Chapter 47: Tragedy
A/N: so this was so so so hard to write like my heart is actually pounding with Carla's haha. It's kinda short, and this is a full Carla POV (for obvious reasons), but the next one is gonna be pretty long so... Uhhh, try to enjoy? Idk :(
Carla
Reaching the door of the Rovers, I bang my fist on it repetitively, Jenny angrily shouting "we're closed" from behind the doors.
"It's me. Open the door!" I demand, having little time for pleasantries.
"My, you don't look good." Jenny eyes me up, when the door has finally been opened. "Rough night was it? I heard you were out with-"
"Is Michelle here?" I cut her off, ignoring her rudeness.
"No-"
"Yeah well I want a second opinion." I push past her. "Johnny?"
"He's taking a shower!" Jenny returns bitterly, proceeding to close the door before Kate bursts through it, Rana in tow. "Oi! This isn't a drop in centre."
"Any news?" Kate looks at me anxiously and I just shake my head, tapping my phone against my hand a few times, trying to gather my thoughts. "She's not picking up her phone?"
"Oh! Her phone! Why didn't I think of that?" I lace my words with sarcasm, trying to hold back my fury from Kate's carelessness. "It's going straight to voicemail."
"Right well, my bet is, she got back and went to Maria's or something because she couldn't remember where she lived."
"Couldn't remember where she lived?" I snap, anxiety creeping through me. "How drunk was she?"
"She wasn't that bad." Kate tries to justify. "If she had been that drunk we wouldn't have trusted her to get the cab on her own-"
"Yeah, you'd have thought." I retaliate angrily.
"What's going on down here?" Johnny gazes at the sea of faces. "Hello love." He greets me. "You look a little worse for wear-"
"Have you heard from Michelle?" I ignore everybody's comments on my appearance. "Johnny, I'm really worried. She didn't come home last night."
"Well where did she go?" I can tell Johnny is beginning to stress as his brow creases with concern.
"Canal Street. I left early, she stayed with Kate and Rana." I wave my arm to them dismissively. "They got a hotel, left her to get home, only she didn't."
"Maybe she copped off." Jenny gives a laugh and I whip my head around, glaring at her. "...Look I'm sure she's absolutely fine. Probably wound up at one of her friends. Carla, let me get you a brandy-"
"I don't want a brandy." I fold my arms defensively, which was a complete lie, but I knew I had to reject the offer. "Jenny, she was on her own in the centre of Manchester at..." I turn my head to face Kate.
"About... 2 am?" She checks with Rana, who nods.
"2 am!" I yell, calling Michelle's number again although I knew it was pointless.
Hi, you've reached Michelle Connor, I'm probably in a meeting right now so if you leave a message I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
"That's a point - maybe she's out at a meeting." Kate suggests and I compose myself for a moment, refraining from shouting back at her about what a stupid suggestion it was.
"Right this is getting us nowhere." Johnny ushers me into a booth. "Jenny get us a few whiskies will you?"
"Oh no dad, my head is banging." Kate groans. "And it's half past ten."
"Right... Maria..." I find her contact in my phone, waiting for it to start ringing.
"Hi Carla, everything alright?"
"Not really, is Michelle with you?" I get straight to the point and there's a brief silence for a moment, which is all I need to answer my question.
"No... Why?" She asks hesitantly.
"I don't know where she is." My voice wavers as I lower my head into my hands. "Look I need to go and phone round but will you let me know if you hear anything?"
"Uh yeah, course." She responds. "Keep me updated yeah?"
"Yep, ok, bye." I hang up the phone, tapping it on the table a few times.
"Maybe I should phone Barry and Helen?" Johnny suggests and I pull a face.
"What good is that gonna do?" I ask him, pointedly. "She couldn't even get herself back to the flat, she's hardly going to be in Ireland is she?"
"Have you phoned Ryan and Ali?" Kate suggests and I shake my head, realising it's the first sensible suggestion I have heard this morning. "I'll do it." She gets up to take the call outside, clearly feeling guilty.
"Jenny how are those whiskies coming along?"
"Oh Johnny, I said I don't want a drink." I shut him up and he studies me with even more concern than before.
"It'll calm your nerves, sweetheart."
"No, what'll calm my nerves is finding out where my wife is." I bang my fist on the table softly. I was being out of order, I knew that, but everybody was being so trivial. I was feeling more sick by the minute, and today it wasn't morning sickness for once. "She has PTSD, Johnny. She shouldn't be out there on her own."
"Yeah... Maybe we should give the police a call." Johnny mutters, glancing at Rana to gather a second opinion and she just shrugs.
"...What did she say to you? Last night? Tell me word for word?" I beg Rana.
"She just said she was getting a cab back to the flat and that she would see us later. We did try and argue with her Carla, we said we wanted to wait but our taxi had arrived and all and she was insistent that she would be fine."
"Yeah she's stubborn like that." I sigh, dropping my head on the table and trying to scan my mind for the next best solution.
"Anything?" I hear Rana ask Kate when she returns and I raise my head hopefully.
"No... They've both said they're on their way over though." Kate bites her lip. "...Maybe we should phone the police?"
"I think somebody should be back at the flat, in case she turns up." Johnny suggests, which was actually a very valid point. "She's hardly going to come here, is she?"
"Yeah, Connor. C-O-N-N-O-R." I spell down the phone, pacing up and down the flat like a lunatic.
"Are you sure you don't want a brew, love?" Johnny pesters me and I just hold up a hand to silence him.
"Yeah she has long dark hair, kind of like a chestnut colour. Hazel eyes, very pretty." I relay once she has asked for a description. "She was wearing a glittery black dress, black tights, knee high boots." I swallow, remembering back to how I had commented on her outfit before we had left. "Uh, she has engagement and wedding rings on her left hand."
"Ethnicity?"
"Oh she's white, yeah." I comment. "Um she has a bag on her, it's a grey Valentino one with a chain strap. Oh, and she has a tattoo at the top of her arm. It's Arabic I think."
"And what time did you say she left your sister?"
"Uh, about 2 am."
"2:13." Kate clarifies, holding her phone up with the time she called their taxi.
"2:13." I relay down the phone. "And it was on Bloom Street, outside Bloom nightclub."
"Ok Carla, I'll get this sent out now and I'll give you a call if we find anything." The officer states. "In the meantime, make sure somebody stays at home in case Michelle returns."
"Right, can you just... She's got mental health issues uh, PTSD." I remember to inform her. "Can you mark her as high risk or something? She can be extremely vulnerable if she has a breakdown."
"Yes I'll definitely note that, thank you for letting us know."
"Right I'm gonna go out and search." I decide once I've hung up the phone. "Start knocking on doors."
"Carla, I really think you should stay here-"
"Really?" I turn to Johnny, my eyes flaring. "You really think I can sit around here drinking cups of tea and waiting for the phone to ring? No, Johnny. I've got to find her."
"Right well, I'll come with you." He decides, pointing to his wife. "Jenny, you stay put, call me if you hear anything."
"Carla?" I hear a familiar voice, turning to see Ryan running towards me. "Gosh, no offence but you look like death warmed up-"
"Yes, ok, I get it. I look terrible!" I snap, rolling my eyes viciously. "Any news?"
"No, I've tried the Bistro and I've checked in with Steve and Tracy, nothing." He informs me and I check off my mental list. "Have you tried the factory?"
"Yeah I went there before the Rovers, there's no sign." I sigh into my hands, feeling a wave of nausea coming over me and trying to push it back. The babies would have to deal with being on the back burner today. "Right... Think. Think, where would she have gone?"
"Mrs Connor?" My eyes instantly close as soon as I hear Sally's voice, turning to face where she is pacing towards me. "Oh dear, you look a little rough, has something happened?"
"Yes, Sal, it has!" I snap at her and she hesitates before continuing.
"I just wanted to ask a question about this order for Sid Altree, you see on file it says-"
"Sally have you seen Michelle?" I ask bluntly and she just shakes her head. "Right then well I have nothing further to discuss with you, and it's a Saturday, so toddle on."
"Right. Ok." She mutters and I can tell she is mentally cursing me as she walks off.
"Medical centre?" Ryan suggests, pointing in the direction and I just shrug, following in his lead. I hear one ring of my phone and I am instantly scrambling for it, my heart falling when I clap eyes on no caller ID, rather than Michelle's name.
"Hello, Carla Connor." I answer, stopping Ryan in his tracks.
"Hello Mrs Connor, it's DC Healey from Manchester police." There is a stern response and I actually feel my heart stop in my chest, my blood running cold. "...I believe you reported a missing person this morning."
"Yeah I did." I just stammer. "My wife."
"...There's been a body brought in that was found in East Didsbury this morning." She is hesitant to tell me, and I fall back against the wall of the Rovers, biting down so hard on my lip that I taste blood. "Middle aged female, long dark hair, wedding and engagement rings... We have reason to believe it may match the description you gave us... Would you be able to come down to the station?"
"...Carla... What?" I hear Ryan murmur. He could tell, he could see it in my eyes. I freeze, unable to move, unable to speak, and hesitantly he leans forward taking the phone from my hand. "Hello?" He swallows as he addresses the officer down the phone and I stare straight ahead, my stomach churning, my head pounding, tears frozen in my eyes, too scared or shocked to fall. "Yeah, I'm her son... We'll come down right away."
The taxi drive to the hospital was unbearably quiet. Not only did Ryan and I not dare to speak to one another, but the driver was annoyingly chatty, which I selfishly left down to Ryan to deal with. I think I had learnt more about Ryan's life from one twenty minute trip in the cab, than I ever had in my years of knowing him.
Glueing myself to the seat in the police station when we arrive, Ryan takes the responsibility of informing the officers of our arrival. I notice one of them look over at me, a sympathetic look on their face, which makes me want to smash the waiting room up. I had never felt a sickness like this. Not when Paul died. Not when Liam died. Maybe not even when Aidan died. But Michelle wasn't dead. I knew she wasn't. This was all a big misunderstanding, I was convinced about it.
"Uh, they said ten minutes." Ryan takes a seat next to me, ghost white and shaking. "Do you want a coffee... Or something?" I just shake my head, staring down at the floor, refusing to move my eyes from the stain that sat there. I wondered what it was from. I wondered how the hell I had managed to wind up in West Didsbury Police Station on a Saturday morning. A Saturday where I was supposed to be lying in bed with my wife, talking about our future, asking her to make breakfast for me and our two unborn children. "...Why would she be in East Didsbury?" He asks the question which was playing on both our minds, partly maybe, to convince himself of the same thing I was. "...Did they say she had the tattoo?"
"I don't know Ryan." I just murmur, my eyes still unable to shift from where they were set in place. "Just that it matched the description I gave."
"So... Long dark hair, middle aged, black clothing." He lists off. "That could be anyone."
"Anyone brought in at 7am this morning? Twenty minutes from where she was last seen? When we don't know where the hell she is?" I dare to snap my head around, seeing the fear in his eyes. I could tell he wanted to cry, but he was refusing for my sake. Instead, I reach for his hand, squeezing it tightly. "This is unbearable, why've they left us to wait? I can't think, Ryan, I feel so ill."
"It won't be her." He assures me with such conviction that it actually settles me slightly. "They said... At the desk... They couldn't say much... They believe it was a murder... But they don't know until the post-mortem."
My heart pounds faster, images flashing through my mind of the previous night, trying to remember everything and anything that could explain what was going on.
"What if she was taken again?"
"Ryan stop it!" I snap, desperate to shut any negativity out of my brain.
"You know what happened with Will?" He asks and I turn to face him.
"Briefly."
"He locked her in a boot of his car. Drugged her. She thought she had been..." He trails off. "She got lucky... That time..."
"Yeah because she's strong." I enforce it. "She's a fighter. It's not her, ok? It's not."
"Carla and Ryan Connor?" A voice drags us from our conversation, heat draining from my body as I look up at an officer. "I'm DC Healey. Could you come with me?"
I don't let go of Ryan's hand as we are taken through corridors, led into a small, dimly lit room with a glass screen. My throat ached, my legs were going to give way, the whole room was spinning. I don't catch a word of what the officer is saying to us, fixated on the curtains drawn behind the screen, begging not to see Michelle's face. Desperately trying to cling onto any hope that I had.
And then slowly, they are pulled back.
A face comes into view.
Long dark hair, thick eyelashes, full lips.
My legs give way, sinking to the floor and wailing loudly. I feel Ryan at my side, murmuring in my ear, squeezing me tightly. My head spins and I sob into his t-shirt, unable to control my emotions from erupting, dull cries bouncing off the walls...
