‘Yes!’ he snapped. ‘She might have been abducted. I’m going to ring the police.’
Annabel was reaching for her coat.
‘Let Richard do that while we search the surrounding area. Every minute counts if she’s wandered off.’ Her voice broke. ‘Or been enticed away.’
* * *
They arrived back in their cars simultaneously and each knew that the other had nothing to report. The police were outside the house, talking to Richard. Night had fallen and there was still no sign of Lucy.
Annabel was in a state of complete shock. She’d been only feet away while she’d cut up the vegetables. Yet it must seem to Aaron and the others that she hadn’t been looking after her properly. He must be thinking those sort of thoughts and she wondered how long it would be before he voiced them.
All the squad cars in the area had been notified to be on the lookout for a fair-haired, five-year-old in school uniform and slippers. That was something else adding to the nightmare that had come out of the blue. It was a cold night and Lucy’s winter coat was hung up in the hallway and her warm boots were near the kitchen door where she’d taken them off.
‘I’m going out to search again,’ Aaron said, adding when she got to her feet, ‘You stay here, Annabel. Richard will come with me. We need someone here in case she comes back.’
His voice was flat, expressionless, but she knew that he wasn’t like that inside. He was dying a thousand deaths—and so was she, especially as she’d been the one looking after Lucy.
Daylight had been fading when she’d gone to feed the bird, but they’d only been a few feet away from each other. The child must have disappeared when she’d gone into the larder for a second time. Secure in the knowledge that Lucy had been safe in her own back garden, she’d seen no danger.
But now it was starting to look as if there had been. That she hadn’t been safe. She’d seen the parents of missing children on television, traumatised and fearful as they’d pleaded with those who’d taken their child to bring it back. Was that what Aaron was going to have to do soon?
They’d left a policewoman with her and Annabel felt that, as well as being there for support, the WPC was watching her, debating whether she was involved in Lucy’s disappearance. And could she blame her? She had been the last person to see the child before she’d disappeared.
When Aaron came back his face was like a taut white mask. A police sergeant and a couple of constables followed him in and the senior officer said, ‘We’re checking out what your neighbour saw just before your daughter disappeared. He reckons there was a man lurking at the back of the gardens. In the meantime, can you think of anyone who would wish you or her any harm?’
‘No, of course not,’ Aaron snapped. ‘I’m a doctor, for heaven’s sake, and when I’m not working I’m here with my family.’
‘How long have you known Dr Swain?’
‘A few months, but why? What has that got to do with it?’
‘Just checking. We have to look at all eventualities. How did Dr Swain come to be with your daughter this afternoon?’
‘I asked her to pick Lucy up from school. My mother usually goes to meet her, but she’s away and I had an important meeting.’
‘What is the relationship between the two of you?’
Aaron hesitated and when his glance met hers Annabel turned away. She didn’t blame the police for asking questions. They had to know what the domestic set-up was as lots of crimes were committed by people the victims knew.
But this was unbearable. If Aaron didn’t blame her already, the doubts that were growing in his mind would put her beyond the pale for ever. Yet it was an indisputable fact that she’d been alone with Lucy and she’d disappeared.
If only he would say something, she thought wretchedly. Reassure her. Tell her that he understood. But he had more urgent things to think about than the salving of her conscience. His daughter had disappeared on a cold winter’s night when only a stone’s throw from the kitchen door.
The police were preparing to commence the search again.
‘We’ll be back shortly,’ the sergeant told them, ‘and in the meantime, if you think of anything at all that you haven’t already mentioned, get in touch.’
When they’d gone Annabel said, ‘I’m going home for a while. I know that Lucy’s only been to the flat with you once, and won’t know the address, but she does know that it’s in the hospital grounds and might have found her way there for some reason.’
‘You’re clutching at straws,’ he said tightly. ‘Someone has got Lucy. I know it.’
The WPC who’d been left behind was bringing in mugs of tea from the kitchen and she said tactfully, ‘It’s worth having a look at your place to be on the safe side. Children do the strangest things.’
‘Not this one,’ Aaron told her. ‘For one thing Lucy doesn’t like the dark. If she’s alone out there, she’ll be very frightened.’
And absolutely terrified if she’s not alone, Annabel thought in silent anguish.
* * *
There were no signs of her at the flat. Annabel hadn’t really expected there would be, yet she’d felt as if something had been pulling her back there. Maybe it was because she was desperate to wipe out the nightmare with normality. To be near the hospital where she was always in control, instead of driving herself insane with the whys and wherefores of the terrible thing that had happened.
As she was locking up again the nurse who had the flat next door was just coming in off duty and she said, ‘Hi, there. You’re just the person I need to see.’
‘Oh, yes?’ Annabel said absently.
She had to get back to Aaron. She shouldn’t have left him. Maybe there would be some news by the time she returned.
‘There’s a very agitated woman hanging about outside the hospital’s main entrance, asking to speak to Dr Lewis,’ the nurse said. ‘I explained that he wasn’t on duty at the moment but she was adamant that she has to see him.
‘It’s a good job the public don’t know where you doctors live, or those who think they have a grievance or should have priority treatment would be forever on your doorsteps.’
‘Did she say what it was about?’ Annabel asked, putting her worries to one side for a moment. It was clear that the nurse hadn’t heard the local news or she would have said something.
‘No. Just that she had to see him before it was too late. Presumably she has a sick child.’
‘Yes, maybe,’ she agreed. ‘I’m going to his place now. I’ll stop by the hospital to see if she’s still there. What does she look like?’
‘Bright red fleece and grey trousers.’
The last thing Aaron needed was a distressed parent at that moment, she thought as she pulled up in front of the hospital shortly afterwards. The poor man was one himself. If anyone needed help, he did. But she might be able to point the woman in the right direction once she knew what the problem was.
She was huddled on a bench near the front entrance. Annabel saw her in the light of the car’s headlamps and she was out of her seat and beside her before she had a chance to move.
‘I’m Dr Lewis’s fiancée and I’m a surgeon,’ she said as the woman looked up with startled eyes. ‘I believe you have a problem, and as he isn’t available maybe I can help you.’
‘It’s him that needs help,’ she said, raising herself upright. ‘I heard the late night local news half an hour ago and they said that his daughter is missing.’
Annabel caught her breath. Had this been the reason she’d felt compelled to come back to the hospital area? she thought as she observed the dishevelled person in front of her. Or was the woman an attention-seeker? One of those members of the public who thrived on sensation? They saw plenty of them at Barnaby’s.
‘Do you know something about his daughter’s disappearance?’ she asked gently, knowing that she had to tread carefully.
‘Yes. He’s got her. My Roy. I know he has.’
‘And why would that be?’ Annabel ask
ed in the same quiet voice.
‘Because they took our baby off us this afternoon and Roy said that if we couldn’t have our little Sally, Dr Lewis wasn’t going to have his child.’
‘So Roy is your husband?’
‘Yes, an’ he’s the kindest, gentlest father. He never touched the baby. It was me. I couldn’t hold her properly. There’s something wrong with my arms and she keeps slipping out of them and getting knocked. But I couldn’t tell anybody as I knew they’d think I wasn’t a fit mother. Even Roy doesn’t know I can’t hold her properly.’
‘And Dr Lewis, where does he come into all this?’
‘The baby clinic where I take her saw the bruises and she was taken to hospital. He was the one who saw Sally and said she’d been abused ’cos she had bruises and two broken ribs.’
Desperate to know where Lucy was, Annabel forced herself to be patient. The woman was at breaking point. If she pushed her too far, she might clam up or even collapse, and that would do Lucy no good.
‘He was beside himself when they took Sally,’ she went on, this time without prompting. ‘Got the car out, and as he was driving off he said, ‘‘We’ll see how Dr Lewis likes having his kid taken from him.’’’
‘What’s your name?’ Annabel asked.
‘Janice. Janice Carter,’ she said tearfully.
‘Well, Janice, you’re a brave woman and I’m a determined one. Where do you think Roy will have taken Dr Lewis’s little girl?’
‘They’ll be somewhere around here.’
‘What, at Barnaby’s?’ she exclaimed.
‘Well, yes. He works here, you see. Roy looks after the boilers. He has a hidey-hole beneath the hospital where he goes to have a smoke.’
‘And you think that’s where they’ll be?’
Janice nodded, but Annabel was thinking that they could be anywhere, the distraught father and Lucy.
‘So why didn’t you go straight there when you heard that Lucy was missing?’
‘I’d have had to tell him it was me that hurt the baby and I was frightened of what he might do.’
Exactly, Annabel thought.
If the woman’s husband was in such a state, what might he do if the police surrounded the place where he was hiding? That was if his wife was right and he was somewhere in the labyrinth of passages beneath the hospital.
She would see for herself before she rang them. No point in raising Aaron’s hopes if they weren’t there, and every second was vital to Lucy’s safety if the man was mentally unbalanced.
‘Show me, Janice,’ she said. ‘Show me where you think he’s taken Lucy.’
* * *
The boiler room was empty, as she’d expected it to be. If Roy Carter had taken Lucy down into the dungeon-like bowels of the hospital, he wasn’t going to have her on view to anyone who might be around.
‘Where now?’ she asked.
‘This way,’ Janice croaked, and led the way along a dismal passage to where a heavy wooden door blocked the way.
‘In there,’ she whispered. ‘That’s where Roy goes for a smoke. See if it’s locked.’
It was, and Annabel ushered Janice back to the other end of the passage.
‘How big is your husband?’ she asked.
‘He’s not small,’ the other woman said. ‘Six foot. Does a bit of weightlifting. But he’s not violent. It’s having Sally taken off us that’s made him do this.’
Annabel nodded, not entirely convinced.
‘We’re going to go back there,’ she said, ‘and I want you to persuade your husband to open the door if he’s in there. He’ll maybe listen to you where he won’t trust me. I’ll stay out of sight until he’s done what you ask and then I’m going in after Lucy. Do you understand?’
‘Yes, I understand,’ she said nervously, ‘but what if he refuses to come out?’
‘Tell him the truth. That you are responsible for the injuries to your baby and if he’s a reasonable man he will see that Dr Lewis, and especially his daughter, have done you both no wrong.’
‘None of this would have happened if I’d owned up in the first place, would it?’ Janice said fearfully. ‘Roy won’t hurt me, but he’ll never forgive me.’
‘We’ll sort something out regarding that.’ Annabel told her reassuringly, ‘but first we have to find out if he’s in there.’
There was no answer the first time Janice called his name, and Annabel groaned. She called again and again and at last came a surly response.
‘What you doin’ here, Janice? Go back home.’
‘Open the door, please, Roy,’ she begged. ‘Just for a minute.’
‘No. I’m stayin’ here until they promise to give our little ’un back to us.’
‘Ask him if he’s got Lucy,’ Annabel whispered.
‘Have you got the doctor’s little girl in there with you?’
‘Yeah. I told you he was going to pay.’
‘Is she all right?’
‘Go away. I’ve told you. He’s going to pay for what he’s done to us.’
‘Tell him,’ Annabel urged. ‘We’ve got to get Lucy out of there!’
Janice was crumpling. ‘He’ll throw me out after this.’
‘You’ve still got to tell him,’ she insisted. ‘Two innocent children have suffered through this mix-up and it’s got to be put right.’
‘All right,’ she said wearily. ‘I’ll do it.’ Raising her voice, she said, ‘There’s something I have to tell you, Roy, and when you hear what I have to say you’ll know that Dr Lewis was right. Sally’s injuries were caused in the home but not by you. I’m to blame for what’s happened. It was me that hurt Sally.’
‘Oh, aye? An’ you think I’m going to believe that?’
‘It’s true. I can’t hold her properly. There’s no strength in my arms and every time my hold gives way she gets hurt. I thought if I told anybody they’d say I wasn’t a fit mother.’
There was silence at the other side of the big studded door. Then they heard bolts being drawn back and it began to open slowly. Annabel waited until the man who’d taken Lucy was framed there and then flung herself forward from where she’d been pressed up against the wall of the passage.
Startled by her appearance, his arm came up and a clenched fist struck her in the face. As her knees buckled beneath her the last thing she saw was Lucy lying on an old blanket in the corner.
She didn’t hear running feet outside in the passage or Aaron’s voice calling both their names in horrified anguish. She’d caught her head on a metal cylinder as she’d fallen and was unconscious.
* * *
‘Lucy?’ was the first word to pass Annabel’s lips when the mists began to clear.
‘I’m here, Annabel,’ a subdued small voice said, and as a little hand curled around hers a single tear rolled down Annabel’s swollen cheek.
‘Thank God!’ she breathed weakly. ‘You’re safe.’
‘She’s tired and bewildered but unhurt, thanks to you,’ Aaron’s voice said raggedly from nearby. ‘You’re the one who is causing concern, Annabel. You took a blow to the face and as you fell you cracked your head on one of the metal cylinders that are stored in that room.’
‘Where am I?’
‘You’re in an A and E at the Infirmary and are due to go for X-rays and a scan. Needless to say, I’m coming with you. Mum and Tom are on their way from the airport. They’ll take Lucy home.’
‘So he didn’t hurt her?’
‘No. The guy was just trying to make a point in the worst possible way. I’ve checked her over and she’s not been harmed. When he found her in the garden, Carter told her that he knew where there were lots of robins and, forgetting all she’d been told about not talking to strangers, she went with him. When we found her she was patiently waiting for them to appear.
‘As for the rest of it, I imagine that you know more than I do. But it can wait. You’ve been hurt because of us, Annabel, and I can’t bear the thought of it. I should have been the one getting punched
by Carter, not you.’
‘I owed it to you,’ she said painfully. ‘I let Lucy be taken. It was up to me to find her. And if my looks have suffered in the process I won’t complain.’
He bent over and stroked her swollen temple with a feather-light touch.
‘It’s what’s happened inside here that I’m concerned about. You were out cold for quite some time. Can you see all right?’
‘Mmm. I think so. But my head feels twice its size.’
‘At this moment it is,’ he told her gently.
The door swung back at that moment and a nurse came into view, followed by a porter with a stretcher trolley.
‘The consultant will see Dr Swain as soon as the results of the X-rays are available,’ she said, and Aaron thought grimly that they were well and truly on the other side of the fence this time.
‘We’ve done an X-ray and a CT scan and they show that there is bleeding between the dura mater and the arachnoid layers from a torn vein. We need to operate,’ the consultant in A and E informed them some time later.
‘That should be my line,’ Annabel said weakly.
‘Not this time,’ he told her with a sympathetic smile, and Aaron turned away.
One nightmare had ended and another was beginning, he thought. If anything happened to Annabel without him having told her that she was the light in his gloom, the one he’d been waiting for all this time, he would go crazy. But the doctor was saying, ‘The nurses are waiting to give you your pre-med and then we’ll take you to Theatre.’ He smiled. ‘But I don’t need to tell you the routine, do I?’
She shook her head and closed her eyes, and as Aaron’s glance met that of the other man’s he said, ‘No time to waste, Aaron. We need to get Dr Swain sorted.’
He held her hand all the way to Theatre and in the moment of parting said softly, for her ears only, ‘I love you, Annabel. Don’t leave me. I’m sorry I ever doubted you.’
She was already slipping into oblivion so he didn’t know if she’d heard. He just prayed that she had.
* * *
It was a Sunday afternoon a week later, and Aaron had gone to bring Annabel home from the hospital. The surgery had been successful. The clotting blood had been drained away through holes drilled into her skull and the damaged blood vessel repaired. And now, looking somewhat peculiar with half of her head shaved and the assorted colours of fading bruises still evident, she was about to be discharged.
The Surgeon's Family Wish Page 15
