Little Boy Lost

by J. P. Carter

  She remembered what DCS Nash had said about the homes of some police officers and politicians being targeted by the rioters. Whoever had done this must have known that it was the address of a Met detective, but around here it was no secret. She was on first-name terms with some of the neighbours, and those she wasn’t acquainted with had probably been told that she was the woman whose daughter was abducted ten years ago. In fact the media had turned up here in force just a month ago after she and Chloe were reunited.

  It seemed inconceivable to Anna that they’d been separated again, this time by the riots. She could only hope and pray that it wouldn’t be for long.

  She quickly let herself in and called out Chloe’s name as she rushed from room to room. But her daughter wasn’t there and every room was empty.

  In Chloe’s bedroom she found her daughter’s mobile phone, which she had obviously forgotten to take with her when Tom came to pick her up. She checked it and saw all the missed calls.

  She told herself to stay calm, to act like a police officer rather than a distraught mother.

  She tried to put herself in Chloe’s shoes. How would a twelve-year-old have acted in the situation she found herself in? The man who had come to take care of her was beaten up and carted off in front of her eyes. That would have been terrifying enough. But she would have realised then that she didn’t have a key to get back inside her home. And all this while the street she was on was teeming with gangs of violent rioters.

  The first logical step was to check with the closest neighbours. Being a Saturday most of them were in, but none of them had any knowledge of Chloe’s whereabouts. And they hadn’t witnessed the incident the previous evening when Tom was attacked.

  Back in the house, Anna tried to control her thoughts, which had begun to run amok. Panic seized her chest, making it hard for her to breathe.

  She knew well enough that her options were limited. There was no one to help her find Chloe. London was in the grip of a crisis and those officers who weren’t trying to restore order were investigating an unprecedented spate of serious crimes, including the death of Jacob Rossi in the pub cellar.

  Anna was alone. Again. She had not the slightest idea where to begin the search for her daughter. She was tempted to take to the streets with a photo of Chloe. But would that be a waste of time? What if her daughter had been abducted? Or what if she’d wandered into one of the buildings that had been set on fire?

  Anna’s mind was raging in all directions now and taking her to ever darker places. She dropped onto a chair in the kitchen and her fingers drummed a nervous beat on the table.

  Before long tears were pushing at her eyes, and she felt a scream building at the back of her throat.

  Then suddenly her phone rang and she whipped it out of her pocket. The caller ID said Max Walker, and Anna gave a frustrated growl before answering.

  ‘Ma’am—’ DI Walker began.

  ‘I’m sorry, Max. I don’t have time for any case updates right now,’ Anna interrupted abruptly. ‘Chloe is still missing, and I don’t have any idea where she could be.’ Normally she would never be so short with one of her officers, but this was no ordinary situation.

  ‘Actually, ma’am, Chloe is the reason I’m calling. I have news.’

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  It was the first time Chloe had set foot in her mother’s office, and she was surprised how small it was. There was just a desk, three chairs, and a couple of tall metal filing cabinets. On the other side of the only window there was a big room with lots more desks and people who looked as though they were really busy.

  ‘That’s what we call the operations room,’ said the uniformed policewoman who had been told to look after her. ‘It’s where all the detectives work on the investigations.’

  Chloe’s eyes were focused on one detective in particular. He had a bald head and was talking into his phone while looking back at her through the window.

  He had introduced himself as Max, but others were calling him DI Walker. He was the one who had come rushing down to the reception area after Ryan’s parents had dropped her off here. He seemed really nice and she liked him. Her mum was his boss apparently and Chloe remembered now that she’d heard her talking to him on the phone plenty of times during the past month.

  When he ended the call, he smiled at her and walked straight back into the office.

  ‘That was your mum,’ he said. ‘She now knows that you’re here and she’s told me to tell you that she loves you. She’s been out looking for you and now she’s on her way back. She wants you to know that Tom is in hospital, but he’s going to be OK.’

  Chloe caught her breath and felt her stomach go tight. She was so happy and relieved that Tom was still alive. She was looking forward to seeing him, almost as much as she was looking forward to seeing her mum.

  ‘Sit on your mum’s chair behind the desk,’ Max said. ‘It’s the most comfortable. Constable Bryant here will fetch you something to eat and drink. I know you’ve had a bad experience, but you’re safe now so try to relax.’

  He had asked her where she’d been all night and she’d told him about running away from the house after Tom was taken and getting lost in the streets before ending up in Wesley’s flat. He hadn’t pressed her for details and she was glad because she was in no mood to say a lot.

  Officer Bryant asked her what she wanted to eat, and until that moment she hadn’t realised how hungry she was. She opted for a bacon sandwich and a Coke, and then settled down in her mum’s chair.

  She was glad now that she had washed her face and hands before leaving Wesley’s flat. But she’d been too distressed to eat, especially after Ryan’s dad came back from visiting the fire-ravaged gift shop.

  He was crying uncontrollably, and so was Wesley, because they had seen Ryan’s charred body being recovered. Chloe had wept to, and despite what Ryan’s mother had said to her she hadn’t been able to stop feeling guilty. If she hadn’t fallen over in the road their son wouldn’t have stopped to pick her up and he’d still be alive.

  Ryan’s mum, whose name was Dominique Claymore, had told Chloe that they would take her to Wandsworth police station. Her husband had given their contact details to the police, and the pair were anxious to get home and away from Wesley, who they held partly responsible for what had happened.

  But Chloe viewed him in a different light because he had saved her life. So before leaving the flat she got him to write his name and number on a piece of paper and gave him a hug.

  ‘Thank you for what you did,’ she told him. ‘I won’t forget it. Or you.’

  ‘And I won’t forget you,’ he said. ‘For the record do you want me to call you Chloe or Alice?’

  Chloe thought about it for a few beats and then smiled. ‘From now on I’m Chloe. Chloe Tate.’

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Anna did not know whether to laugh, cry or scream when she saw Chloe sitting behind her desk nibbling on a sandwich. So she followed her instinct and just rushed into the office.

  ‘Oh, sweetheart, you had me so worried,’ she said excitedly. ‘Thank goodness you’re all right.’

  It was an emotional reunion for both of them with tears, hugs and loud sighs of relief.

  Anna was brimming with joy. She’d got her daughter back for a second time, but was still reeling inside from the fright she’d had.

  Chloe looked awful. There were wounds on her face and her clothes were badly stained. Her hair was a dirty mess and there were dark crescents under her eyes.

  ‘I rang the hospital and told them to tell Tom that you’re no longer missing,’ she said. ‘He was so worried about you. He was unconscious for most of the night and so he couldn’t tell anyone what had happened until he woke up.’

  ‘It was horrible what they did to him, Mum,’ Chloe said. ‘There was nothing I could do when they drove away with him on top of the car. I’ve been so scared that they killed him.’

  ‘He’s got some broken bones and a sore head, but he’s al
ready on the mend.’ Anna gestured at the wounds on Chloe’s face – the gash on her chin and the bruised lump on her forehead. ‘You also look as though you’ve had a rough time of it. You told Max that you haven’t been physically assaulted. Is that true, sweetheart?’

  Chloe nodded. ‘I fell over a couple of times while running, but I’m not hurting as much as I was last night.’

  ‘Well I want to know exactly what happened to you. And you need to tell me about the couple who brought you here. Max said they didn’t come inside the building.’

  ‘They went straight home,’ Chloe said. ‘They’d only just found out that their son was dead.’

  Anna told Chloe to sit back down while she closed the office door behind her. Walker was standing outside and she gave him the thumbs-up sign.

  Then Anna pulled up one of the other chairs so that she could sit next to Chloe.

  ‘You have to tell me everything,’ she said. ‘I want to know exactly what happened to you after you left the house with Tom yesterday. Then we’ll go home, you can have a long, hot bath and we can spend the evening together.’

  ‘Can you take me to see Tom first?’ Chloe asked.

  Anna smiled. ‘Of course. The hospital isn’t far from here and I know it will cheer him up no end.’

  Chloe leaned back in the chair and her face crumpled in thought.

  ‘So in your own time, sweetheart,’ Anna said. ‘What happened?’

  *

  Chloe’s eyes were bright with tears as she spoke about her ordeal. As Anna listened, the blood seemed to clot in her veins and she felt an ache swell in her chest.

  The events Chloe described were horrendous, and Anna was amazed that her daughter managed to hold it together so well.

  It began with the attack on Tom and how she watched the rioters beat him up and then drive off with him on the bonnet of his car.

  ‘I screamed at them to leave him alone,’ Chloe said. ‘But they ignored me.’

  Then she saw a man spraying words on their front door while another man was urinating against the wall next to it.

  ‘That was when I started running, but was I hit by a motorbike, which knocked me out,’ she said, her voice shaking.

  She explained how she almost fell victim to two creatures who wanted to rape her, and how she witnessed a boy being beaten up. And then a shadow flickered across her eyes as she spoke about how she was trampled on by a mob of rioters before being carried into a shop.

  ‘That was why Ryan was killed,’ she said, sobbing now. ‘It was really, really terrible.’ She struggled to describe the scene in the shop and Anna only just managed to hold back her own tears.

  It shocked her that she herself had actually heard about some of the incidents on the news and she’d even seen the clip posted online of a hooded youth hurling a petrol bomb into the gift shop, killing the man named Ryan who had rescued Chloe from the street.

  Anna made a mental note to get in touch with Ryan’s mother and with the lad’s friend Wesley who had saved Chloe from the fire. She would thank them both personally, let them know how grateful she was.

  There was a faraway look in Chloe’s eyes as she stopped speaking. Anna could see that she was physically weak, drained of energy, traumatised. And she knew that the full weight of shock had yet to kick in.

  Anna reached out and stroked her daughter’s cheek.

  ‘You’ve had a terrible experience, sweetheart,’ she said. ‘You got through it because you’re a sensible and mature girl, and I’m proud of you. Now I want you to wait here for a few minutes while I have a quick word with Max and the others. Then we’ll head off to the hospital. OK?’

  Chloe nodded and indicated her can of Coke on the desk. ‘Can you ask the lady to get me another one of these please?’ she said.

  Anna grinned and told her she would.

  Back in the ops room she asked Constable Bryant to get Chloe another drink and then filled DI Walker in on what Chloe had told her.

  ‘I’ll have to take her home,’ she said. ‘It’s bad timing, I know, but I don’t have a choice. She needs me right now.’

  ‘Of course she does, guv,’ Walker said. ‘And it’s not a problem. We’ve got everything under control. I’ve spoken to Nash and he knows what’s happened. He says he’ll be in later and he accepts that we won’t be making much progress today because those of us who’ve been working through the night need to get some shuteye. Meanwhile, the powers that be are bracing themselves for another hellish night on the streets, and that will slow things down as well.’

  ‘I won’t be back tomorrow unless I can find someone to stay with Chloe. I don’t want to leave her alone.’

  ‘I don’t blame you. Just let me know.’

  ‘Have you heard from DI Benning? He was going to the mortuary for the formal ID.’

  ‘He came straight back here afterwards and he told me the parents confirmed the dead boy is indeed their son, Jacob,’ Walker said. ‘He then said he was going to follow up on what you were told about Mark Rossi having a stepbrother he doesn’t know who might be living in Camberwell.’

  ‘That’s right. He’s another potential suspect, but an outsider at best. So where is Benning? I don’t see him here.’

  ‘He’s one of those I’ve already sent home to get some rest,’ Walker said. ‘I thought he was looking pretty rough as well as tired. I get the impression he’s taking the boy’s death really hard.’

  ‘He told me he blames himself for not finding Jacob,’ Anna said, and felt a tad guilty for not making Walker aware of his fellow DI’s health problem. ‘But I think we would all feel the same in his shoes.’

  Walker nodded. ‘I know I would.’

  He then informed Anna that they still hadn’t managed to trace Michelle Gerrard and Roy Slater, but would hopefully be gaining access to both their homes later in the day or tomorrow.

  ‘Forensics are still sifting through the stuff from the cellar,’ Walker continued. ‘And they’ve now got the letter and photo that was sent to Mark Rossi. We’ve just got to wait for the results to come through. But nothing’s moving at its usual pace because of the riots.’

  ‘And that will continue to be a problem for us and everyone else,’ Anna said. ‘Those nutters out there seem determined to drag this out as long as they can.’

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  Tom was still in the recovery room when they got to the hospital. He was wide awake and smiled broadly when he saw Chloe. But within seconds they were both overcome by emotion and began to cry.

  Anna struggled to suppress her own tears as she watched Chloe trying to articulate her feelings.

  ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t save you from those men,’ she was saying. ‘I tried but they wouldn’t listen to me. And then … and then they took you away and I didn’t know what else to do but start running.’

  Tom put his good arm around her as she leaned over the bed and told her that he thought she was the bravest girl he knew.

  He then asked Chloe what had happened to her. This time she seemed to find it a little easier to talk about, and her voice was clearer and more measured.

  Tom was left clearly shaken by what she had been through. He squeezed her hand and shook his head.

  ‘You’ve had far too many bad experiences for someone so young,’ he said. ‘Let’s hope that from now on life will be much kinder to you.’

  ‘I’ll second that,’ Anna said.

  Tom then asked Anna how serious things were on the streets. Indicating the small TV on a stand in the corner, he said, ‘I’ve seen bits on the news and it seems like the police have lost control of the situation.’

  ‘We’re having a hard time coping,’ Anna said. ‘These are so much worse than the riots of 2011. The amount of damage being done is off the scale.’

  ‘What about the case you’re working on?’ Tom said. ‘The boy in the cellar.’

  ‘It’s progressing, but slowly,’ Anna replied.

  ‘So will you be back on the job tomorrow?’
r />   Anna shrugged. ‘That depends on whether I can find someone to be with Chloe. I’ve got a couple of friends who will hopefully let her stay with them while I’m working. If they can’t for any reason then the team will have to manage without me.’

  ‘But I don’t want to stay with any strangers,’ Chloe moaned. ‘Please don’t make me.’

  ‘Why not let her stay here with me?’ Tom said. ‘We can keep each other company and she’ll be perfectly safe.’

  ‘I can bring my tablet and some books,’ Chloe said, smiling. ‘And some games as well.’

  Anna didn’t bother to argue, mainly because she thought it was the perfect solution to her problem. She also hoped it would prove to be a good opportunity for them to bond.

  ‘It’s a deal then,’ she said. ‘I’ll drop her off in the morning and pick her up when I’ve finished for the day.’

  When they got home the first thing Anna did was grab a tin of wood stain from the garden shed. She used it to brush over the words sprayed on the front door. She then ran a bath for Chloe and had a quick shower herself.

  She caught sight of the time as she was pulling on her dressing gown, and was surprised to see that it was already four p.m. The time had flown by, and it was no wonder that she felt sleep-deprived and hungry. She’d managed to fortify herself with cups of coffee during the day but she hadn’t eaten a thing.

  ‘What would you like for dinner?’ she asked Chloe when the pair of them got together in the kitchen.

  ‘I’d love a pizza,’ Chloe said.

  ‘Then a pizza it is, plus chips and some baked beans.’

  She was glad to see that Chloe was looking so much better now that she had washed her hair and exchanged her dirty dungarees for her bright yellow pyjamas.

  Anna stopped what she was doing and stared at her. She’d only had her back for a month and she hadn’t let her out of her sight in all that time. But only now did it occur to her just how grown up she appeared to be. Rather than a twelve-year-old she looked more like a girl in her mid-teens. Was that because so many terrible things had happened to her? Anna wondered.