to believe Pippa if she did actually hear him and Lisa.
He covered Rose over with a spare bedspread then went to check on Pippa. She felt cold when he leaned down to see if she was breathing and he panicked, holding his hand in front of his mouth. Was Ricky right and he'd given her too much? Then why was Rose okay? He heard someone behind him and prayed it wasn't Rose.
"Is she asleep?" Ricky asked him, going to take her hand and feeling how cold she was. "You idiot, I told you that you'd given her too much. Try to revive her, she can't have been like that for long."
Ricky knew basic resuscitation, owning a business and Lee was checking her pulse, which was very faint.
"Stop it Ricky, she'll be okay," he told his friend.
"Are you certain? She'd better be. I'd better get going then. See you in the morning and you'd better make sure Rose doesn't tell anyone I was here, understand?" Ricky threatened him. "Otherwise, I will go to the police and tell them where Lisa is and they'll find out you were the last man she had sex with."
"You didn't have to push her that hard," Lee argued.
"It's done now. We have to maintain normality somehow and most of all, get Pippa to forget what she thought she heard."
"I heard her telling Rose she heard me and Lisa having sex," Lee admitted.
"You idiot, why didn't you say?" Ricky asked him. "How are we going to get her to forget that?"
"Leave it with me," Lee told him, trying to think of a way.
"What are you planning Ashworth?"
"Just get back to the wedding hotel before Cate starts calling," Lee replied.
Once Ricky had left, he went back upstairs. He'd lied about Pippa having a pulse to get the man to leave. Ricky had failed to save her and unless he thought about it fast, the man would lay all the blame on him.
He spied a cushion Rose had placed on the wicker chair and picked it up, covering the young girl's face and held it there for a few minutes, just enough to get the fibres from it. Then, he took the cushion cover off and planned to get rid of it before morning.
He then picked up the girl but decided to leave her there until he moved the car in front of the house and he'd take her to the nearby woods. Once there, he'd leave her by a tree where she could be found and no-one except Ricky would suspect he was involved.
He had one up on Ricky though, he knew the man had killed his niece so they both had to keep quiet. Once he got back from the woods and memorised the spot, he set about first taking the stained with blood net curtain and placing it in the washing machine, then got the tin of woodstain out and a long-handled brush.
He worked through the night, until about three in the morning then went to the spare room, first taking off the sheets and putting fresh ones on and finally, crawling into his own bed besides Rose, first checking she was okay.
He thought the young girl's system wasn't enough to combat the amount of the drugs she'd been given compared to what he'd given Rose. He hoped Ricky had been right and that Rose would only wake up in the morning with a bad headache.
Now, he had to convince Rose that Pippa had misheard and Lisa really had gone off with that Gary. When Ricky couldn't find Pippa in the morning and accused him of getting rid of her, he'd have to convince the man she'd reacted badly to the drugs and he couldn't have called an ambulance, the state the living room floor had been in.
Ricky had got back to the hotel just as the reception was breaking up and Cate spotted him in a corner.
"Where have you been all night?" she asked him. "No, don't bother, you've probably been with half the bridesmaids."
Ricky wanted her to carry on thinking that way, then when Lisa couldn't be found the next day, at least he'd have an alibi.
"Did you call Lisa?" Cate asked as they went to their room.
"Of course I did, everything was okay," he lied. "Don't you trust her?"
Cate just huffed and unlocked the door, Ricky surprised she could find the key. He thought in the morning, he'd have to act normally when Cate rang Lisa's mobile and didn't get an answer. He'd also have to convince Pippa but she should be easy.
He just hoped Lee could handle Rose but that depended if he could convince her he'd not had sex with Lisa while she'd been out.
Lee was up early the next morning to put the net curtain back up and check on the lounge floor, well the floor would have to be dry, otherwise he'd have to explain to Rose why the curtain was down. He heard Rose making a moaning sound as he got out of bed but he knew it would be a few more hours before she emerged.
If any dog walkers ventured down that part of the woods where he'd left Pippa, the police would be knocking on the door by lunchtime. Then he wouldn't have enough time to either convince Rose Pippa was wrong or start getting tough with her.
Two hours later, Cate and Ricky were getting out of the taxi they'd booked to pick them up from outside the hotel. They were arguing as usual.
"I don't know why we bothered going," Ricky was complaining.
Cate noticed the hip flask was now in his inside jacket pocket.
"Get to use that did you?" she accused him.
Ricky tried to ignore her, going to open the door.
"I'm going to check on Pippa before I do anything else," he replied instead, hoping Lee had returned her.
Cate went into the living room, stopping as the double patio doors were open and the curtain blowing in the breeze. Ricky panicked. In his haste to get next door last night, he'd forgotten to close them and then he'd gone off and forgotten to go back.
"Ricky, someone's broken in," Cate almost screamed. "Check nothing's gone missing while I go check on Pippa and why isn't Lisa up yet?"
She went off upstairs before Ricky could stop her and he went to check nothing was missing. Then he heard Cate screaming for him.
"Ricky! Get up here now."
"What's wrong?" he asked, wondering if Lee had failed to bring Pippa home and was going to use the excuse that Lisa had asked if the young girl could stay overnight when he did bring her back.
He rushed upstairs so as not to give Cate any cause to think he already knew the girls were gone. Cate rushed to him as he stood in Pippa's room doorway.
"She's not here Ricky. Where's my baby gone?"
"Calm down Cate. Is she not in Lisa's room?"
"Don't be so stupid Ricky, they'd have heard us by now," Cate replied. "Call the police."
"Don't be so hasty," he told her as she went for her phone. "Maybe they went for an early morning walk?"
"Now you are being stupid," she replied, dialling the emergency number on her phone.
The operator asked what her emergency was.
"I want to the police, my daughter and niece are missing."
Cate had broken down once she'd said those words and Ricky took the phone as someone was asking if anyone was there.
"We just got back from a wedding and my niece was supposed to be watching our daughter. We came back and they're both missing," he explained calmly.
"How can you be so calm about it?" Cate asked him angrily.
"Shush Cate. Yes, I'm sure they're missing," Ricky told the officer. "We've checked and the patio doors were wide open when we got back. Someone took them."
As he was telling how they'd left Lisa in charge of Pippa and giving their names and ages, Ricky was having to play along and hope Lee or Rose would bring Pippa back but it still didn't explain where Lisa was.
"Actually, Pippa could be next door," Ricky admitted, Cate hitting his arm. "Yes my wife is just going to check but I don't know why she'd be there, unless Lisa went off last night?" he added.
The call was being monitored as soon as he'd given Pippa's age, someone was already onto the duty officer for the day and unfortunately for them, it was DI Alec Hardy.
"Are you sure they're actually missing?" he was asking the sergeant, holding the phone under one ear and trying to fasten his tie and then abandoned it.
He was already getting a tut from his wife as he stood in front of the hall mirror.
"You're going out?" Tess asked him.
"Daddy, you promised to take me shopping for some new trainers," his daughter was complaining.
"Well you'll have to wait, your father has something more important to do on a Sunday morning," Tess scoffed.
Alec covered the phone with his hand.
"Will you two stop? Daisy, your mother will take you," he told them. "Two girls have gone missing."
By the time he got to the Gillespie house, he was thinking he should have taken Daisy shopping. Tess was thinking almost the same as she got a call to join him after dropping Daisy at her grandmother's house, the almost teenager folding her arms and complaining her parents didn't care about her.
Tess was wondering if her husband had suspected she'd been meeting Dave in secret and the way he'd acted when they'd got to bed last night almost confirmed it. When she'd woken up, he was already getting dressed and she'd asked what he was doing up so early.
"Have you been calling someone named Dave?" he'd asked her.
"Stop being so suspicious Alec. I can't help it if someone from work calls me to ask something," she had bluffed.
"Dave the DS? Why would he call you?" Alec had wanted to know.
Tess had just huffed and gone to the bathroom and by the time she'd got downstairs, he and Daisy were having breakfast and Daisy had talked him into getting her some new trainers.
Now, not only did Alec have to worry his wife was actually having an affair, a young girl around Daisy's age had gone missing, which was all he needed.