Lost Child: A Gripping Psychological Thriller

by D. S. Butler

  I moved towards the door, but Pippa blocked my path. “Why do you care? You’ve never liked him.”

  “We have to help him.”

  “Oh, no, we don’t. Daniel has typed a full confession on his computer, including a nice section on how he bullied me into going along with his plans. The trouble is, what do I do with you, Beth? Now that you know, you’ve become a thorn in my side.”

  “You’re going to blame it all on Daniel and pretend you’re a victim?”

  “I think it’s only fair. After all, if he hadn’t been—”

  Jenna tugged on Pippa’s shirt. “Mummy, can I watch My Little Pony now.”

  I stared down at my niece in horror. Mummy. She’d called Pippa mummy.

  I lunged for Pippa, trying to push her out of the door, but missed.

  Pippa laughed. “Now, now, Beth. Not in front of the child.”

  Jenna whimpered and clutched Pippa, which brought me to my senses. Even if Jenna had some distant memories of me from two years ago, the state of me now must be terrifying to her.

  I used my shirt to try and dab away some of the blood, which was stinging my eyes.

  “Everything is okay, Jenna. You don’t have to be scared.” My hands balled into fists at my sides as Pippa watched me with an amused expression.

  She held out her hand. “Give me your phone.”

  I thought about refusing, but maybe I was better off playing along for now. The police were on their way, and Luke knew I was here. I yanked my phone out of my pocket and thrust it towards her.

  She took it and glanced at her watch. “I’d better get a move on. It’s time for Plan B.”

  Pippa disentangled herself from Jenna and walked out into the hallway, leaving Jenna hesitating at the door.

  Pippa nodded. “It’s okay. You can come downstairs now.”

  Jenna smiled and her face lit up, reminding me of the little girl whose mood used to change like lightning. She stepped out into the hallway, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Going downstairs was a treat for Jenna. It broke my heart. Leaving this room clearly wasn’t something she was allowed to do often.

  Jenna skipped after Pippa, and they descended the stairs. I felt dizzy and detached as I followed them. Black spots danced in front of my eyes, and I gripped the bannister with each shaky step.

  What should I do now? Grab Jenna and run? I didn’t want to traumatise her any more than necessary, but I needed to get her away from Pippa. The woman was unhinged, and I had no idea what she was planning to do next. Surely the police would be here soon. I only had to hold out for another few minutes.

  We walked into the kitchen diner, where Daniel was still slumped in a chair. Now I could see him close up, it was clear he wasn’t drunk. Pippa must have drugged him.

  Seemingly unaware of her father, Jenna rushed past him and went to the large pine dresser set back against the wall behind the table. She opened a drawer and pulled out a colouring book and colouring pencils before sitting down at the table and starting to colour in a Disney Princess.

  The situation was surreal. I realised I had my back to Pippa, which was not a good idea. I staggered a little as I turned around and watched Pippa as she shut the kitchen window and locked it before putting the key in her pocket.

  She walked into the hallway and then returned carrying her laptop.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Getting ready to leave,” Pippa said. “I just have a few loose ends to tie up.”

  I didn’t like the way she looked at Jenna when she said loose ends.

  She couldn’t leave yet. I had to keep her here until the police arrived.

  “What’s your Plan B?” I asked.

  Pippa looked up from her MacBook. “I’m hardly going to tell you that, Beth.”

  I tried another tactic to keep her talking. “How was Dawn involved? Did she see Jenna in your garden when she was cleaning Mrs Taverne’s house?”

  Pippa looked indignant. “Oh, she would like everyone to believe that, wouldn’t she? But no, Beth. That isn’t how Dawn found out. She knew from the very beginning.”

  “Dawn was involved in the abduction?”

  “I didn’t say that,” Pippa said, frowning at something on her computer screen. “I said she knew.”

  That made no sense. My head was pounding now, and I really wanted to pull out a chair and sit down. Jenna was still colouring happily.

  Daniel made a gurgling sound, and we all looked at him. Vomit splattered the front of his shirt, and his bloodshot eyes looked up into mine. “Help me,” he slurred.

  I wanted to tell him that help was on its way, but of course, I couldn’t do that without tipping Pippa off.

  “What have you done to him?” I asked Pippa.

  “Just a few of my prescription drugs. I suffer from terrible migraines and insomnia. Unfortunately, Daniel’s taken more than the recommended dose.”

  She was enjoying this. “You drugged Marjorie too, didn’t you?”

  “I had to make Dawn realise I was serious. She wouldn’t listen. I tried to play nice. I bought her things, gave her little gifts.”

  “The candle? I saw that when I went to their house.”

  Pippa shrugged and then pressed a button on the computer, and the printer in the hallway hummed into life. “I gave her lots of things, but it was never enough. It was her own fault.”

  “So you poisoned Marjorie as a warning for Dawn to keep quiet.”

  Pippa rolled her eyes as she walked past me. “Ten out of ten.”

  In the hallway, she plucked a sheet of paper from the printer and smiled in satisfaction. I crossed the room and grabbed it from her. It was an itinerary. Car hire. Ferry passage…

  Before I could read any further, Pippa grabbed it back from me. “That’s very rude, Beth.”

  “The police will catch you before you get very far,” I said. “Once we tell them what you’ve done—”

  Pippa leant close to me, so close I could feel her breath on my cheek. “That’s only if there is someone left to tell them what happened.”

  Her words chilled me, but I put my hands up to shove her away. “You really have lost it.”

  Pippa laughed but before she could respond there was a hammering on the front door.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Thank God. That had to be the police. At the same time as I rushed for the door, Pippa grabbed onto my shirt and clutched a handful of my hair with her other hand.

  “No,” she hissed.

  “Pippa? Is Beth there? I need you to open the door.” The voice carried through the solid front door. It wasn’t the police. It was Luke.

  A horrifying thought hit me. Did he think this was one of my wild imaginings? Had he come to check out the situation himself before calling the police?

  I elbowed Pippa hard in the ribs, and when she released her grip, I ran towards the front door. I called out to Luke as I tried to pull down the handle only to find that the door was locked and the key was nowhere to be seen.

  “The door is locked. I can’t open it,” I shouted to Luke. “Pippa has drugged Daniel. Jenna is here, but I can’t find the key to unlock the front door. Get the police.”

  Luke shouted back that the police were already on their way, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I shouldn’t have doubted him.

  I turned around to inform Pippa that she was going to get what she deserved when I noticed she was no longer standing in the hallway.

  My stomach lurched. Jenna. Why had I let my attention be diverted?

  I ran back into the kitchen diner and felt some of my anxiety melt away when I saw Jenna was still sitting at the table, colouring. Why was she just sitting there while all hell was breaking loose? That wasn’t normal behaviour for a five-year-old, was it?

  Pippa was nowhere to be seen, and Daniel had passed out.

  “Jenna, where has Pippa… Mummy gone?” I asked as I walked to the kitchen and grabbed the washing-up bowl out of the sink.

  “She’s gone out,” Jenna sa
id. “I’m allowed to stay down here, though.” She looked at me stubbornly as though she was expecting me to send her back to her bedroom.

  I knelt down beside Daniel and put a hand beneath his chin. He was unresponsive. I then tried to wake him up by lightly slapping his face.

  “Did she say where she has gone?”

  Jenna shook her head.

  “Do you know where the key to the front door is kept?”

  Jenna shook her head again and then went back to her colouring.

  Daniel wasn’t fully awake, but he was groaning. I lifted the washing-up bowl and held it level with his chest. Then, feeling pretty sick myself, I pushed two fingers into his mouth, making him gag. It took three attempts before he vomited up the contents of his stomach.

  Jenna pulled a face. “What’s wrong with him? Is he poorly?”

  I nodded. “Yes, he is very poorly. He’s going to have to go to the hospital.”

  I went into the kitchen and leant heavily against the sink as I washed my hands. Pippa had left my phone on the kitchen counter, so I grabbed it and quickly typed out a text to Mum. I didn’t want to worry her, so I didn’t mention the fact we were locked in the house. I told her I’d found Jenna, though, and she was safe.

  After I had pressed send, I tried to open the French doors, but they were locked, so I started to search for the front door keys. I checked the kitchen drawers first but had no luck. Luke banged on the front door again. I could hear him shouting but couldn’t make out what he was saying.

  I walked towards the front door. Now that Pippa was gone, I was starting to believe that this was all going to work out. The police would track her down before she got too far. And when the police got here, they would be able to break the lock on the front door. Daniel would soon be on his way to the hospital in an ambulance and Jenna would be safe.

  Luke was hammering on the front door so loudly I couldn’t hear what he was shouting. I waited until he’d finished banging before putting my palms flat against the door and calling out to him.

  “Luke, Pippa has left. Did you see her leave?”

  There was no response. Luke must have moved away from the door. I frowned and walked into the sitting room, intending to open the blinds and see what was going on outside.

  As soon as I walked into the small sitting room, the smell hit me.

  The smell of something burning. I raced back into the kitchen diner and saw a wisp of smoke. Where was it coming from? It wasn’t the kitchen.

  I followed the smell to where I’d entered the house, the small study. Dark grey smoke was billowing out of the room, and I could smell petrol mixed with the acrid scent of smoke.

  I covered my mouth and nose with my shirt and reached out to grab the handle to pull the door shut and burned my hand in the process. I grabbed the rug from the hallway and pressed it tightly against the bottom of the door, trying to stop the smoke spreading.

  Scrambling to my feet, I raced back into the kitchen and saw Luke outside the French doors, searching for a way to get in. As soon as he saw me, he mouthed the word fire. That was why he had been banging on the door so urgently. He must’ve made his way around the side and into the garden.

  “Jenna, we need to find the keys,” I said. “A key to a door or a window. It doesn’t matter which one. Do you know where they are?”

  Jenna slid down from the chair she’d been sitting in, shaking her head slowly and edging towards the door that led to the hallway.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Upstairs. I want to go back upstairs.”

  I knew I was scaring her, but I had no choice. I pulled her away from the door and shut it firmly. “No. You have to stay down here.”

  She shrunk away from me and looked terrified, but I couldn’t help that now. I’d prefer her to be afraid of me than allowing her to go upstairs when a fire was burning through the house.

  “It smells funny down here,” Jenna said as I began to rummage through the pine dresser, desperately looking for a key. “Who’s that man?”

  She was referring to Luke who was now trying to prise the French doors open. He’d taken the bottom part of a parasol from Pippa’s patio furniture and was slamming it into the lock.

  “That’s Luke. He’s trying to help us get out because…” My voice trailed away as Luke finally smashed the lock and slid the door open.

  “Luke, thank God.”

  There was a gash on his hand, and his blood dripped onto the tiles, but he didn’t seem to notice.

  “Are you okay?” He addressed the question to me, but he was staring at Jenna. “I can’t believe it.”

  “We need to get Daniel outside, too,” I said.

  Luke nodded and walked behind Daniel, grasping him under the arms, ready to drag him outside. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “Pippa drugged him. I don’t know exactly what she gave him, but he has been sick.”

  As Luke pulled Daniel out through the French doors, I followed with Jenna. I took her hand, and although she tried to pull away, she didn’t put up too much of a struggle.

  “I know this is scary, Jenna. But we need to get out the house because there’s a fire and it’s dangerous.”

  “I’m not allowed to go outside.”

  I took a breath of fresh air and closed the French doors behind us.

  “You are now,” I said.

  The next few minutes passed in a blur. Sirens were blaring as both the police, the fire service and paramedics turned up. I tried desperately to comfort Jenna as members of the fire service entered the property behind us, but she was rigid with fright. She wasn’t used to being outside, and the sheer number of people and the amount of noise was overwhelming for her.

  She’d forgotten her initial fear of me and buried her head against my hip. Her hands pressed against her ears, trying to block out the noise.

  The paramedics had attended to Luke’s cut hand at the scene, and Daniel was taken away in an ambulance. They wanted to examine Jenna and me, but she wasn’t making it easy, screaming and slapping their hands away. I didn’t know what to do. She didn’t trust me, and it was horrible to see her so scared.

  One of the paramedics, a young woman with short blond hair, spoke softly to Jenna and then looked up at me. “I think it’s better if we get her somewhere quiet. Perhaps, we could put her in one of the vehicles?”

  I nodded and tried to follow the paramedic with Jenna clamped to my side. Then a voice from the crowd made me stop.

  “Beth!” It was Mum.

  She rushed towards us, weaving past the people standing in her way. Her voice had caused Jenna to look up. I felt her small hands relax their grip as she looked at her grandmother.

  I crouched down beside her. “That’s Granny. Do you remember her?”

  Jenna didn’t answer my question with words, but with action. She let go of me and raced towards Mum, who scooped her up in her arms.

  As Jenna buried her face in Mum’s soft woollen cardigan, I swallowed the lump in my throat and walked towards them, brushing away my tears.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  The following twenty-four hours were happy but stressful. We’d got Jenna back, and of course, we were thrilled and thankful, but after two years of being hidden away, Jenna had some huge adjustments to make. We all did.

  Daniel remained in the hospital under the watchful eyes of the medical staff overnight. He’d had his stomach pumped, but it looked like he was going to recover. Until he was discharged from the hospital, Jenna was staying at Mum’s. She had turned into Mum’s shadow, never wanting to let Granny out of her sight.

  She’d asked for Pippa a couple of times, and Mum’s face blanched when she called Pippa mummy. It was a difficult situation. We didn’t know what to do for the best. Did we tell Jenna the truth and insist she stop referring to Pippa as Mummy, or would that upset her and cause more psychological damage?

  The police had been great. They’d sent a child psychologist with a trained officer to Mum’s house to tal
k to Jenna, but they didn’t rush her or apply any pressure. Jenna could open up in her own time.

  Pippa had been picked up by the police just outside of Oxford and would be subjected to the full weight of the law.

  Luke had helped us so much in the first few hours. Neither Mum nor I felt up to going shopping for the things Jenna needed, and so Luke took on the task. As well as the essentials, he also picked up a few toys and colouring books.

  Jenna didn’t sleep well that first night, which was understandable. She ended up sleeping in Mum’s bed, and the following morning Mum looked shattered.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay here?” I asked. “I could look after Jenna while you catch up on some sleep?”

  Mum shook her head as she topped up her mug of coffee. “No, I’m fine. You go and see Daniel. He must be desperate to find out how Jenna is getting on.”

  She blew over the top of her mug and watched Jenna, who was sitting on the floor, watching cartoons. “I can’t believe we’ve got her back, Beth.”

  I smiled and reached out to hug Mum, and we both watched Jenna for a moment as she sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the television. The challenge ahead of us was daunting. We wanted Jenna to be a normal little girl again, but it wouldn’t happen overnight.

  After I had finished my coffee, I said goodbye to Jenna and Mum and headed to the John Radcliffe hospital to visit Daniel.

  Now that he was out of immediate danger, he was in a normal ward. When I walked towards his bed beside the window, he stirred, pushing himself into a sitting position.

  As soon as I reached his bedside, he asked, “How is she?”

  I nodded. “Pretty good, all things considered.”

  I sat down in the chair beside his bed. He looked a lot better than the last time I’d seen him. He had more colour in his cheeks, and his eyes didn’t look so bloodshot. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine. I should be getting out of here this afternoon. There’s so much to do.” His voice was hoarse. I guessed that was from whatever the doctors had used to pump his stomach. “I need to organise the flat and convert the spare room into something suitable for a little girl. I don’t even have a spare bed yet. I can’t believe that after all this time…” He grinned at me and then suddenly his face fell. “I keep thinking about Kate. I feel this unbelievable happiness to have Jenna back, but then I think about Kate.”