The Forgotten Child

by D. E. White

  Holly slithered down the bank to be met by a police cordon. ‘Stay back please.’

  ‘I think I know that car …’ Holly swallowed hard. ‘Is she … Is the driver a woman?’

  The policeman gave her a hard look, like he recognised her. ‘I really can’t say yet. Come over here and wait.’

  Holly pulled out her phone and called a furious Dev, who was still sat in his vehicle. After he had ranted at her for pissing off, she sliced through his words and told him she thought Beth had driven into the river.

  ‘You mean on purpose, or an accident?’

  Holly paused. ‘I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s her car. Jesus. She said she was going away to stay with her parents.’

  ‘All right, I’m not going anywhere for a while but when the traffic moves I’ll leave the car in the lay-by next to McDonald’s and come back for you. You all right?’

  ‘Yeah, I’m fine. I thought it was … I thought it was something to do with Milo at first, Dev.’

  ‘I know, and I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’m just worried.’

  The paramedics were waiting as the woman was rescued from the car, and Holly watched from her position on the bank, shivering. The fire service had parked an appliance in the scrubby field next to the bridge, and crew were carrying an orange stretcher slowly through the reeds. Surely it must have been an accident. Beth had been so calm, so composed. She kept repeating this to herself. But Dev’s words had jolted her.

  She could see the paramedics working on her now, and almost held her own breath as they got a line in, moving quickly around the body. Beth’s face was a blur of white, her sodden dark hair tangled across the stretcher. A while later as she was wheeled into the ambulance Holly let out a long breath of relief. She was still alive; there was still hope.

  The PC came back over to take a statement and soon the traffic was moving around the cordoned-off area where the car had left the road. The metal railings were stretched and broken, and it seemed impossible that the driver could have survived such a drop. Holly wondered whether to ring Tom, but decided the police could deal with it. Tom had been very quiet since the windows had been smashed and she’d like him to stay that way. As long as he was still trying to find Milo, and the flyers were knee-deep around the university, then she’d count him as having done his bit.

  She was still shivering on the bank when Dev came loping back up the road. He spoke briefly to the police in charge of the cordon and was allowed through. She smiled stiffly, her face frozen, and he took her arm, leading her gently away to a section of wall that divided the riverbank from a rough, overgrown playground. They sat side by side, not speaking, watching the activity around the river. Another police car pulled up next to the fire engine, and a tall man got out. He studied the scene, his gaze sweeping Holly and Dev, moving on, then returning to them.

  ‘DI Harper!’ Dev called. ‘Long time no see.’

  Holly smiled, despite the fact she didn’t feel like it at all. This whole Beth thing had left a nasty taste in her mouth, and now here was a man who had been more than part of her family for so long. Jayden’s dad.

  DI Harper spoke briefly with another officer before making his way over to the pair on the wall. Holly swung her legs, heels kicking the graffiti-decorated brickwork, her hands plunged deep into her pockets.

  ‘Devril and Holly. What are you doing here?’ DI Harper reached them. As usual the gentle voice was deceptive. Holly got the distinct impression he was deeply pissed off to see them at all.

  ‘That woman who went into the river was my ex-husband’s girlfriend, Beth,’ Holly told him. Then, before she could stop herself: ‘Is there any news on my son?’

  He shook his head, eyes gleaming under the shaggy brows, his gaunt frame looking as though the icy breeze off the channel would sweep him away. ‘I’m sorry but I don’t have anything else to add.’

  ‘What’s your take on Milo’s abduction? Coz we haven’t seen you around recently,’ Devril said.

  The other man directed his laser-beam glare in Dev’s direction. ‘I can’t say. Obviously I am keeping in close contact with Milo’s case, but then again we have to run with a great many theories at this stage.’

  ‘Shame Jay didn’t keep in touch with you when he pissed off after Larissa’s murder.’ Dev clearly had something on his mind.

  ‘Why would he?’

  ‘You and he were always pretty close. More than me and you. He always had a lot to tell you, didn’t he?’

  There was a shout from the river and the DI pulled his coat collar higher. ‘Sorry, I need to go. I don’t know what you’re driving at, Mr Mancini, but I suggest you think very carefully before you drag any past history into this. Our main priority is to find Holly’s child, and I would encourage you to remember that before you start chasing any ghosts.’

  Holly scowled at him. ‘Wait a minute! I know you’re Jayden’s dad, so stop pretending all this has nothing to do with you personally. How could you do that to my family? My mum died because of you, and when Jay was in trouble, when he left after Larissa died, you did fuck-all. How could you let Jay take a child away and keep it to yourself?’

  He took two long strides over to them, and leant down to Holly, face finally registering emotion. ‘You know nothing about any of this, so stop trying to blame me for your misfortunes. And before you say it, I’m not counting your son missing as one of those. As I said, we have thrown heaven and earth and our very limited resources into finding Milo, as we would for any missing child.’

  ‘So tell me. I can see you’re needed down there, but tell me quickly now why I shouldn’t hate you even more than I ever did?’ she challenged, fury sending her jumping to her feet.

  He was quiet for a moment, hands in pockets, looking at the ground, and then the cool grey eyes lifted to hers. ‘I was in love with your mother. I tried so hard to persuade her to leave Donnie and come away with me, somewhere where she would be safe. When she got pregnant, Donnie had been away on business, so she knew Jayden was mine. But there was just enough doubt for Donnie to think he was the father.’

  ‘And when my mum was killed? Why did you never get anyone banged up for it? If you really loved her you would’ve done something more.’ She was crying now, angry tears wet on her icy cheeks.

  ‘I couldn’t prove anything. That’s the trouble with this job, you need to have evidence, and although I had suspicions I had no proof. It nearly killed me to know …’ He looked at her closely. ‘I don’t believe Donnie killed Sian, if that’s what you were thinking.’

  ‘Who did then?’ Dev asked.

  ‘I can’t say.’

  ‘Was it the Nicholls?’ Holly said suddenly. ‘You don’t have to say anything, just don’t answer.’

  George Harper straightened up, rubbing his lower back, his face twisted with frustration. ‘I tried to help Jayden after Sian died.’

  ‘Dev and Jay were your little snitches,’ Holly supplied.

  He winced. ‘Jayden found the courage to get away, to make a home for himself with Larissa. He seemed to be doing well, and he asked me how they could make a clean break. He’d been clean since Larissa had had the kids. They needed to escape completely and by now the Nicholls were getting close to finding out where he and Larissa were. I gave them a name and a price, someone who would help with new identities. Believe me, your brother had pulled himself out of a hole and he was a good father as far as I could see, or I would never have let him take my grandson.’

  It took a moment to sink in. ‘You knew. You helped Jay get away after Larissa’s murder? And the dealer who said he was dead?’ Holly asked, incredulous.

  The police officer shook his head, as though to clear the memories. ‘You can fill in the gaps. I’m retiring next month, so none of this matters anymore.’

  ‘I could go and give a statement, tell them all about you covering up Jay’s death, sleeping with an informant. Do you think they might stop your pension or something?’ Holly couldn’t believe he was being so blasé
about this.

  ‘I don’t care. There’s a lot you don’t know about me, so please don’t assume, Holly. Like I said, I loved your mother, and after she was killed there was nothing left for me apart from my job.’

  Holly was speechless, remembering Donnie uttering those very same words as he raised a can of lager to his lips so many years ago.

  ‘I hope I’ve been able to help Jayden and my grandson, but that’s all. Now I really need to go – they’re waiting for me.’

  ‘One last thing,’ Dev said, jumping stiffly off the wall. ‘Have you been in touch with Jay all this time? Do you know here he and his son are now?’

  George Harper pursed his lips. ‘I haven’t been in touch with Jayden since he returned to Westbourne. I had no idea he was coming back, and he hasn’t made contact. Make of that what you will, but I’ll admit it worries me.’ He nodded curtly at them both, and walked away, buffeted by the wind, his coat billowing around him.

  ‘What was all that about?’ Holly asked. Actually talking to DI Harper, seeing his face soften when he talked about her mother, had put a new spin on her opinion of him, but she was still angry. ‘Come on, let’s go and grab a coffee from that van and then get back.’

  The van in the lay-by produced hot coffee and rolls and then they climbed back into Dev’s car. ‘Jay would never talk about him or your mum, but they definitely had a slightly weird relationship. Now I think about it, I can see all the things I missed. The way Harper would give the best work to Jay and I’d get the more dangerous stuff, or they’d meet up for a “debrief”, and I’d be told later on. Gotta admit, more than once I thought old Harper fancied your brother.’ He laughed.

  ‘I find it fucking odd, looking at him thinking he had an affair with my mum, that he’s Jay’s dad. More than weird, but part of me can see that he did love her, and I can imagine her being stubborn and saying she had to stick with Donnie, whatever, or something. If she’d gone with Harper do you think she’d have been safe?’ Holly asked. A group of kids were getting off a minibus and she tracked their progress, automatically checking for Milo’s face.

  ‘Yeah, I suppose. I don’t know, but he tried to get Jayden and his son away from the Seaview and that’s got to count for something. I think I believe him when he says he didn’t know they were coming back. After all, if he gave them the chance to get away, he’d have been pissed they were going to ruin it all.’ Dev pulled out back onto the main road.

  Holly sat back and sipped her coffee, closing her eyes, banishing her brother, her mum, her dad, seeing nothing but her son’s face.

  ***

  Karen came round later that evening. Holly was touched that after her lifelong experience of the police being the opposing side, she was developing something like respect for the DC, and for Steph too.

  She still managed to look immaculate, but her eyes were showing the strain. ‘We are continuing to follow up all the leads. There were a couple of calls that came in after the reconstruction and your TV appeal.’

  ‘What kind of calls?’ Holly’s heart sped up, but she was almost holding her breath. It would just take one tiny piece of important information to break the case, and she didn’t care where it came from.

  ‘First one was from a woman who lives at Blackwell Road.’

  ‘That road backs onto the woods,’ Holly said quickly. ‘Sorry, you knew that obviously.’

  ‘It’s okay. She said that she saw a red Touareg parked outside the footpath when she let her dog out at 7.30 p.m. It’s not unusual and she said they get a lot of evening dog walkers over there, but in the winter they generally stick to the well-lit areas. Anyway, she saw a man get out the car and go into the woods whilst she was waiting for her dog to do its business. When she looked out the window later the car was gone. She thinks that was after dinner so around 8.30 p.m. The times fit around when you said Milo was taken, but of course she didn’t see him at all.’

  ‘Okay, so that’s good, right?’ Holly said hopefully.

  ‘The second caller said she was crossing a pedestrian crossing at around 8 p.m. and she nearly got run down by a car travelling fast along Gates Hill. She was furious because he busted a red light and nearly hit her. She remembers seeing a male driver, and a child who may have been wearing pyjamas like Milo’s, in the front seats.’

  ‘Why didn’t she come forward before?’ Holly was frustrated.

  ‘She went away for a couple of days and only caught up with the news when she came back.’

  ‘I suppose there aren’t any traffic cameras on Gates Hill?’ Holly queried.

  The other woman shook her head. ‘None until you get down past McDonald’s, and the bridge.’

  ‘Which is where Beth crashed. How is she? Is the baby okay?’ Holly asked.

  ‘I spoke to DI Harper and he says she and the baby are both fine. A touch of hypothermia and a few cuts and bruises but she’s okay physically. She says that she swerved to avoid a rabbit running across the road and the car skidded on some ice.’ Karen’s expression remained neutral but Holly picked up a hint of disbelief in her tone.

  ‘I was almost envious of her when she left my place, you know,’ Holly said eventually. ‘She had the courage to tell you about Tom, to walk away, and she still had her baby. I remembered me at nineteen and what a mess I made of my life, and she was so in control and sussed.’

  ‘Well, accidents do happen and it was a freezing morning. We’ll check out her car, of course. There may have been some technical fault, that coupled with the icy road led her to lose control.’

  ‘I should go and see her. I know it sounds awful but I just can’t. Maybe I’ll send her some flowers,’ Holly said.

  ‘I’m sure she’d appreciate that.’ Karen spoke absently, and was watching her carefully. ‘How are you coping?’

  ‘Badly. My kid has been missing for a week now. I know what the statistics are, and I really wanted it to be Tom, or Niko or Jayden who had him, because in my heart I didn’t believe any of them would hurt him. But now I can only think of Gareth Nicholls hurting him. Nobody else is left in the frame, are they? Does that sound crazy?’

  ‘No, not at all and obviously I can’t comment on the Nicholls connection, except to say that both Joey and Gareth have alibis.’

  ‘Of course they do. Alibis for my mum’s murder, for Bailey’s murder, for Milo’s abduction … They aren’t stupid!’

  ‘We are doing everything we can, and like I said following up all these leads. If I get any news I’ll call you. I know it’s hard but try and leave the search to us.’

  ‘I have to keep looking too, or I’ll go crazy,’ Holly said.

  Karen looked at her. ‘We have officers on the ground everywhere. We are doing our very best, Holly.’

  ‘So why hasn’t he been found?’ Holly said, raising her voice in exasperation, the pain making her throat raw. ‘And Jayden’s son seems to have just walked out of that foster carer’s home. I suppose you haven’t found him yet either? Assuming he did leave of his own free will?’

  ‘We think so. I can’t make any assumptions, but I think it’s possible Jayden picked him up, which at least means he’s safe. If it was Jayden you saw at the hospital, we can take it that he’s been keeping a close eye on his son. And your friend Cath told me about the call she made on the night of Larissa’s murder,’ Karen said, changing the subject with an almost physical effort.

  Holly frowned but allowed herself to be distracted. ‘Yeah. What are you getting at? That Jayden could still have thought it was me? It never came up in the investigation or the trial, because I was fucking terrified that it would come out, and it turns out Cathryn was too, for the same reason.’

  ‘We’re pursuing every single line of inquiry I can drag up, Holly, and I mean it.’

  ‘I know.’

  Holly shut the front door, feeling the emptiness of the house, the echoes she never normally heard, the dust already collecting in Milo’s toys, and the stale, unused smell in his room. She sat on his bed, hugging his sof
t toys, including the Disney dolphin, breathing in his scent, allowing tears to roll. ‘Where are you, Milo?’ she said aloud, ‘Are you safe?’ But all she could see in her mind’s eye was her brother driving away with two boys on the back seat … Perhaps?

  ***

  Next morning, she went over to Cathryn’s, updating her on all the police leads. They sat on the sofa, legs curled up, mugs in hand, and Holly relaxed slightly.

  Cathryn’s phone buzzed with a text and she picked it up, scrolling down and smiling. ‘Ruby says she’s moved Noah into her flat.’

  ‘Oh.’ She couldn’t raise any interest in the fledgling relationship. Nothing mattered but her son.

  Cathryn was tapping out a reply, and a few minutes later her phone buzzed again, and she showed Holly a selfie of the happy couple.’

  ‘Cute. Good for them.’ Holly limbs were limp and aching, like a doll with no will of its own. She nodded lethargically. She knew she wouldn’t be able to eat, but it couldn’t hurt.

  The lack of news was grating on her, and she wandered home, slowly, dropping into the corner shop for milk, noting the posters of Milo plastered across the window and counter. Ignoring the curious stares she scuttled out again and trudged into the wind. The pavement was still icy from the previous night and even in gloves her fingers were numb. Was Milo warm?

  She kept his face in her mind all the way home and then went straight to the shelves in the kitchen. She sat in front of them for a long time, allowing her mind to run over a timeline of Milo’s life. He had been two weeks early, and Tom had been on a lecture tour. The rush into hospital, the wait until he was born, eventually by emergency C-section as his heart rate dropped. The photographs in front of her showed his as a toddler, first day at school, riding his bike without stabilisers, all the usual childhood milestones that parents love. It was inconceivable that it would stop there. That she would never be able to add photographs of his first day at senior school, his first car, maybe even university.