5 The Disappearance

5 The Disappearance It had been baffling when Dad had left. Peanut, her mum, her brother and her sister had all been to visit Auntie Jean. Dad had decided to stay at home and finish a particularly tricky painting of a sausage dog playing the violin. 'You lot leave me to it,' he'd said, 'To be honest, I don't particularly feel the need to be told what Jean's friend Jackie's brother's boss's aunt's plumber's sister's dog has been up to in the local park. I'm happy for you to fill me in on the details when you get home.' When they'd got home, however, all they'd found was a note on the dining table. Straight away, Peanut's older brother Leo had tried to

call him, but when he'd rung Dad's phone, Mum had found it buzzing away in the hallway. She'd then got in touch with everybody she could think of: his friends; Granny; Uncle Ed; but no one had seen or heard anything of Dad. Everyone agreed that it was very out of character, and not one person had seen anything to indicate that this was something he'd been planning. It was all very strange. Peanut had known straight away that it didn't add up. Firstly, Dad had seemed perfectly happy when they'd left that morning. He'd even joked about how boring it would be at Auntie Jean's! Secondly, why would he leave forever and not take anything (except his passport that was missing) with him? Surely, he would've at least grabbed his phone, his wallet and a change of clothes? It didn't make any sense.

But more than anything, she just didn't believe he would leave them like that. Not without explaining why. Not without saying goodbye. He was such a great dad— always interested in what his kids were up to, always happy to talk through any problems, always putting on silly voices and telling terrible dad jokes. Also, as far as she could tell, he and Mum were really happy. They held hands at every opportunity, and hardly ever argued about whose turn it was to put the bins out, unlike Mr and Mrs Herbert from next door. Initially, Mum must have felt the same way, because that evening she'd called the police. Peanut heard her tell them over the phone that, yes, he had been acting slightly strangely for the last couple of months. He'd seemed a bit preoccupied with something and had taken to nipping out for an hour or two without telling her where he was going. She'd told them that she'd assumed it was because Dad hadn't sold a painting for a long time and he'd felt a bit down about it. After a day or so of investigating, a police check with passport control revealed that he had boarded a flight to Mexico on the day of his disappearance. The police had told Mum that, in their opinion, there was no suspicion of any foul play, and it seemed to be a simple case of someone running away from his responsibilities. Dad would get in contact with them when he was ready, they'd said.

And, apparently, they were right. Two days later, Mum received this postcard from Mexico City: I AM FINE. PLEASE DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME. THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO IS TO FORGET I EVER EXISTED. That was the moment that Mum switched from feeling worried to feeling angry. Very angry. 'How could he do this to us? So selfish!' She shook her head. 'How could I not have noticed that something was wrong? I know I've been working a lot lately, but still Peanut wasn't having it. She'd been certain that there was something fishy going on. For a start, why would he travel all the way to Mexico without any money? Also, it was obvious to her that the handwriting on the note wasn't quite right. Dad never wrote in capital letters. Surely this was enough evidence to arouse at least a tiny bit of suspicion? Why weren't the police and, more importantly, Mum doing more to find him?

'In the last forty-eight hours I've learned a lot about your father,' Mum had explained to Peanut and Leo, after she'd put their sister to bed. ' Yesterday, I went through the browser history on his laptop and it's quite obvious that he's been planning this for months. Look. She'd shown them several web pages with headlines like How to start a new life and Ten signs that it's time to leave your wife and family. ' NO!' Peanut had shouted. 'That's just not true. He wouldn't. Not Dad!' At that point, Leo had left the room without saying a word and disappeared upstairs. 'Face it, Peanut,' said Mum sadly. 'Your father just isn't the person we thought he was. We've all been living a lie for months, maybe even years. ' Well, I don't believe it.' Peanut was crying by then. ' My dad would never, EVER leave us. He just wouldn't! We need to find him. Oh sweetheart, I don't know what to think any more, Mum had said, pulling Peanut in for a cuddle. 'I really don't. Two months passed with no word from Dad, and each week Mum's anger levels had gone up a notch. Then, one day, she'd

decided to put all of Dad's painting paraphernalia in the shed. ' Time to get rid of this rubbish!' she'd said. 'He's obviously not coming back. We might as well make proper use of the conservatory. Another few months went by before Mum had dropped the bombshell. ' Peanut, I've decided to take you out of Melody High and send you to St Hubert's. 'What? Why?!' Peanut had shouted. Her school was the one thing that had kept her going through the trauma of Dad disappearing. 'I love it at Melody and I'm doing really well. My art teacher says I'm starting to show some real promise. Drawing and painting are all well and good, Peanut, snapped Mum. ' It's a nice thing to do as a hobby, but you can't make a career out of it. Look at your dad. All that creativity ruined him. It sucked the ambition and the drive out of him. In the end, he had absolutely no get up and go. Well, not until he got up and went, at least. 'But Mum. 'Look, people at work tell me that they've heard good things about St Hubert's maths department,' said Mum, looking determined. 'And the science faculty is second to none in terms of results. That's the area you should be concentrating on. 'That's so unfair! What about Leo?'