Snatched (45 page)

Kissing her, Dave said, ‘I think I will, yeah. I’ve got a couple of things I need to sort out back up that end.’

Feeling better now that she knew there was a reason for Dave’s reluctance to go with his father, Sue said, ‘Okay, well, I’ll ring you to let you know what’s happening. But try to get over to see him if you can, because they said heart attacks at your dad’s age aren’t good, and you really need to be there in case . . .’ Trailing off, she cast her gaze down. ‘Well, you know what I mean.’

Telling Connor to be good now, she said, ‘Take a nice pair of pyjamas, and put the other stuff you need into that little zip-up bag. Okay?’ Giving him a pointed look to make sure that he understood that she was talking about his nappies, she smiled when he nodded.

Closing the door when she’d gone, Dave looked at Connor. He could really do without the hassle of going round to Pauline’s to drop him off, but there was no way he was stopping here and looking after him. And he wasn’t going to go out and leave him and risk the little fucker setting fire to the place. So, telling the boy to go and get his things, he went up to his room to call Zak back and get the rest of the story.

23

Terry hadn’t said a word about Zak when Leanne and her mum had walked into the flat, and he definitely would have done if he’d known that Leanne had been sleeping with Zak. So Leanne had assumed that Kelly must have been lying to her about telling him in order to wind her up.

Relieved, she’d pushed it to the back of her mind, thinking that she would deal with Kelly later and make sure that she never did tell Terry. But right then, there were more important things to worry about. Like why Terry had become so angry when her mum had told him about Dave and Sue. Why did he care who Sue was sleeping with? Did he still want her for himself, or something?

Terry had adamantly denied that when she’d confronted him, saying that his only concern was Connor. But Leanne didn’t believe him, and she’d cried, and smashed things, and accused him of all sorts. She’d even thrown his ring back at him, telling him that she’d rather die than marry him.

And the argument was still going strong now when the knock came at the front door. Ducking when she threw a shoe at him, Terry went out into the hall to answer it.

Thinking that it was probably one of the neighbours complaining about the noise, he was surprised to see Jay Osborne and a couple of PCs standing there. But when he saw the serious expression on Jay’s face, his heart sank.

Unsure if
his
expression was due to dread that she’d come with bad news or to guilt because he’d realised that he’d been caught out, Jay said, ‘I’m going to have to ask you to come to the station to be formally interviewed about the disappearance of your daughter, Mr Day.’

‘
What?
’ Terry gasped, peering at her incredulously. ‘Are you serious?’

‘Deadly,’ the male PC told him bluntly. ‘So be a good lad and let’s get moving, eh?’

Coming out into the hall just then, Leanne forgot all about the argument when she heard this. Rushing up to Terry, she clutched at his arm.

‘I don’t get this,’ he said, still looking at Jay. ‘You know I was at work when it happened. You’ve already talked to my boss about it.’

‘This isn’t about the verified time,’ Jay informed him. ‘It’s about the time between you arriving home from work and going to the hospital.’

‘I was here,’ Terry reminded her. ‘You know I was.’

Leanne’s heart was pounding now. She knew exactly what this was about – and exactly who was to blame. But if it was just a case of word against word, then she would swear black was blue that Kelly Greene was lying.

‘We’ve already told you that he was here with me all night till we went to the hospital,’ she said now. ‘So why are you questioning him again?’

Glancing at her, Jay said, ‘Because we’ve just received new information to the contrary.’ Back to Terry now, she said, ‘Did you go anywhere between arriving back here and going to the hospital?’

‘No,’ Terry said immediately. Then, remembering, he felt the blood drain from his face. ‘Yeah,’ he admitted, a helpless look in his eyes. ‘I went for a walk.’

‘Where to?’ Jay asked, wishing that it wasn’t true, because she genuinely liked this man and had hoped that he was completely innocent.

Running a hand through his hair, Terry said, ‘The late shop on Great Western Street.’

‘Did you come straight back?’

‘No, I sat in the park for a while.’

‘How long for?’ Jay asked. ‘And did anybody see you?’

‘Couple of hours,’ Terry murmured, his heart sinking more with each incriminating word. ‘And, no, I don’t think anyone saw me after I left the shop. It was dark, and raining, so no one was around.’

Sighing regretfully, Jay nodded at the PCs.

‘Terrence Phillip Day,’ the male officer said, taking his arm and pulling it behind his back. ‘I’m arresting you on suspicion of the abduction and murder of Nicola Davina Day. You do not have to say anything . . .’

24

‘Of course he can stay,’ Pauline said when Dave turned up on her doorstep with Connor and explained what had happened. ‘You just get yourself over to your dad. And don’t worry about Connor; we’re going to have a great time.’

Thanking her, Dave winked at Connor and set off down the path.

Waving him off from the doorstep, Pauline smiled down at Connor. ‘Oh, it is lovely to see you,’ she said. ‘I was telling your mummy only today how much I’ve missed you, and I’ve got lots of ideas for things we can do. But they’ll keep till tomorrow. Have you had your dinner yet?’

Connor shook his head, his eyes fixed on his garden on the other side of the low hedge. It was weeks since the fire, but the debris was still there: piles of charred wood, and glass, and bricks. And he was almost sure he could see some of his toys amongst the ruins.

Most of the top half of the house was destroyed, but the council had erected scaffolding around it as they prepared to start the rebuilding work. But even in this state, Connor would have moved back into it in a heartbeat. That was home, and it always would be.

Realising what he was looking at, and guessing that it was upsetting him, Pauline bustled him into her house, saying, ‘Come on, pet, let’s get you in before you catch a cold. We’ll put your things up in the spare room, then you can sit and watch telly with Uncle John while I make you something to eat.’ Catching sight of what John was actually watching as she said it, she quickly amended it to, ‘Or, better still, you can sit in the kitchen with me. I’ve got a couple of jigsaws you might like. Or some paper, if you want to draw?’

Nodding, Connor held her hand tightly as she took him up to the spare bedroom. He would rather be with his mum, but he was glad that he hadn’t had to stay with Dave.

Sitting at the kitchen table after she’d cooked him some sausage, egg and chips, Pauline sipped at her tea and watched as Connor listlessly shoved the food around on his plate. He seemed even more troubled than the last time she’d seen him, and it broke her heart to think what must be going on inside that silent little head of his.

It must have really scared him to have seen Dave’s dad fall down the stairs. Not to mention the stress he must have already been under knowing that his mummy’s new boyfriend hated his daddy’s guts. And then to be brought here and have to see his old house like that, a stark reminder of the awful night that had stolen his sister from him and shocked the very voice out of him.

It was all too much for a tiny child to be expected to cope with, so it was no wonder he was upset. But Pauline would do whatever she could to make sure he had a comfortable night. And tomorrow she would take him to the museum to see the dinosaur exhibition.

Shoving her thoughts to the back of her mind when she realised that Connor was staring at her, she smiled, and said, ‘Everything okay, pet?’

Holding her gaze for several long moments, a thousand thoughts flitted across the dark surface of his eyes. Then, as if he’d decided something, he reached for the paper he’d been drawing on while she’d been cooking. Turning it over so that she could see the picture, he pushed it across the table towards her.

Taking her glasses out of her pocket, Pauline slipped them on, saying, ‘Oh, you want me to see what you’ve drawn. Let’s have a look, then.’

It was a crude drawing, typical of a six-year-old, and it took Pauline several moments to make out what the shapes represented. There was some kind of building, surrounded by what she presumed were meant to be trees. And in the centre of it there was a figure, apparently female because it had long hair. But unlike most children’s drawings, the face didn’t have a big smile; it had a down-turned mouth and what looked like teardrops on the cheeks.

‘Is that your mummy?’ Pauline asked gently.

Shaking his head, Connor carried on staring at her, his huge dark eyes desperately trying to convey the message to her.

Frowning, Pauline said, ‘It
is
a woman, though, isn’t it?’

Connor nodded now.

It occurred to Pauline that it might be Nicky, but she hesitated about asking him in case he reacted badly to hearing the name out loud. But if that
was
who it was supposed to be, then surely he wanted her to know, or he wouldn’t have shown it to her. Hoping that she was right, and that she wasn’t about to upset him, she said, ‘Is it Nicky, pet?’

Connor nodded again.

‘And is that her in your house?’ Pauline probed, trying to be as gentle as she could.

A shake of the head now.

‘But it is her inside someone’s house?’

Another shake.

At a loss as to what to ask him next, Pauline smiled, and said, ‘Well, wherever she is, it’s a lovely picture. You’re very clever.’

The hope that had flared in Connor’s eyes died as suddenly as it had ignited.

Putting the picture down, Pauline said, ‘Shall I take that plate, because you don’t look like you’re enjoying it all that much? Then we can pop you in the bath and get you ready for bed, eh?’

Tears flooding his eyes, Connor got up and followed her upstairs. He didn’t really know why he’d decided to show Pauline the picture, but he’d just felt like he should, because he trusted her and he’d thought that she might understand. But she’d given up trying to guess, and now he was scared that she might show it to Dave. And if Dave recognised the shed, he’d know that Connor had been out in the garden and might shout at him.

Drying him off with a big fluffy towel in the bedroom after his bath, Pauline emptied Connor’s things out of the bag he’d packed. Not batting an eye when she saw the nappies, she simply put one on him, then slipped his pyjamas on him and tucked him up in the bed.

Nipping back downstairs to make him a cup of cocoa, she sat on the bed when she came back up and stroked his hair as he sipped at it. He looked so lost, the poor little thing. And she couldn’t get that picture out of her head, and what he’d been trying to tell her by showing it to her.

‘That picture . . .’ Pauline said, making one last attempt. ‘Were you trying to tell me something, pet?’

Nodding slowly, Connor held his breath as he gazed back up at her.
Please let her get it right this time.

‘Do you think you know where Nicky is?’ Pauline went on, her instincts bristling as she looked into those deep, dark, secret-holding eyes of his.

Connor nodded like he’d never nodded before.

‘Can you tell me where?’ Pauline asked.

Connor’s chin began to wobble as the tears spilled over. He couldn’t tell her, because he had no idea where Dave’s house was. And he wouldn’t have been able to even if he
had
known, because Dave would get mad at him for telling people where he lived when he’d already told Connor’s mum that he didn’t want anyone to know.

Sure that it was probably just wishful thinking on Connor’s part, Pauline put her arms around him and rocked him gently until he’d stopped crying. Then, getting him to lie down, she pulled the quilt up around his shoulders and kissed him goodnight. Switching the light off then, leaving the door ajar so that he wouldn’t be in complete darkness, she was just about to cross the landing when she thought she heard him speak.

‘Was that you?’ she asked, rushing back in. ‘Did you just say something? Can you say it again for Auntie Pauline?’

His voice barely a whisper, Connor drew on every last ounce of willpower to force the word out again.

‘
Shed
?’ Pauline repeated. ‘Is that what you said? Is that where you think Nicky is?’

Sighing with relief, Connor nodded, his sleepy eyes already beginning to roll.

‘Can you talk to me some more?’ Pauline urged. But the boy was too exhausted.

Rushing back downstairs, Pauline was so excited that she could barely speak herself as she told John what had just happened.

‘You’re imagining things,’ John said dismissively, bobbing his head to see the TV as she got in the way and blocked his view.

‘Trust you not to be interested,’ Pauline snapped. ‘But I know what I heard. And look at this . . .’ Rushing into the kitchen, she snatched up the picture and rushed back to show it to him.

‘It’s a kid’s drawing,’ John grunted when she thrust it under his nose. ‘They all look like that.’

‘No, there’s something about this one,’ Pauline insisted, waving it in front of his face. ‘Look at the expression on Nicky’s face. And she’s inside something, and he said it wasn’t a house when I asked. So why would he suddenly come out and say shed if that wasn’t what he meant?’

‘I don’t know,’ John grumbled. ‘But if you’re that bothered, why don’t you give that policewoman a ring? You know you’ve been dying for an excuse to contact her so you can quiz her about the search. And who knows, she might get a child psychologist onto it and crack the whole case.’

Muttering, ‘Sarcastic bugger,’ Pauline stomped into the kitchen and lit a cigarette. Gazing at the picture again, she decided that she
would
give the policewoman a ring. She’d ignored her instincts to go and check on Connor that night, and he’d nearly died as a result. So could she really afford to ignore them now? She didn’t think so.