Page 88 of Be More Lucy

The work on the house was nearly done, so Em had finally started work on decorating her studio.

‘Have you spoken to Lucy in the last 24 hours?’ Jack still sounded concerned.

‘No. I haven’t spoken to her since the weekend.’ Lucy’s calls had been less frequent since she’d started seeing Mark again, but Em had seen that as a sign that things were going well.

‘I’ve just spoken to Mark. They’ve split up.’

‘Again? They were deliriously happy last week. What happened?’

Jack filled her in on the Hannah situation.

‘Oh my god.’ Poor Lucy. She’d had plenty of shitty luck with men, but this was a whole new level of crap.

‘Mark’s worried. Lucy put the phone down on him. And now she won’t answer.’

‘I’ll try.’ Em picked up her phone from the windowsill and dialled Lucy’s number. The phone rang out.

‘How’s Mark feeling about the baby?’ Em asked while she was waiting for Lucy to pick up.

‘All over the place.’

Lucy’s familiar voicemail message kicked in.

‘She’s not answering me either. I’ll try again in a bit. It’s definitely Mark’s baby?’

‘I know you don’t like Hannah, but she always seemed loyal to Mark. I never got the impression she played around.’

‘Except for making eyes at Josh in London.’

‘Except for that. But Mark said the dates worked out. It must’ve happened just before London.’

Em tried to get in touch with Lucy several more times that morning. She texted, tried WhatsApp and left voice mails. No reply to any of them. She checked Lucy’s location on Snapchat. No sign. She must’ve turned location services off.

She could be in a client meeting. Em phoned her office number. Kizzy answered.

‘We don’t know where she is. I even popped around to her flat, but there was no answer. She had two client meetings this morning that I’ve had to cancel. I’ve just told them she’s been taken ill.’

Em was really worried now. Lucy was always 100% professional when it came to her business. ‘Did you go inside the flat?’

‘No, I haven’t got a key.’

Em used to have a spare key in case Lucy ever got locked out, but Charlotte had agreed to have it when Em moved to Devon.

Em called Charlotte and explained.

‘I’m working in town today. I’ve got Lucy’s keys on my key fob. I’ll go round there right away.’

Half an hour later, Charlotte called Em back from Lucy’s flat. ‘No sign of her. Everything looks neat and tidy. Her electric toothbrush is missing from the bathroom, though.’

‘Is her suitcase in the hall cupboard?’ Em asked.

She could hear Charlotte’s heels clicking across the floor. ‘Yes, the big one’s here. But there’s no sign of the overnight one. There’s a gap where I guess it should be. Do you think she’s gone to Spain to talk to Mark face to face?’

‘I’m not sure she’d do that. She usually has a “screw ‘em attitude” when someone splits up with her.

‘But she’s really in deep with Mark. We went out for a drink after work the other night. She was so happy he was moving in with her.’

‘She might try to fight for him, I suppose.’

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