Little Girl Gone

by Stephen Edger

  ‘I’m telling you what I saw, Ray. I have no reason to lie to you. Check my movements. Where was I prior to coming here? Check her phone signal. I’m not lying to you.’

  59

  Alex’s head snapped back to Sophie, who was still training the gun on her. ‘I thought we were supposed to be friends.’

  Sophie scoffed. ‘I tried to be, Alex, God knows I tried. You’re not an easy person to get along with.’

  Each word felt like a dagger to the heart, freezing Alex to the spot.

  ‘A real friend wouldn’t be so up her own arse. A real friend would take more interest in those around her, but not you. I remember when you moved to the street. I came around and welcomed you to the neighbourhood, brought you that bottle of wine. Do you remember what you did?’

  Alex’s mind was blank.

  ‘You turned your nose up at it,’ Sophie continued. ‘I saw the way you looked at the brand and rolled your eyes, like it wasn’t good enough that I’d bought it from the local supermarket. I didn’t say anything. I let it go, put it down to you just having a bad day. Then when I’d see you in the street, I’d make an effort to come over and say hello. You’d start moaning about how much your body ached with the pregnancy, and how someone like me would never understand what you were going through. You should have heard yourself at times, Alex. At no point did you ever check whether I’d ever been pregnant. I was, you know.’

  She waved the gun towards Whitchurch. ‘With his offspring. I was only ten when he first assaulted me, and with my dad gone, I was on my own and forced to do anything to keep off the streets. And that’s when he found me again. It was right before his trial, and I’d run away from the foster home they’d stuck me in. He promised me food and shelter, and then he attacked me. I was only eleven when I felt the most excruciating pain and knew that my baby had been taken from me. At the time I thought it was a blessing. What I didn’t realize until years later is that the damage he’d caused was enough to stop me ever conceiving a child of my own again.’

  Whitchurch had stopped groaning, a sure sign that he was slipping away. Alex couldn’t handle the guilt of knowing what she’d caused, what she’d been manipulated into causing.

  ‘So having to listen to your constant moaning about being blessed with such a precious gift was hard to stomach. Even as I tried to tell you how harsh you sounded, you never stopped to question why. And then Carol-Anne was born and I grew jealous of what you had: a good home, a loving husband and a beautiful baby girl. Did you ever appreciate any of that? I remember the day you first showed her to me and you made a passing comment about looking for a nanny for her so you could return to work. I remember thinking: what a bitch! Blessed with something so amazing yet so quick to want to give her away.’

  ‘I wasn’t like that,’ Alex fired back, anger taking over from the fear and shock.

  ‘Children grow up so quickly,’ Sophie continued unabated. ‘You’d be shocked if you could see how much Carol-Anne has changed in just the few days she’s been with me. And despite your negative influence on her, she’s untainted.’

  ‘Where is my daughter?’ Alex growled.

  ‘I told you: nearby. I wasn’t surprised when Ray went after Noemi. That’s what you did to him. So self-centred that you drove the man who loved you into the arms of another woman. I caught them at Christmas. He never saw me, but she did and came clean. She told me she’d fallen for him badly. I tried to tell you, as any good friend would, but you never seemed interested when I was dealing with my own issues.’

  ‘What about your ex? We bailed you out financially when things went wrong.’

  ‘Oh yeah,’ Sophie snorted. ‘And didn’t you enjoy lording that over me? How you’d graciously dipped your hand in your pocket to give me a couple of grand.’

  ‘No, I was happy to help. You’re twisting everything. I never knew about your troubles, and you never told me.’

  ‘And that’s who you are,’ Sophie snapped back. ‘Even when you’re blessed with a child as incredible as Carol-Anne you spend more of the day mourning the child you miscarried rather than celebrating the child who lived. I watched you offload her time and again as you turned your back on her and hunted for jobs. You know, for some women, being the best mother they can be is enough. But not you. You would rather pay someone to do your maternal duties and go to some dead-end job than take care of her. You don’t deserve to be her mother.’

  ‘You won’t get away with this,’ Alex said, as fresh salty tears fell.

  ‘Oh darling,’ Sophie cackled, ‘I already have. You’ll be arrested and charged with Jack’s murder; Ray will realize how much he loves Noemi and leave you; and I will raise Carol-Anne far away from here and far from the ungrateful woman who bore her.’

  ‘You’re crazy,’ Alex whispered.

  Sophie just laughed louder. ‘Jack isn’t long for this world. Look at him: his eyes aren’t even open anymore. He’s lost too much blood, and given his age, it won’t be long until he passes the point of no return. Your prints are on this gun, and at least half a dozen cameras will have picked up your arrival here. As for your phone signal, it puts you here at the time Whitchurch was shot. It’s like a game of Cluedo: Alex Granger with the gun in the car park. You have motive, opportunity and method.’

  ‘I’ll tell the police all about your plan.’

  ‘My plan?’ Sophie scoffed. ‘You don’t have a clue how much planning went into this. Watching you day after day, leaving Carol-Anne unattended in the car on the driveway while you went backwards and forwards, bringing in shopping. I could have taken her on any number of occasions, but I had to wait for the police to release Jack.’ Her gaze shifted back to the lifeless Whitchurch on the floor. ‘Social services phoned all the victims to warm them of your imminent release. I heard about it from a friend, and then all I had to do was sit back and wait for them to collect you from the prison. They had no idea I was tailing them. I knew as soon as I saw you step out of the car that you’d strike again. Not me this time, but some other victim. And that’s when I knew you had to die.’

  Alex fought against the urge to vomit. ‘How did you know where I’d be, or that I’d leave Carol-Anne in the car?’

  Sophie’s eyes returned to Alex. ‘Because I know you better than you know yourself. I followed you all that day, waiting for the moment when you’d turn your back, and then you did it. And do you know the worst part of it? I actually felt sorry for you, running around that car park like a headless chicken. I knew then that you’d realized what a terrible mother you are. And you should have seen the look on your face when I played those sounds of Carol-Anne laughing in the bedroom. Just enough to push you over the edge. And now here we are.’

  ‘The police searched your house on that first night. Where was she?’

  ‘You think I’d be stupid enough to keep her next door? That money you gave me was part of a deposit on a second house. Close enough for me to come and go unnoticed, and you had no idea.’

  The sound of a siren nearby distracted them both. It was all the time Alex needed. Diving forward she wrapped her outstretched hands around the gun’s barrel and pulled it towards her. Sophie wasn’t willing to release her grip so easily and pulled Alex into her, landing an elbow between Alex’s shoulders. Alex yelped in pain, and drove her shoulder into Sophie’s middle. The two women stumbled backwards, towards the wall.

  ‘You’re wasting your time, Alex,’ Sophie grunted as they continued to pull on the gun, twirling and swatting at one another.

  Alex wasn’t prepared to give up on the one person who knew where her daughter was. And as they continued to spin, moving ever closer to the wall Whitchurch had been standing at earlier, Sophie drove her knee into Alex’s gut and crashed the gun’s butt into her face. Alex went crashing to the ground, but as Sophie stepped back in satisfaction, she lost her footing. No amount of arm flailing could stop her bottom from passing over the low wall, and she tumbled out into the open space, falling into the thin air beneath her.
>
  60

  They heard the woman’s shrill scream before they caught the glimpse of her body plummeting through the sky. The sound of her landing on a parked vehicle around the corner was something that would stay with Ray for the rest of his life.

  Instinct kicking in, Ray and Jodie both tore off – Ray carefully cradling Carol-Anne close to his chest – seeing the imploded roof of the utilities van as they turned the corner.

  ‘Oh, God,’ Jodie muttered as a stream of blood appeared in the cracks of the shattered windscreen.

  ‘Call backup and an ambulance,’ Ray said, taking control of the situation and making sure Carol-Anne couldn’t see anything of what was going on.

  Jodie nodded, putting the phone to her ear and calling the switchboard to report their whereabouts and what had happened.

  Ray craned his neck up to where the body had to have fallen from – the first floor of the car park, just the other side of the tall fence – but there was no sign of anybody who might be able to confirm what had happened.

  Carol-Anne was pulling at his nose as he cautiously moved closer. The natural first step would be to check for a pulse; preservation of life was always the first priority. From where he was standing it was clear that nobody could survive a fall like that. And even though the van’s roof had caved in, the frame had withstood the collision, so it was impossible for them to actually see more than the victim’s arm – poking out at an unnatural angle – without climbing onto the van for a better viewing spot.

  Still shielding Carol-Anne’s face, Ray reached up and felt along the thin wrist, but no pulse was evident. ‘Hello? Can you hear me? My name is Detective Sergeant Ray Granger. Help is on its way. If you can hear me, stay with us.’

  There was no sound or motion to indicate whether the victim had miraculously survived the fall.

  ‘Paramedics are on their way,’ Jodie said, joining him at the front of the van.

  ‘I think it’s already too late,’ Ray said, his head spinning with everything that was unfolding, none of which he seemed able to control.

  ‘Pass her to me,’ Jodie said, nodding at Carol-Anne. ‘So you can climb up and check on the victim.’

  He eyed her suspiciously. ‘I’m not just going to hand her over. She stays with me. You check.’

  It felt harsh, given the explanation she’d offered, but until he had confirmation of everything, he wasn’t prepared to let Carol-Anne out of his sight.

  ‘Fine,’ Jodie sighed, stepping onto one of the rapidly deflating front tyres and hoisting herself up onto the bonnet, being careful where she placed her hands to avoid touching the blood pooling just beneath the windscreen wipers.

  Ray watched as she adjusted her position, and shuddered as Jodie gasped and covered her mouth. ‘What is it?’

  Jodie didn’t respond, promptly climbing back down, the blood drained from her face. ‘It’s Simone, I mean Sophie. I mean … oh God.’

  Ray rested a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed. He’d been first on the scene at several sudden deaths, and it never got easier coming face-to-face with the recently deceased.

  ‘You two better get up here,’ Owen called from somewhere above them.

  Looking upwards, they couldn’t see his face.

  ‘Ray? Jodie?’ Owen called again. ‘You need to get up here straight away. I need your help. Yell back if you can hear me.’

  ‘Yeah, we’re on our way,’ Ray shouted, looking down at his daughter’s face, and then back at Jodie.

  ‘You can trust me, Ray,’ she said, but he didn’t need to make that decision, as an ambulance and two marked cars approached.

  Keeping Carol-Anne nuzzled into his chest, Ray, Jodie and one of the paramedics headed in through the secured perimeter, racing towards the up ramp. There they found Owen and Alex slumped over a prone male, his shirt covered in blood.

  The paramedic radioed for a second ambulance, and immediately cut through the shirt, to begin treatment. Ray recognized the old man’s face. A shaking Alex looked different somehow. Her hands were covered in blood, and there was a distant look in her eyes, as if she was in a trance or a state of bewilderment.

  It was only Carol-Anne calling out that seemed to break the spell. Alex’s head slowly turned and looked up to the giggling child in his arms, and for a moment she remained frozen to the spot, like she didn’t quite believe what she was seeing. Then her anguished face broke into a smile of pure joy and the tears that had been cloaking her eyes fell freely down her face.

  Rubbing her hands against the dusty floor, Alex stood, using the back of her own top to wipe off any remaining traces of blood, moving quickly over to them.

  ‘You found her,’ she said to him, barely able to maintain her standing position.

  Ray quickly wrapped his free arm around his wife’s back, supporting her and Carol-Anne at the same time. Pulling Alex closer, and planting a tender kiss on her forehead, he whispered: ‘We did it, Alex. We have our little girl back.’

  ‘It was Sophie,’ she whispered back. ‘She was the one who—’

  ‘I know,’ he said as calmly as he could manage. ‘I never should have doubted you.’

  Epilogue

  Three Days Later

  ‘Whitchurch corroborated your story,’ Ray said, handing Alex a fresh mug of coffee before discarding the tray on a vacant table. ‘As of now, you are no longer a person of interest in the enquiry.’

  Alex was tempted to lean forward and thrust her arms around his neck in gratitude, but something stopped her.

  The café was about a third full, with three other pairs deep in conversation, and what looked like two undergraduates with their heads buried in their laptops.

  ‘Sophie’s – sorry, I mean Simone’s – house has been covered from top to bottom, and will be carefully processed over the coming days,’ he added. ‘It will take time, but at least that’s something we have plenty of. The usual pressures of securing evidence to charge don’t apply when the chief suspect is already dead.’

  Alex looked away. Learning that Sophie had been the one manipulating events had come as a huge shock, and discovering that she’d died as a result of her fall from the car park had hurt more than she’d expected it would. She knew she had every right to hate Sophie, but she missed her friend.

  ‘And he won’t change his story? Whitchurch, I mean.’

  ‘He has nothing to gain by pointing the finger at you. He still doesn’t know who you are or what led you to the car park that afternoon, but he does know what you did to stop him bleeding to death.’ He paused, the hint of a smile forming on his lips. ‘It’s funny, even though you ultimately shot him, in his eyes you saved his life. As far as the rest of the world knows, Simone shot him before falling over the ledge. You’re lucky the security cameras weren’t on. I’m not one for fudging the facts; however, this really is the best outcome for all concerned.’

  ‘Has Whitchurch admitted to what he did to Simone, all those years ago?’

  Ray shook his head. ‘He’s sticking to his story that she must have had him confused with someone else. He says she phoned him and was threatening to publish his address online if he didn’t meet her at the car park. He’s claiming to have no memory of anyone called Simone.’

  ‘He recognized her; I heard him admit it.’

  ‘I don’t think it’s worth pushing it. If we try to expose him for his lie, he’ll quickly drop you in it too.’

  She looked away, straining to keep her frustration in check. Despite everything that had happened in the last week, didn’t Simone deserve justice as well? She was as much a victim as the rest of them, and she’d been let down. Alex couldn’t help thinking that had Simone’s allegations against Whitchurch been dealt with more appropriately at the time, things would have unfolded very differently.

  ‘It’s for the best,’ Ray said, sipping his coffee.

  ‘You were the one who told me to say that she shot him,’ Alex whispered back, conscious of anyone who might overhear their conversation
in the small café, not far from the police station. ‘I was going to tell the truth.’

  Ray leaned closer. ‘Then you would be facing conspiracy to murder charges and spending decades locked up. Carol-Anne needs you. And you said yourself you didn’t mean to shoot him.’

  ‘What if I did, Ray? What if on some subconscious level I deliberately squeezed the trigger?’

  His eyes narrowed. ‘Did you?’

  ‘That’s just it: I don’t think I’ll ever know for sure.’

  It was a question she’d posed to Dr Kirkman in the hours following what happened in Salisbury. He’d been unable to give her an unequivocal answer either. She was glad she’d resurrected their regular appointments. Even if she was over the worst of her depression, talking through her emotions with a trained specialist didn’t seem a burden. And if it meant she could be a better and stronger mother to Carol-Anne then she was willing to try.

  Sophie’s words on that cold concrete floor had stung. It pained Alex to admit it, but in many aspects Sophie’s assessment of her behaviour over the last year had been spot on. She had spent too much time grieving her unborn child, rather than embracing the brilliant and breathing daughter who had nothing but love for her.

  ‘Well, what I know for a fact is that you’re a good mother and Carol-Anne is lucky to have you,’ Ray said, sitting back in his chair. ‘I also know that the lab boys found software on Sophie’s computer which enabled her to mask her IP address. They also found the photo files that were attached to the email messages sent to you. I don’t think there’s any doubt she was the sole person responsible for what happened.’

  Alex disagreed silently. There were plenty of people who should be sharing the blame for Sophie’s downfall, including her and Ray. She knew that living with the guilt of how her own actions had been interpreted by Sophie would be a struggle for the rest of her life.