by Sally Rigby
‘It all adds to the picture of what happened to the child before she was abandoned. Thank you, Catherine, your input has been invaluable.’
‘I’m glad to have helped. Let’s hope by doing this we’re not going to unearth something that will set the child back.’
Chapter 10
The following day, Seb contacted both the psychologist and the social worker, both of whom were prepared to meet with him to discuss Lacey and her progress. Once appointments were arranged, he called Birdie.
‘Morning,’ she said.
‘Are you at work?’
‘Yeah, I’ve been here since eight-thirty. How did it go yesterday with Auntie Catherine? We couldn’t speak when she came home because Lacey was still up.’
‘It was a very informative and useful meeting. She gave me some interesting background to the case. She didn’t recognise any of the cars in the vicinity and didn’t think that they’d been followed, but it was worth having a look.’
‘Just because my aunt didn’t think they’d been followed doesn’t mean they hadn’t been. Lacey saw something, or someone, that she knew or she wouldn’t have been affected so badly.’
‘Yes, there most definitely had to have been something to trigger the response.’
‘What’s next?’
‘I’ve arranged an appointment with the psychologist for later this morning. Are you able to come with me, by any chance?’
He’d like her there, if possible, because she’d spent a lot of time with the child.
‘Yeah, I should be able to. I’ll take an early lunch. What time?’
‘Eleven-thirty, Roman Way. Dr Watkins is part of a group practice offering psychological and counselling services. I’ve looked it up on Google Maps and it’s easy to find.’
‘I’ll meet you outside. It’ll be interesting to see the psychologist and get her input. According to my aunt, Lacey was always quieter than usual when they had their fortnightly meetings, which must have made it very hard for them to make any progress. But, every little helps, I suppose.’
‘Meet me outside at eleven twenty-five.’
‘Gotcha. Better go, I’ve got a lot on today.’
He still had an hour and a half to kill before having to drive into town, so he did some research into children who had been kept in captivity, and what the psychological implications were for them after they’d been discovered.
The number of cases appearing on his screen shocked him. They were from all over the world. According to what he read, what had happened to these children in the past stayed with them for much of their lives, in varying degrees. Some children suffered irreparable damage right into adulthood, whereas others had learnt to deal with it, even though it never totally left them. At present, they didn’t know whether Lacey had been kept captive, or what her circumstances were, but if she had been held, he hoped that she’d end up being able to deal with her situation.
At least the young girl was in the right place with Catherine. He’d been exceptionally impressed by the woman’s caring attitude but, that aside, there was going to be a long road ahead of them if Lacey was ever to cope in the wider world.
At eleven o’clock, he left Rendall Hall and drove into Market Harborough. The practice was in a 1940s brick and pebble-dashed detached house that had been turned into offices for several counsellors and therapists. Houses either side of it had also been turned into commercial premises.
He stood outside the building and waited beside the low brick wall in front of the entrance. Their appointment wasn’t until eleven forty-five, but he’d told Birdie twenty minutes earlier knowing she’d most likely be late.
At eleven thirty-five, feeling vindicated for the decision he’d made, he caught sight of Birdie running down the street. As she reached him, she bent forward and rested her hands on her thighs, gasping for air.
‘Say nothing,’ she said between breaths. ‘I know I’m late. I got stuck on a phone call, and the woman I was talking to went on and on. I couldn’t be rude and hang up on her as she potentially had some evidence that would help the case Twiggy and I are working on.’
‘These things happen.’ He waved his hand dismissively.
‘My car’s in the supermarket car park as I didn’t want to risk there being nothing free around here. I ran non-stop all the way from there.’
‘It will keep you fit.’
‘I am fit. That’s why I play cricket and train.’
‘Really?’ he said, arching an eyebrow. ‘Why are you out of breath now, then?’
‘Oh, shut up, and let me recover.’ She stood upright with her hands in her hips, her words sounding less laboured.
‘Don’t worry, you’ve got plenty of time to get your breath back as we’ve still got ten minutes. Our appointment with Dr Watkins isn’t until eleven forty-five.’
‘You what?’ she said, her eyes wide and blazing. ‘Why the hell did you tell me eleven-thirty, then?’
‘Why do you think?’ he said, unable to resist a chuckle.
‘I’m glad you find it funny. Because I don’t. I nearly killed myself trying to get here and now you say there’s another ten minutes. You knew I’d be on time. I’m only late first thing in the morning … And sometimes in the evening.’ She glanced away, her cheeks tinged pink. Whether that was from exertion or embarrassment he wasn’t sure.
‘You’re late for everything, Birdie, which is why I wanted to limit the chance of us not being there on time, considering Dr Watkins had agreed to see us, and we’d be taking time out of her appointment schedule. Appointments that people pay for. Which we’re not, as you’re no doubt aware.’
‘Okay, make me feel guilty, why don’t you?’ she said narrowing her eyes.
‘Not my intention, I can assure you.’
‘So you say,’ she said, appearing to have recovered from her run. ‘Anyway, I’m here now, so let’s go in and talk to her.’
He looked at his watch. ‘We’ve still got five minutes. We can wait out here, or go inside and sit in the waiting room. Your choice.’
‘We’ll stay here and I’ll update you on what I’m doing on Sunday. Although … after how you’ve just been to me I’m not sure whether I want to share.’
‘You know why, and I was vindicated. You were late.’
‘Details,’ she said, waving her hand. ‘Well? Do you want to know, or what?’
‘It’s entirely up to you. If you wish to tell me what you have planned then I’d be delighted to hear, although I thought you were seeing the woman who lived next door to your birth mother on Sunday morning.’
‘How do you know?’
‘You told me the other day when you came over to the house. Don’t you remember?’
‘Bloody hell. I must be losing it. I’d totally forgotten that I’d filled you in on what was happening. I blame you for this.’
‘How is it my fault?’
‘I didn’t forget things before. It’s hanging out with older people like you that’s done it.’
‘I fail to see how you can blame me—’
‘I’m joking, you twit. I can’t believe you thought I meant it. I must have forgotten we’d talked about it before because of being so wrapped up Lacey’s case. Come on. Let’s go inside and see the psychologist.’
Chapter 11
Birdie pushed open the white door to the building and walked into the reception area and up to the desk situated in the centre. Seb followed close behind.
‘We have an appointment with Dr Watkins,’ she said to the receptionist, a woman of around Birdie’s age, who was staring at a computer screen.
‘Miranda’s office is down the corridor on the right-hand side. You’ll see the sign on her door. If you’d like to sit outside in the waiting area, she’ll call you in when she’s ready.’
They headed down the corridor and into a small room with chairs around the edge. In the centre was an oak coffee table, with magazines on top, and in the far corner was a play area, with two boxes of toys and a play
mat on the floor. On the walls were photos of psychologists. She recognised Freud and Carl Jung, and there were also Erikson and Adler, who had their names displayed underneath them.
‘Her photographs are of psychoanalytic psychologists. I’m assuming, therefore, that Dr Watkins uses psychodynamic theory when working with children,’ Seb said.
‘I have no idea, but wouldn’t be surprised, as that’s a common perspective. Well, from my limited knowledge, which is A level psychology.’
‘I studied criminology at university, which included psychology.’
‘So, something we have in common, at last,’ she said, grinning in his direction.
‘We are not totally dissimilar. We …’ He paused and stared at her. ‘Another joke?’
‘You got it,’ she replied, smirking. ‘I hope she’s not going to be too much longer, in case Sarge starts wondering where I am. As far as he’s concerned, most of today I was going to be in the office. Then again, I could always say something came up.’
‘As this is meant to be your lunchtime, I’m sure it will be fine.’
‘That depends on how long we are.’
The door to the doctor’s office opened, and a woman walked out keeping her head bowed. She didn’t even look at them, instead kept heading down the corridor.
‘It shouldn’t be much longer, now,’ Seb said.
They sat there for a further five minutes and still weren’t called into the office.
Birdie strummed her fingers impatiently on her legs. ‘Come on.’
‘Be patient.’
‘Easy for you to say. I’m—’
Before she could finish her sentence, the door to the office was opened by a tall woman of about fifty, who was wearing a calf-length floral skirt, which was gathered in at the waist, and a long-sleeved cream blouse that was tucked in. ‘Mr. Clifford?’ she asked, looking directly at Seb.
Seb and Birdie both stood.
‘Yes. I’m Sebastian Clifford and this is DC Bird who has accompanied me today.’
‘I didn’t know the police were reopening the case.’
‘I’m not here officially. Lacey is fostered by my aunt, Catherine Cooper,’ Birdie said.
‘Oh. I see. Come on through to my office.’
They entered the large square room which had a desk in the far corner and in the middle a low table with three chairs around it. Under the window, there were three small beanbags and some toys.
‘No couch for your patients to lie on, then?’ She cringed at her flippant tone, and didn’t dare look at Seb, as she could imagine the expression on his face. She hadn’t intended to sound rude.
‘No. That’s not the way I work. I’m a child psychologist, and we sit and talk. Please take a seat. You said you wanted to discuss Lacey. What would you like to know?’
Birdie glanced at Seb. How much should they tell her?
‘As I explained, we’re trying to discover where Lacey came from and thought you might be able to give us some help, from a theoretical standpoint, as to what might have happened to her in the past. How many times have you met with Lacey?’ Seb asked.
‘I saw her when she first came in with social services, a few days after she’d been found, and she was extremely uncommunicative.’
‘Could you explain what you mean by this?’ Seb asked.
‘Lacey didn’t look at me once. She kept her head bowed, and her face remained expressionless, no matter what I asked her. It was like she’d gone into her own little world.’
‘Would you say she did that as a safety mechanism, and that it was a type of behaviour she’d engaged in before?’
‘I would, most definitely, attribute it to protecting herself. Whether she’d done so in the past? I suspect yes, but can’t be one hundred per cent sure. I would need Lacey to tell me this herself.’
‘How often did you see Lacey after this?’
‘Following on from this initial meeting, I saw the child fortnightly. Mrs Cooper would accompany her. This continued for six months. During this time Lacey didn’t communicate, but she appeared more relaxed than when I first saw her.’
‘Please, can you be more specific?’ Seb asked.
‘She no longer kept her head lowered, although didn’t make eye contact with me. She wouldn’t move from Mrs Cooper’s side, or play with any toys when I suggested she might like to. But I could tell she was listening when I spoke and she was paying attention to what was going on around her.’
‘Did you witness her going into her own little world at all, after that first time?’ Seb asked.
‘Only once, when I asked Mrs Cooper to go out into the waiting room so I could speak to Lacey alone. It didn’t work, and I only tried it that one time. I was concerned that she might revert back to her previous state if I did it again.’
‘You said these meetings went on for six months. What happened after that?’
‘At that time we had a case conference, and it was decided to make the foster arrangement with Mrs Cooper permanent. To have taken Lacey away at that point would have been disastrous.’
‘Have you seen Lacey since?’
‘No, I haven’t. A decision was made to leave it in the hands of Mrs Cooper and the social worker to decide when to bring her to see me again. DC Bird, you mentioned Mrs Cooper is your aunt. From your perspective, how would you say Lacey is doing now?’
‘She has made good progress in some areas. My aunt and I think she’s a very gifted child. Her reading age is way above her actual age, assuming she’s around seven. My aunt didn’t teach her to read, she already knew how. She’d pick up books we read to her and then start reading to herself, saying the words so quietly, we could hardly hear.’
‘So she’s speaking now?’ Dr Watkins said, leaning forward in her chair and giving Birdie her full attention.
‘Not really. She doesn’t chat and when she does speak she gives mainly one-word answers, but she certainly understands everything.’
‘This is good progress, indeed. It might be time for me to resume sessions with Lacey. I’ll contact Stephen Shaw, her social worker. Does she play with toys?’
‘Not particularly. She colours and draws pictures. She also loves baking, which I do with her sometimes.’
In her peripheral vision, she could see Seb frowning. He was no doubt wondering how she was able to bake, considering how inept she was in the kitchen.
‘Some children don’t enjoy playing with toys, so that’s not necessarily an indicator of any underlying problems. Gifted children would much rather seek out the company of adults and engage with them in a more mature way.’
‘That definitely fits in with our view of her ability. But the fact she hardly talks does concern us.’
‘What can you tell us about abandoned children in general?’ Seb asked. ‘Have you worked with any in the past?’
‘Except for Lacey, none directly. My knowledge is mainly through research and reading articles. Children who have been abandoned often struggle to form healthy relationships and this can lead to emotional and behavioural problems and also to long-term mental health issues.’
‘In what way is this manifested?’
‘Abandonment as a child can lead an adult to being unable to trust others and this in turn can lead to a lack of self-esteem. Which brings a raft of consequences.’
‘When children have been subjected to abuse, do they still suffer from these issues?’ Seb asked.
‘From my experience, I’ve found that children from abusive situations don’t always know anything else, so even if Lacey came from a harmful background she would still suffer from abandonment problems as she would undoubtedly have formed an attachment with whomever was bringing her up, whether they abused her or not. May I ask if anything specific has happened to prompt you to look into her case again after all this time?’
Birdie glanced at Seb, and he nodded. She’d tell the psychologist as she’d been with Lacey at the time of the incident.
‘We believe she saw something rec
ently which we suspect might be related to her past,’ Birdie said.
‘Could you be more explicit?’ Dr Watkins said.
‘We were in town the other day, and Lacey was visibly affected by something she’d seen. It was so bad that she had an accident and wet herself. She’d never done that before.’
‘Did you question her about it?’
‘Not in any detail, as she was so upset. My aunt tried later, but she clammed up and refused to speak. We didn’t want to push her. But it persuaded us to take another look.’
‘In your professional opinion, Dr Watkins, if we located Lacey’s parents, would this be a good thing?’ Seb asked.
‘I’d love to have a definitive answer, but it’s difficult to know, as we have no knowledge of how Lacey lived before she was left. I do believe that once we have an idea, it will help in her treatment.’
‘That’s why we have to look for them,’ Birdie said, nodding.
‘Good luck with your investigation. Before you go, how is Lacey’s schooling going? Is she still being taught at home by Mrs Cooper?’
‘Yes, because she’s not ready to go to school yet.’
‘I’ll speak to Lacey’s social worker and suggest that she should see me again, and will also contact Mrs Cooper. Is there anything else you wish to discuss? My next appointment will be arriving shortly.’
‘No, that’s all. Thank you for your time, it’s much appreciated,’ Seb said.
‘If you need to speak further, then give me a call and we will make another appointment.’
They stood, and the psychologist held open the door for them. As they walked through the waiting room, there was a woman sitting with two young children.
‘Have you made an appointment with the social worker yet?’ Birdie asked once they’d left the building and were standing outside on the path.
