Amy smiles. ‘He’s a bit dozy, that’s all.’
‘We should take him back soon. He’s such hard work.’ Why anyone bothers having babies beats me. I bet I was a handful. No wonder Mum only had one. I pass Amy a breakfast bar and take one for myself. I think about switching my usual phone on. Mum will be expecting to hear from me by now. I hope she’s not seen the grainy picture of me on the news. If anyone is going to guess who it is, it will be Mum, or Tina come to that.
I read as many papers as I’ve got access to online. I’m buzzing that the press vultures have already started digging the dirt on Cole, even lifting photos from his new Facebook page. One rogue digital publication has gone into detail about how Cole and Gemma met, outing them as ‘the’ notorious teacher and former pupil who ran away to Las Vegas to get married without telling her parents. I’m sure the other papers will soon pick up on it too, so when it goes mainstream he’ll be reluctant to tell them about me because he’ll know what’s coming.
I click refresh and a news headline I’ve not seen pops up.
MAN OUTSIDE SUPERMARKET NOT BELIEVED TO BE CONNECTED WITH THE DISAPPEARANCE OF BABY THOMAS.
‘Is it time to post up the picture of you and him?’ Amy reads my mind. She opens his cloned Facebook account on the tablet.
‘The selfie of us in the park, the one with his top off, me lying next to him, back half to the camera. That’ll give him some explaining to do when his wife sees it.’
‘And the police. They might just be interested in his intimate relationship with the woman who’s supposedly abducted his baby.’
She selects the photo from the cloud and uploads it to his new page. We wait to see what the reaction is.
Public opinion is already shifting about them on Twitter. Some people seriously doubting the sincerity of Cole’s plea at the press conference. Others blaming Gemma for leaving her baby with someone she didn’t know that well. One single mother goes on a full-blown rant about how she manages to go shopping with her kids in tow, so what makes Gemma so special that she can’t manage it with one tiny baby? A few people are beyond ruthless coming up with their own theories as to what’s really happened, accusing them of killing their baby and attempting to cover it up by inventing a story of some woman taking him to hide their heinous crime.
It’s strange how deliciously enjoyable revenge is. But it’s disturbing how all these strangers feed on someone else’s misfortune. We only have the luxury of enjoying Cole’s discomfort because we know baby Thomas is safe and well. Gemma unfortunately is collateral damage. I do feel bad for her, but she has the man I wanted. I worshipped him. My use of the past tense saddens me, but it’s true. We are so over.
There are already one or two people on Twitter who have picked up on the rogue news thread about Cole having been a teacher. One has moved on from their initial horror that a baby was left in the care of someone who then took him, to outrage that this man was allowed to continue a relationship with a former pupil, marry her and have a baby. A women’s group have replied to the tweet, openly stating their concern for Gemma’s welfare, questioning if she really wanted to stay in a relationship with a man they believe has shown signs of controlling behaviour. On the back of this, a couple of people wonder if Gemma’s done something to the baby herself to get all this attention. As some kind of desperate plea for help. Some people are really sick.
‘They’ve got a point about Cole, though.’ Amy takes her glasses off and wipes her sweaty face with a baby wipe.
‘Yeah. Bloody control freak. It was always him deciding when we should meet, what I should do. Everything was on his terms.’
‘Then he was quick to turn on you when you made out you were pregnant because he wasn’t in control any more.’ Amy opens her door to try and get more air circulating.
‘I thought it meant he really cared about me, that he was showing what a gent he was taking charge. Old-fashioned, isn’t it? The man making all the decisions.’
‘That’s one way of looking at it.’
‘He’s more worldly wise than me, so it didn’t feel strange to let him take the lead, to start with anyway.’ I check over my shoulder. Thomas is still asleep, so I click on the tablet. ‘Let’s see if the baby cam is picking anything up.’
There’s no one in the baby’s room but the door is half open so we can see a small part of the stairs and the landing. I’m about to switch it off again when I hear a strange indistinguishable noise, a bit like a cat’s wail. ‘Was that Missy?’
‘Don’t know. It didn’t sound good.’ Amy turns up the volume.
‘Maybe she’s trapped somewhere.’
We strain to hear, but it’s quiet again. Then a shout startles us and something clatters to the ground. Amy and I stare at each other open-mouthed. I hold the tablet closer, turn the volume up as high as it will go, trying to make out what’s being said. I picture their hallway, was it the coat stand by the front door falling over? My pulse is pounding in my ears, I’m desperate to see what’s going on. Amy glances at me but doesn’t say a word.
‘Come here now, you stupid bitch.’ Cole’s voice is guttural, vicious.
‘Get away from me,’ Gemma screams.
‘She’s trying to get at me through you and Thomas. And you fell for it.’ There’s a loud hard sound like a slap.
‘Bastard, leave her alone,’ I shout at the screen, but they can’t hear me. Amy clicks the tablet’s record button on.
‘I can’t believe you actually gave her our baby.’ His words sound like a growl through his teeth.
‘I mean, what kind of imbecile does that? You, that’s who. You’re such a useless piece of shit.’
Something smashes.
Footsteps pound up the stairs and Gemma bursts into the nursery. My heart stops. There’s blood running down her cheek. Fear and panic are etched on her face. Cole leaps upstairs two at a time. She squeals as she tries to shut the door, but he is right behind her. His hand shoots out and pushes hard against the door. It opens wide, cracking against the wall. Gemma runs to the other side of the room screaming. Cole fills the whole doorway. He throws himself at her, punching and kicking her body, half off camera but there’s no denying what he’s doing to her. Gemma cries out, helpless she curls into a tight ball.
‘Get off her!’ I scream and amazingly he stops. He can hear me. He picks up the baby monitor, looks closely at it, right at us and switches it off.
‘Jesus fucking Christ, how did he hear me?’
‘I flicked the mic on,’ Amy says.
‘What about Gemma? We need to call the police.’ I picture her left in a heap on the floor.
‘What have we done?’ I brush tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand. Amy passes me the pay-as-you-go-phone and I make an anonymous call, giving all the details of what happened, their names and address, then I quickly hang up.
Tears are pouring down my face. Amy and I hug. She is crying too. Guilt is burning a hole through my heart. What a stupid selfish child I’ve been. I had no idea he was capable of that. I’m sorrier than I ever thought possible that we’ve caused Gemma so much grief. I’m beginning to question whether she wanted to stay with him at all. What if he wouldn’t let her leave? Did he make her marry him? She was only eighteen. I think of the bruise I saw on her side when she was pregnant. I shudder. And what would he have done to me in the bathroom if I hadn’t got out? Maybe outing him for who he really is will help Gemma in the long run. Whatever my punishment turns out to be at the end of this, it will be worth it to see him taken down.
Chapter Seventy-Two
Monday 13 August 2018
Gemma
I open my eyes. I’m on the floor of the nursery, curled in a ball. I’m light-headed, woozy like I’m drunk. I can’t seem to move very much. My stomach and sides are throbbing in pain. Where’s Thomas? I want my baby. I groan and touch my face, force myself to look at my wet fingers. The blood is sticky, drying in places. I groan, recalling fragments of Nick’s attack on me. How long ha
ve I been lying here? I need my phone. Did I have it with me when I ran upstairs? I pat the carpet in front of me and to the side, but I can’t find it. My legs hurt but I manage to move them a bit. Am I going to die here, in Thomas’s room and never see him again?
There was a voice, someone shouting. I must be imagining it. But no, because he stopped. Nick stopped hitting me.
What happened to the man I fell in love with? How has he become this monster? He doesn’t love me. He doesn’t care. I thought he was changing now we’d had a baby. But he was seeing Rosie. I can’t believe it. All these months when I was pregnant, he was sleeping with her. His pupil. Before me. Before he came to my school and tipped my world upside down.
I’d been annoyed when he’d first arrived. The new supply teacher, Mr Adams. I liked Mrs Winston, but she’d been signed off by her doctor for three months. He could tell I wasn’t overly pleased about him being there and in his very first class he picked on me to read Juliet’s part to his Romeo. Then he chose Martin of all people to take over and read the balcony scene with me. It was embarrassing. I hated him immediately for doing that to me. The one boy in the class who had a major crush on me. Nick asked for me to stay behind after class.
‘I can tell you’re not going to be my biggest fan, am I right?’ he’d said, packing his books back in his man-satchel, tipping his head down to look at me. There’d been a little smile of amusement on his lips and it was hard not to smile back.
‘Of all people to pick, sir,’ I’d said, rolling my eyes.
‘Oh, I didn’t know there was a problem? I guessed from the way he was gazing at you reading that you two are an item?’
‘No, we are not and never will be.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry. Not your type then.’
‘He’s so immature and he follows me around everywhere, and now you’ve probably made it worse, sir.’
‘Well, I’m sorry about that. Do you want me to have a little word with him?’
‘Could you? I’ve tried to tell him in a nice way.’
‘I think I know what to say.’ He’d picked up his bag and walked with me down the corridor and all the girls walking past us looked on enviously. He was the new teacher on the block, and he’d noticed me. After that, he’d chatted to me at the end of most English lessons. We talked about books and characters and I told him about wanting to write a book one day. He told me I was talented and he took the time to read my work and discuss it with me. Sometimes he’d offer me a lift home, but I didn’t think my parents would approve. But one day it was raining so hard, I accepted. He’d pulled up outside my house and the rain was so heavy we couldn’t see out, like sheets of iron closing us in. We were cocooned in our own world.
‘You’re very beautiful and special to me, Gemma.’ He’d traced a finger down my face and neck then leaned over and kissed me, and I’d kissed him back. After that it became a regular thing. We’d meet in his car every day after school and park up somewhere quiet off a country lane. Once when he dropped me off at home, my parents insisted on meeting him. I didn’t tell them he was my teacher, but they didn’t approve anyway. They said he was too old for me.
When his contract was coming to an end after three months, he asked me to move in with him. But in his final week, Mr Birch caught us kissing in an empty classroom and Nick was dismissed with immediate effect. He said the only way we could be together was to run away. Only I’d not known he meant run away to America and get married on my eighteenth birthday.
All the lies and cheating and hurting. I’m so, so tired. All I want is my baby son safely back in my arms.
Someone bangs on the front door. I can’t move. Greg is calling my name. Shrill sirens in the distance are getting louder and louder.
I shut my eyes.
Chapter Seventy-Three
13 August 2018
Scarlett
‘Did you record all of it?’
Amy nods.
‘Good, because we’re posting it on his Facebook page right now.’
‘I’m with you all the way on that.’
‘We’ll stay here a bit longer, it’s probably safer.’
‘The only problem is how hot it gets in here and the exhaust fumes. If we could just wheel Thomas around, let him get some fresher air…’
‘We can’t risk it. We don’t know who might see us.’ I click on Cole’s new Facebook page. There are loads of messages of support from his friends. Sickening how they all feel sorry for him and question Gemma’s judgement. It’s really not fair on her. I tricked her. She trusted me.
Most of them seem to have switched over to the new page because when Amy goes into his original page, there are hardly any comments about the baby. Someone has written: See you over on your new page. Thinking of you guys at this dreadful time. We click back on his new page which we’ve left open to the public and someone with the name, May The Force Be With You, who has some weird profile picture of a cat with a lightsaber has commented: I know what you’ve been up to with those schoolgirls. There’s a word for people like you mate.
Amy posts the video on his page of him beating Gemma up with the caption: ‘This is what I do to my wife behind closed doors.’
I go on Twitter and search for the same name. It comes up straight away, same picture. @MayTheForceBeWithYou has written the same message in a tweet, adding the hashtags #missingbaby #findthomas #uselessfather I’m tempted to contact him (is it a man?) and spill everything, but much as I like his comment, I don’t know who it is. It could be a trap.
I turn to the news channel for the 6.30 p.m. bulletin and whack the volume up so we can both hear it.
‘The welfare of Rosie Symonds, 21, who disappeared with the infant, Thomas Adams, from a shopping centre in Bedford this afternoon, is cause for serious concern, said Detective Sergeant Helen Seymour leading this case. Rosie is thought to be Scarlett Bates, using her middle name in an attempt to disguise her true identity. Ms Bates is a former pupil of Priory Secondary School where the father of the missing baby, Nicholas Adams, was a supply English teacher four years ago. Gemma Adams, mother of the missing child doesn’t believe Ms Bates intends to cause Thomas any harm. She is pleading with her to bring him home. It’s now three hours since he went missing. In the studio, we have a midwife and a doctor from the borough of Bedfordshire to discuss how such a young baby may not cope well in this heat and the harm being separated from his mother at such a young age could cause…’
I switch it off. ‘Shit!’ I smack the steering wheel. ‘Where is all the dirt on Cole about his pupil bride? That he’s beaten her up in her own home. Have they airbrushed that out because he’s a man?’
‘They know it’s us. We may as well give ourselves up.’
We change channel. The two chattering monkeys that present it are going on about drinking enough water when it’s this hot and not to overexert yourself because it can be dangerous. Like der… Before the break, the camera flashes over to our mums sitting nervously next to each other, clearly waiting to be grilled.
‘What the hell are they doing there?’ I throw myself backwards. ‘They’re completely betraying us.’
‘We don’t know that. They won’t understand our reasons for doing this because you haven’t told them about you and Cole.’ Amy lifts Thomas onto her shoulder and he lets out a big burp. ‘Good boy.’
After the break, the camera pans round to one end of the news desk where Mum and Tina are sitting, both with long, serious faces.
‘This is completely weird seeing them, isn’t it?’ I say.
‘I know. Hello, Mum!’ We point and laugh nervously.
I wave at the screen. ‘Come on, Mum, you know we wouldn’t do anything to hurt a baby.’ Although I suppose technically we have, simply by taking him away from his mummy.
‘The police think your daughters have abducted baby Thomas, is that right?’ The male presenter looks down his nose at them, crosses his arms.
‘We don’t know that they have, though, do we?’ Mum and Tina sh
ake their heads.
‘Do you think it’s possible they were coerced into taking the baby away from its mum?’
‘I believe so.’ Mum nods. I’ve never seen her so subdued. She looks properly cautious.
‘Our girls wouldn’t do anything like this unless someone was threatening them.’ Tina points at him.
‘Where do you think the girls are? Do you believe someone is holding them somewhere against their will?’
‘Something must have happened to them otherwise they’d have come home by now,’ Tina says.
‘And what would you say to your daughter if she was watching?’
Tina blinks at him then turns to the camera. ‘Amy, you need to come straight home. If someone is holding you against your will, threatening to hurt you, I want you to scream the place down. I want you to come home safe.’ Her hand flies up to cover her mouth.
‘I understand that Amy spends a lot of time at Scarlett’s house, is that right?’
Tina and Mum exchange a brief glance then nod.
‘I work nights, well, at least I did until I lost my job,’ Tina says.
‘In fact, Amy has been living at Scarlett’s house all summer, isn’t that right?’ he asks leaning forward.
They nod again, looking puzzled, like they’re not sure where he’s going with this.
‘Would you say it’s a particularly close friendship?’ His voice goes up a key. What is this idiot getting at?
‘They’re close, yes, they go everywhere together. We love having Amy stay over to help Tina out.’ Mum is being a bit too eager. Can’t she see he’s trying to trip her up?
‘But do you think they’ve spent an unhealthy amount of time together?’
‘What do you mean?’ Mum snaps.
‘Do you think they are a bad influence on each other?’ He tips his head back a little. His tone is deceivingly gentle. I’ve watched him interview people before. When he steeples his fingers, it means he’s about to go in for the kill.
The Face At the Window Page 25
