Lost Child: A Gripping Psychological Thriller

by D. S. Butler

  We both glanced at the large, antique kitchen clock on the wall.

  “Yes, they should be here within the next ten minutes or so.”

  A tentative smile played at the corner of Mum’s mouth, and I knew she was reacting to this situation just like me. One moment I felt a rush of euphoria to think that Jenna was still alive and that we might get her back, and in the next moment, I was flooded with doubts. Was this some kind of horrible trick?

  She reached out and grabbed my hand, squeezing it gently. “I can’t believe this is really happening, Beth.”

  Before I could reply, the front door opened, and I turned in surprise.

  My surprise was replaced by irritation when I saw that Daniel had let himself in. Of course, he had every right to be here, but he didn’t live here anymore, so why did he still have a key?

  I took a deep breath. Now wasn’t the time to mention it. Why couldn’t I be more understanding? After all, Jenna was his daughter, and how could I blame him if he didn’t much like me? I’d been the one to let go of Jenna’s hand. She had disappeared under my watch.

  “Daniel,” Mum said brightly. Her gaze quickly darted between Daniel and me as she sensed the change in my mood. “I’m so glad you could get here in time. Beth’s only just arrived. The police will be here soon.”

  Daniel was wearing a dark grey suit. He didn’t look his usual polished self, though. His tie was loosened and at an odd angle, and his hair was messy as though he’d been continually raking his fingers through it.

  He nodded at me. “Beth.”

  There was no smile. No polite small talk. But then I was sure, in his opinion, I didn’t deserve it.

  “Why don’t I make us a nice cup of tea?” Mum smoothed her grey cashmere cardigan over her grey woollen skirt.

  “I’ll give you a hand,” I said.

  But she shook her head. “No need. You talk to Daniel.”

  I shrugged off my linen jacket and placed it over the back of one of the chairs before sitting down at the kitchen table.

  Daniel took the chair opposite me.

  “Can I see the message?” His tone was brittle as he asked the question.

  I pushed my phone across the table top towards him, and he picked it up to look at the screen. I knew it wasn’t the first time he’d seen the image. Mum had shown him the photograph only minutes after I’d sent it to her, and they had been able to enlarge the image and study it on a computer screen.

  Daniel’s expression changed, and he looked pained as he looked at the screen.

  “It’s her. It’s definitely her, Daniel.” I rested my forearms on the table and leant closer to him. We’d had our differences in the past even before Jenna went missing, and I knew that was largely my fault. But I wanted us to work together now. If we wanted the best chance of getting Jenna back, we needed to.

  Daniel shook his head. “I don’t know. She looks different.”

  I frowned. “Of course, that’s because she’s older. It’s been two years.”

  “I’m quite aware of how long it has been, Beth,” Daniel said through gritted teeth.

  I closed my eyes and took a breath. “I know. I’m sorry. But you can’t really doubt that it’s her, can you?”

  Daniel looked up from the photograph and narrowed his eyes as he stared at me. I shifted uncomfortably under his scrutiny.

  “How have you been, Beth?”

  To anyone else, his question may have seemed courteous, a pleasant exchange of small talk with his sister-in-law before the police arrived, but I knew Daniel better than that. He was referring to my episodes.

  After Kate had died, I’d felt I owed it to her to find out what had happened to Jenna. I was desperate for some kind of resolution, and I followed every trail I could. I’d latched onto the silliest of coincidences and declared it evidence. I’d wasted police time and made Mum sick with worry on top of everything else she’d been through. Instead of getting resolution, the only thing I had achieved was to make life more difficult for Daniel and my mother.

  I clasped my hands together and rested them on the table in front of me, trying to look like a woman in control of her emotions. “I’m fine. Dubai has been good for me.”

  Daniel said nothing. He just nodded and then looked back down at the screen.

  The moment Mum set the teapot down on the table, there was a knock at the front door.

  I got to my feet, but Mum put a hand on my shoulder. “Sit down, Beth. I’ll get it.”

  I didn’t turn around but could hear the murmurs of conversation after Mum opened the door and felt my stomach knot as I heard footsteps approach.

  Why was I so nervous? I wanted to speak to the police. There was no reason for me to worry. Because I’d caused them trouble in the past with my insistence they follow-up every ridiculous lead I’d brought to them, I was worried that they wouldn’t take me seriously. But this was different. This was a genuine lead, a real development.

  I didn’t recognise either one of the officers which surprised me. I thought it would be the same detective inspector in charge of the case. Jenna’s disappearance had only been two years ago, and the detective inspector hadn’t been anywhere near retirement age.

  Mum’s face looked pale and tense as she introduced us to the police officers. The grey-haired man was called Detective Inspector Rob Sharp, and his name suited him. His facial features were sharp and pointed. His nose was long and narrow, and his eyes were close set like a predator’s.

  The woman beside him, dressed in a smart black trouser suit and pink blouse, was Detective Sergeant Leanne Parker. Her face was round, plump and healthy. Shallow dimples dented her cheeks as she smiled at us.

  They held out their hands to shake ours, and then we all sat down around the kitchen table. Mum poured the tea, and the china rattled a little as she passed the detective inspector his cup.

  “I think it’s best if you tell us in your own words what happened yesterday when you got the message,” Detective Inspector Sharp said. His voice didn’t sound like I’d expected. It was low, melodious and calming.

  I nodded and twisted my hands in my lap. “Of course. I got the text message yesterday. It was mid-afternoon in Dubai, so late morning here, in the UK. I’d been out for lunch with friends at a hotel, and we were sitting outside after lunch having a drink when I heard the message tone on my phone. I didn’t recognise the number, but I saw the picture and… Well, it was a bit of a shock. The sun was shining on the screen. I couldn’t see properly, so I went straight inside and looked again, and I saw immediately that it was Jenna, my niece. I was sure of it.”

  “Did you show any of your friends the photograph while you were there?”

  I shook my head, not understanding the significance of the question. “No, it was such a shock, and I just wanted to be on my own. I took a taxi and went home and then when I looked at the photograph again, I knew that I had to tell my mother and Daniel because I was sure it was Jenna. I called my mother and showed her the photograph.”

  Mum nodded confirming my story. “That’s right. Beth showed me the photograph over a video call, and I wasn’t sure at first because I couldn’t see it very well on her phone, but then she emailed me the photograph, and well, you can’t deny there’s a very striking resemblance to Jenna.”

  Detective Sergeant Leanne Parker jotted something down in a small notebook. I was surprised. I thought everybody did everything on electronic devices these days.

  Detective Inspector Sharp turned back to me. “And after you spoke to your mother, what did you do then, Beth?”

  I wasn’t sure why my movements were so important. Surely that had nothing to do with whoever had sent the photograph.

  “I sent my mother another email with the phone number so that she could give it to you, and then I booked the next flight to the UK. I arrived at Heathrow this morning.”

  Detective Inspector Sharp nodded. “I see.”

  He followed up by asking me more questions about the friends I had bee
n with over brunch, and then he turned to Daniel. “What did you think when you saw the photograph, Mr Creswell?”

  Daniel’s expression darkened, and he frowned. “What did I think? I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it was Jenna.”

  “Do you believe it is a genuine photograph of your daughter?”

  Daniel sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t know. It looks like her. I want to believe it’s her, but…”

  I watched Daniel carefully. Why wouldn’t he believe it? He had the evidence right in front of him.

  Detective Sergeant Parker turned to me. Her gaze briefly flickered down, taking note of my clenched fists, and she smiled. “You did the right thing, Beth.”

  “Have you been able to trace the number yet?” I asked.

  The sergeant exchanged a glance with her boss and then shook her head. “It’s early days. We are working on it.”

  I couldn’t help feeling disappointed. They’d had the number all night. Surely, they should have made some progress by now.

  “I called the number, but I got a recorded message saying the number was not recognised. Was that the wrong thing to do?”

  Leanne shook her head. “I think it was a natural response. But I’d ask you not to try to communicate with them again without letting us know first. In fact, we would like to keep your phone and do some analysis.”

  I’d been expecting that, so I nodded. “Of course.”

  Daniel pushed the phone across the table to the detectives, and Leanne placed it in a plastic evidence bag.

  After everyone had finished their tea, and another round of questions had been asked, Detective Inspector Sharp got to his feet. “Thank you for your time. We will be in touch very soon. DS Parker will leave her contact details with you, so if you have any questions, you can get hold of her directly.”

  “Is that it?” I asked.

  I couldn’t believe there wasn’t more going on. I hoped it was different behind-the-scenes. For all I knew, they could have a whole team working on tracing and tracking down Jenna back at the station.

  “For now. I take it you’re staying in the UK for a little while?”

  I nodded.

  As the detectives prepared to leave the kitchen, Daniel spoke up. “I’ve got a question,” he said.

  Everyone turned to look at him.

  “Yes?” Inspector Sharp prompted, waiting patiently for Daniel’s question.

  “Will you be able to tell if this is really a photograph of Jenna?”

  He shot a glance at me, but couldn’t maintain eye contact for long.

  “We have a technical team looking at the image. We should have more answers for you soon.”

  Chapter Ten

  After the police and Daniel had left, Mum went to phone her sister, Aunt Mary, who lived in Aberdeen. She was worried the story about Jenna’s photograph would break before she had the chance to let our close family know and prepare them for the onslaught of press attention.

  She took the phone to the sunroom at the back of the house to make the call, and while she was occupied, I wheeled my case towards my childhood bedroom.

  Three of the bedrooms were downstairs, and a further three were upstairs. The attic had been converted, so the upstairs bedrooms had sloping ceilings. My parents’ bedroom was the largest room upstairs and had an en suite bathroom. Even though my father passed away some years ago, I still thought of it as my parents’ room rather than just Mum’s. The other two bedrooms upstairs were smaller and used as guest rooms.

  The main living area of the house was open plan. The kitchen was the heart of the house and was where we held most of our family gatherings. There was a living room through an archway off the kitchen. A large room, it had space for three mismatched sofas as well as a couple of armchairs close to the wood burner.

  At the far end of the living room was a small corridor that led to the three downstairs bedrooms. My bedroom was the first on the left, opposite the bathroom.

  I paused with my hand on the doorknob and looked further along the hallway at the other two doors. Right at the end, was the smallest room, which had been Jenna’s. The room next to mine was Kate’s room, and it was the room she had shared with Daniel while they’d lived here with Mum. Despite that, I would always think of it as Kate’s room.

  I turned away and pushed open my bedroom door.

  Mum had made up the bed with fresh white sheets. The room itself hadn’t changed much. It was decorated with the same pale lilac walls and bright white woodwork as it had been when I was a teenager.

  A rickety, white painted dressing table, topped with a large mirror, was set back against the wall close to my bed. My cream jewellery box was on top of the dressing table just as I had left it. Kate had a matching one, but hers had been red.

  Above the heavy oak chest of drawers was a large picture frame, stuffed full of photographs of Kate and me when we were growing up. I needed to unpack and get back to Mum, but I couldn’t resist looking at the photographs.

  I smiled as I looked at the familiar images. Kate using her hand to shade her eyes from the summer sun, holding a melting ice cream and grinning. Kate and I dressed in matching Christmas jumpers, pulling goofy faces for the camera. Kate, Pippa and I dressed as witches on Halloween. Kate and I the year we decided it was a good idea to have our hair permed.

  I couldn’t help grinning at that photograph. We’d thought we looked the business.

  I took a deep breath, pushed away from the chest of drawers and knelt down to unzip my case. I hadn’t brought much with me, but I’d already made the decision that I would be staying in the UK for as long as it took to find Jenna. It was then I remembered I hadn’t even called into work and explained my absence.

  I muttered a curse and reached for my mobile phone before remembering the phone was with the police.

  Damn. I hadn’t thought to store the phone numbers anywhere else. I would have to email Sylvia and ask her to pass on a message. Or maybe I could use Mum’s computer to look up the company telephone number and asked to be put through to my boss.

  I really should have planned this better. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be going back to Dubai. We had to look for Jenna and to do that I needed to be in England. However long it took, I wouldn’t give up. Even though I wouldn’t be going back to that job, I didn’t like letting people down.

  I quickly unpacked, putting most of the items in the chest of drawers and hanging up my linen jacket on the outside of the wardrobe to let it dry off.

  Then I selected a navy-blue jumper and shrugged it on.

  I grabbed a brush and ran it through my hair, not daring to peer into the mirror on my dressing table. I already knew I looked terrible. I didn’t want confirmation.

  First thing tomorrow, I decided, I would get a new phone. My phone was my lifeline. I relied on it for so many things: emails, text messages, looking things up on the Internet. I had no idea how long the police would need to keep mine for, and I didn’t think I could survive very long without one.

  I left my bedroom and made my way back to the kitchen. There was no sign of Mum, so I decided to make us both a cup of coffee. I noticed she had a fancy new coffee machine, but I didn’t feel confident using it without instructions, so I spooned some instant granules into two mugs and switched the kettle on to boil. It was strange being back. Nothing had changed. But it was nice. I had a sudden vision of us bringing Jenna back here, welcoming her back into the family. She’d find it strange, of course, at first. But we’d spend all our time making sure she felt loved again. I brought myself up short. What was I thinking? Even if we found Jenna, she wouldn’t be living here. She’d be with Daniel, her father.

  When the kettle finished boiling, I poured hot water into the mugs and then added some milk. Mum and I both liked our coffee strong, with only a splash of milk.

  Kate had been completely different. She liked her coffee milky, with two spoonfuls of sugar. She’d taken after our father in that respect.

  I
missed them both so much. It was hard not to think that if my father had still been alive, none of this would have happened. He died far too young from complications after minor surgery. At the time, I didn’t know there was no such thing as minor surgery. Anything that involved a general anaesthetic was a risk.

  I carried the mugs of coffee out to the sun room, a long, narrow room at the back of the house. The large windows looked out onto the garden, and it could get uncomfortably hot in the summer, but on a rainy day like today, with occasional bursts of sunshine, it was a pleasant place to sit.

  As I got closer to the sunroom, I could hear Mum talking on the phone. I overheard something that made me pause and listen guiltily.

  “I think Beth is okay,” Mum said. “Daniel is worried, but I know Beth. She wouldn’t do anything like that.”

  My hand tightened on the mug. What wouldn’t I do?

  I hesitated, but then forced myself to stop eavesdropping. It wasn’t a good idea. No one heard good things about themselves while listening in on private conversations.

  I stepped onto the tiled floor of the sun room and smiled brightly at Mum as I held out the mug of coffee.

  She mouthed the word thank you and reached up to take it from me.

  “I’m just talking to your Auntie Mary,” she said. She held up the phone. “Say hello.”

  “Hello, Auntie Mary,” I said loudly.

  Mum put the phone back to her ear and said, “I better go now, Mary. I’ll talk to you soon. Of course, I will. I’ll let you know when there are any developments. Bye for now.”

  She pressed the red end call button on the telephone and then leant back against the floral cushion on her rattan chair.

  “Well, that’s one job out of the way. I didn’t want Mary finding out from anybody else.”

  “Is there anyone else you need to tell?”

  Mum shook her head. “No, I don’t want anyone inadvertently releasing the news before the police are ready. We’ll just deal with everybody else’s questions as they come.” She took a sip of her coffee. “I just can’t believe it’s real, Beth. That Jenna is still out there somewhere. I can’t help thinking that if only Kate had waited…”