Lost Child: A Gripping Psychological Thriller

by D. S. Butler

  I stopped walking and put my hand against the trunk of a tree, leaning on it heavily. “They’re going to arrest Daniel? Why?”

  I could never be accused of being an admirer of Daniel Creswell, but deep down, I’d never believed he could hurt Jenna. After learning about the payments he’d made to Dawn, I’d thought they were to cover up some kind of an affair, but if the police were arresting him… Surely, that meant it was more serious.

  “Yes, DI Sharp told me if he turns up, I should call the police straight away and not let him in. The detective said he could be dangerous.”

  Dangerous? I remembered how Daniel had loomed over me menacingly, furious I’d reported him to the police for lurking outside Marjorie Parsons’s house.

  “What’s the arrest warrant for?” I asked. “They don’t think Daniel abducted Jenna that day, do they?”

  I shook my head. He couldn’t have. He was there in the immediate aftermath.

  “I’ll tell you all about it when you get home.”

  “I’m on my way. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”

  After I had hung up, I shoved my mobile in my pocket, and that was when I saw Daniel’s car. I froze. He was here, parked just outside the bank, opposite Pippa’s house. I was sure his car hadn’t been there earlier.

  I turned back to look at the house. Was he in there now? The police said he was dangerous. Would he harm Pippa?

  Frowning, I walked back towards the house. One of the windows downstairs had the blinds drawn, very unusual for this time of day. I pressed a hand against my churning stomach as I reached again for my mobile to call the police.

  Before I could do so, my phone rang again. It was Luke.

  “Beth, sorry I missed your call. I was—”

  “Luke, I need your help. The police have issued an arrest warrant for Daniel and say he could be dangerous. He’s at Pippa’s house, I think. At least, his car is parked outside. Can you call the police? DI Sharp is in charge of the case. And let Mum know, too.”

  “Hang on a minute, Beth. Where are you?”

  “I’m just outside Pippa’s house.”

  “Okay. I’m calling the police now, but whatever you do, keep your distance. Don’t go inside.”

  “Thanks,” I said, ignoring his advice as I headed for Pippa’s front door.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  I wasn’t planning to go straight inside. My judgement wasn’t great at the moment, but I wasn’t that stupid. Plus, there was a good chance my presence might alert Daniel to the fact the police were on their way, and I didn’t want to take that risk.

  Standing on the top step, beside the front door, I paused, listening. I couldn’t hear anything at all, which was a good thing. If Daniel was in a violent temper and Pippa’s life was in danger, I would have heard something. Unless, of course, he’d already taken his anger out on Pippa, and I was too late.

  Usually, from this spot, I would be able to see into both of the downstairs windows. I could see into the room on the right — the formal dining room – but that was empty. The blinds were drawn on the window to my left. I stared at them for a moment wondering what to do.

  Had Daniel closed the blinds? I’d never known the blinds to be closed during the day in all the time that Pippa had lived there. That made me very nervous.

  I already knew that the side gate was open so it would be easy to slip around the back and look in the windows. I was very concerned for Pippa’s safety. The look in Daniel’s eyes when he’d found out I’d reported him to the police revealed the anger and hate he usually kept hidden.

  I left the front steps and felt my mobile phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw I had a Facebook notification. At first, I thought it might be from Mark Clarkson, but then I saw it was a reply from his sister.

  Hi, Beth, lovely to hear from you. I’m afraid the family had a falling out with Mark a couple of years ago, and we haven’t been in touch. It’s sad really. If he does get in contact with you, please tell him I’d love to hear from him. xx

  It didn’t look like I would get any answers from her, so I had to hope Mark would get in touch. I set my mobile to silent, and then walked around to the side gate. Following my earlier path, I made my way to the back of the house. This time, instead of circling the perimeter of the garden, I made my way along the external wall of the house. I ducked beneath the open kitchen window as I heard voices coming from inside. Pippa’s voice.

  I froze beneath the window, trying to listen to what she was saying.

  “You’ve been a disappointment, Daniel. I’m sick of it. I’ve given you so many chances.”

  I waited for Daniel’s reply, but none came. Pippa didn’t sound scared. She sounded angry.

  I waited there, crouched on the floor, but they’d either walked away from the window or stopped talking. After a moment, I moved on, heading for the French doors. I took time to build up the courage to peer inside, expecting Daniel to pull the door open and drag me inside at any moment.

  But when I finally peered around the edge of the door frame and looked into the large kitchen diner, I was so shocked that for a moment, I forgot I needed to hide.

  Pippa stood in the dining area of the kitchen with her hands on her hips. Daniel sat on one of the chairs that had been pulled out from the dining table. But there was something about him that didn’t look quite right.

  His hair was dishevelled, and his shirt was untucked. He lolled forward in his chair as though he were drunk. Maybe he had been drinking, and that was the reason he wasn’t arguing back.

  Pippa paced back and forth in front of Daniel, and I wished the French doors were open so I could hear what she was saying.

  Daniel shifted in his seat, and his head rolled back until he was facing me. For one horrifying moment, I thought he’d seen me. I pushed back, moving away from the window and pressing my back against the wall. I waited for the shouts and for one of them to yank open the door, but they didn’t.

  He couldn’t have seen me. Or maybe he was too drunk to process the fact he’d spotted me.

  I should have gone back to the front of the house and waited until the police arrived. It didn’t look like Daniel would be going anywhere in the state he was in, and Pippa seemed unharmed. I forced myself to move, heading back past the kitchen window and keeping my head ducked down low.

  But then I heard Daniel’s voice through the open window.

  “Where is she? Can I see her?”

  “She’s upstairs in her room. As she always is. Waiting for you to come to your senses. You have no idea how hard it’s been for me. Every time I thought you may have earned the right to know the truth, you would do something stupid like tell me another sob story about Kate. Do you really think that’s what I wanted to hear? Bloody Kate. She wasn’t the perfect wife you thought she was. She told me Jenna drove her crazy. She wished she wasn’t tied down. She hated her life with you.”

  If I’d paused to think about them, Pippa’s words might have stung. But as it was I couldn’t get past her first sentence. She’s upstairs in her room.

  She couldn’t be. They couldn’t have kept Jenna here, not with the police crawling about after she was taken. Somebody would have noticed something. It wasn’t possible to keep a young child hidden away.

  I twisted around and made my way back. This time, I held my breath as I darted past the French doors. Pippa had her back to me, Daniel was staring ahead, glassy-eyed. I carried on moving until I was outside the small room Pippa used as a study. The window was ajar, and I straightened up, grabbing hold of the PVC frame, and prising the window open further.

  The window wasn’t huge, but it was big enough for me to squeeze inside. The window ledge was large, which helped. I pulled myself up and through the window, quietly. The small key wedged in the window’s handle scraped my arm, but other than that, I made it through the window quickly and practically silently.

  I slid down, barely avoiding the desk, and when my feet hit the soft carpet, I paused, liste
ning. Had they heard anything? After a few agonising seconds, I crossed the room to the door.

  Pippa was still berating Daniel. “It’s too late, Daniel. I’ve given you enough chances. Taking care of your daughter has been a thankless task. But I did it for you.”

  Daniel’s reply was too slurred for me to make it out.

  None of this made any sense. If Pippa and Daniel had colluded together to take Jenna and keep her from Kate and the rest of our family… How had nobody noticed? They couldn’t have kept her here all the time. I’d been in this very house and heard nothing. I would have sensed something if Jenna was in there, wouldn’t I? It would be impossible to keep a five-year-old child so quiet that a visitor wouldn’t hear them.

  And Mark was still living here when Jenna went missing. He definitely would have noticed.

  I slowly pushed open the study door and looked out into the hallway. They were still in the kitchen, so I stepped out into the hall and crept along to the staircase.

  I wanted to run up the stairs but forced myself to move slowly so I wouldn’t attract their attention. My shoes were muddy from the garden and left smudges on the cream carpet, but that was the least of my concerns now. At the top of the stairs, I was greeted by four white doors.

  All of them were closed, but only one had a key in the lock.

  I stared at it. They’d locked her away up here. No wonder Pippa hadn’t wanted to show me the upstairs of the house when she gave me that guided tour. My heart was thundering in my chest when I reached out and unlocked the door. The key turned with a click, and I grabbed the handle and shoved the door open.

  Inside, was a girl’s bedroom, decorated with pink cushions and My Little Pony posters, and the cream carpet was strewn with toys. There was no window, and the walls were coated with strange, spongy material that I guessed had to be some kind of soundproofing.

  A single bed covered with teddy bears, was in the corner of the room, up against the wall, and crouched down beside it, clutching a doll to her chest, was Jenna.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  I stared at the little girl, who cringed as I walked into the room, and hesitated, not wanting to scare her.

  She looked different. Her chubby cheeks that used to dimple every time she saw me had slimmed down. Her hair was a shade or two darker, and those pretty blue eyes watched me distrustfully. But she was definitely Jenna. There was no doubt in my mind.

  I crouched down, thinking that meeting her at eye level was better and less threatening than looming over her, but she still looked terrified. Jenna had no obvious injuries, but being kept up here for so long must have had an effect on her mental state.

  “It’s okay, Jenna. Everything is going to be all right. Do you remember me? I’m Auntie Beth.”

  I watched Jenna closely for some flicker of recognition, but her expression didn’t change.

  Pippa’s voice was still droning on downstairs. The police would be here soon, so I had two options. One, I could remain in this room with Jenna, lock the door and take shelter from Daniel and Pippa, or two, I could try to persuade Jenna to escape with me now.

  I knelt down and extended a hand, but Jenna scooted back further from me. There was no way I was going to get her out of here without Pippa and Daniel noticing, but I didn’t want to stay in this room.

  Jenna’s prison had been carefully disguised as a little girl’s ideal bedroom, but underneath all the furnishings and toys, it was still a prison. On the surface, the room was every little girl’s dream. But there were no windows, and the bright pink walls seemed to close in on me, making me feel claustrophobic, even though it was a large room.

  I tried again. “Jenna, I need you to come with me now and be as quiet as you can.” I smiled. “We’re going to play a game.”

  She shook her head firmly, and I jumped when I heard something smashing downstairs.

  The noise jolted me into action, and before I could think better of it, I reached out to grasp Jenna’s arm.

  She screamed.

  It wasn’t just a little yelp, either. It was a full on red-faced, gut-wrenching scream.

  I panicked. “Shhhh, Jenna. Be quiet.”

  I rushed over to the door and tried to grab the key from the lock on the other side. I pushed the door closed, but I wasn’t fast enough. It burst open, hitting me hard on the side of the head.

  Dazed, I took a step back. Pippa stood on the threshold glaring at me. She held out a hand to Jenna, and to my shock, Jenna darted out of her hiding place and clung to Pippa’s arm.

  Pippa’s face was a mask of concern. “Don’t be scared, Jenna. This is your Auntie Beth. Don’t you remember her?”

  Jenna looked up at me doubtfully as Pippa stroked her hair.

  “Thank God you’re here, Beth. We need to get help. Daniel’s crazy. He took Jenna, but I only just found out. He is forcing me to go along with it.”

  I stared at her. Daniel was a mess downstairs, but Pippa was perfectly controlled as always. Her lipstick and hair were immaculate. She didn’t look like a woman being made to go along with anything.

  I touched the side of my head and winced. Warm, sticky blood coated my fingertips. My stomach rolled, and bile rose in my throat.

  “We should call the police,” I said, not wanting to tip her off to the fact the police were already on the way. “But first, I should take Jenna somewhere safe.”

  I reached out to Jenna and tried to smile reassuringly. This time, she didn’t cringe away from me, but I must have looked a fright with blood trickling down the side of my face.

  Pippa cocked her head to one side and narrowed her eyes. “You don’t think she’s safe here with me?”

  I wanted to rip Jenna away from her clutches, but I tried to play along and pretend I believed her. “Of course, but she’s not safe with Daniel here.”

  Pippa sighed. “You don’t believe me, do you? That’s disappointing. I’ve only ever been kind to you, Beth. I thought I’d be able to make this work.”

  “It doesn’t matter what I think. We just need to get Jenna out of here.”

  “No,” Pippa said coldly. “You don’t get to barge into my home and start giving out orders.”

  Her distressed expression evaporated and was replaced by a hard, bitter glare.

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “Did you take Jenna? Was Daniel involved?”

  Pippa shook her head in disgust. “Daniel is pathetic. He couldn’t even admit what he wanted. It was up to me to make him see what he really needed.”

  “And what did he need?”

  “Me, of course. He always wanted me.”

  “He was married to Kate.”

  “He was mine first,” Pippa said through clenched teeth. “Your sister stole him from me.”

  I glanced down at Jenna, who was watching us both and looking confused.

  “But what about Mark? He was still in Woodstock when you took Jenna. He must have been involved.”

  “Mark? Don’t make me laugh. He’s even more spineless than Daniel. He couldn’t see it through…” Pippa trailed off as she looked down at Jenna. “This isn’t a subject to talk about in front of a child, Beth.”

  She was mad. Absolutely crazy.

  “How could you?” I whispered. “Kate was your friend. You helped her, gave her a job.”

  Pippa pulled her arm away from Jenna’s grip and tucked her hair behind her ears as she leant forward, closer to me. “Kate was a mess. She was always moaning about Daniel and her life, but she never did anything about it. She was pathetically grateful for the job, but she never worked hard. She expected everyone to help her. Daniel, your mum, me, we all had to pander to her and make sure she was all right.”

  “That’s not true!”

  “You just don’t want to see it. Now she’s gone, you act like she’s some kind of martyr, but she was a terrible mother. She left Jenna with your mother all day.”

  “Only because she had to work. Plenty of women have to do that. It didn’t mean she was a bad mothe
r.”

  “When Kate couldn’t get someone to watch her, she used to drag poor Jenna here. She had to sit in the corner and occupy herself while her mother worked.”

  I knew that had happened, but only on a couple of occasions when Kate couldn’t organise childcare. Pieces of the puzzle began to fit into place. Jenna had spent plenty of time with Pippa and wouldn’t have thought twice about going with her, without raising a fuss.

  But how had Jenna been kept in this house the whole time without anyone noticing?

  “You locked her up.” I held up the key I’d extracted from the lock. “What if there had been a fire?”

  “I work at home. I only ever leave her for a few minutes. She’s better off with me than she was with Kate.”

  I wanted to smack the smile off Pippa’s face but decided the better option was to keep her talking until the police arrived.

  “How did you persuade Mark to go along with it?”

  Pippa smiled as though she remembered a fond memory. “It was easy. I told him I’d booked him a fishing trip for the weekend and sent him off to Wiltshire. He was as pleased as punch, but he wasn’t too happy when he got back and found out I’d taken Jenna.”

  “But you were there when we searched for Jenna?”

  “It only took a couple of minutes to take her to my house. I gave her my iPad to keep her occupied and came back to join the search party.” Pippa looked incredibly pleased with herself.

  “The police talked to everybody. They visited every house in Woodstock. How did you keep her here without anyone noticing?”

  “They did their house-to-house enquiries and asked questions, but they didn’t search our house. I don’t think anyone would ever have found out if it hadn’t been for Dawn, the little bitch.”

  There was a groan from downstairs, and Pippa rolled her eyes. “I’ve wasted too much time on him already. I should have known Daniel would let me down. After everything I did for him…” She shrugged and then looked at me with a trace of a smile on her face. “It’s so sad. Daniel couldn’t live with what he’s done, so he decided to commit suicide.”