by A J McDine
‘Mummy?’ she murmured, her eyes flickering open.
‘It’s OK, baby,’ I whispered, kissing her forehead. ‘You’re safe now. Go back to sleep.’
Chapter Forty-Nine
Immy slept through the ambulance ride to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford. She was still asleep when the paramedics gently lowered her onto a stretcher and carried her into A&E, flanked by two police officers. She woke momentarily when the triage nurse took our details, and when another nurse arrived to lead us to a curtained bay on the ward, she was sitting on my lap sucking her thumb and winding a curl of red hair round and round her index finger.
It wasn’t long before a doctor arrived.
‘Sorry about all the kerfuffle,’ I said, nodding at the two officers who were standing, sentry-like, outside the cubicle. They hadn’t left our side since we’d arrived, and although I never would have admitted it, I found their presence reassuring.
‘No problem at all,’ he said. He showed Immy his stethoscope. ‘Ever seen one of these?’
She pulled my head down and whispered in my ear.
‘She said we have one in our dressing-up box at home,’ I said.
‘Excellent. Well, I’m going to use mine to listen to your heart and then I’ll use my little torch to have a look in those beautiful green eyes of yours. Is that all right? And once I know you’re OK, I’m going to have a look at your mummy’s cheek.’
Immy looked at me with round eyes, and I smiled. ‘It’s OK, sweetheart. I’ll be here the whole time. The doctor wants to make sure you’re all right after your stay at Sheila’s.’ I gave him a meaningful look, and he nodded. Immy was too young to understand that she’d been kidnapped. I would tell her when the time was right, but not before.
After the doctor had checked her blood pressure, pulse and oxygen levels, taken her temperature, shone his torch into her eyes and listened to her heart, he replaced the stethoscope around his neck. ‘Can you tell me what you know about the medication Immy was given?’
‘I think it was mainly Temazepam with the odd travel sickness pill. I saw an empty packet of Easy Traveller tablets in the house.’
‘I know the brand,’ he said. ‘Drowsiness is a well-known side effect. Coupled with the Temazepam, they would have completely knocked Immy out. Has she had any breathing difficulties or fits as far as you’re aware?’
‘Not since I found her.’
‘Good.’ The doctor wrote something on his clipboard. ‘That she’s fully conscious is a good sign, but we’ll do an ECG to make sure. And we’ll keep her in overnight for observation.’ He must have noticed the look on my face because he said, ‘She’ll be on the children’s ward. You can stay with her. And her dad, too, if he wants?’
‘He’s on his way,’ I said. I’d called Stuart from Sheila’s phone as we waited for the ambulance. He’d reported me missing when I hadn’t come home the previous evening. The police had tried to trace my phone, but Sheila must have taken out the SIM card. She was more tech-savvy than I’d given her credit for.
‘Super,’ the doctor said. ‘Now, let me look at that incision.’
Half an hour and ten stitches later, a nurse arrived to take us to the children’s ward. ‘They’ve given you a side room,’ she said, as we waited for the lift to take us up to the next floor. ‘Your husband’s already there.’
Stuart was staring out of the window, his hands deep in his pockets.
‘Daddy!’ Immy said, her face lighting up. She wriggled out of my arms and scampered over to him. He gathered her up and hugged her tightly. His eyes met mine over the top of her head and widened when he saw my face.
‘You OK?’ he mouthed.
I touched my cheek. It was still numb from the local anaesthetic and the stitches felt as though they belonged to someone else. The A&E doctor said I’d have a faint scar, but it was a small price to pay.
‘I’m fine,’ I said. ‘Have you spoken to the police?’ I jerked my head at the officers outside the door. ‘These two won’t tell me anything.’
‘Sam Bennett and DI Jones are in the parents’ room waiting to talk to you.’
‘Have they arrested Sheila?’
He deflected my question with a too-quick smile. ‘I left Nate with Mel. I promised we’d FaceTime him later.’
‘Stu -’
A wave of dizziness gripped me, and I reached for the arm of the chair beside the bed. Stuart set Immy down and was by my side in an instant.
‘Hey, are you sure you’re OK?’
‘I’m fine. Don’t fuss.’ But I let him take my hand and guide me to the chair, and even once I sat down I kept hold of his hand because it felt warm and strong and safe, and that was exactly what I needed after the nightmare of the last twenty-four hours.
We stayed like that, Stuart perched on the bed and me in the chair, our hands entwined, until there was a polite cough at the door. We drew apart as Sam appeared.
‘We could do with talking to Cleo,’ she said. ‘Is this a good time?’
‘Not really,’ Stuart said.
‘Ignore him,’ I said. ‘It’s fine.’
‘Great. I’ll fetch the DI.’
Moments later she reappeared with DI Jones. His suit looked even more crumpled than the first time we’d met, and the grooves in his forehead appeared deeper. Was it my imagination, or did he seem as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders?
‘There’s a place on the ward with toys and books. I’ll take Immy and leave you in peace,’ Stuart said.
‘Toys?’ Immy said, grabbing his arm. ‘Let’s go, Daddy!’
The moment they’d walked hand in hand from the room, I turned to the DI.
‘Have you arrested her?’
He glanced at Sam, and that was the moment I knew for certain. ‘You haven’t, have you?’
He lowered his gaze to the notebook resting on his knee. ‘You told the attending officers that when you left Sheila Dixon’s bungalow, she was lying unconscious in the lounge?’
‘That’s because she was,’ I said impatiently.
‘And that she didn’t follow you when you carried Immy along the track to the main road?’
I shook my head.
‘I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Mrs Cooper, but when officers searched the bungalow, it was empty. Sheila Dixon wasn’t there.’
‘But she must have been! I whacked her over the head with a carriage clock! She was out stone cold.’ I cradled my head in my hands. ‘This can’t be happening.’
Sam touched my shoulder. ‘What car does Sheila drive?’
‘A white Fiat 500. It was at the house. Why?’
‘It’s not there any more,’ DI Jones said. ‘Sam?’
‘Already on it, boss.’ Sam reached into her bag for her radio and marched out of the room.
‘What’s she doing?’
‘Putting out an alert for the car. Don’t you worry. Sheila’ll soon be under lock and key.’
‘But what if she isn’t?’ I said, my voice rising. ‘What if she comes back for Immy?’ I jerked my head at the door. ‘You can’t protect her twenty-four seven!’
‘Mrs Cooper, please, calm down.’
‘Don’t tell me to calm down!’ I clenched my jaw in frustration and stalked over to the window. It overlooked a beige brick wall and some industrial-sized wheelie bins. I needed to make DI Jones understand that Sheila’s pressed blouses, lacquered hair and polyester trousers made her invisible to most of the population, which made it easy for her to slip under the radar. It wasn’t a mistake I’d ever make again.
I breathed out slowly and said, ‘People dismiss Sheila as harmless because she’s middle-aged and a woman. But you need to know what she’s capable of.’
‘We take child abduction extremely seriously, I assure you.’
‘You don’t understand. She’s a murderer. She killed Niamh.’
Suddenly I had his full attention. ‘What makes you say that?’
‘She told me. I think she was planning to kill me, t
oo.’ Saying the words out loud brought the horror of the last twenty-four hours home to me, and I began to tremble.
DI Jones jumped up and poured a beaker of water from the jug by the side of the bed. ‘Sit down and drink this. Small sips,’ he instructed.
I did as I was told, sipping the tepid water until my heart rate slowed and I stopped shaking. ‘Sorry.’
‘You’re in shock. It’s understandable.’ He held out a hand, and I gave him the beaker. ‘Why would Sheila kill Niamh?’ he asked.
‘Niamh was blackmailing Bill and Sheila found out. She killed Niamh to protect him.’
‘Blackmailing him about what?’
‘Sheila found out that Bill is…’ I swallowed, ‘was Immy’s biological father.’
The DI frowned. ‘Bill Harrison and your au pair were lovers?’
I hesitated. ‘They slept together once,’ I said. It may not have been the whole truth, but it wasn’t a lie, either.
‘So why was Niamh blackmailing him?’ A look of understanding crossed his face. ‘Because you and your husband didn’t know?’
‘We thought Immy’s biological father was some kid Niamh had a one-night stand with while we were all on holiday together in Corfu four years ago. I only found out she was Bill’s yesterday.’
‘I don’t understand why Sheila would go to such lengths to protect Bill?’
‘She idolised him, always has. I think she believed they had a future together.’
‘That’s why she took Immy? She wanted to play happy families?’
I’d given this a lot of thought on the ambulance ride to hospital and during the wait in A&E. ‘I think Sheila genuinely did come over to drop off the accounts on Sunday, but when she let herself in the side gate, she found Immy in tears because she’d fallen and grazed her knee. Immy told her she didn’t know where I was. Sheila already thought I was a crap mother. It was the justification she needed to take Immy. She saw an opportunity, and she took it.’
And in many respects, Sheila was right. I had been a crap mother, I could see that now. I’d put the company first, chasing success and money because I thought they were what mattered. I’d wanted to prove that I could have it all, not realising that when push came to shove, I’d been as deluded as Sheila. I couldn’t be there for Nate and Immy when I was working twelve-hour days, but I’d told myself I was building the business for them so I could give them the opportunities I never had. The best schools, amazing holidays, friends with connections.
Would they have been just as happy at the village primary school, spending a week every summer in a mobile home in Dorset? Of course they would. They didn’t give a monkey’s about their school’s Oxbridge success rate, or that their friends’ parents were surgeons, business consultants and barristers. It was as if I was seeing everything clearly for the first time in years. I had projected my wants and needs onto Nate and Immy and had worked like a dog to achieve my version of success, sacrificing so much along the way. But I didn’t want that life any more. I wanted out.
‘Makes sense,’ DI Jones agreed. It took a moment to realise he was talking about Sheila and not me. ‘We found a one-way ticket for Eurotunnel in one of her kitchen drawers. She made the booking on Tuesday.’
‘She was planning to take Immy to France?’ I gasped.
‘France, Spain, who knows?’ He felt his pockets for his phone. ‘I need to call the DCI to give her the heads up. Will you be all right?’
How could I ever be all right while Sheila was out there somewhere, waiting for another opportunity to take my daughter?
‘Just find her. Please,’ I said.
He nodded and was halfway across the room when he stopped and turned to me. ‘Sheila doesn’t have a criminal record. There aren’t any intelligence reports on her. She’s never come to the attention of social services or the mental health team. On paper she’s a model citizen.’
It wasn’t the apology I felt I deserved, but I accepted it anyway. None of us were perfect, after all. I smiled bleakly. ‘I’ve known Sheila for six years, and I didn’t once suspect her of taking Immy. She had us all fooled.’
Chapter Fifty
A longing to wrap my arms around Immy and feel her heart beating against mine came out of nowhere, and I wriggled off the bed and left the side room.
‘Where’s my husband?’ I asked the two officers standing sentry outside the door.
‘Along the corridor,’ the taller of the two said, dipping his head towards the nurses’ station.
‘Thanks.’ A thought occurred to me. ‘Aren’t you supposed to be watching Immy, not me?’
His colleague rocked on his heels and smiled. ‘Don’t you worry, Mrs Cooper. No one’s getting past us.’
‘You hope,’ I muttered under my breath as I hurried along the corridor, my shoes squeaking on the polished floor. A nurse looked up from behind a computer and smiled.
‘They’re in the playroom,’ she said. ‘Second door on the right.’
A sea-themed mural on the far wall dominated the playroom, with a jolly-looking octopus surrounded by clown fish, angelfish, a mermaid, two turtles and a grinning shark. To the left was a large bookcase and melamine units holding plastic trays in primary colours, but my eye was drawn to the boy sitting at a table just inside the door. Not much older than Nate, he was carefully colouring in a picture of a donkey wearing a sombrero. His blond hair was wispy and his skin wax-pale, and I flinched before I could stop myself.
‘Hey!’ I said in a bright voice, over-compensating. ‘I’m looking for my little girl. Immy. I don’t suppose you’ve seen her?’
He glanced up, smiling. ‘She likes Paw Patrol, doesn’t she?’ I followed his gaze to a clear plastic box filled with Paw Patrol figures on the floor by the bookcase.
‘She loves it. Skye’s her favourite character,’ I said. ‘D’you know where she went?’
The boy fixed the lid on a blue felt-tip pen and picked up a brown one. ‘One of the nurses took her somewhere while her dad was on the phone.’
‘One of the nurses? Do you remember which one?’
‘I haven’t seen her before,’ said the boy, his head bent as he coloured in one of the donkey’s ears. ‘She must be new.’
A sense of unease lifted the hairs on the nape of my neck, but I forced myself to smile. ‘Thanks. I’d better go and find them.’
I looked up and down the empty corridor. ‘Immy!’ I called. ‘Ims, where are you?’
Stuart appeared at the far end of the corridor, his phone wedged between his ear and his shoulder. He took one look at me and murmured, ‘Look, I need to go. I’ll call you later.’
A wave of panic gripped my chest, squeezing it tight. ‘Immy’s gone,’ I cried.
‘Gone?’
‘Christ, Stuart, you were supposed to be looking after her!’
He clasped my shoulders. ‘For goodness’ sake, calm down. I left her in the playroom while I made a quick call. I was gone a couple of minutes at most.’
‘She’s not there now, I’m telling you.’ I felt the blood drain from my face as I pointed to the playroom. ‘The boy in there said she went off with a nurse. One he didn’t recognise.’ I stifled a sob. ‘What if Sheila…?’
‘Breezed straight in, past two burly police officers? I don’t think so. I’m sure there’s a simple explanation.’ He took my arm and guided me along the corridor to the nurses’ station, smiling at the nurse behind the computer. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve seen Immy?’
Her brow furrowed, and the vice around my chest tightened another notch. ‘I thought she was with you?’ she said. Then her face cleared. ‘No, wait a minute, I think Josie took her to the toilet.’
‘Josie?’ I said.
‘One of the healthcare assistants.’
I ran a hand through my hair. ‘Are you sure?’
‘I am. In fact, here they are now,’ she said.
‘Mummy!’ Immy cried, running down the corridor towards us, a large woman in a white tunic and black trousers behind her.
Immy stretched out her arms and I scooped her up and buried my face in her hair so no one could see my tears.
We left hospital the next morning, once the paediatrician had given Immy a clean bill of health. He assured us she shouldn’t suffer any lasting effects. I wished the same could be said for me. Even though I’d had a pull-out bed next to hers, I’d barely slept a wink. Every time I heard footsteps along the corridor, I held my breath, wondering if it was Sheila, come to spirit Immy away. The few times I dozed off, I was plunged into the same nightmare in which I was running from an enemy I couldn’t see.
Sam phoned while Immy was having breakfast. She got straight to the point.
‘Sheila’s car pinged ANPR in Canterbury earlier.’
I sat up straight. ‘You’ve caught her?’
Silence for a beat. ‘Not yet. But the net’s closing in. We’ve had a dozen potential sightings. It’s only a matter of time.’
‘You’re telling me she’s in Canterbury? How do you know she hasn’t come back for Immy?’
Sam’s voice was reassuring. ‘I’m sure she hasn’t.’
I thumped my hand against my forehead. ‘Why am I the only person who can see how dangerous she is?’
‘She’s wanted for murder, Cleo. We know she’s dangerous. And we’ll find her. In the meantime, Stuart’s had the lock on the side gate replaced and I’ve arranged to have a panic alarm fitted at your house this afternoon. If you press the button, we’ll be there. All you need to do is sit tight at home until we find her. Can you do that?’
I slumped against the wall. ‘Do I have a choice?’
Chapter Fifty-One
SATURDAY 19 JUNE
Immy chattered non-stop all the way home from hospital. Normally I’d have nodded and smiled in all the right places while my mind was at work, untangling a knotty problem with a supply chain or planning our next marketing campaign. But today I gave her my undivided attention because every word that escaped her lips was as precious as liquid gold.
