Stolen (22 page)

She’d tried to call Gardner, keen to tell him the news and to find out the mystery woman’s name; but she’d been unable to get hold of him. She wondered if he’d been to see this woman already, if he knew something Abby didn’t.

Simon started clearing away the foil cartons. ‘Finished?’ he asked. Abby nodded, put her fork down and stood to help. They tossed the leftovers into the bin and went into the living room. Simon switched on the TV and flicked through the channels in a continuous loop. Despite having the most important event of their lives hanging over them, neither was able to talk. It was too much. Both knew the problems they faced and by keeping them inside hoped somehow they’d remain at bay.

Gardner slurped the last of his coffee in a vain attempt at staying alert. He glanced at Lawton. She hadn’t said a word since they’d left Jill Hoffman’s house. She was hardly talkative at the best of times, but he could understand the reason for her silence now. Hoffman was hard work. Working with anyone whose child was missing was hard, but it was more than that. Chelsea’s mother seemed to resent the police at times. Maybe she thought they weren’t doing enough, or she just didn’t like the police anyway. Either way she was difficult, and Lawton, in her role as family liaison officer, seemed to take the brunt of it. Lawton was good at it. He’d been surprised just how good she was.  She seemed to be able to bring comfort to victim’s families, and usually they trusted her. But Hoffman was having none of it and he could tell Lawton was blaming herself.

‘You sure you don’t mind doing this?’ Gardner asked.

Lawton shook her head. She hadn’t asked him any questions when he’d told her he had one more stop to make. He couldn’t decide whether he liked that about her or not. In this case it was probably a good thing. He knew he had no real reason to be there; that this probably had nothing to do with his case. And if you were going to be pedantic, Abby’s wasn’t his case, not really, not anymore. His case was the disappearance of Chelsea Davies. Yet here he was, sitting outside the house of what was most likely a normal family, an innocent family, and he was about to knock on the door and basically ask them if they’d stolen their child.

Maybe that’s why he’d brought Lawton, so when these people inevitably complained about him she could back him up, explain he was just trying to prove to Abby once and for all that the girl she’d seen wasn’t her daughter, that everyone’s lives could go back to normal once he’d spoken to the little girl’s mother.

Gardner could sense Lawton glancing his way every few seconds. ‘What?’ he asked.

‘Sir?’ Lawton said.

‘You look like you’ve got something to say. So spit it out.’

She looked out the window towards the house. He waited for her to ask why they were there.

‘You transferred from Blyth, right?’ Lawton said, barely looking him in the eye.

Gardner felt the familiar twist in his gut. He didn’t want to do this. Not now. And not with Lawton, of all people. He thought they had a connection. He thought she had some respect for him, maybe even looked up to him, however misguided that might be. He sighed and turned towards her. At least she had the decency to ask him directly.

‘What about it?’ he said.

Lawton looked down at her hands twisting on her lap. ‘I just wanted to know how easy it was to move, to transfer down here.’

How easy? How could she possibly think it’d been easy?

‘It’s just,’ she tried to make eye contact but couldn’t quite do it. ‘Lee’s applied for this job in Birmingham and he thinks he’s going to get it and that’d mean moving and I just wanted to know how it works, getting transferred.’

Gardner felt a brief moment of relief that this wasn’t about him. That Lawton wasn’t like the rest of them.

‘You’re leaving?’ he said.

‘No,’ Lawton said. ‘I don’t know. He might not even get the job.’

Gardner felt a stab of sadness. He’d never really thought about it before but he’d miss Lawton if she went. They weren’t really friends, didn’t socialise outside of work, but of everyone he worked with she was the last person he’d want to leave. There were several others, on the other hand, he’d gladly see the back of.

‘Do you want to go?’

Lawton shrugged. ‘Maybe.’

‘Maybe? How long have you been together?’

‘Almost a year.’

Gardner was surprised. He’d never thought to ask her about her life outside of work. If he thought about it, he didn’t know much about her at all.

‘So what does this Lee do? What job’s so important in Birmingham?’

Lawton shook her head. ‘I’d rather not say.’

‘Tell me.’

Lawton sighed. ‘He’s a motivational speaker.’

Gardner started to laugh. Lawton tried to look offended but couldn’t help joining in with him.

‘Don’t laugh,’ she said, eventually. ‘He takes it really seriously.’

‘I bet he does,’ Gardner said, trying to compose himself. After a moment he turned serious again. ‘Have you actually discussed it? Is it something you both want or does he just expect you to drop things and go with him?’

Lawton frowned. ‘We’ve talked a bit,’ she said. ‘Listen, I’m not ready to pack up and leave just yet, I just wanted some advice.’ She turned back to the house, clearly done talking about it.

Gardner looked down into his cup. He shouldn’t have laughed at her. He took one last swig of cold coffee and tossed the paper cup onto the floor of the car with the rest before glancing over at the house.

‘Ready?’ he asked and Lawton nodded.

They walked across the street and Gardner knocked and waited. The door opened and a red-haired woman stood and looked at him. She ignored Lawton. She didn’t ask who he was or what he wanted, she just waited. Gardner cleared his throat.

‘Sorry to bother you. I’m DI Gardner,’ he said, ‘are you Mrs Helen Deal?’

‘Can I get you anything?’ she asked. Gardner declined and she sat down on the chair opposite him.

He looked around at the room. The decor was immaculate but the mantelpiece and every other available surface was covered in photo frames. Virtually every one displayed pictures of Casey.

When he turned back to Helen she was smiling. ‘She’s beautiful, isn’t she?’ she said.

Gardner and Lawton nodded and waited for the woman to turn her attention back to them. When that didn’t happen, he reluctantly began. ‘I’m sure you’re aware of the incident a couple of days ago.’

‘Of course,’ she said turning to face him. ‘Sara told me that some woman had been following them. She said her daughter had died.’

‘Missing,’ Gardner said.

‘Oh. Well, I’m sure that’s almost as bad. I couldn’t imagine what I’d do if anything happened to Casey.’ Gardner waited. ‘She’s not dangerous is she?’

‘No. She’s not dangerous. She’s just... she never gave up looking for her daughter,’ he said.

‘Of course.’

‘She thought that Casey looked a lot like her daughter.’

Helen shook her head. ‘Poor woman.’ Folding her hands she looked at the floor. ‘How old was she? The girl, when she went missing?’

‘Just a baby, eight months I believe,’ he said although he knew precisely how old she was. ‘Can I ask, do you think it’s possible to recognise your own child after not seeing her for a long time? I mean if you last saw Casey when she was only a baby, would you recognise her now?’

‘God forbid,’ Helen said. She stared at the pictures on the table next to her and picked up the closest one. In it Casey was blowing out five candles on a birthday cake. Helen stared into the picture, eyes glazing over. Gardner thought she wasn’t going to answer when finally she spoke again. ‘Yes. I’d like to think I would.’ She looked back at Gardner. ‘But I suppose I can’t be sure. I think it would probably be difficult. I imagine I’d see her face everywhere. I think everyone’s a bit anxious at the moment.’

‘Excuse me?’ Gardner said.

Helen nodded towards the TV. ‘With that girl missing. I think everyone’s a bit on edge round here.’

A floorboard creaked outside the room and a small head peeked around the door. Helen’s face lit up and she walked over to the little girl.

‘This is Casey,’ she said bending down to her. ‘Casey, this is Mr Gardner. He’s a policeman.’ Again she ignored Lawton’s presence.

Casey rubbed her eyes and smiled. ‘Hello,’ she said.

‘Hello, Casey,’ Gardner said. ‘Shouldn’t you be asleep?’

‘I’m thirsty.’

Helen stood and smiled at Gardner. ‘Excuse me,’ she said and led Casey from the room. ‘Come on then, let’s get you some water.’

‘Is he going to arrest me?’ Casey said as she disappeared into the kitchen. Gardner laughed.

‘Cute,’ Lawton said.

Gardner stood to look at the rest of the photographs. Most of them were of Casey alone. Some showed Casey and Helen; a couple were of Casey and the nanny. One in the corner was too small for the frame. A closer look showed that the picture had been cropped. Gardner wondered if it had been Casey’s father, a bitter break-up demanding he be cut out of all the family photos.

Gardner crossed to Lawton, standing by the mantelpiece. Most of the photos here were in frames but there were a few loose pictures piled at the far end of the fireplace. Gardner picked them up and flicked through. A couple were out of focus. One was obviously a couple of years old and had also been trimmed. At the bottom were three pictures of Casey when she was a newborn. One showed Casey in her crib, wrapped in a pink blanket. The other two showed Helen cradling her in her arms, looking both exhausted and ecstatic, the same look he’d seen on Abby’s face in the picture at Simon’s house. Gardner held them up for Lawton to see.

The floorboard squeaked behind them and they turned around. Helen was staring at the picture in his hand. Her eyes glistened and she reached out for it, stroking the image of the new baby with her thumb, mesmerised by the image. Gardner shifted his feet and broke the spell Helen was under.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said and wiped her eye. ‘Just looking at this makes me... You’d think I’d have learned to control my emotions by now.’ She clutched the picture to her chest.

‘When was she born?’ Gardner asked.

Helen stared at him for a few seconds before answering. ‘The eleventh of November. 2004.’ She crossed her arms. ‘Was there anything else? I don’t want to be rude but I don’t really know why you’re here. We’re not pressing charges and it is getting late.’

‘Of course,’ Gardner said. ‘I’m sorry to have bothered you.’ He walked towards the front door, nodding for Lawton to follow, and started putting his shoes on. He could hear rustling and the sound of drawers opening and closing coming from the living room. As he finished tying up his shoes and stood, Helen came out brandishing a piece of paper. Gardner took it from her and looked down at Casey’s birth certificate.

‘Is that what you came for Detective Gardner?’ she said.

Gardner let out a sigh. Casey Deal. Born eleventh of November 2004. Father registered as Alan Ridley. He handed the certificate back to Helen. She turned and walked back into the living room. Gardner waited for her to return but when it became clear she wasn’t going to, he quietly let himself out without another word.

‘I’ve seen her,’ Gardner said.

For a few brief moments the world seemed to stop. Abby and Simon looked at each other, both knowing what was going through the others mind.

‘I spoke to her mother.’

‘Who is she? Simon recognised her. The woman, he knows her from somewhere.’

Gardner looked at Simon, who nodded. ‘I can’t remember how I know her but I definitely recognised her.’

Gardner seemed to process the information but it obviously wasn’t enough. He dug his fingers into his eyes, unable to look at her. ‘She’s not your daughter, Abby. I’m sorry.’

Abby dropped back from Gardner and shook her head. ‘How do you know? How can you be sure?’

‘I saw her birth certificate. I saw the pictures of her holding Casey when she was born.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘But...’ Abby looked to Simon for help. Simon just dropped his head to his hands, his eyes tightly closed.

‘I am sorry,’ Gardner said again.

‘What was her name?’ Abby asked. ‘The woman, what’s her name?’

‘I can’t tell you that, you know that.’

‘But he knows her from somewhere. It might be important, it might help.’

Gardner watched Abby intently, and for a moment she thought he might relent. Instead he rose, apologised once more and left Abby and Simon sitting there, all hope lost once again.

Gardner sat in his car outside the house and leant back against the headrest. He was starting to wish he hadn’t gone to Helen Deal’s house. Not only was she likely to put a complaint in about him turning up and all but accusing her of child theft but now he’d left Abby broken-hearted again. He hadn’t really expected that Casey would turn out to be Abby’s missing daughter; he knew it was a fool’s errand from the start, just like all the others, but he had to admit he was disappointed. There was no way the pictures of Helen with Casey just after she was born were faked. Lawton saw them and agreed. The way Helen had thrust her daughter’s birth certificate at him was odd but then again he had all but accused her of being a criminal; what would he have done if their positions had been reversed? Helen Deal had seemed a little peculiar, a little tightly wound, but he had no doubt in his mind that the girl was in fact her own daughter.