by Anita Waller
Liz looked at it in shock.
‘It’s okay, Liz,’ Sandra said quietly. ‘It didn’t fall near any blood, and it’s not broken.’
Liz took the phone and scrolled through her pictures with trembling fingers. She handed the phone over to DI Brent. ‘That’s the best one. If that pushchair isn’t in the hall, he will be in it.’
DI Brent left the room once more, holding on to the phone.
Within five minutes he was back.
‘Mrs Chambers, I need to take you downstairs now. We can let our scene of crime officers do their work. Screens are up, but there isn’t much room to squeeze by at the bottom of the stairs. I’ll help you.’
Liz looked frantically around the tidy bedroom, as if she didn’t want to leave its security. He held out his hand. ‘Come on. It will be better for you. My constable is making you a cup of tea, and we can have a chat.’
She felt numb. She knew she would have to bypass two bodies to get downstairs, and… she heard her phone ring. It was still held in the policeman’s hand, and she held out her own hand to take it back. He glanced at the screen and said ‘Dan.’
‘Shit,’ she muttered through clenched teeth. ‘Dan.’ She took the proffered phone. ‘It’s my other son.’ She pressed answer.
‘Dan?’
‘Mum, you’re both late!’
‘I know, sweetheart. I’m up at Sadie’s. Can I ring you back in a bit? Won’t be long.’
‘Okay.’ She could sense the grumble in his tone. ‘I’ll keep tea warm, then.’
‘Thank you. See you in a bit.’
She went to hand the phone back to Brent, but he shook his head. ‘I would normally take it from you, but we seem to have a missing child. Whoever has him may try to get in touch with you.’
She felt sick at the words missing child. She moved towards Brent and he held open the door. ‘Keep to the right all the way down, and you’ll be fine.’
She moaned and stifled a sob as she was faced with a large white screen hiding her husband’s body from her; she went carefully down, passing what she knew to be Sadie’s body, lying awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs, and hidden from her view by another screen.
They moved into the lounge, and, as promised, a cup of tea awaited her. She didn’t want it, but DI Brent handed it to her. ‘Drink.’
She sipped at the scalding drink, and waited for him to speak.
‘Tell me what you know,’ he said.
She took a deep breath. ‘I left work at five, caught the tram around 5.10pm. I texted Sadie about 5.25pm to let her know I was ten minutes away – I do that so that she has him ready to go, as soon as I arrive – and reached here about 5.35pm, give or take a couple of minutes. I always collect him via the front door because it’s the easiest way for getting the pushchair in and out, but there was no answer, and it all seemed to be in darkness. I shouted through the letterbox, and then looked through it. I saw Sadie, lying at the bottom of the stairs, not moving.’ She paused for a moment, reliving the scene.
‘I ran around to the back door, hoping it was open. It was. Not unlocked, I mean it was wide open. I was ringing 999 as I went through the door, and by the time I reached Sadie, I was connected to your switchboard.’
Again, she paused. DI Brent waited patiently for her to continue. Her whole body was shaking, and he was concerned he would have to ask a paramedic to take a look at her.
‘I could see Sadie was dead. The lady on the phone wanted me to stay with her, try CPR I think, but Sadie was obviously beyond that. I told the operator I was going upstairs to get Jake, and she said to stay on the line. As I went up the stairs, I could see a soft light on the landing, as if it was coming from a bedroom. Then I saw the second body, and lots of blood. I recognised Gareth, and the next person I saw was a paramedic.’
‘Did you know Gareth would be here?’
She shook her head. ‘No, I didn’t. If he finishes early, he texts me to tell me he’ll collect Jake. I didn’t receive any text. Didn’t even receive a reply from Sadie when I messaged her to give her the ten-minute warning. She always responds with ‘okay’. DI Brent, Gareth was naked, and Sadie had little covering her. Do you think they had been in bed in that bedroom with the light on?’
‘I don’t make assumptions, Liz.’ He spoke quietly. ‘We will be taking in the bedding for testing, and we’ll know more then. We’ll also be testing the cot bedding; hopefully, whoever has Jacob will have left something of themselves behind.’
‘It’s just…’ and this time she did break down, sobbing uncontrollably. ‘It’s just,’ she spluttered, ‘I have to go home, and tell Dan what has happened.’
‘How old is Dan?’
‘Nearly sixteen.’
‘Then tell him the truth. He’s old enough to jump to his own conclusions. Make sure he knows the truth, whatever comes out in this investigation.’
‘When can I go home?’
‘As soon as you feel ready. We’ll obviously have to speak more, but for now we need forensics. I’ll get somebody to take you home. It’s not going to be an easy night, so your family liaison officer will go with you. She’ll be here within the next ten minutes. Keep thinking, Liz, in case there’s anything that you’ve missed. Our priority is Jake. We already have officers going door to door, checking on CCTV systems. Your FLO is Tanya Baxter, she’ll look after you.’
‘Have you come across my handbag? I seem to remember throwing it behind me as I climbed around Sadie.’
‘Is it a black plastic one?’ The young police officer standing by the door asked, and Liz glanced at him.
‘It’s a Moschino. Plastic?’
He picked it up from the floor and handed it over, a sheepish expression on his face. She thanked him, and reached inside for a packet of tissues. She blew her nose, then looked up as someone new entered the room.
DI Brent stood. ‘Liz, this is your family liaison officer, Tanya Baxter. She’ll certainly stay all night and tomorrow, so if you can provide her with a sofa and a sleeping bag, it will help.’
Liz nodded. ‘Thank you. We have a guest bedroom you can use, Tanya.’ She turned towards Will Brent. ‘Thank you. Have you…?’
‘No, we haven’t heard anything yet. The second we do, I’ll inform you. Go home and leave us to do our jobs now, Liz, and take care of your son.’
Liz followed Tanya out of the door, her legs shaking, her heart crying out for Jake.
22
Dan was standing in the bay window, no lights on in the lounge, as he stared out waiting for a parent, any parent, to appear. He saw a car pull up outside, but didn’t recognise it. What he did recognise was his mother getting out of the passenger door.
He drew the curtains closed, switched on a lamp, and went to open the front door.
‘Mum?’
She stepped inside, and pulled him into her arms. He held her, aware she needed some comfort, and then saw another woman follow her in, and stand waiting patiently for the two of them to move.
He released his hold, and stepped back. ‘Mum?’ he repeated.
‘Dan, come into the lounge. I need to talk to you. This lady is Tanya, she’s going to be staying for a day, or maybe two.’
The three of them went into the lounge, and Tanya took off her coat. ‘I’ll leave you two to talk, but please call me if you need me. I’ll find the kitchen and make us a pot of tea.’
Dan sat. He felt sick. Something was wrong, and where the hell was Jake? Hadn’t his mum said she was at Sadie’s when he rang?
‘Where’s Jake,’ he asked, suddenly sure that this was the problem. ‘Is he poorly? Mum… where is he?’
Liz looked down at her hands. She could hear Tanya in the kitchen and hoped it would take a long time to make the tea. This wasn’t something she could tell Dan in a few seconds.
She took hold of her elder son’s hands and pulled him towards her. ‘I don’t know where Jake is. Someone’s taken him. I don’t know why, and I don’t know where.’
‘Maybe Dad ha
s him…’
‘No, he doesn’t, sweetheart. I have more to tell you.’ She hesitated, unsure where to start. She took a deep breath. ‘I went to collect Jake, as normal, from Sadie. When I got there, I could see through the letterbox that she was lying at the bottom of the stairs. I rang for an ambulance and went in the house through the back door. It was obvious Sadie was dead, and I assumed she had fallen down the stairs. As you can imagine, I panicked. I went up the stairs to find Jake, because I didn’t know how long he’d been on his own, and as I reached the top of the stairs I saw a second body.’
She watched as the colour drained from her son’s face.
‘It was Dad, wasn’t it?’
‘I’m so sorry, Dan, yes it was.’
His face contorted with the struggle to be a man and not cry; he lost the battle.
Tears leaked from his eyes, and he moaned, ‘No, no, no. Not Dad.’
Liz pulled Dan close and held him while the grief overwhelmed him. He slowly quietened, and then she sensed a change in him.
‘I knew,’ he said bitterly. ‘I knew he was going up there too often. Is this her fault? Has she killed him, that Sadie?’
Liz stared at Dan, trying to control the shock she felt must be showing on her face. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I’ve seen him up there a couple of times. I’ve seen the car, anyway.’
‘But he sometimes collects Jake…’
‘At three in the afternoon? And that was the time I spotted the car; I don’t know how long it had been there. I asked you the other day if everything was okay…’
‘You did, but I thought you meant we didn’t seem to talk as much as usual. I didn’t know… why didn’t you tell me?’
‘Mum, are you kidding me? How could I tell you I thought Dad was playing away?’ Dan scrunched up his hands and rubbed at his face.
‘He’s not now,’ she said quietly. ‘I saw his body, and I fainted. Luckily the ambulance was already on its way. Tanya is our family liaison officer, our go-between for information. Jake wasn’t there. There’s a massive hunt going on right now, they’re checking CCTV all over the place. We have to get our little one back safely, because the alternative isn’t to be considered, not ever.’ Liz could feel herself getting angry, and the tears began to roll down her face once more. She looked up as Tanya entered the room.
‘Thank you,’ Liz said. ‘Is there any news?’
Tanya shook her head. ‘Not yet. I’ll let you know if anything happens during the night. Dan, it’s good to meet you, even if it’s in such awful circumstances. Your mum has explained everything?’
He looked at Tanya for a moment. ‘Nothing makes sense. Why would he want her? Sadie? She was nothing compared with Mum. And maybe if I’d told her that I’d seen him up there, it could have stopped all of this.’
‘Whoa!’ Liz tried to speak calmly. ‘Stop that. None of this is your fault, Dan. It’s all down to your dad and Sadie, and whoever has Jake. I have no idea why anyone would want to hurt me so much…’ Her voice trailed away.
One person wanted to hurt her. Rosie Latimer. And Liz knew that everything would have to come out in the open, because she would have to tell DI Brent of her affair with Phil. And that meant even further heartbreak for Dan; what sort of role models were they for a fifteen-year-old boy?
Would a direct appeal to Rosie help? If she rang her… but not on her usual phone. She didn’t want the police checking for phone calls made since the discovery of the bodies. For the first time, she would use the love phone to ring someone other than Phil. If she blocked the number first… Liz felt her head expanding as she tried to work out the best course of action. She would have made a lousy criminal, it was all too complicated, working out a campaign.
Tanya poured out the drinks and handed them to Dan and Liz. There was silence between them, each lost in their own thoughts. Liz felt she couldn’t grieve for Gareth, not yet. She had to come to terms with what she was discovering about him. Had she driven him into Sadie’s arms? She thought back to the beginning of her affair with Phil – that had been instant attraction, but had matured into so much more. Was that how Gareth had felt about Sadie? Would she have lost him anyway? So many questions. She reached into her handbag and took out a packet of paracetamol. Popping two out of the blister strip, Liz swallowed them, washing them down with the dregs of the tea.
She stood and walked to the bay window, opening the curtains slightly and staring out into the blackness of the night; it mirrored how she was feeling. Where was her baby? Was he crying for her? Was he cold, hungry? She watched as two police cars drove by, before turning up the road where Sadie lived. She wondered if Christian was already on his way back to Sheffield, having been made aware of his mother’s death. He was only twenty, studying at Solent University; so young to have to handle something like this. Liz leaned her head against the window pane and sighed.
Dan came up quietly behind her. His voice sounded thick, heavy with raw emotion. ‘It was probably a fling, you know. I’m sure Dad loved you…’
‘He’s certainly paid the price.’ She sobbed, and wrapped her arms around her body, seeking any form of comfort.
Tanya stood and led her gently back to the sofa. ‘I’m not going to suggest you go to bed, I know you won’t sleep, but why not get comfortable on here,’ she indicated the sofa, ‘and close your eyes. If there’s any news, I’ll wake you. Oh, and there’ll be a technician here any time now. He’s going to set up a recording box on your landline, in case whoever has taken Jake decides to ring you. When you go out you need to press a button on it and all calls will be routed to your mobile number. It will record everything, that way.’
‘Dan, can you take Tanya up and show her where the spare room is, please? When this chap arrives, I’ll let him in.’
Dan nodded. ‘And I’ll bring a blanket and a pillow down for you. If you insist on sleeping here, you need to be comfortable.’
‘Have you eaten, Liz?’ Tanya looked concerned by Liz’s pallor.
‘Mum? I can soon make us something?’
‘Dan, take off the chef hat. I don’t want anything, I feel sick. You two have whatever you fancy, leave me out of it.’
Dan held the door open and escorted Tanya upstairs and along the corridor to the room in the new extension. Jake’s arrival had meant all bedrooms were in use, and they had added a much-needed extension to the property.
Liz realised she wouldn’t get a better opportunity to be on her own, and unzipped the pocket in her handbag that held the Nokia. She quickly removed the instruction to show her number, and dialled Rosie’s landline.
The call went through to voicemail, and Liz spoke quietly. ‘Rosie, if you’re there, it’s Liz. Please pick up, I need to talk to you. It’s urgent. If you get this later, please call me on my landline. It’s still the same number. Thank you.’
Within a minute her call was returned.
‘Liz?’
‘Rosie, thank God. Where’s Jake?’ As she asked the question, she knew she was being incredibly stupid. If Rosie had her baby, she was hardly likely to admit it.
‘What?’
‘Jake. He’s been taken from my childminder’s. Please, Rosie, I’m desperate. If you know anything… imagine if it were Melissa, think how you would feel.’
Rosie spoke slowly. ‘Liz, I won’t deny I hate the very thought of you, wish we’d never used Banton and Hardwick, but for God’s sake, woman! I would hurt you, not your baby. Of course I don’t know where he is.’
Liz couldn’t hold back the sob. ‘Oh, God,’ she whispered.
‘Is this the police incident that’s been on Radio Sheffield? It mentioned Gleadless. I don’t like you, Liz, don’t want anything to do with the homewrecker who destroyed my own life, but I wouldn’t wish this on you.’
‘Rosie,’ again the sob caught in her throat, ‘the police incident is a double murder, and a kidnapping. My childminder and my husband are dead, and Jake’s been taken.’
There was silence fr
om the other end of the phone for a few seconds; Liz heard a huge sigh and then Rosie spoke. ‘Liz… I don’t know what to say. I had no idea. I’m so sorry, but I promise you, this isn’t the way I would hurt you. I tried to do it through your job…’
‘I know. Deep down I knew you wouldn’t have done this. I’m clutching at straws because I don’t know where to turn. I have to go.’ She lowered her voice. ‘The police are here. I have to go.’
Liz put down the receiver, then slipped the Nokia back into her handbag pocket. She opened the front door and the police technician walked through carrying a couple of boxes. He worked immediately, and Liz left him to it.
Seconds later, Dan and Tanya walked into the lounge. Dan was carrying a pillow and a couple of blankets. ‘You sure about this?’ he asked.
‘I am. I can’t see me sleeping much, and I can get up and make a cup of tea whenever I want. Tanya, is the room okay for you?’
Tanya smiled. ‘I spend half my time sleeping in armchairs when I’m working as FLO. Having a room is a real luxury, and yours is beautiful. My phone’s set to loud, so if there are developments during the night, I will come and wake you.’
‘Thank you. I feel so empty. I honestly had no idea about Gareth and Sadie…’
‘And you still don’t know for definite, Liz. Whoever murdered Gareth could have removed his clothes. Sadie could have been taking advantage of Jake sleeping to grab a quick shower – nothing is certain yet, so don’t jump to conclusions. Now, I know you’re going to say no, but I think Dan should make you a couple of slices of toast, whether you want them or not. You’re going to need lots of strength over the next few days, don’t neglect your health.’ She turned to Dan. He nodded and headed towards the kitchen.
Tanya sat down beside Liz. ‘Did he take it okay?’
‘So so. He’d already seen our car up at Sadie’s in the past, and he knows I never take it to work, it’s too much hassle getting parked. Oh my God, work!’
‘Sssh,’ Tanya said. ‘Don’t worry. We can sort that tomorrow morning.’