‘So, basically no action was taken?’ Edris said.
‘We already have more children in care than the system can cope with. There’s a short supply of foster carers. When we can work with families to help them improve their situation it is best for the child. In Natalie’s case, there are no concerns of abuse or neglect. The family still keeps an eye on the situation.’
Martin ran his hand through what was left of his hair.
‘I appreciate that your job can be difficult,’ Meadows said. ‘Do you think that Natalie is capable of harming Ella?’
‘Like I said, I’m not Natalie’s caseworker, but as there were no signs of abuse, I don’t think Ella is at risk from her mother.’
‘But now she’s missing,’ Edris said.
‘Yes, and I pray that we didn’t miss anything on the visits that could have prevented this. She wouldn’t be the first mother to snap.’
‘I’m sure you’ve done your best.’ Meadows smiled.
But sometimes that isn’t good enough. He’s obviously thinking the worst.
Chapter Five
‘Where now?’ Edris asked as he fastened his seat belt.
‘I think we should have a chat with Natalie again, see what she has to say about Ryan. Dylan seems certain that she’s still seeing him.’
‘Yeah and he sounds like a nasty piece of work. Maybe we should just get him in for questioning.’
‘Not yet, he has a record and probably knows his way around the law. I want to have good reason to bring him in, evidence that he was there last night. That way we can keep hold of him and push hard to get his place searched. If we rattle him now, he’ll have a chance to cover his tracks. That’s if he is involved.’
Meadows pulled onto the main road.
‘Do you think that Natalie would keep her mouth shut if she thought he had something to do with Ella’s disappearance?’
‘Who knows.’ Meadows sighed. ‘She could be afraid of him.’
‘Or afraid that social services would take Ella if they found out he was hanging around the house.’
‘You wouldn’t think it would matter, she should be more concerned with finding her daughter.’
‘Unless she wanted rid of her. Maybe the kid was cramping her lifestyle.’ Edris rubbed at his stomach. ‘I’m bloody starving.’
‘You’re always hungry,’ Meadows said. ‘There’s not much chance of getting food any time soon. This case is a mess, too many variables. I just hope I’m not wasting time and resources searching the woods. I just want to make sure we cover every angle.’
The woods are a good place to hide a body. Meadows felt his stomach harden as Hanes’s words came back to him.
As they pulled up outside Natalie’s house they saw Paskin walking down the next-door neighbour’s path.
‘Anything of interest?’ Meadows asked as he climbed out of the car.
‘No one home here, I’ll try again later. I had better luck on the other side. Hayley Rees lives there with her two-year-old son. She says she was woken last night about twelve by what she describes as a party in the garden. She looked out of her bedroom window and saw a group in the garden, it was too dark to make out faces, only the light from their cigarettes. She says they were messing around, laughing. She thought it a little odd as it was raining.’
‘Interesting. So, the back door was likely to be open and they wouldn’t have heard Ella if she woke up crying,’ Meadows said. ‘Anything else?’
‘No, she said she doesn’t see a lot of Natalie. Used to see Natalie’s mother but not in a while. A lot of people come and go but she couldn’t give me any names. Valentine has a list of family and friends of Dylan’s, we’ll check them out next. Oh yes, nothing at Dylan’s parents. They were happy to let us look around. They seem genuinely upset that their granddaughter is missing. There’s been a huge response on Facebook, so I guess Blackwell will have his hands full,’ Paskin said with a grin.
‘I’m sure he can handle it. I’ll go and see him after we’ve finished here.’
‘Catch you later.’ Edris winked.
The sound of a car pulling up made them turn around. PC Matt Hanes jumped out of the car and hurried towards them.
‘We found this about half a mile into the woods.’ He held up a clear plastic bag with a toy rabbit inside. ‘Blackwell wants the mother to identify it. Still no sign of the kid.’
Meadows took the toy and held it up to inspect it. It was faded pink with patches of worn fur.
‘I’ll take it in and check, but it looks like it could be Ella’s.’
‘I’ll get back to the search,’ Hanes said and headed back to the car.
‘Looks like she might have wandered into the woods,’ Edris said.
‘Or someone could have carried her in.’ Meadows knocked on Natalie’s door. He looked at the rabbit. ‘I’m not sure if this is good or bad news.’
Brianna opened the door and ushered them inside.
‘She’s curled up asleep on the sofa, probably the best thing for her. I doubt she’ll get much opportunity to rest. SOCO have been.’
‘Is Nia here?’
‘No, she left about half hour ago to pick up her children. She said she would be back later.’
‘Any other visitors or phone calls?’
‘Just her other sister, Leanne, wanting to know if there was any news. Natalie seems to spend a lot of time on the phone, texting or tweeting.’
‘Okay, thanks.’
Meadows walked into the sitting room. An effort had been made to tidy up. The coffee table was clear apart from a tobacco tin and a half-drunk cup of coffee. The mud that had been on the carpet earlier had been hoovered but did little to improve the appearance.
The mud must have come from the garden, they must have been very drunk to take the party outside in the rain.
Natalie stirred on the sofa, she opened her eyes and looked at Meadows. It seemed to take a few moments for the situation to return to her mind.
‘I suppose there is no news?’
‘No, not yet I’m sorry, but there is something I need you to look at.’ Meadows handed Natalie the rabbit.
Natalie pulled herself up to a sitting position keeping her legs tucked under the blanket, she looked at the toy and her eyes filled with tears.
‘It’s Ella’s, where did you find it?’
Meadows nodded to Edris to indicate that he should let Blackwell know. Edris took out his phone and left the room.
‘In the woods.’
‘Oh God, she’s going to be frightened and cold.’ Natalie clutched the toy to her chest. ‘I should be out there looking.’
Brianna came into the room and perched next to Natalie.
‘There’s a search team covering the woods,’ Brianna informed her, ‘and lots of people have turned up to help. If she’s in the woods, they will find her. They know what they’re doing. You can be more help here, giving as much information as you can, and you’ll want to be close when they find her, no good if you’re traipsing around the woods.’
‘We still can’t be certain that someone didn’t take her, they may have used the woods to get away and there is less chance of being seen,’ Meadows said. He didn’t like to point out the alternative. ‘Meanwhile, I’m afraid we need to ask you a few more questions.’
Meadows sat down in the armchair. Edris walked back into the room, he looked at the other vacant armchair seemingly reluctant to sit but eventually perched on the edge.
‘We need to ask you about Ryan Phillips,’ Meadows said.
‘Ryan?’
‘Yes, your boyfriend,’ Edris said.
‘I told you, I don’t have a boyfriend.’ Natalie swung her legs off the sofa and reached for her tobacco tin. ‘I split with Ryan ages ago.’
‘That’s not what we’ve heard,’ Meadows said.
‘Yeah, well, people are always making up crap to cause trouble.’ Natalie scowled as she rolled a cigarette.
‘Was Ryan here last night?’ Meadows leaned for
ward in the chair.
‘No, why would he be?’ She lit the cigarette.
Meadows noticed the flush that spread up her neck.
She’s lying.
‘Look Natalie, if you are afraid of Ryan–’
‘I’m not afraid.’ Natalie laughed.
‘We know what he did to his last girlfriend,’ Edris said.
‘She just made that up cause she wanted him back.’ Natalie glared at Edris. ‘People say shit about him because they don’t want us to be together.’
‘What do they say?’ Meadows asked.
Natalie shrugged her shoulders.
‘This has nothing to do with Ryan.’
‘Do you talk to him? Text him?’
‘Yeah, we’re friends. No one can stop us being friends, can they?’
‘Look, Natalie, I need you to be honest with me. If Ryan was here last night you need to tell us.’
‘I told you he wasn’t.’ Natalie’s nostrils flared. ‘I wish everyone would get off my case.’
‘Okay, so you and Ryan are just friends. Do you argue sometimes?’
‘I suppose.’
‘Have you argued with him recently?’
‘No.’
‘When was the last time you saw him?’
‘Dunno, ’bout a week ago.’ Natalie took a drag of the cigarette and let out a plume of smoke.
‘How did Ryan get along with Ella when you were together?’ Edris asked.
‘He was good with her, looked after her when I went to work sometimes.’
‘And he was okay with that? Did he ever get angry, perhaps when she woke up at night?’ Meadows asked.
‘What are you getting at?’ Natalie’s legs jiggled as she pulled hard on the butt of the cigarette.
‘We have to ask these questions and look at everyone who has had contact with Ella.’
‘Ryan wouldn’t hurt Ella, he hasn’t got her.’
Meadows felt a sudden urge to shake her, she didn’t seem to want to help, and it made him all the more suspicious of her motives.
‘We are going to run an appeal on the early evening news. We would like you and Dylan to read a short statement.’
‘What? No!’ Natalie looked horrified.
‘Please, Natalie, it’s important. If someone has taken Ella, we need to appeal to them to hand her back safely.’
‘You think someone has taken her, don’t you? No, she must have got out of the house and is lost.’
‘If she has wandered off then we will find her, we have search and rescue out looking for her, but we have to consider the possibility that she was taken some time during the night. It’s more likely to be someone known to you. Do you understand? That’s why it’s important you tell us everything no matter how insignificant it seems. Has anyone shown a recent interest in Ella?’
‘Your friends won’t mind us asking questions,’ Edris coaxed. ‘They’ll want to help you find Ella.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Good,’ Meadows said. ‘We’ve talked to Dan, Claire, and Jamie, so was there anyone else other than Nia that called at the house last night?’
‘No.’ Natalie looked down and picked at her nails.
‘Anyone you can think of that would want to cause you distress?’
Natalie shook her head.
‘Last night you said you didn’t leave the house. Are you sure about that?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Yet you were seen with your friends out in the garden around midnight.’
Natalie reddened. ‘Yeah, we did go out to the garden, I thought you meant leave the house, you know go out somewhere like the pub.’
‘Why did you go out into the garden? It was raining.’
‘For a smoke.’
‘But you usually smoke in the house or were you smoking something other than tobacco?’
‘No! We went out because… because it was getting smoky inside with all of us smoking.’
‘But your friends like a smoke, they admitted to having a few joints last night.’
‘Yeah, so, it doesn’t mean that I joined in with them.’
‘I see, so the back door was open, and Ella was alone in the house,’ Edris said.
Natalie’s head snapped towards Edris.
‘Are you saying it’s my fault Ella’s missing? I was out in the fucking garden, it’s not like I was out clubbing and left her alone.’
‘No one is saying it is your fault,’ Meadows said, ‘but the sooner we know what happened here last night the better chance we have of finding Ella. How long were you and your friends outside?’
‘I don’t know.’
Great, she could have been missing any time after Nia saw her at ten. ‘Anyone go in the house on their own for a while, Claire or Jamie?’
‘No, we were all outside together.’
‘Anyone go out the front door, maybe to get something from the car?’
‘Don’t think so.’
‘Right, we’ll leave it there for now. Brianna will take you to the station for the appeal.’
Meadows stood. Worry creased Natalie’s forehead.
‘Don’t worry, it will be fine. An officer will help you prepare a statement to read out.’
Edris closed his notebook and stood.
‘Okay.’ Natalie nodded.
‘Good, we’ll see you later. In the meantime, if you think of anything else let Brianna know.’
As they stepped outside the door Meadows noticed the next-door neighbour at his gate. A small dog attached to a lead walked at his heal.
‘How is she holding up?’ he called out.
‘As well as can be expected.’ Meadows joined the neighbour at the gate. ‘May we have a word with you Mr…?’
‘Call me George.’
‘Perhaps it would be better if we went inside,’ Meadows suggested.
George hesitated for a moment.
‘Erm… well, I… okay.’ He led them down the path and into the house. ‘Take a seat,’ George said as he unclipped the dog.
Meadows sat and looked around. It was sparsely furnished, tidy but in need of a good dusting. A bachelor or widower maybe.
A large widescreen television was fixed to the wall and below it a shelving unit held rows of DVDs, some jutted out as though marked out as favourites. Meadows tilted his head.
Is that boobs?
‘What can I do for you?’ George asked, drawing Meadows’ attention from the DVDs.
Edris was still standing, his eyes scanning the room and into the kitchen beyond.
‘Do you live alone?’ Meadows asked.
‘Yes.’ George looked nervously at Edris. ‘I divorced a long time ago.’
‘Have you lived here long?’ Edris inquired as he plonked himself down on the sofa.
George looked relieved. ‘About thirty years.’ He sat down in the armchair.
Meadows judged George to be in his mid-sixties. He had short grey hair that was thinning on top, and a stocky build, but not too heavy to be classed as overweight.
‘How well do you know Natalie?’
‘Well, we have a chat now and again, don’t see that much of her. I let the dogs in and out during the day. When she’s at work.’
‘You’ve got a key?’ Meadows asked.
Natalie didn’t mention that. How many more have keys?
‘Yeah, only for the back door.’
‘Can you show me?’ Edris asked.
George stood and moved to the mantle where he picked up a single key on a chain.
‘Here, where I always keep it.’
The dog started fussing around his legs. He returned to the chair and patted his lap. The dog jumped up, licked George’s face and settled down.
‘Do you mind if I have a look around?’ Edris stood.
‘Why?’ George’s brow furrowed.
‘We have to check everyone. As you have a key, I’m sure you understand.’ Meadows smiled. ‘It’s just a quick check of the rooms, he won’t rummage through your drawers.’
/> ‘Yeah, okay I suppose, but I would never take that little girl. Sweet little thing.’
Meadows nodded to Edris who stood and made his way upstairs.
‘Thank you. Do you have any children of your own?’
‘A daughter. She’s grown up now, lives in London.’
‘Do you visit?’
‘No, I tried a few times, but London is not for me. She comes down to see me when she has time off work.’
‘That’s nice,’ Meadows said. ‘I imagine given that your house adjoins Natalie’s you must hear a fair amount.’
‘I don’t stand with my ear to the wall,’ George replied.
‘No, but you would hear an argument, Ella crying, or a party?’
‘There’s been a few of those.’ George nodded.
‘Parties?’
‘Yes, she has friends around most Sunday nights.’
‘Like last night?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Do you know the friends that she had around last night?’
‘Not by name.’
‘Was there a lot of noise? Shouting?’
‘No more than usual. They were out the garden for a while.’
‘Did you hear Ella crying?’ Meadows sat forward.
‘No, I sometimes hear her but not last night.’
‘How long were they out the garden?’
‘I don’t know, I went to bed. I sleep in the front bedroom.’
‘Did you hear anything after that?’
‘I don’t sleep very well and get woken up easily. A car pulled up outside about two, I looked out the window and saw Natalie getting into her car. There was another car parked behind but there wasn’t anyone in it.’
Meadows felt a flutter of excitement, this was the first bit of information that could give them an idea of Ella’s whereabouts. Edris had returned to the room and stood listening intently.
‘Are you sure it was Natalie?’
‘Yeah, she was wearing that pink coat she always wears.’
‘Was there anyone else in the car with her?’
‘There could’ve been, it was dark.’
‘Was Natalie carrying anything?’
George shrugged his shoulders. ‘I don’t think so, she just got in the car and drove off.’
Suffer the Children Page 5