The Forgotten_An absolutely gripping, gritty thriller novel

by Casey Kelleher

  He could see genuine shock then on his mother’s face.

  She really did have no idea.

  ‘He was the one that arranged the attack on Nancy the night of Dad’s funeral too.’ He laughed then. Glad that he was getting vengeance on Nancy in spectacular style.

  ‘Why are you telling me all of this?’ Colleen said, shaking her head. Confused. Wondering what Daniel’s motive was.

  If he wanted to cause Nancy a world of pain, he’d deliver this news to her himself, wouldn’t he? Why was he telling her?

  ‘Because I want you to tell him, to keep them away from me, Mum,’ Daniel said, honestly.

  ‘Keep him away from you? But you’re back now. Why would I keep him away?’

  ‘No, Mum. I’m not coming back. Can’t you see? We’re all way past that now.’

  He’d lost his family five years ago. After the fire.

  He didn’t want any of them back. Not now. Not even his mother.

  He wanted to be set free. For whatever life he had ahead of him. The misery, the constant pain.

  He’d do it alone. He didn’t want or need any of them.

  Now that Daniel knew who he was again, knew his strength, he’d cope. He was sure of it.

  ‘They’ll never let me be free. That’s why I want you tell Jack that you know everything and that he needs to stay the fuck away from me. That’s the collateral. When they get Scarlett back. They both owe me that much, Mum.’

  ‘“When they get Scarlett back”? How do you know about Scarlett?’ Colleen said then, wondering how Daniel could know anything about Scarlett. For a few seconds earlier, she’d wondered to herself if Daniel even knew that Scarlett had been born. That Nancy and Jack had a child together.

  He knew that Scarlett was missing?

  ‘Do you know where she is, Daniel?’ Colleen asked. The urgency in her voice that he’d been waiting for.

  The child was all this family cared about now.

  They’d chosen her over him, just as he knew that they would. They always would. There would be no forgiveness for him.

  He was walking towards the door then. Needing to get away. To escape. The walls closing in on him.

  His mother’s pleading look on her face was too much to bear.

  ‘Will you do it, Mum? Will you tell him to stay away? Please, for me?’

  Colleen nodded then, at a loss at what else she could say. She had to respect Daniel’s wishes, even though her heart was breaking in two.

  Then he nodded towards the car.

  ‘She’s in there,’ he said.

  And then he was gone.

  Forty-Three

  He held his breath.

  Not just because he’d hidden away inside the putrid smelling bin cupboards underneath the stairwell, surrounded by the stench of rubbish and filth.

  But because he could see her.

  Coming down the stairwell opposite him. Just a few feet away.

  Running now, she’d obviously just heard the news that Colleen had found Scarlett.

  That her daughter was home safe and sound.

  She’d aged, he thought to himself, pleased at how rough she looked. How haggard and tired she seemed.

  Little Miss Perfect.

  She looked as if she was ready to fall apart. That pristine persona she put on for all the world to see, gone now. The mask had slipped.

  It was all just a show with Nancy, anyway.

  All of it fake. Just like her.

  She was suffering. That much was real. He could see it in her expression. In the way she held herself.

  Her skin looked blotchy and lined. Her eyes were heavy with bags and shadows.

  He’d tormented her.

  Not enough though, not anywhere near in comparison to all she’d done to him, but she’d suffered all the same.

  That would do for now.

  She swept past him so closely, so near to him, that he could have reached out and touched her.

  He could have grabbed her if he’d wanted to.

  Dragged her in here with him and smashed her skull off the cold, grey concrete floor beneath them.

  Only he doesn’t do that.

  Instead he practises restraint, unwilling to reveal himself, and give himself up to those pieces of shit. Why should he?

  So that those two fuckers, Nancy and Jack, could have any glory?

  They’d both punish him forever then, for something that he didn’t even do.

  Because they’d never believe that it wasn’t him that had taken Scarlett, would they?

  When it came down to it, it was his word against Marie’s.

  And of course, she’d win.

  She was that type.

  She’d throw him under the bus to save her own skin.

  Marie the great fucking manipulator. The fucking fruit loop.

  She’d caused all of this. Dumped the kid on him and then fucked off out of it, leaving him to pick up the mess.

  Where the fuck was she now huh? While his home was ransacked. Ripped apart by the police. As they swarmed the place in search of him.

  In search of him, not her.

  Daniel The-Fuck-Up Byrne, with his grudge against Nancy. All of the evidence pointed straight at him.

  Of course it did.

  And Scarlett would say it was him too.

  He’d been the one to push her into the river after all. He’d been the one that had tried to drown her.

  And it wouldn’t matter that he’d changed his mind at the last minute. That his conscience had got the better of him, and he’d pulled her back out from the water again.

  So he stayed where he was, standing in amongst the shadows, keeping out of sight.

  All the time watching. Waiting.

  He saw Jack then too, close behind Nancy, the pair of them running from the building, another officer behind them both, carrying a clear plastic evidence bag with some of his belongings inside and loading it into the back of the police van.

  ‘They’ve got her!’ another officer shouted, from higher up in the building.

  There was a flurry of movement then as officers ran down the stairs. Car doors slamming. Loud, jovial voices filling the communal stairwell.

  Scarlett Byrne had been found.

  All was well with the world again.

  Squatting down then, his back against the cold brick wall. Trying to breathe out of only his mouth so he wouldn’t gag on the stench of rot from the bins around him. He waited it out.

  They’d leave eventually.

  They had to.

  There was nothing here for them now.

  They’d found Scarlett.

  All he had to do was wait it out.

  Making his way inside the flat, Daniel could see, even with the lights out, that the place had been completely ransacked. The fuckers had searched through everything. Even his bin was upturned. Rubbish and bits of food all over the floor.

  The cupboards all empty.

  The last of his medication gone.

  Most of his personal possessions and clothes had been taken away for examination, he noted. Walking around, amongst the debris.

  In search of his laptop. Gone too.

  More evidence. They’d only have to look at his search history to know how obsessed he was with his sister, now that he’d regained his memory.

  All the articles he’d been analysing.

  Articles about Jack too.

  He had nothing now.

  He couldn’t stay here.

  They’d be back for him soon. He’d have to leave.

  But he had no form of ID now that they’d taken all his personal belongings away, and it wasn’t as if he could just blend in, was it? The damage to his face was far too distinctive.

  All he could do now was go underground. Live rough on the streets and seek solace at the homeless shelters until everything died down a little.

  Until the police ran out of leads.

  Until his mother spoke to Jack and told him Daniel’s terms.

  That
he was to let Daniel go free. Not to look for him.

  That was the deal. He’d delivered Scarlett back to them, unharmed.

  And all Jack had to do was stick to the plan, then, for now, his secrets would all be safe. As long as he did what Daniel had said.

  And no doubt he would.

  Jack had everything to lose and nothing to gain by tracking him down now.

  And Daniel trusted Colleen.

  His mother.

  He knew that she’d ensure that he was okay.

  In some weird warped way, they were both two of the same.

  Two very fucked-up people.

  Victims of their circumstances, casualties of their own fucked-up family.

  Colleen would speak to Jack. Daniel could count on that.

  She’d be the woman of the hour now. Being the one that had discovered Scarlett tonight.

  Scarlett’s saviour. The one to give everyone the good news. That Scarlett was home. That the child was safe.

  Maybe then, Nancy would cut the woman some slack.

  His nan Joanie too.

  Colleen wasn’t all bad. She was just damaged, that’s all.

  Damaged, just like him.

  Kicking a pile of rubbish down at his feet, he sent the contents of the spewing bin bag flying across the room. He needed to get the fuck out of this place. This grotty cesspit that for the past four years he’d called home.

  This wasn’t ever his home.

  He never belonged here.

  It was time to break free of it all.

  His family, this flat. Marie.

  And he would survive, somehow, no matter where he ended up.

  He knew this because already he’d been through much, much worse.

  He owed himself a fresh new start now.

  Grabbing the very few clothes that had been left behind, Daniel looked around in dismay at what his life had finally come to. Just a few rags scrunched up inside a carrier bag. That’s all he had to his name.

  He shook his head sadly, before making his way back out of the flat.

  Creeping down the stairwell.

  Unable to shake the feeling that he was being watched.

  He wouldn’t put it past that lot. The police. Staking out the place, setting up some kind of a trap, waiting for him upon his return.

  A noise behind him, startling him. Making him turn.

  His intuition right all along, he wasn’t alone.

  Only he wasn’t quick enough to see who was there.

  Who would be the one to turn him in to the fate that awaited him? A torturous life behind bars. A child snatcher. A monster. A freak.

  All he felt was an almighty thud against his head, as he was struck.

  A female’s voice then, ringing out in his ears.

  Nancy?

  It couldn’t be?

  Then there was nothing at all, as he fell to the floor and was swallowed up by the darkness.

  Forty-Four

  ‘Nanny, Nanny, can you do my new puzzle with me? Pretty please?’ Scarlett Byrne said screeching around the room, in her element that her whole family were here together.

  Spoiling her and giving her gifts as if it was her birthday.

  ‘Nanny, Nanny? Which one?’ Joanie laughed.

  ‘Both of you!’ Scarlett said, pulling at her nanny Joanie’s arm, before reaching out for her nanny Colleen too.

  ‘Ohh, I think we can manage a puzzle, don’t you, Joanie?’ The two women at ease with each other. Their quarrelling days well and truly put to bed now that their granddaughter was back home again, safe and sound.

  Suddenly all of their rowing and bitterness felt so petty and pointless.

  They both had this little fireball in common.

  It made sense to get along. To join forces. Lord knows they needed each other’s morale with the amount of energy little Scarlett had.

  ‘Er, what about your doddering old grandaddy?’ Michael Byrne said, trying his luck. Still wracked with guilt and acutely aware that he’d only been invited here today by Nancy for Scarlett’s sake. Because the child had wanted so desperately to see him. ‘Do I get to help?’

  He smiled at Scarlett. Deeply ashamed of what he’d done. For all of it. For cheating on Joanie, or at least he would have done given half the chance. But more so for putting Scarlett in such risk.

  For leaving her alone like he had.

  There was no fool like an old fool, isn’t that what they said? He just hoped that in time his Joanie would forgive him. Until then, he was just happy to be given the time of day. To see with his own eyes that little Scarlett was okay.

  ‘Yes, you can help too, Grandaddy,’ Scarlett said, after a couple of seconds’ consideration. Then not wanting to leave anyone out, she added. ‘You can all help me. Come on.’

  ‘Oh we can, can we!’ Nancy said, as she watched Scarlett tip the jigsaw puzzle out all over the floor. Her family all sitting around her, obediently sorting through the pieces as Scarlett gave them all instructions.

  Nancy couldn’t help but smile then.

  Still unable to believe their good fortune, that she had Scarlett back.

  Her baby, safe at home, where she belonged.

  The last few days still raw in her mind.

  She still couldn’t believe the ordeal that her poor little girl had been subjected to.

  That Scarlett had been some part of Daniel’s warped, fucked-up kidnap plot.

  Her brother, the bastard.

  All to get his own back on her.

  How could he have done it? How could he have brought himself to push Scarlett into the river? To attempt to drown her. A small child. His own niece.

  Even if he had pulled her back out again.

  He’d still done it. He’d still sunk so low as to almost kill a child. Her child.

  When Colleen had called her and Jack to tell them that Scarlett was home. That she’d found her in her dad’s car in the garage, blue with the cold, and she’d gone into shock; she’d called for an ambulance, but she’d told them that Scarlett was safe. That she was home.

  Nancy and Jack had raced to the hospital in record time.

  Amazed after they’d found out what had happened, that Scarlett hadn’t suffered with hypothermia.

  Daniel, the gutless bastard, must have brought her back to the house and dumped her inside the car. Listless and barely moving. Not giving a shit that she might die.

  He must have left her there, on the whim that she would be found.

  Colleen said she hadn’t seen anything untoward. She’d only gone in there because she’d seen the side door ajar.

  That’s when she’d found her.

  Scarlett. Their little fighter.

  Glad to be home with her parents, she seemed to be coping with the entire experience a lot better than they were. Nancy couldn’t even sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could envisage was the image of her daughter’s small body being swallowed by the dark murky waters of the River Thames.

  Refusing to let Scarlett out of her sight now, she wouldn’t rest until Daniel was found. And they would find that bastard.

  She’d made Jack vow to her that no matter what they would track him down.

  She would catch up, eventually, with her brother the fucking vanishing act that he was – and when she did, she would personally annihilate him for what he’d put Scarlett through.

  What he’d put them all through.

  She’d take great pleasure in personally wiping him from the face of the planet.

  ‘Hey! You all right?’ Bridget said then, passing her friend a glass of champagne. Recognising the distant look in Nancy’s eyes.

  Nancy was a million miles away again, lost in her thoughts, still in shock over everything that had happened.

  ‘She’s okay, Nance,’ Bridget said, pulling her mate close and rubbing her arm. She knew how traumatic Scarlett going missing had been for Nancy.

  Scarlett was Nancy’s world. The woman loved her daughter more than anything.

/>   ‘Look at her, Nancy, she’s coping better than all of us. I said to your nan and Colleen earlier. She’s got fire in her belly that one. She’s just like her mumma. She’s going to be just fine, and so are you. You all are.’

  Nancy nodded then, trying and failing to hold back the single tear that escaped as Jack walked over and pulled her close to him, hugging her tightly.

  The two of them were in this together.

  And Nancy allowed him to hold her. In fact, she wanted him to. She wanted to breathe him in, to keep him close to her.

  This man that had stood beside her through the most harrowing times in her life.

  She was in love with him.

  She had been for years, only she’d been too scared and vulnerable to admit it. Even to herself.

  Jack was her rock.

  The one person who through all of this had somehow managed to keep her sane.

  And what’s more, he adored her too.

  He looked down at her then and caught her eye. Smiling at her, both of them knew.

  As bad as everything had been the past few days, it had brought them together.

  United them as one.

  They were a family now, and Nancy had decided that finally she was going to put her fears behind her, and give the man a chance.

  He’d already proved himself to her in every way. Over and over again.

  Leaning up towards him, Nancy kissed him back.

  ‘Oh, Jesus!’ Bridget rolled her eyes then and laughed, trying to lighten the mood. Made up for her two friends that they’d finally realised they were made for each other and put themselves out of their never-ending misery. ‘Would the pair of you get a room? Neither of you have kept your hands off each other all day and, if I’m going to be perfectly honest with you both, it’s a bit sickening to watch.’

  Jack grinned then. Looking like the proudest, happiest man in the world.

  ‘How could I possibly keep my hands off this one huh? Look at her, she’s just amazing.’ He leant down then and kissed Nancy tentatively on the head.

  Her emotions were so raw, so overwhelmed by the past few days’ events that this only made Nancy cry.

  ‘What’s the matter, Mummy?’ Scarlett said then, looking up, and catching her mummy wiping her tears away, as her daddy held her in his arms.

  ‘I’m just so happy,’ Nancy said, breaking away from Jack and bending down to reassure Scarlett. ‘To have all of this. To have you. I’m just so, so happy.’