Hush Little Baby (DC Beth Chamberlain)

by Jane Isaac

  Eden’s chin quivered. ‘She’s been begging me to let her walk with Chloe since they started year 3. I kept saying not until your birthday. And after last week, well… Chloe’s mum and I agreed we’d let them walk together for the last few days of term, to see how they got on. It only takes ten minutes or so. They walked to music school together on Saturday morning too. Oh, why did I say yes?’ She dropped her head into her hands.

  Beth enveloped her sister in a hug and rubbed her back, fighting to remain calm. But as much as she tried, fresh spikes of fear snuck in. Out of the window, she spotted a police car pull up. Two uniformed officers spilled out. One of them gave Beth a nod as he wandered up the driveway of Eden’s next-door neighbour. They’d start house to house in Eden’s close, then branch out to the rest of the village. Lily disappeared a few minutes after leaving home, between the corner of her street and Chloe’s house up the road. It was a small area. Hopefully one of the residents had spotted something.

  Eden choked a sob and Beth kissed the top of her head. The officers wandered down the drive next door and crossed the road. She was reminded of Marie Russell’s face when the woman gave her account, only days earlier. The pain of the search for her child. The anxiety of not knowing. She gulped a breath. ‘Where’s your phone?’

  Eden lifted her gaze and jutted her forehead towards the coffee table. ‘Why?’

  ‘We need to ring everyone you know, everyone that’s met Lily. Parents of kids she’s been on play dates with, her swimming tutor, the teacher from her drama class. Everyone. All your contacts.’ Eden pulled a perplexed look. ‘It’s only what the police will ask you to do. Find out when they last saw Lily, when they last heard from her and how she seemed in herself. Perhaps she agreed to help someone—’

  ‘She would have told me.’

  ‘Not if it was on a school day and she thought it might upset you. We need to cover every eventuality. What about Kyle?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, what if he’s upset someone? People know you two used to be involved.’

  ‘No, Beth. You’re not putting this on Kyle. He’s a friend. He’d never do anything to put Lily in danger.’

  Beth held out her hand, unconvinced. ‘Okay, give me the phone. I’ll make a start.’

  54

  ‘Let’s go through this again,’ Warren said. ‘What time did Lily leave here this morning?’

  For the past twenty minutes they’d been sitting around Eden’s dining room table while DC Warren Hill took an account of the morning’s events and scratched notes on the A4 pad in front of him. Beth nudged her chair closer to her sister’s, placed an arm around her and looked up at Warren gratefully. His hair had grown into short silver waves on his holiday and with his freshly tanned skin, and super-lean body, he seemed well. It was heartening to have him close by. An experienced liaison officer, he was good at his job, subtle. He’d mentored Beth in her role, and they worked well together. Although this time she was on the receiving end, a member of the family he was supporting.

  Warren scribbled down Eden’s answer. ‘Do you have a recent photo you’d be happy to share?’ he asked. His West Country accent was soothing and gentle.

  ‘I gave one to Nick earlier.’

  Beth watched her sister’s face pain. Nick would have circulated the photo internally. The officers carrying out door to door would have copies.

  ‘Yes, and we’re very grateful. We can’t have enough though. Perhaps you’ve got one in the clothes she was wearing today, or something similar?’

  Eden heaved a breath.

  Warren smiled kindly. ‘I know this is difficult, but every little detail will help.’

  Eden waved her hand towards a dresser against the far wall where every shelf was littered with family photos: Lily holding up a medal at a swim gala. Lily and Beth on the beach at Cromer. Endless school portraits and snapshots with friends. Beth released her sister and crossed the room, working through them and returning with her last school photo.

  ‘No! She was in mufti today. Jeans and a pink sweat top. Those shiny trainers. I’ve got a better one.’ Eden grabbed her phone, frantically scrolling through. ‘Here,’ she said eventually holding it out to Warren. ‘This is more like she looked this morning. I tied her hair in the same ponytail. I’ll email it to you.’

  Warren thanked her and passed across his email address. ‘Does Lily have a phone?’ he asked when they were done.

  ‘No. She’s too young.’

  ‘What about access to a laptop, or a games console?’

  Eden nodded.

  ‘I’ll need to take them for examination, in case she’s been talking with anyone online. It’s just a precaution.’

  ‘Oh, and there’s her camera too,’ Beth said.

  ‘She took that in for show and tell this morning.’

  ‘To school?’ Beth turned to her sister aghast. ‘Are they allowed to take in valuable items?’

  ‘No, not really.’ Eden’s face folded. ‘She pleaded with me and it was her last day of school before the holiday. I probably shouldn’t have let her.’ Her eyes glazed. ‘Not that it matters now.’

  Beth excused herself to go and make tea while Eden took Warren up to see Lily’s room and sort through their devices. She switched on the kettle and gripped the kitchen side.

  Please let them find her.

  The sound of the doorbell made her start. She pulled herself together, made her way to the door. It was Nick and Alex.

  Nick shook his head at Beth.

  The sound of feet descending the stairs in soft thumps filled the air. Eden rushed forward. ‘Any news?’ she asked as the pair crossed the threshold.

  ‘Not yet. We’re sending out more officers, trying every house,’ Nick said.

  Eden grabbed her mouth. Nick motioned for Alex to guide her through to the front room, then followed Beth into the kitchen and closed the door.

  ‘What is it?’ Beth asked.

  ‘How are you doing?’

  There really wasn’t any news. Nothing. Tears sprang into Beth’s eyes. She battled to keep them at bay. They both knew child abduction was incredibly rare. And they also knew, the longer Lily was gone, the more likely it was someone had taken her. ‘You don’t think it’s Yates, do you?’ Beth said looking up at Nick. ‘I mean, after what we discovered on Saturday, we know he’s nearby.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Nick said. ‘The thought has crossed my mind. But something about it feels wrong. Yates is all about justice. We don’t even know if he’s targeting you and if he is, I don’t see what he could have against your family.’

  Beth’s throat was raw. She wasn’t so sure.

  ‘Freeman’s called us all in for a strategy update,’ he continued. ‘He’s setting up a major incident room, organising a search of the surrounding area.’ He hugged her, pressing his head to hers. ‘We’re doing everything we can to find her,’ he whispered, his nose in her hair.

  The smell of him, the even tone of his voice was comforting. But it didn’t stop the sickly acid rising in her mouth. ‘I want to be involved,’ she said, pulling away and brushing a tear from her cheek.

  ‘You’re needed here. With Eden.’

  He was right, of course. But the very notion of the search, the investigation going on around her, just out of reach was like someone tightening the buckle on her straitjacket. ‘Phone me, please? I want to be updated as soon as you have anything.’

  ‘Of course. Make sure you keep the doors locked and your phone is with you. I’m going to take Alex home to get changed. She wants to be involved in the search.’

  55

  Beth wandered out of the bathroom and checked her watch. It was almost lunchtime and there was still no word on Lily. Warren had returned to the office for a briefing and Eden had fallen asleep on the sofa, exhausted after the morning’s events. She glanced across the landing, her gaze resting on the sign on Lily’s door.

  PRIVATE

  LILY’S ROOM

  KNOCK BEFORE Y
OU ENTER

  They’d made that sign together last summer, using the new scented felt tips Beth had bought her. Every one holding a different fruity aroma. A woeful smile twitched the corner of her lips as she re-read the final line. KNOCK BEFORE YOU ENTER. Lily had insisted on using every colour in the pack and the yellow E and pale pink R on the end were barely legible in the dull landing light.

  She listened for any sound, any hint of her sister waking. All was quiet. Then she crossed the landing and slipped into the child’s room, pushing the door to a gentle close behind her.

  The room smelt of the child’s violet talc. Lily’s pale blue walls, dolphin-covered duvet, fairy lights attached to the white headboard of her bed all looked the same as when Beth was last there. When her niece was with her. White curtains sat open at the window. A matching pink onesie and bathrobe hung on the back of the door. Her bedside table was littered with a collection of odd shaped pebbles Lily had brought back from holidays; a mango lip balm and a few hair bobbles strewn to the side.

  Beth opened the wardrobe and brushed the dresses, trousers and tops hanging on a single rail, a rainbow of colours. Eden was an attentive mother, ironing her daughter’s clothes as soon as they were dry from the washer, arranging them in her cupboards. Nothing like the tumbling ironing basket in Beth’s house. She approached the chest of drawers and worked her way through underwear, tops, socks. Sat on the bed and smoothed the creases around the dolphin’s nose on the pillow, then lay down, resting her head to the side and taking in Lily’s soft scent. The child had lived in this house since she was born. Many a time Beth had laid here with her niece, reading her a bedtime story. She looked at the plastic stars fixed on the ceiling. Stars that lit up in the dark to resemble a night sky.

  Where are you, Lily?

  On the wall beside the door, a photograph of Lily’s grandmother stared back at her. Beth’s mother. What would she make of this?

  Beth wasn’t sure how long she lay there. Time passed. Eventually she turned her head, made to sit up and felt a hard lump beneath the pillow. She sat forward, reached underneath and pulled out Lily’s camera. The child hadn’t taken it to school for show and tell, after all. It was right there in her bedroom.

  Beth switched it on. It would be useful to check Lily’s photos to see if any strange faces cropped up. The power light stayed black. It was out of charge. She pulled open the drawer on the bedside cabinet, sifting through more hair bobbles, a notebook, several pens and felt tips, until she found the charger. Taking time to pull it out, locate a socket and plug it in. It would probably take a few minutes. Rising to look out of the window, she was surprised to see a Range Rover parked on the drive. The doorbell hadn’t sounded.

  Leaving the camera to charge, Beth slipped out of the room. Muffled voices filled her ears as she crept down the stairs. A male voice with a local twang. It couldn’t be…

  Beth wandered into the front room to find Kyle Thompson standing beside the fireplace with Eden. He was staring into her sister’s eyes, his hands on her shoulders.

  ‘What’s he doing here?’ Beth struggled to control the barbs in her voice.

  Eden jumped. ‘Kyle’s agreed to help us,’ she said recovering herself. ‘He’s going to put some feelers out. See if anyone knows anything.’

  ‘We don’t need those sorts of feelers, Eden.’

  Kyle lowered his hands, his face mournful. ‘I’ve spent a lot of time with Lily,’ he said to Beth. ‘I’m fond of her.’

  ‘This is a family matter.’

  He ignored Beth, turning back to Eden. ‘I saw the appeal on the lunchtime news. I want to help.’ Eden’s eyes widened. ‘That’s how I found out,’ he said to her. ‘And anything I can do, anything at all, I will.’ He looked across at Beth. ‘You can’t stop me.’

  Beth clenched her jaw. The last thing she needed was input from a hardened criminal. A criminal whose association with her sister had already caused her problems in the job. ‘Try me.’

  ‘Stop it, both of you! My little girl has been gone over five hours.’ Eden glared at her sister. ‘Your lot haven’t found her yet, have they? The way I see it, we need all the help we can get. I don’t care what it takes, I just want Lily back.’

  The doorbell sounded. Suspecting it was Warren, Beth made her way out into the hallway and pulled open the door. It wasn’t Warren, it was Chris, Eden’s ex-husband.

  ‘Beth,’ he said. ‘What’s going on? I hear my daughter’s missing.’

  ‘Eden didn’t tell you?’ Beth was incredulous. Eden had refused to phone Chris first thing, assuring her she’d messaged him. How could Eden not have told Chris?

  ‘She texted me this morning, asked if I’d heard from Lily. Never told me she was missing. I learned that from the guys at work.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, Chris. I had no idea you didn’t know.’

  ‘What happened?’

  Beth ran him through the morning’s events. It was awkward, standing on the doorstep, but she didn’t want to invite him inside while Kyle, the man who’d broken up their marriage, was there.

  Chris listened intently, his eyes glued to her. By the time she had finished, Beth’s heart had shrivelled to a tiny lump. What an awful way to find out your daughter was missing. ‘I am sorry, Chris. I thought you knew.’

  ‘You’ve tried everyone?’

  ‘Everyone we can think of. What about you? Any contacts your end? I know your parents live away.’

  ‘No. I lost our joint friends when we separated. Lily and I usually go out on our own.’ He stared at the ground a few seconds, eyes darting about. ‘Well, are you going to let me in?’ he said eventually.

  Beth was torn. The last thing Chris needed right now was to find his wife in the front room of their former family home with her criminal lover, the man she was supposed to have given up.

  ‘It’s not a good time,’ she said. ‘Eden’s in pieces.’

  ‘I don’t care.’

  ‘She doesn’t want to see you.’

  Voices trickled through from the front room. Chris looked back at the Range Rover parked at the end of the driveway and recognition flared in his eyes. ‘Yeah, and I can see why.’ With that, he stepped inside. Beth put a hand to his chest. She’d already argued with Kyle. There was no way she wanted to add salt to Eden’s many wounds by letting Chris loose on him. But Chris had already made up his mind and she was no match for his stocky build. He pushed her aside and marched into the house.

  ‘Chris,’ Eden said when he entered the front room. ‘I didn’t know you were coming over.’

  ‘What’s going on?’ Chris said, looking from Eden to Kyle. ‘You didn’t think to tell me our daughter was missing?’

  ‘I—’

  ‘Don’t even start with the explanations, Eden. I’ve a right to know. I’m her father.’

  Eden’s eyes watered afresh.

  ‘There’s no need to speak to her like that,’ Kyle said.

  A muscle flexed in Chris’s jaw. He ignored Kyle, focusing on Eden. ‘What’s he doing here?’

  ‘Kyle popped round to offer support.’

  ‘We don’t need the support of a convicted criminal.’

  The air in the room tightened.

  ‘Chris, please?’ Beth said. ‘Let’s take this outside.’

  Chris hooked Kyle’s gaze. ‘I need to speak with my wife.’

  ‘I’m not going anywhere.’ He stared back at him defiantly. ‘Not until Eden says so.’

  ‘What did you say?’ Chris took a step closer.

  ‘I said, I’m not going anywhere.’ Kyle enunciated every syllable, eyes bulging.

  ‘Get out!’ Another step closer.

  ‘Stop it,’ Eden cried.

  Beth was between them in a flash. ‘That’s enough,’ she said. ‘Lily’s missing. If you want to do something constructive, join the search.’ She shoved Kyle towards the hallway.

  ‘So, he gets to stay,’ Kyle said.

  ‘No, you just get to go first.’

  Kyle scow
led at Chris, then shouted to Eden, ‘Call me if you need anything.’

  Beth shoved him again. They were in the hallway now. She opened the front door. He glared at her a second, then sucked his teeth and made his way back to his car. She waited until he’d pulled off the drive before she turned back. There was no way she was letting them both outside together to fight on the lawn.

  ‘That’s not fair!’ The high pitch of Eden’s voice met Beth as she walked back to the front room. Her shoulders quaked afresh as she pressed another tissue to her eyes.

  ‘Okay, you too, Chris,’ Beth said.

  ‘You are joking?’

  ‘Do I look like I’m joking?’

  He ignored her, reached out to Eden. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—’

  ‘I said, out. This is isn’t helping.’

  He glared at Beth, face like thunder, then stomped past her.

  ‘I’ll call you as soon as I hear anything,’ Beth said when they reached the door.

  Chris shot her a hard stare. ‘This is linked to him; I know it is.’ He pointed to the driveway, where Kyle’s car had been parked.

  ‘What makes you say that?’

  ‘A man of his nefarious connections. Everyone knows about his relationship with Eden. He’s upset someone, is indebted to someone, or someone wants to teach him a lesson.’

  ‘Why target Lily? Chris, she’s just a kid. It doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘Yet.’ He flared his nostrils. ‘I don’t care what it is, it’s something to do with him. And I’m going to find out what.’

  Beth watched him climb into his car and press his phone to his ear. She closed the door and rested her forehead on the cold plastic. From the very first moment he’d told an unknowing Beth about Kyle and Eden’s relationship, Chris had said he didn’t want Lily near Kyle. She couldn’t argue with the fact that Kyle was a bad influence: the intelligence system connected him to the senior echelons of the organised crime community. Associations like that were easily upset. Could Lily have been taken as a result of Kyle’s connections? Like Chris said, Kyle hadn’t taken any steps to hide his relationship with Eden. He’d moved across town to pursue her. She thought back to the McNamara brothers on Operation Aspen and the way they pursued the friends and family of their debtors to teach them a lesson. Scott Owen had royally pissed them off. Jimmy Carvel talked about rumours they were responsible for the abduction of baby Alicia. They weren’t responsible, but the speculation hadn’t done them any damage at all. And Scott had never been found. Had Kyle upset someone, and they were teaching him a lesson by abducting Lily?