SNATCHED BAIRN: Scottish Fiction

by Anne Bone

  Marcus looked at her, resignation lined his face. They had had this conversation countless times. He had tried to reason with her, that there was absolutely no evidence of this, and he was convinced that Laird was the perpetrator who had taken their daughter’s life. He hadn’t been terribly supportive of her seeking out these mediums that were, in his view, tricksters who preyed on vulnerable people like Jenni. But after he had expressed his views and concerns, he realised that they were falling on deaf ears, and Jenni’s face had told him that the subject was no longer up for discussion. He respected her, after all, she had managed her life so well for so long without his constant support, so he had to question himself as to how much right he had to oppose something that she felt so strongly about.

  They saw Beth come back out of the door followed by Jane Lewis. Beth came over to the car and opened the back door. ‘Jane is going to drive her own car and we can follow,’ she told them as she climbed into the back of the car. They watched as Jane got into a Ford Escort and started it up, signalling to Marcus to follow her. As they drove the short journey to Benview Close, they remained silent in their apprehension of what was to come.

  They parked their cars outside the terraced house and noticed the unkempt garden of number twenty. This, they realised, hadn’t got in this state in a matter of weeks, it was more like months or years since anyone tended to it. The pathway to the front door was littered with bits of broken toys, and weeds poked through the paving stones of the path. Someone must have been watching out for them because before they reached the front door it was opened to reveal a tall thin lanky man.

  He welcomed them. ‘Come away in,’ he said. Jane went first and stood beside him to introduce first Beth and then Jenni and Marcus. ‘I’m Danny,’ he told them, ‘Jane, you go on in, Pam is in the sitting room.’

  The sitting room had been tidied up in their honour. Jane was somewhat relieved that they had done so. Pam was done up like a dog’s dinner, however, she stood introduce herself to the guests. ‘I’m Pam,’ she told them, ‘come in and have a seat.’

  They did so, taking off their coats to place them on the back of the chairs. Danny was plainly nervous as he shuffled about by the door. ‘Would you like a brew?’ he asked them.

  ‘That would be lovely,’ Beth answered, ‘thank you very much.’

  Before Danny could go out and organise it, Pam opened her mouth and bellowed, ‘Sam, its six teas all round, an’ dinna forget the cake and biscuits.’ She turned to her guests who were looking at her, aghast at the way she placed their orders, ‘That’s if there’s any biscuits left, an’ the greedy little buggers haven’t scoffed them all.’

  Jane intervened by asking about Kerry and Josie and whether they were still with their aunty in Lossiemouth. She directed her question to Danny. ‘Aye, they’re still up there. Me and the boys were across yesterday and they are as happy as sand-boys,’ he told her.

  They noticed Pam bristle as he said this, and she opened her mouth to comment but seemed to think better of it and closed it again. Sam must have been hovering in the kitchen waiting for the summons to make the refreshments, so he was soon at the door carrying a tray with steaming mugs of hot tea. Close behind him came Wayne carrying a plastic carton of milk and a plate of sliced cake and biscuits. Sam placed the tray on the coffee table in the middle of the room and Wayne followed by setting the plate and carton next to it. ‘Does anyone want sugar?’ he asked.

  Jenni nodded, ‘Yes please, if there is some.’

  He disappeared again to reappear a few moments later with a bag of granulated sugar and a teaspoon. He handed her a mug of tea and offered her the bag. She managed to negotiate the teaspoon and thanked the fair-haired lad, who carried his father’s features. Sam was going round the room with the milk carton. When everyone had a mug, he then offered them the plate of cake and biscuits, and although none really wanted one, they each took a biscuit for the sake of the tall lad, leaving the cake for the lads to consume later.

  Once everyone had a drink, the lads left the adults to their chat. ‘What tall boys you have,’ said Beth, ‘and they seem to be well trained,’ she joked.

  ‘They are so, and need to be,’ interjected Danny. ‘They’ve been a real help to us over the past few weeks, and it’s not been easy for them either what with all the stuff in the press.’ They noticed his glare towards his wife, as he mentioned the press.

  ‘I can really appreciate that,’ commiserated Jenni, ‘we had a lot of press and media around when Mary went too. It’s hard isn’t it, especially when they print stuff that’s not true?’ She smiled at Pam as she said this, even though they hadn’t printed anything that had been overly intrusive when Mary went missing.

  ‘Aye, the bastards are always sniffing around. Lying bastards, that’s what they are,’ Pam was settling into getting ready to share her favourite rant, which was to blame everything on to the press. ‘And as for the lying back-stabbing bastards in the street that told them those lies, they will get what’s coming to them, so they will.’

  Jane realised that this line of conversation needed to be diverted. ‘But you also had a great deal of support from the neighbours, and still do. Pam and Danny were inundated with offers of help, pans of soup and plates of sandwiches just being handed in.’ She smiled at Danny hoping to encourage a more positive slant on the community.

  ‘Aye and we still get them. That little old wifie who lives in the next road brings round a pan of lentil soup every week to us, great it is, the lads look forward to it. And another drops off a cake, and another sent around a great beef casserole just the other week. So we have been lucky, not everyone is tarred with the same brush.’ He didn’t add that if Pam hadn’t fallen out with so many people in the street over the years, then the neighbours who had spoken to the press maybe wouldn’t have been so ready to dish the dirt. He wouldn’t, of course, say this as if he had done so then the blue touch paper would be lit and off she would go again.

  Beth brought the conversation back to how they were managing the loss of Shona. Pam started to describe how terrible it was not to know what had happened to her. And then she started to cry, reaching for a tissue to blow her nose loudly. ‘We just wish the police could have found her,’ she said, looking at Jane as she said it.

  ‘You know we are still searching Pam, we haven’t given up, and the incident room is still up and running.’ She inflected some determination into her voice, although in her mind she couldn’t help feeling that she had failed yet again.

  ‘How long is it, since your lass went?’ Danny asked, addressing the question to Marcus, who was much older than he expected. He noticed the man was wearing expensive clothes and the gold watch on his wrist looked the real McCoy.

  Marcus was looking uncomfortable as he perched on the edge of the chair. Nevertheless he drew breath and answered. ‘It’s just over fourteen months,’ he told them.

  ‘And they never found her either did they?’ declared Pam, ‘God, I hope we don’t have to bloody wait for that long before we find her, although I think my Shona won’t be back alive.’

  This caused a deep intake of breath, from all of the visitors. It was Beth who replied, ‘It’s hard I know,’ she emphasised. It’s only three weeks since she has been missing, you can’t give up yet,’ she said, trying hard to erase the tenseness that had penetrated the atmosphere.

  Jane interrupted and suggested that Beth tell the couple about the Stolen Children Trust charity, and what support she could provide. Beth outlined how the charity came into existence and how her own personal story had been the thing that drove her to establish the support line. She invited them to call her anytime, and she would be more than happy to visit them so that they had someone they could talk to. Someone who would keep their conversations confidential, she added, alluding to the fact that many of the conversations that Pam had held before had ended up being blasted all over the papers for the world to see.

  Danny thanked her and said, ‘It’s awful good of you to co
me up, and we know that we can call on you.’ He felt that they had some understanding of how difficult it was for them, but somehow he couldn’t see them gelling and becoming pals, they were too different.

  ‘I suppose you can help out with a bit of money though, can you?’ asked Pam, ignoring the darts of fury that were coming out of Danny’s eyes. ‘It’s just that we’ve had to pay out so much over the past three weeks and we’re a bit short.’

  ‘No we’re not,’ insisted Danny, ‘I’m back to work tomorrow, and the boss says that he can give me a bit of overtime, so were fine.’ He glared at his wife.

  ‘We don’t give money, unfortunately,’ Beth said, her voice calm, ‘we don’t have enough funds to provide that. We offer emotional support. But I can imagine how hard it is for you.’

  ‘What happened to the collection?’ asked Jane, her face told a tale as she looked directly at Pam, ‘I thought the community collected a couple of hundred pounds for you.’

  ‘Aye, and it was very handy too,’ said Pam, ‘but it ran out pretty damn quick.’

  ‘As I said,’ Danny interjected, we’ll manage, ‘I’m back to work tomorrow, so we’ll soon get back on our feet.’ He looked embarrassed and Marcus felt for the tall thin man. He was aware that he worked as a labourer and knew that his wages wouldn’t be high. But he had to give the man credit; he was going back to work only three weeks after his child had gone. He would have liked to put his hand in his pocket and given him a few quid, but he didn’t want to make the man feel worse, so he didn’t, but maybe he could do something to help him out.

  They continued to talk for a while longer, but realised the conversation was stilted and difficult. Marcus noticed that Jenni was very quiet and she was clearly uncomfortable, so he made the suggestion that maybe it was time to leave as they had a way to go back to Aberdeen. This appeared to please everyone as there was a consensual sense of relief. They thanked Pam and Danny for their hospitality, and Beth wrote her telephone number on a piece of paper and passed it to Pam reminding her to call anytime if she could do anything to help. She somehow didn’t think she would get a call.

  They left and Marcus and Jenni both felt as though a cloud had been lifted. They said goodbye to Jane who got into her own car and drove off. As they started off on the journey back home, it was Beth who apologised. ‘I am so sorry, I put you through that,’ she told them, ‘especially you, Jenni. I hadn’t realised how difficult they were going to be.’

  ‘It’s just that she doesn’t seem to have much sorrow about her,’ Jenni said. ‘I know everyone deals with grief in their own way, but she seems so hard. I know I shouldn’t judge, Beth, but I felt heart sorry for those two lads, the way she spoke to them, there was no sign of kindness at all. They’ve lost their sister after all. And there she is asking you for money, for goodness sake. As I said, I know I shouldn’t judge and it’s terrible and all that, but…’

  ‘He seems a decent enough bloke though,’ stated Marcus, ‘I was taken with him. I would have given him a few quid, but didn’t want to make him embarrassed. I even was wondering whether we could get a phone line put into the house, so they could phone you Beth. It must be really difficult to have to go to a public phone box to phone if they needed to.’ He looked in the mirror to catch Beth’s eye in the back of the car. ‘What do you think Beth? Do you think they would think we were patronising them?’

  ‘I am pretty sure Pam wouldn’t, but before you do, just think about it, would she… rather than Danny, run up a bill and then not be able to pay it. But it’s worth a thought. I will speak to Jane tomorrow and see what she thinks. But it’s a really kind offer Marcus, thank you.’

  They ceased talking about the Camerons for the rest of the journey home. Jenni couldn’t get Pam’s words out of her head, that she believed that Shona was already dead, and here was she, fourteen months on, still harbouring the thoughts that Mary was still alive somewhere out there.

  Chapter 35

  Sunday 1st December Elgin

  Jane was not sure whether arranging the visit today had been a success. She drove the car back towards the centre of Elgin, however, as it was a Sunday she decided that she wouldn’t return to the office, but turned the car in the direction of the coast. She would, she decided, drive to Findhorn, a small town on the edge of the Moray Firth and she would go for a walk along the beach. She was tired and felt dragged down by the case.

  She had continued to stay with Tim who was, as it turned out, a really good friend. She had been grateful for his support and his ear, as he had every day been ready to listen to her worries and concerns that Shona Cameron was no longer alive, and they were searching for another body. Tim’s empathy came with being in the job himself. He knew what it felt like to be leading a team of officers, trying to ensure that they were still motivated and keen to put in the extra hours on a case that seemed to have died even before they had had a chance to get to first base.

  It was frustrating and she still couldn’t help feeling that she had made a mistake with Robert Laird. She had gone over and over the case in her head, but there was nothing to suggest they had not acted appropriately on the evidence they had in front of them. It was just that there were so many similarities between the two cases, and she really didn’t want it to end as Mary’s investigation had, without any evidence of what actually had happened to the child, and no one in the dock, facing the consequences. What if they were still alive, and if they were, where on earth were they? Nothing had come of the blue Land Rover, no further sightings nor had any witnesses came forward to offer any description of the driver. It seemed as though Shona, just like Mary, had vanished into thin air.

  When she reached the beach she got out and parked the car in a small car park not far from the sandy beach. She went into the boot of her car and extracted a pair of trainers that were in the bag she took to the gym. She changed into them, and also found her old anorak that stayed in the boot; this would be more appropriate for a walk along the beach than her smart red jacket.

  It was one of those early December winter days when the sun was low in the sky. It was now early afternoon and the coldness of the sea breeze penetrated her anorak so she pulled the hood up over her head to give herself more shelter. She started to walk; the tide was out and this left the beach wider. There were a few people on the beach, some were couples walking dogs, but apart from that it was empty and peaceful. She loved the solitude of an empty beach, and relished how it helped to blow the cobwebs from her mind.

  She had kept more in contact with the Camerons than would be normal, but they had refused the services of a police liaison officer, and were suspicious of authority figures. They seemed to have a better rapport with her than any of the other officers on the team, so, even though it wasn’t usual for a Chief Inspector to offer support directly to families, she had done so. She found them hard to deal with. Danny was easier of the two, and she felt sorry for him having to manage Pam, who was someone not easy to get along with, or like. The boys were nice lads, and she wondered what was going through their minds. She had spoken to the social workers again and they had gone into the academy and spent some time with the boys, giving them a listening ear. She had informed Danny she had done this, and he hadn’t raised any objections, understanding that it had also taken a toll on them. She had left it to him to tell Pam, although she suspected he hadn’t done so, and the boys were unlikely to have mentioned it either. She had known it was the right thing to do when she spoke to the senior social worker again, who confirmed that both boys were meeting with her workers, and seemed to find the opportunity to talk about their feelings about their sister being missing helpful.

  Pam was another kettle of fish though; she was argumentative and blamed everyone for whatever went wrong. At least today she wasn’t polluting the air with her chain smoking, but she bet that as soon as they had left she would be overdosing on nicotine. She was a hard woman, and she couldn’t help wondering what was going on in her head. She suspected that she did fee
l sad, but apart from the shedding of tears, she had hardly shown any depth of emotion. Maybe this would change if, God forbid, they found Shona’s body.

  If she was honest with herself she believed that Shona was dead. Given the length of time since she had gone missing this was the most likely outcome. She just needed to find the evidence and find her body. She still felt a failure that they hadn’t been able to locate Mary’s body. She knew that Jenni still held doubts which wouldn’t be finally dispelled until there was physical evidence of Mary’s death. She couldn’t help but wonder though whether Laird had been responsible because if the two cases were linked there would have had to be another perpetrator. She had been pleased to see Jenni today; she looked well and seemed to be coping better. She knew she would never get over losing Mary, but from what Beth had told her she was beginning to resume living again. She couldn’t help being amazed at the change in Marcus Davidson. He seemed to have found a new personality, and the man who had been known to be a rather dodgy, tough business man now seemed to have become a warm, sensitive and generous man. Who would have believed it? Beth had sung his praises to her on a number of occasions, how caring he was towards Jenni and the money he had donated to the Trust. There was no doubt that these tragedies and trauma changed people, but she never thought it would have such an effect on him.

  Spending the time at Tim’s house had been extremely positive. His home had become a calm oasis in what otherwise was a sea of chaos. She had gone back to her own flat for a night last weekend and it was strange not to be waking up in the large comfortable bed in Elgin, and hear Tim pottering in the kitchen putting the breakfast ingredients out on the table. She had brought more clothes back, and while she didn’t know how long she would be permitted to remain in Elgin leading the case, she did think more about what she was putting in her case this time.