The Missing Children

by M A Comley

  “In the cubicles on the left. I’ll get someone to show you through.”

  “No, it’s fine. I’ll find them.” She rushed towards the cubicles and called out, “Kelvin, are you here?”

  “In here,” a croaky voice replied.

  Dave poked his head round the nearest curtain. “Hello, mate. How are you doing?”

  Kayli followed her partner into the cubicle. Kelvin was sitting on the bed, fully clothed, looking bewildered. “I’m fine. We’re all fine, I think.”

  “Can you tell us what happened?” Kayli walked around the other side of the bed and stood beside him.

  “It’s all such a blur. I was asleep on the couch. I was on the nightshift, and the boss sent me home early. I couldn’t concentrate at work after the conversation we’d had yesterday. I only got home at five thirty. I dread to think what might have happened to Lorella and Marcia if I’d stayed at work. Why would anyone do this to us? We’re just a normal family grieving the loss of our beautiful daughter. Why punish us further by destroying our home? Did you see what they wrote on our house? Is that what we’re going to have to put up with for the rest of our lives? Is that what people truly believe?” He coughed, having used up all the breath in his lungs.

  “First of all, I have to say, I’m so sorry that this has happened. People always react badly where children are concerned. Thank God you were at home to save Lorella and Marcia.”

  “That’s what keeps going over and over in my mind. Would they have survived if I hadn’t been there? I don’t believe they would have. Lorella was out cold, as she’d taken a sleeping tablet.” He covered his face with his hands and sobbed. “Jesus, if I hadn’t left work early, I would now be grieving the loss of all of my family... not just Jamillia. Why?”

  Kayli and Dave looked at each other. What is this really about? A vendetta of sorts? “Kelvin, you have to think, deep into the recesses of your mind... can you come up with anyone who could have a possible vendetta against you? Anything at all?”

  He dropped his hands from his face and swiped at the tears. “I’ve thought long and hard about that very thing, but I can’t think of anyone who would be that callous to have done such a thing. They’d need to have a badly twisted mind, and no one I know comes close to that.”

  Kayli placed a hand on his arm. “Just keep thinking, all right? Something doesn’t stack up here.”

  “I’ve never knowingly fallen out with anyone in my life. Even if I had, would they truly come after me and my kids in this dreadful way?”

  “In our experience, it only takes a minor incident to trigger some people off. Keep mulling things over.”

  “I’m thinking of nothing else. Can you have a word with the doc for me? I need to see my family.”

  Kayli nodded and left the cubicle. A doctor was talking to a nurse outside a cubicle farther down the hallway. She fished out her ID again and showed it to him. “Hello, Doc. I’m investigating the crime against the Watson family. Can you tell me how they are?”

  “Very lucky. Although the child is suffering more than the adults from smoke inhalation. We’ve moved her to ICU as a precaution so we can keep a close eye on her.”

  “Is she going to be okay?”

  “Hopefully, yes. But we won’t be able to tell how much damage has been done for a day or two. We’ll monitor her vital signs until then. Mrs. Watson has been transferred to the women’s ward. She’s asleep, I believe. It’s my understanding that she had taken a sleeping tablet last night, so she’s very fortunate that her husband saved her. They both are. He’s a very brave man.”

  “He is. He loves his family. That much is clear. Thanks, Doc.” Kayli returned to the cubicle to find both Kelvin and Dave waiting patiently for the update. “Your wife has been moved to the women’s ward, and she’s asleep. Marcia has been transferred to ICU as a precaution. She’s having a hard time breathing on her own at present. She’ll be well cared for up there.”

  Kelvin swivelled and dropped his legs to the floor. “I need to go and see her. Them. Please help me?”

  “It would be better to stay here until the doctor discharges you, Kelvin. There’s nothing you can do for either of them at this time.”

  The curtain swished, and the doctor Kayli had spoken to in the hallway entered the cubicle. “I understand your need to be with your family, Mr. Watson. Let me give you a final once-over, and then you’re free to go, okay?”

  Kayli gestured for Dave to leave them to it. In the hallway, she ran a concerned hand through her hair. “We need to get back to the station to begin the investigation, but I don’t want it to feel as though we’re running out on him at a time when he needs our support.”

  “His family are safe in the hospital. We should get back. We can’t catch the bastards who did this hanging around here.”

  “I know. Let’s see what the doc says first and then decide. What a bloody mess.”

  “Hey, I know that look. Don’t you go thinking we’re to blame for this.”

  “What if one of his neighbours did it? What if they saw us at his house and presumed he was guilty?”

  Dave shrugged. “Even if they did, that’s still no excuse to try and kill the family. You know it takes a certain type of person to want to kill someone, boss.”

  “Right. But we haven’t questioned any of the neighbours. Maybe that’s where we’ve been going wrong.”

  “Hmm... Want me to ring the station and get it organised?”

  “No. I think we should return to the scene and question the neighbours ourselves.”

  “Boss, you can’t do everything yourself. I know how much you hate to delegate, but—”

  “We’re doing it. That’s the end of it, Dave.”

  The doctor and Kelvin walked out of the cubicle. “I’ve given him the all-clear under strict instructions that if he feels worse, he immediately reports back to me and my team,” the doctor informed them before he walked away.

  “Excellent news. Are you going to sit with your daughter, Kelvin?”

  “Yes, I need to be with her. I can’t stand the thought of losing another daughter. Who would try and kill us like this? We’ve never knowingly fallen out with anyone. Who could think we’d be responsible of murdering our own daughter?”

  Kayli’s heart squeezed. She placed a comforting hand on his arm. “We’re going to do our very best to find out. We’re heading off soon. Are you sure you’re going to be okay? Shall we come with you to ICU?”

  “No, I can manage. I’d rather you be out there, looking for the person who tried to destroy my family. Do you think it’s the same person who abducted Jamillia? It wasn’t enough for them to put us through the turmoil of losing one child so they returned to ensure we suffered the loss of Marcia too.”

  “We don’t have all the answers right now. Hopefully, we’ll be able to report back to you soon with more details. Will you stay at the hospital with your family for now?”

  “Yes, I won’t leave them. I refuse to.”

  “We’ll be in touch soon. Take care, Kelvin.”

  “Just catch the bastards, Inspector.”

  Kelvin’s words rattled around her mind as she and Dave raced through the hospital and out to the car. Dave drove while Kayli rang the station.

  “Donna, it’s me. The family are all okay. We’re on our way back to the scene now to question the neighbours. We haven’t delved into the neighbours’ backgrounds yet, have we?”

  “Can’t do that without a name, boss. I can try just putting the address in to see what comes up, if you like. I’ve never tried that before.”

  “Try it, but don’t waste much time on it. We’ll gather some names and question the neighbours and then come back to base. I’m thinking along the lines that someone has a vendetta against the family. Kelvin was on night shift last night, but luckily, his boss sent him home early. I dread to think how far the fire would have spread if he hadn’t been there. I’m pretty sure we would have been treating this as another murder enquiry if it wasn’t
for his quick thinking.”

  “Crap! That’s all the family need, to be living in fear for the rest of their lives.”

  “Exactly. I refuse to let that happen. See you soon. Let me know if anything shows up on the system. Text me if you will, Donna.”

  “I’ll do that, boss.”

  “Oh wait! One last thing. Do me a favour and chase up the sketch artist for me. We need to know who Samantha saw at the school and begin circulating her photo, now!”

  Kayli ended the call and leaned back against the headrest. “Good call on the sketch artist. We could question the neighbours now and then return once we have the artist’s drawing to hand to see if anyone saw the girl at the scene before the fire was started.”

  “Yeah, that was my thinking too.”

  Dave put his foot down and arrived in the Watsons’ neighbourhood within twenty minutes. The area was still cordoned off, and a few of the neighbours were standing around, discussing the events of the morning. Kayli and Dave approached a group of four women, all of varying ages. Some were fully dressed, and a couple of them still wore their dressing gowns. One woman had a toddler on her hip. “Hello, everyone. I’m DI Kayli Bright, and this is my partner, DS Dave Chaplin. Mind if we have a chat with you all, separately?”

  “Why? We didn’t see anything. You can’t stop us from looking as long as we remain behind the tape,” the young woman holding the toddler said.

  Kayli combatted the woman’s off-hand statement with a smile. “We simply want to ask a few questions.”

  “There’s no harm in that, Emma. Get off your high horse for a change,” one of the older women said.

  “You lot can do what you like. I’m having nothing to do with it. If the police had arrested the husband in the first place, I doubt this would have happened.”

  The hairs on the back of Kayli’s neck stood on end. “You’re giving me the impression that you think Kelvin Watson is guilty of killing his daughter Jamillia. Is that what you’re implying?”

  “Whatever,” she snapped back, her lip curling up at the side.

  “Dave, why don’t you talk to these three ladies while I have a private chat with Emma? Sorry, I didn’t catch your surname...”

  “It’s Emma Dawson,” one of the other women shouted from the back of the group. “She always has a lot to say for herself.”

  “Up yours, Cindy.”

  “Shall we go inside and have a chat, Emma?” Kayli asked.

  She sighed heavily and adjusted the little girl on her hip then led Kayli up the narrow path to a semi opposite the Watsons’ smoking house.

  “Let me put her in her playpen first.”

  “You do that.”

  Once the toddler was settled in the playpen in the kitchen, Emma motioned for Kayli to take a seat at the table.

  Kayli sat down, her gaze fixed on the young woman as she dropped into the chair opposite her. “You seemed angry outside. May I ask why?”

  “I have a right to be, knowing that there’s a killer living on the estate.”

  Kayli frowned. “How do you know Mr. Watson is a murderer?”

  “Bloody obvious from where I’m standing. You lot should have arrested him and taken him in for questioning.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “You can tell he’s as guilty as sin. Shifty bugger, he is.”

  “He’s never struck me as being that. Have you ever seen him ill-treat either of his children?”

  Her eyes dropped to the table, and she shook her head. “No. That doesn’t mean that he didn’t abuse them, though.”

  “Granted. So, I have to ask, why the animosity towards him?”

  The woman remained silent for a while.

  Kayli pressed on. “Because he’s black?”

  Emma’s head shot up, and her eyes bored into Kayli’s. “I never said that.”

  “Then give me a suitable reason. Otherwise, I’ll have no other option than to put this down as a racist POV.”

  “You can’t say that. I’m not racist, not in the slightest.”

  “Then give me a good reason why you should suspect Mr. Watson of killing his own child.”

  She hitched up her shoulders. “I have a feeling, that’s all. Usually, my gut feelings turn out to be correct.”

  “Give me some statistics?”

  “What?”

  Kayli sighed. “I need to verify how good your gut feelings are, so tell me how often you’re right. A hundred percent of the time?”

  “Nope. I’d say about ninety percent.”

  “Not bad. However, that still leaves ten percent ratio for error. Do you get where I’m going with this?”

  Emma’s eyes dropped to the table again, and a crimson colour filled her chubby cheeks. “Typical police. You always twist things when someone is trying to help you. You should look deeper into that man’s past. That’s all I’m saying.”

  Kayli tilted her head. “We have done that already and found nothing. Are you telling me that we’ve missed something?”

  “That’s all I’m saying. My boyfriend would be mad at me if he found out I’d grassed to the police.”

  “That’s a mind-blowing statement you just made, Emma. Maybe I should ask you to get dressed and accompany me to the station.”

  “It ain’t going to happen.” She rose from her chair and walked to the door. “I’d like you to leave now. I need to get ready and go out for nappies for the baby.”

  “You haven’t seen the last of me. Maybe I’ll come back this evening when your boyfriend is at home.”

  “Do one. You come back then, and I’ll deny ever speaking to you. Just do your job and dig into Watson’s past. You’ll be surprised what secrets you find lurking there.”

  “I will. Are you telling me that he’s tried it on with you?”

  “Nope. He wouldn’t dare. I hear he likes them young, though,” she replied with a tight smile.

  “Okay. I’ll keep digging. Here, should your conscience get the better of you and you decide to tell me what you know.” Kayli handed her a card and walked out the front door, feeling frustrated beyond words. Bitch! Maybe she’s an attention seeker. We get them all the time. But then, I shouldn’t discount what she says, either.

  Dave looked as dejected as she did when she joined him. “How did you get on?”

  “As well as you, by the looks of things. Nothing.”

  “She’s such a frustrating minx to deal with. I suspect she knows something. I just don’t know how to get it out of her.”

  “Want me to have a word with her? Try the heavy-hand technique.”

  “No point. I already tried that.” Kayli checked her emails to find one had arrived from Donna. She opened it to find an attachment with the picture the sketch artist had drawn of the young woman who had abducted Jamillia. “This might help. I’ll send you a copy. Go back and ask the people you’ve just interviewed if they know the woman, and I’ll do the same with the feisty Emma.” She forwarded the message and returned to Emma’s house. Kayli waited, tapping her foot, for the woman to answer the door. Eventually, Kayli lifted the flap on the letter box and shouted, “Emma, open the door please. It’s Inspector Bright again.”

  She heard the woman reply, “I’m in the bathroom. You’ll have to wait.”

  Kayli paced up and down the path for the next five minutes until Emma, fully dressed, opened the door. “Sorry to disturb you again. I’ve just had a text and wanted to run something past you. Can I come in?”

  “No. Just tell me what you want and then go.”

  Kayli’s blood boiled in her veins. She opened her emails and showed the young, obstinate woman the drawing. She watched her expression very carefully and detected a faint recognition when Emma first laid eyes on the picture, then it quickly dissipated. “What’s her name, Emma?”

  “Haven’t got a clue. I’ve never seen her before. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get ready and go out.”

  “I know you’re lying. If I find out you are, I’ll be charg
ing you with obstructing a police enquiry.”

  “Do what you like. I just want to keep out of this shit. Why don’t you run along and do your job properly instead of sticking around here, pestering the neighbours?”

  “You haven’t heard the last of this, Emma. In the words of Schwarzenegger, ‘I’ll be back.’”

  “Whatever. I’ve told you what I think you should do. I wish I’d kept my mouth shut now. I have no intention of helping you further.”

  “Why? What are you afraid of? Who are you afraid of?”

  “Goodbye, Inspector.”

  Kayli turned and vented her frustration by kicking a stone lying in her way on the path. She met up with Dave back at the car. “Anything?”

  Dave’s mouth twisted. “Yes and no. One of them thought she’d seen the girl in the area, but couldn’t give me a definite time or date when that was. How about you?”

  “She recognised her, all right, but denied it outright. Something fishy is going on around here, Dave.”

  “With Watson?”

  “Yep. How the hell we’re going to find out what that is when no one is willing to help us, I have no friggin’ idea. It’s all very well people expecting the police to protect them, but if they’re not willing to help us, what are we supposed to do?”

  “I hope they bloody sleep well at night. That’s all I have to say on the matter. Morons.”

  “We’re done here. Let’s grab some lunch on the way back.”

  “At the pub?” Dave asked, his eyes lighting up at the thought of a liquid lunch.

  “Naughty. No, at the baker’s on the high street.”

  “Worth a try.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Blackbird pulled up outside the cottage. A light was on in the kitchen, and the white van was in the drive. He was getting pretty fed up of coming out to the house every time one of them rang him with a query. He walked through the side gate and entered the kitchen. The pair of them were at it on the kitchen table. He slammed the door shut behind him, and they separated.

  “Shit, man. You could’ve told us you were coming,” Swift said angrily as he pulled up his trousers and tucked in his T-shirt.