Stolen Children

by Michael Wood

  ‘You need to call the police.’

  ‘I’ll call them too,’ she lied.

  ***

  4:45pm

  ‘Mum, I’m back,’ Jodie called from the hallway. ‘I’ve been right back to the school and nobody’s seen …’ She stopped in the entrance to the living room when she saw her mother on the sofa with Amanda Raine comforting her. ‘What’s up?’

  ‘Did you find her?’ Linda jumped up from the sofa.

  ‘No. I even knocked on a few of her friends’ doors as I passed. Nobody’s seen her since she left school.’

  ‘Oh my God,’ Amanda said.

  ‘See, now do you believe me?’

  ‘What’s going on?’ Jodie asked.

  ‘Jodie, come with me.’ Amanda turned Jodie around and pushed her out into the hallway, closing the living room door behind her. ‘Jodie, your mum seems to think Keeley’s been kidnapped.’

  ‘What? That’s ridiculous. She’ll have just gone off with a friend or something.’

  ‘That’s what I said. She said she’s had a phone call from someone demanding fifty thousand pounds.’

  ‘What? But … oh my God.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Keeley had PE today.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘She said that Mr Page …’

  ‘What about Mr Page?’

  A look of horror etched itself on Jodie’s face. ‘Have you called the police?’

  ‘No. I called your dad but he’s in Chesterfield on a delivery. He said he’ll come back as soon as he can.’

  ‘We should call the police.’

  ‘Jodie, what is it? What do you know?’

  ‘I think Mum might be right. I think Keeley might have been taken.’

  Chapter 2

  ‘I’m Detective Sergeant Sian Mills. This is Detective Constable Finn Cotton from South Yorkshire Police.’

  ‘Come in,’ Amanda ushered them both into the house and quickly closed the door behind them.

  All three stood in the cramped hallway. Sian looked at the walls and took in the framed pictures of a happy family smiling at her. There were coats hanging on the wall and shoes haphazardly placed at the bottom of the stairs. This was a lived-in family home.

  ‘Was it you who called the police?’ Sian asked.

  ‘Yes. It’s Mr and Mrs Armitage’s daughter, Keeley, who’s gone missing.’

  ‘Are they through there?’ Sian asked, pointing to what she assumed was the living room.

  ‘Yes. Linda’s in a bit of a state,’ she said in hushed tones. ‘Craig’s, well, he’s a bit more controlled.’

  ‘Ok. And you’re saying Keeley has been kidnapped?’

  ‘Well,’ Amanda leaned closer to Sian. She dropped her voice even lower. ‘That’s what Linda says. I’m not sure if I believe her.’

  ‘Right,’ Sian said, exchanging glances with Finn. ‘Let’s go and have a word with them.’

  The living room wasn’t very large, and it was cluttered. The first thing Sian noticed was the giant bean bag in the corner. Jodie was sitting in it with Riley on her lap. He was wearing woollen mittens and a safety helmet. Linda was standing by the window, glaring out at the darkening street. She was biting her nails. Any hint of a noise, anything that caught her eye and she turned quickly towards it like a lion alert to its prey. On the sofa sat Craig. His face was expressionless. A large, solidly built man in his forties, he wore dirty jeans, an old sweater and a hi-vis waistcoat. There was a heavy atmosphere in the room, which was to be expected. Nobody spoke.

  ‘Linda, the police are here,’ Amanda said quietly as she ushered Sian and Finn into the room.

  Sian proffered a sympathetic smile. ‘Mr and Mrs Armitage, hello. I’m DS Sian Mills. This is DC Finn Cotton. Is it all right if I sit down?’ There was no reply, so Sian perched herself on the edge of the sofa next to Craig. From her bag, she took out a thick form and a ballpoint pen. She tucked her red hair behind her ears and cleared her throat. ‘I won’t patronise you by saying I know how you’re feeling right now, because I don’t. However, I’m going to do everything possible to find your daughter.’

  ‘Then why aren’t you out there looking?’ Linda said. Her eyes were full of tears. There were dark circles beneath them, and she already had the look of a defeated mother who had given up all hope.

  ‘Linda, I need to know as much as possible about Keeley before I can get a team out looking for her. The more information you give me, the more likely we are to find her.’

  ‘Ask your questions,’ Craig said.

  ‘Thank you. Now, how long has Keeley been missing for?’

  ‘It was about four o’clock when I left her outside the Co-op,’ Jodie said from the corner of the room. Her voice was barely audible.

  ‘Is that the Co-op on Oldfield Road?’

  Jodie nodded and Finn made a note in his pad.

  Sian looked at her watch. It was half past five. ‘Have you called all her friends to see if she is with any of them?’

  ‘I did,’ Amanda chimed up. ‘Linda’s got her friends’ numbers in her phone. I called them all. Nobody has seen her since she left school.’

  ‘Which school is that?’

  ‘Mary Croft Primary School on Hopwood Lane.’

  ‘And have you contacted family members to see if she’s with any of them?’

  Craig nodded. ‘She isn’t.’

  ‘Linda, what can you tell me about this phone call?’ Sian asked.

  Linda tried to speak but her emotions wouldn’t allow it. Her bottom lip wobbled. When she opened her mouth, she choked and buckled. Craig jumped up and caught her. He towered over his wife and held her firmly against his chest.

  Sian looked around the room. Bookshelves were full to bursting with paperbacks, DVDs and ornaments. Picture frames adorned the mantelpiece showing the children in various states of happiness.

  Sian turned to Jodie. She decided to leave the matter of the phone call for a moment. ‘Jodie, what was Keeley wearing when you last saw her?’

  Jodie wiped her left eye with her sleeve. ‘She was wearing her school uniform and a yellow jacket over the top. She had a pink backpack with her, too. It was a Frozen one.’

  ‘Is there a chance Keeley may have run away?’

  ‘No,’ Jodie answered.

  ‘No she bloody hasn’t,’ Linda exploded, pulling herself out of her husband’s embrace. ‘She’s been kidnapped. Somebody has taken her.’ She wiped her eyes. ‘The phone rang. I answered. A man said he’d taken my daughter and wanted fifty thousand pounds. He said he’d call back in twenty-four hours and the line went dead.’

  Finn was scribbling frantically in his notebook. ‘What time was the call?’ He asked without looking up.

  Linda looked to Amanda.

  ‘It was a little after four,’ she said. ‘Maybe ten past.’

  ‘Was it definitely a man’s voice?’ Sian asked.

  ‘I … yes. I think so.’

  ‘You think?’

  ‘It was … deep. Low.’

  ‘Did you recognise it?’

  ‘No.’

  Sian turned to look at Finn who raised an eyebrow before scribbling back into his notebook.

  ‘You don’t believe me, do you?’ Linda said. ‘Why would I make something like that up?’

  ‘Linda, nobody is doubting you. I’m just trying to get all the facts,’ Sian said in as soothing a tone as she could. ‘Now, has Keeley ever gone missing before?’

  ‘No she hasn’t,’ Linda snapped again. ‘She has no reason to go missing. Look,’ she ran her fingers through her hair, pulling at it hard. ‘She hasn’t run away. She isn’t with friends. She isn’t in the habit of just taking off without telling us. She’s nine years old for crying out loud. Some sick bastard has taken my daughter now will you do what you’re paid to do, and fucking find her,’ Linda screamed.

  Craig grabbed his wife again and pulled her towards him. ‘I think she might need to have a lie down,’ he said.

  Amanda opened the
living room door, and everyone watched as Craig practically carried Linda out of the room. Even Riley had stopped fidgeting and was glaring at his mother.

  ‘Jodie, does your sister have a mobile phone?’ Sian asked.

  ‘No. She wants one, but Dad says she’s too young.’

  ‘Do you have a recent photo of Keeley we can use?’

  ‘There’s the school one above the fireplace, but it was taken earlier this year. She’s wearing her uniform in it.’

  Sian went over to the mantelpiece and picked up the cheap silver frame. Keeley, wearing her blue cardigan and white polo shirt was beaming to the camera. Her wavy blonde hair was tied back in a neat ponytail. Her complexion was smooth and clear, her eyes a brilliant blue. Sian found herself smiling slightly as she gazed into the little girl’s eyes.

  ‘She wouldn’t run away,’ Jodie said. Her voice was broken as she tried to act the grown-up in the absence of her parents. ‘Things aren’t easy around here with Riley. We all muck in and help. She wouldn’t do anything to add more worry.’

  Sian looked down at Riley then back at Jodie. She nodded. ‘I understand. We will find her, Jodie.’

  The door opened and Craig sheepishly entered the living room. ‘I’m so sorry about that.’

  ‘There’s no need to apologise,’ Sian said. ‘This is an extraordinary situation you’re in. Now, I’m going to go back to the station, and we’ll formulate a plan to find Keeley. However, if she has been kidnapped, it’s just possible they may be watching the house. I’m going to have a Family Liaison Officer come out and spend the night here in case they make contact and to answer any questions you may have. I’m going to take this photo of Keeley,’ Sian said, showing the framed picture. ‘But I’ll make sure you get it back. Now, Craig, I need you to sign this giving your consent for us to contact your local GP, dentist and Keeley’s school. This is purely to help us gather as much information as we can to find Keeley. It also gives us consent to pass on information about Keeley to relevant media organisations should we need to put out a missing persons alert.’

  She handed him the form and her pen. He scribbled where shown and handed it back.

  ‘You will find her, won’t you?’ He asked, his voice level.

  ‘We will absolutely do everything possible. I promise you,’ she said, looking directly into his eyes.

  Sian nodded to Finn and they left the living room. It wasn’t until they were outside the house that they both visibly relaxed.

  ‘Oh my God,’ Finn said as they made their way to the car. ‘That poor family. Do you know what it reminded me of?’

  ‘I know what you’re going to say and I’d rather you didn’t,’ she said as she climbed in behind the wheel.

  ‘Do you think it’s possible it’s the same people?’ Finn asked, putting on his seatbelt.

  Sian sat in silence and thought for a while. ‘Nobody knows what happened to Carl Meagan. We don’t know if he’s dead or alive. However, the kidnappers didn’t get their ransom money. From their point of view, it was a failed kidnapping.’

  ‘Maybe they’ve learned from their mistakes and are having another go.’

  ‘Shit. I need to talk to Matilda before this gets out.’

  Chapter 3

  Detective Chief Inspector Matilda Darke had sneaked out of the police station and driven home. She turned from the smooth tarmacked road and down the bone-shaking dirt track that led to the former farmhouse. Daniel Harbison’s dirty Ford van was already parked outside. She smiled as soon as she saw him and hoped she didn’t make a pillock of herself as she tried to park the Range Rover in such a tight space. This was her second four-wheel drive in less than a year and she still couldn’t get used to how much bigger it was than the Fiats she had previously driven.

  ‘You’re all done then?’ She asked as she climbed down from the car.

  ‘Yep. All done and dusted.’ He held out his hand with a bunch of shiny new keys in his palm.

  Daniel Harbison was an old friend of her husband’s. They’d worked together as architects many times over the years, collaborating on projects and running ideas past each other. Following his death, Matilda had felt a change of house was needed in order to try to get on with picking up the pieces of her life. She’d fallen in love with the ramshackle farmhouse the second she stumbled upon it. It needed a great deal of work to make it habitable and Daniel was the first name that had come to mind.

  Adjacent to the house was a building used as a double garage. Matilda was happy to leave it as it was. However, Daniel was itching to get his hands on it. The roof, although in urgent need of replacing, was structurally sound, and had enough space to turn it into a self-contained flat. Matilda was against the idea. The thought of having a tenant, especially one so close, was the antithesis of moving here in the first place. Daniel had told her, many times, that it would add thousands to the asking price, should she wish to sell in the future. She’d make a fortune. Eventually, she relented and gave him free reign to do whatever he wanted with it. His face had lit up like a five-year-old on Christmas morning. Now, after seven months, it was complete.

  During his time at Matilda’s house, showing her plans, asking her to approve materials and costs, they had grown closer. They had been out to dinner on a few occasions and he’d spent the night once when his van wouldn’t start – in the spare room, of course. They’d shared a couple of kisses and although nothing had been said, there was an underlying agreement that things were moving, incredibly slowly, in the direction of them becoming a couple.

  Matilda’s husband, James, had died from a brain tumour in 2015. He was the love of her life and she missed him every day. She had no intention of marrying again, and there wasn’t a single man on God’s earth who could come close to replacing him.

  Daniel had been divorced for five years. His wife packed a bag and left one day without warning. He’d returned home from work to find a note on the kitchen table telling him she was incredibly unhappy, and she was leaving in order to find herself. He didn’t hear another word from her until nine months later when he received the divorce papers through the post. By that point, he was over her disappearance. He signed them without giving it another moment’s thought.

  ‘Would madam like to take a look around her charge?’

  ‘My charge?’ She smiled.

  ‘Surely you’re going to rent it out.’

  ‘I told you, I have no desire to be a landlady.’

  ‘You’ll change your mind once you’ve seen what I’ve done with it. It’ll be criminal to leave it empty.’ There was a twinkle in his eye.

  Matilda couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. He led the way to the double garage with Matilda following. As she looked at the ornate brick work and newly tiled roof, she had to admit he’d done an amazing job.

  Daniel was two years younger than Matilda at forty-two years old. He was six foot three, broad shouldered and built like a rugby player. He was solid and it was all muscle. He didn’t only design the buildings, he took a hands-on approach too and helped with the construction. He liked nothing more than getting his hands dirty on site.

  He unlocked the oak door at the side of the building. They stepped in and Matilda inhaled the newness of freshly laid carpets and wood.

  They were faced with a solid oak staircase with hand-carved spindles and newel post.

  ‘I’ve stolen some of the garage space to make a small utility room behind the stairs. You don’t need to see in there unless you have a fetish for boilers.’

  ‘I think I can by-pass that room.’

  ‘Up we go then.’

  Daniel led the way. Matilda followed and had to bite her lip to stop her from thinking lewd thoughts when her eyeline landed on Daniel’s firm bum tightly wrapped in a pair of torn, dirty jeans.

  The kitchen was larger than she had expected. An oak work top and matching cupboard fronts. A fitted fridge and cooker. A small hallway led to a cosy living room and through there, another small hallway led to two bedr
ooms, one master, one box room, and a compact bathroom. It had all the mod cons. Every space was utilised perfectly.

  ‘Daniel, I’m speechless,’ Matilda said, staring in awe.

  ‘It was a toss-up between fitted wardrobes in the master bedroom or a small en suite. I decided on the wardrobes.’

  ‘Good choice.’

  ‘You’ve got skylights, drop lights, sockets with USB ports, solar panels on the roof and the glass in the skylights is self-cleaning. I know the rooms aren’t huge, but I’ve added some fun details here and there for it to stand out above the norm, and those views are stunning.’

  ‘You’ve enjoyed spending my money, haven’t you?’ She smiled.

  ‘I really have. So, what are you going to do with the place?’

  ‘I have absolutely no idea.’

  ‘You could put it on Airbnb. With those views, people will be queuing up to spend a weekend here.’

  ‘And have complete strangers not ten yards from my bedroom? I don’t think so.’

  ‘Put an advert in the quality press then? I’m sure a junior doctor or a young lawyer would love to live in here.’

  She thought for a moment. ‘I’ll think about it.’

  ‘Good. Well, I think we should celebrate, and I just so happen to have a bottle of champagne in my van.’

  ‘How convenient.’

  ‘Would you like to do the honours?’

  ‘What do you want me to do? Smash it over the front door like I’m launching a ship?’

  ‘And waste all that lovely alcohol?’ He stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to Matilda. ‘I was thinking, how about I cook for us tonight?’

  ‘Really?’ Matilda’s eyes widened. As much as she liked Daniel, she couldn’t get used to having a man in her life again, even if the situation between them was so casual it was almost comatose.

  ‘Yes. Nothing fancy, obviously, just a nice, light meal.’

  He smiled and Matilda found herself unable to resist. His smile was infectious; it lit up his face and made his eyes sparkle.

  ‘I’d like that.’

  ‘Good. Erm …’

  ‘Yes.’