Gone Astray

by Michelle Davies

  ‘They’ll find her soon,’ said Mack. ‘They have to.’

  Lesley stared down at her husband. She loved him so much that sometimes the feeling overwhelmed her.

  ‘Mack, I know about Faye.’

  He was visibly stunned. ‘How?’ he croaked.

  ‘Suzy came to the hospital. She told me everything.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, love,’ he said as tears spilled down his cheeks. ‘I should never have said she was blackmailing me. I thought you’d go mad if you knew I’d slept with her again.’

  ‘Maybe if I’d found out at the time I would’ve done, but that’s in the past now. What’s important is that you do the right thing by Faye.’

  ‘You mean you don’t mind me giving her money?’

  ‘No, I don’t. She’s your child – of course you must support her. Suzy showed me a picture.’ Her eyes brimmed with tears. ‘She looks like Rosie.’

  Mack leaned back against his pillow and exhaled deeply. ‘You are an incredible woman, Lesley Kinnock. I don’t deserve you.’

  She smiled. ‘I’ll remind you of that—’

  The door suddenly opened and in walked Maggie, face solemn, clothes dishevelled, her right forearm bandaged. Terrified, Lesley clutched Mack’s hand, ready to hear the worst. Then Maggie surprised them both by breaking into a wide smile.

  ‘We’ve found her. She’s alive.’

  Lesley stared at her in disbelief. Then she staggered forward and fell into Mack’s arms.

  ‘Oh God, oh God, our baby, I thought, I thought . . .’

  She clung to her husband for a moment then turned to Maggie. ‘Where is she? We want to see her.’

  ‘She’s here at the hospital, down on the first floor. We can take you there now.’ Maggie held the door open to let a nurse and a porter pushing a wheelchair into the room. Both of them looked emotional as they said hello to Mack and Lesley.

  ‘We’re so pleased your daughter is safe,’ the nurse told them.

  Lesley fidgeted impatiently as the porter eased Mack out of bed and into the wheelchair. The nurse wheeled his IV drip alongside him as the group headed to the lifts, where Belmar waited. Smiling, he gave Mack and Lesley each a hug and told them how happy he was.

  ‘How is she?’ Mack asked him.

  ‘She’s got a stab wound to her abdomen that’s become infected and she needs surgery to clean it up because she’s at risk from blood poisoning. She’s very poorly right now, but she should be okay,’ he said.

  ‘Where did you find her?’ asked Lesley. ‘What happened to her?’

  ‘Let’s get you to Rosie, then we’ll talk,’ said Maggie.

  Lesley’s insides turned to ice. ‘Was she, well . . . hurt?’

  ‘We don’t think so but I’m afraid we won’t know for sure until she’s been fully examined,’ Maggie replied.

  Tears sluiced down Lesley’s cheeks. ‘My poor baby. I should’ve been there to protect her.’

  Mack held her hand as they both cried.

  Maggie spoke gently to them. ‘I know this is hard, but try not to let Rosie see you so upset. She’s been through a terrible ordeal and is a long way from the end of it. She’s going to need a lot of love and support to deal with everything that’s happened to her. So you need to stay as strong as you’ve been all this week and let Rosie know she can count on you both, okay?’

  They nodded fervently and Lesley wiped her eyes. The hurricane had hit – now was not the time to let it break them.

  When the lift reached the first floor, Maggie led the group through a set of doors marked PRE-OPERATIVE SUITE. ‘The nurses are just getting her ready through there.’ She let go of Lesley’s hand and pushed the door ajar so the porter could wheel Mack through. As the nurse positioned the drip, the porter pushed Mack up to the side of the bed.

  ‘We’ll wait out here,’ said Maggie, letting the door swing shut behind them.

  As Lesley approached the bed she gave a strangled cry. It was just as she had imagined in her nightmare. There was Rosie, lying on a gurney, her dark hair fanned across the pillow. Except that while her eyelids were closed, she could see a tiny flicker of movement beneath them. It was the most beautiful sight Lesley had ever seen. Across the bed, Mack wept.

  ‘What did they do to our little girl?’ he cried.

  Lesley kissed Rosie’s cheek. Her heart soared as she felt the warmth of her skin against her lips.

  ‘Baby, it’s me, Mum. You’re in the hospital. Dad’s here too.’

  Despite his frailty, Mack managed to raise himself out of the wheelchair and lean against the bed just as Rosie’s eyes fluttered open. Her gaze locked first on him, then on Lesley. Despite Maggie’s warning, Lesley couldn’t hold back her tears and they splashed onto the pillow, wetting her daughter’s hair.

  ‘Oh, Rosie, I thought we’d lost you,’ she cried.

  Tears trickled from the corners of Rosie’s eyes.

  ‘Mum . . .’ she whispered.

  ‘Sssh, don’t talk, save your energy.’

  She gently wiped Rosie’s damp cheeks with her fingertips.

  ‘I love you, sweetheart. I love you so much.’

  ‘So do I, honey,’ said Mack. ‘We both do.’

  Rosie’s mouth lifted at the corners as she finally managed a smile.

  62

  Saturday

  The operation went well. Afterwards Rosie was moved to the intensive care unit where antibiotics were administered intravenously to fight the infection. If she had a good night, the consultant told Lesley, she’d be moved to a general ward in the morning and the police could then begin the long, delicate process of interviewing her to find out exactly what had happened while she was kept captive by Adrian Farley.

  Lesley yawned as she stretched her legs out in front of her. Mack was back in his room on the third floor and the nurses had drawn a recliner chair up to Rosie’s bedside so she could sleep alongside her. Yet even though she was shattered, Lesley knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep. She daren’t close her eyes for a second, scared that if she did she might wake up and it would all be a dream and Rosie would be gone again. She doubted she would ever sleep properly again.

  As the hours ticked past midnight, her emotions lurched back and forth on a sliding scale with joy at one end and sadness at the other. As overwhelmed with happiness as she was at her daughter’s return, she also knew that the Rosie lying in the bed next to her was not the same Rosie she had waved goodbye to four days ago. How could she be? The trauma of her experience would see to that. Lesley had no idea if she and Mack had it in them to help Rosie come to terms with what she’d gone through. How did any parent prepare for something like that? There was no manual for it on the bookshelves alongside the ones dealing with weaning, potty training and puberty. But she resolved they’d get through it, one way or another.

  She yawned again before deciding a cup of tea might help keep her awake. Her footsteps echoed up the corridor but the only other sound was the steady beeping of machines as they monitored and aided the hospital’s most gravely ill patients through another night. The noise acted as a salutary reminder that she should be thankful Rosie wasn’t more seriously hurt.

  After the vending machine swallowed four pound coins in a row, Lesley managed to extract a cup of the most insipid tea she’d ever tasted. She sipped the scalding, mud-coloured liquid as she walked slowly to the relatives’ room, where she was surprised to find Maggie watching the BBC’s twenty-four-hour news channel on a wall-mounted TV screen with the sound down and subtitles on. Rosie being found topped the bulletin.

  ‘I didn’t realize you were still here,’ she said, taking the seat next to Maggie, who was sitting cross-legged in her chair, her shoes kicked off on the floor in front of her.

  ‘I thought I’d stick around for a while, just in case you needed me.’

  ‘You should go home. How’s your arm?’

  ‘Sore, but it’s fine.’

  ‘Will it scar?’

  ‘I didn’t ask. Probably. It
doesn’t matter though.’

  Lesley set the cup of tea down on the low table in front of them, next to a pile of leaflets on how to quit smoking. She couldn’t face another sip.

  ‘I know I’ve said it already, but thank you for what you did today.’

  Maggie smiled. ‘I’m just glad she’s safe.’

  ‘I spoke to Belmar earlier, before he went home, and he seemed to think you might be in trouble for going into the house on your own.’

  Maggie shrugged. ‘DCI Umpire wanted me to stay outside until he and the back-up team arrived. He was pretty angry with me when he got there, but I think it’ll be okay. There’s a debriefing in the morning and we’ll talk about it then.’

  ‘If he gives you any grief, let me know and I’ll have something to say about it. You did a very brave thing today, Maggie, and Mack and I will never forget it. We owe you our daughter’s life.’

  Maggie looked choked for a moment as she nodded.

  ‘You’ll keep in touch, won’t you?’ Lesley added.

  ‘Belmar and I will both be around for a while yet. We’ll continue to be your family liaison throughout the criminal proceedings.’

  ‘You mean if there’s a trial?’

  ‘Yes. There’s still a long road ahead, I’m afraid.’

  Lesley exhaled. She felt tired now, ready for sleep.

  ‘I still can’t believe Lily knew where she was all this time. How bad did you say her injury was?’

  ‘She was lucky. The blade missed the artery in her shoulder and she should be fine.’

  ‘I’m glad she’s being treated at another hospital. I don’t know if I could trust myself not to do something if she was here. Out of all of Rosie’s friends, I’d have said she was the least likely to get into trouble. But what she did, the way she exploited her . . .’ Lesley burned with anger.

  ‘I thought Kathryn was the one we should be wary of. I got that wrong.’

  ‘The nurses let her pop in earlier to see Rosie. It turns out she had been giving Rosie a hard time, but only because she thought Rosie was being too easily influenced by Lily and her crowd. They were the ones bullying her, not Kathryn. Kathryn never went to any of Lily’s parties at her grandmother’s house.’

  ‘I don’t understand why she kept quiet about Lily and her friends if she was worried, though.’

  ‘Kathryn said Lily swore blind she had nothing to do with Rosie going missing and she believed her. She now thinks Lily kept going on about Rosie self-harming to make everyone think that’s how the blood came to be on the lawn, to cover up what happened, and she suspects Lily might’ve got Eddie Sinclair to mug her as a warning not to say anything. She also said that it’s Lily who Rosie nicknamed GS, not Sinclair. GS stands for Grammar School, because that’s where Lily goes.’

  ‘I knew Kathryn knew who GS was.’ Maggie frowned. ‘We still need to find out why Lily was using a phone registered to Sinclair though.’

  ‘I guess that’s something you’ll have to ask them about,’ said Lesley.

  ‘Has Rosie said anything about what happened?’

  ‘We talked for a bit when she came round from the operation. She told us about the photograph Sinclair took, although she didn’t know at the time he’d taken it. She was paralytic by the sounds of it. She also said the excuse Lily gave for coming round on Tuesday was to borrow her skirt. When Rosie was hurt, Sinclair apparently used it to try to stop the bleeding.’

  ‘That backs up what Lily told me. It’s really good Rosie’s opening up to you about what she’s been through. It should help her in the long run.’

  ‘That’s what Jo from Victim Support said when she came by earlier. She seems really nice,’ said Lesley.

  ‘You called them? Good. They’re a great resource.’

  ‘It was Mack’s idea actually. After the situation with Suzy, I think he’s realized it’s better to have things out in the open.’

  Maggie’s eyes widened with surprise.

  ‘He’s told you everything?’

  ‘Oh yes, the whole lot.’

  Lesley relayed her and Suzy’s conversation in the cafe at the hospital.

  ‘She’s sure Faye is Mack’s daughter?’ Maggie said sceptically.

  ‘Yes, and I am too. She’s the spitting image of Rosie and Mack.’

  ‘Wow,’ said Maggie, puffing out her cheeks. ‘That’s a lot to take in.’

  ‘It is, but I can cope with it now I know. Imagining Mack having an affair was actually far worse.’

  ‘Have you mentioned Faye to Rosie yet?’

  ‘I think we’ll wait until she’s out of hospital and back home. Hopefully she’ll be okay when we do tell her, if we make it clear it doesn’t change how Mack feels about her. But if she’s not okay, we’ll deal with it together – as a family.’

  63

  Dawn was breaking as Maggie left the hospital and the gradually lightening sky was streaked with the softest pink and orange. Her arm was too sore and stiff to drive but she didn’t mind. The walk home would give her the chance to start emptying her mind of the horror of what had happened in the pool house. She wasn’t even bothered by the cold breeze that whipped round her as she set off.

  The town centre was quieter than usual to reflect the start of the weekend. She thought about going round to Lou’s and having breakfast with her and the kids but her aching body demanded that she go home and crawl beneath her duvet for a few hours. She’d spoken to Lou late last night to reassure her she was okay and had only needed a few stitches. The news reports on TV were making it sound a lot worse.

  Telling Lou about Rob’s involvement in the case had been difficult. As much as she wanted to for her sister and the children’s sake, she couldn’t cover up the fact he had been supplying illegal steroids to Farley – and, it transpired, quite a few other gym patrons – and Rob was now facing serious charges. All Maggie could hope was that he might receive a lighter sentence, maybe even a suspended one, for identifying Farley and helping her to rescue Lisa. She promised Lou she would do everything she could to help him.

  She’d spoken briefly to Steve too. She was still angry he’d left her at the gym, especially when Bobby turned out to be fine. The rash his wife Isla had assumed in a panic was meningitis turned out to be an allergic reaction.

  ‘I’ve probably screwed my career,’ he sighed down the phone. ‘Ballboy wants to see me first thing. He knows about the CCTV footage I overlooked.’

  Maggie didn’t say she was the one who told him.

  ‘I’ll put in a good word for you, for what it’s worth.’

  ‘If you can, terrific. He might actually listen to you.’

  Maggie reached the end of the road the hospital was on. Laid out before her at the junction was a series of mini-roundabouts and she paused as her tired brain tried to work out the best way to get across them. She didn’t see the car slowing down alongside her. It was only when the driver beeped, causing her to jump out of her skin, that she noticed it.

  Umpire lowered the driver’s window.

  ‘Can I give you a lift?’

  It surprised her how pleased she was to see him. She didn’t hesitate and got into the car.

  ‘How are you feeling?’ he asked as he pulled away from the kerb and headed in the direction of the high street.

  ‘My arm’s sore from all the stitches and the doctor has advised me to rest it for a couple of days, but otherwise I’m fine. So what happened when you questioned Farley, sir?’

  ‘He broke down and confessed not long after the interview started. He’s admitted to kidnap, attempted extortion and perverting the course of justice. We’ve also charged him for the assault and rape of Lisa Charleston and for the murder of Vivienne Roberts. We found her body where he said it was, on the compost heap. He’ll go before a special magistrates’ hearing first thing, as will Sinclair. We’re throwing the book at him too.’

  ‘What about Lily?’

  ‘It’s not as clear cut with her. She’s saying Sinclair coerced her into letting
him take the photographs and she was too scared to say no. She says he would’ve hurt her had she tried to stop him.’

  ‘That’s not what she said in the pool house. I think she knew exactly what she was doing.’

  ‘She’s sticking to her statement though. She’s saying Sinclair stabbed Rosie, not her, but it’s her word against his and any prints that might have established who did it have been washed off the knife. The CPS doesn’t think we can charge her yet because the allegation of grooming is a contentious one, so she’s been bailed while inquiries continue. At the same time, Sinclair’s confirmed the phone registered to him was stolen just before Christmas and those texts to Rosie are nothing to do with him.’

  ‘Kathryn Stockton told Lesley that GS is Lily. It stands for Grammar School, because Lily goes to a different school to them.’

  Umpire shook his head. ‘Once Rosie is in a fit state to be questioned, we’ll have a clearer idea of what went on in that garden on Tuesday.’

  ‘That poor kid has got so much to deal with when she does wake up. You heard about the half-sister?’

  ‘Yes. Quite the turn-up.’

  ‘Lesley’s handling it really well. I’m not sure I’d be as magnanimous.’

  ‘Do you think Suzy is telling the truth about them not having an ongoing affair?’

  ‘I do, actually. I think she just wants what’s fair for her daughter,’ said Maggie as she leaned back against the headrest and yawned.

  ‘I think Suzy Breed might have a bit more explaining to do though. The pay-as-you-go mobile Farley used to call the incident room, the one that we couldn’t trace? The number has turned up on the records we pulled for Suzy’s phone.’

  ‘What!’ Maggie gasped. ‘Are you sure? You’re saying Farley and Suzy know each other?’

  ‘That’s what the records tell us. We’ll know more when Forth Valley Police pick Suzy up in about an hour. She’s on the sleeper train back to Edinburgh from King’s Cross.’