Looking up to the skylight West knew the light would soon start fading. Too early in the year for frost, and the rain, thankfully, had stopped but it would get cold. Very cold for a little boy.
He took a deep breath and approached the parents. Maybe there was a woman within their family or friendship circle who would have taken Jake.
Kelly was still speaking, their eyes still on her but they switched to him as he approached and the look of terror returned. Sometimes he wished he hadn’t had to see that in the faces of those he was trying to help, knew he shouldn’t take it personally, knew it wasn’t directed at him or caused by him. But still...
Kelly stood as he approached and waved him into her chair so he sat facing them. He could feel her behind him, her eyes on his back. He decided to take comfort from the fact and concentrate on the anguished faces before him.
‘We’ve looked over the CCTV footage, Mr and Mrs Mathews. It shows, very clearly, someone taking Jake by the hand and walking through the door with him.’ He stopped at a howl from Anna Mathews. Joe Mathews, tears rolling down his face tried to console her but she pushed him away.
‘It’s all my fault,’ she cried, ‘Jake...my baby.’ She started tearing at the skin on her face, her nails leaving gouges that stood out against her pallor.
West, unsure what to do for the best looked around him for Kelly. She’d kept them calm, maybe she could do so again. He didn’t have to ask. Hearing the woman’s cries, seeing her self-mutilation, Kelly quickly went to her, took her hands in hers, pulled her close and rocked her, as you would an upset child.
Standing, West indicated to Joe Mathews that he should follow and led him to the far side of the room.
‘Anna is very highly strung,’ he explained, as they stood looking back at the two women.
‘You don’t have to make excuses for her, Mr Mathews. Any mother going through this would be equally distraught.
Joe Mathews half smiled. ‘I bet that lady, Kelly, wouldn’t. She is the calmest woman I’ve ever met. She’s good for Anna. And she said she’ll call out to the house if we need her. I think that’s a given, don’t you? Especially if...’ he choked, swallowed and bit his lower lip.
‘Do you feel up to looking at the CCTV footage? Just in case the woman looks in any way familiar.’
The man nodded. ‘As long as Kelly can stay with Anna.’
‘She’ll be here,’ West assured him and lead the way into the manager’s office to watch the footage once more.
Apart from obvious distress when he saw his son being led away, Joe Mathews could throw no light on the identity of the woman.
‘He is going with her willingly,’ he commented, ‘so she must have offered him something irresistible. He has been told over and over he must never go with strangers.’ He looked closely at the frozen screen, the mysterious woman with her hand held out; his son’s face raised to her’s, a smile glowing. ‘She must look kindly,’ he added, ‘Jake isn’t used to going with other people. We don’t get babysitters or that. He wouldn’t have gone with her if she looked cross or anything.’ He caught West’s eye. ‘That means she’ll probably look out for him. Right?’
Unable to pierce that faint bubble of hope, West nodded.
12
Reports came in from the various teams over the next hour. Nobody had seen a little boy matching Jake’s description. Joe Mathews had driven home to pick up a recent photo of Jake and that had been copied and distributed. The CCTV footage from the car-park was looked at several times by whoever was available but led nowhere. Every car on it was identified. Every couple and child getting into every car was identified.
Darkness fell and the temperature slowly dropped. ‘He’s wearing a warm coat,’ Joe Mathews told everybody, ‘he’ll be warm enough. He’ll be fine.’
Everybody nodded in return. Nobody willing to enlighten the worried man. Nobody willing to tell him that being cold might be the least of Jake’s problems.
All train stations, airports, ferry terminals had been notified, of course. But a five year old boy was easy to hide. The boot of a car, a large enough box. If there was a will, there would be a way.
Too easy to hide, Andrews knew, remembering how Petey had disappeared for hours only to be found fast asleep under the duvet on their bed. They hadn’t thought to look there, had searched every cupboard, every hidey-hole in the house they could think of. Then they searched behind every tree and bush in the garden. Andrews had been about to ring the station to report him missing. Would have done so, hours before, only Joyce was convinced he hadn’t left the house. It was Joyce, going back to their room to change her shoes into sturdier ones for a longer search, who noticed the bump under the duvet and pulling it back found Petey fast asleep, curled up like a dormouse.
It wasn’t going to be so simple for young Jake.
The search teams had been warned to search every corner of every shed and outhouse and they did. Every wheelie-bin in the area was opened and checked, full ones emptied – just in case. As night fell torches were collected, extra batteries taken. Nobody was going home they said until they found the boy.
Anna Mathews sat hand in hand with Kelly who, now and then, would whisper in her ear. Anna would nod but said nothing, her eyes following whatever person came in or out of the room, searching their faces for news, her eyes dropping to the floor at each failure to see what she wanted. She refused all entreaties from her husband to go home. Her GP had been contacted and came in offering sedatives which she refused with an emphatic shake of her head. With each entreaty, each attempt she gripped Kelly’s hand tighter.
Occasionally, Joe Mathews would sit on the other side and attempt to take his wife’s hand. She allowed him to, but it was obvious she took no comfort from the gesture. It seemed neither did he as he stopped trying, walking up and down instead, and finally leaving to go to the manager’s office which had become the headquarters of the search. He replayed the CCTV footage showing his son. Again and again. Perhaps he knew, deep down, that might be the last time he would see him.
An IT technician from Headquarters had come and taken a copy of the shot of Jake and the woman, had cleaned it up as best as he could. It would appear on the nine o’clock news along with the picture of Jake. Nine o’clock. An hour away. The boy was missing four hours.
Andrews wanted to go out, join the search team. But West kept him in the office co-ordinating the various strands of the search. He could see the strain on his face, knew the guilt trip he was on. If he knew the one I was crawling on, West thought with a silent groan, before picking up the phone to speak to the Garda press officer who would in turn co-ordinate the release to the news team.
There came a moment when everything they could do was done. The phones had fallen silent. It had come to waiting. And although none of the men present were good at that, they knew, for the moment, there was nothing else they could do. Except perhaps dwell on the if only’s...
Lost as they all were in their own version of this, each with their own regrets, each thinking, next time he’d do things differently, the ring of the phone caught them off-guard, startling them so that for a moment nobody moved.
First to recover and nearest anyway to the phone, Andrews picked it up.
West didn’t have to hear to know the news was good. It flitted across Andrew’s face, relaxing the tension, smoothing taut lines. His mouth, fixed in a compressed line for hours, softened, the corners moving back to their habitual upward tilt.
But anxious to pass the news on even as he continued to listen, Andrews punched the air with his fist.
Joe Mathews, his face pale, wasn’t sure he understood and looked first at Andrews and then over to where West had begun to smile. ‘He’s ok?’ he asked, his voice a tremulous whisper. ‘Are you sure? He’s really ok?’
Andrews put his hand over the mouthpiece. ‘He’s been found. He’s unhurt. They’re on their way back with him now.’
Joe started to smile, then laugh, ‘He’s ok. My God, he’s
ok.’ His laughter turned to tears, then he was sobbing. West went to him, put an arm around his shoulder, let him sob a moment more.
‘Do you want to come and tell Anna?’ he said then, gently, as the sobs eased back to tears.
Joe nodded, wiped his face with the arm of his shirt, took a deep breath. ‘He’s really ok?’ he said again.
West nodded and smiled. ‘He’s ok. We’ll get the full story soon but you need to go and tell Anna before the car gets here.’
They headed out to where Anna and Kelly still sat. Someone, probably Ian, had brought in a heater so the room was chilly but not cold. Coffee had arrived too, a big percolator that coughed and spluttered in the corner and filled the air with the scent of bitter coffee.
It’s surprising the amount we can convey without words, West thought, as they approached and almost instantly Anna was up and in her husband’s arms. ‘He’s ok?’ she cried and as he assured her their son was safe they both cried and held one another.
Kelly moved close to where West stood. ‘Where did they find him?’ she asked.
West laughed softly. ‘I’ve no idea, Pete took the call. They’re on their way back with him now. I wanted Mrs Mathews to know so she could calm down before he arrived. Pete will come and tell us everything in a moment.’
Even as he spoke, Andrews came from the office, a bounce in his step as he crossed the room toward them. ‘He should be here any moment,’ he said addressing the Mathews, ‘he was found wandering around Stillorgan Shopping Centre. The security man there picked him up and rang the local station.’
‘And he’s ok? He’s not been hurt?’ Joe Mathews asked quickly.
‘He was munching on a huge bar of chocolate when the security man noticed him,’ Andrews said. ‘He appears unhurt. But I have arranged for a local paediatrician to give him the once over in Temple Street. The car will take you straight there.’
Seeing they were about to argue, West stepped in. ‘It will be best to ensure he is completely unharmed, as soon as possible. There is a specialist team in the National Children’s Hospital,’ he said, giving the hospital its formal name. ‘They know what to look for, and they are good at what they do. Jake will be safe in their hands. I promise.
‘We will also take some of his clothes for our forensic people to have a look at. See if we can find any evidence of who took Jake, where he was taken. We want to make sure this person can’t put any other parent through what you have gone through this evening.’
Joe and Anna Mathews looked at one another and then nodded.
West smiled reassuringly. ‘You’ll be home together before you know it. If you give me your car keys,’ he said to Joe, ‘I’ll have someone take your car home and perhaps they could fetch Jake’s pyjamas while they’re at it, then he can go straight to bed when he gets home. He’ll be exhausted. I’ll organise transport for you.’
The Mathews nodded agreement to this, happy to have someone telling them what to do at this stage, unable to think past Jake’s safe return.
Kelly stepped forward, put a hand on Anna’s arm. ‘I‘ll go now then. I’m so glad everything turned out ok.’
‘Oh no,’ Anna cried, grabbing her hand, holding on tightly. ‘Please don’t go.’
‘If you could stay a little longer,’ Joe asked quickly, ‘Just till Jake gets here?’
Kelly glanced at West, an unspoken question in her eyes. He shrugged; it didn’t make the slightest difference to him if she wanted to stay. ‘Yes,’ she replied turning her attention back to the Mathews, ‘of course, if I can still be of assistance. I’ll stay as long as I am needed.’
Just then the sound of a car pulling up drew all their attention to the entrance and moments later they heard the sound of running feet and Jake Mathews tumbled headlong through the door, chocolate smeared face, tousled hair, dirty hands and a smile that split his face from ear to ear. ‘Mummy, Daddy,’ he shouted happily. ‘I’ve had a ride in a police-car. And they put the siren on for me.’
‘Just for a couple of seconds,’ the uniformed garda who followed him in hastened to add for West and Andrews’ benefit.
The boy was held him tightly by his anxious parents before they pulled back to examine him intently, hugging him again until the child had had enough and pulled away to return to the embarrassed uniformed garda. ‘Can we go again? Catch some bad guys?’
The Mathews looked on with relief tempered by anxiety. He looked alright but they knew things could be done...
West knew the priority was getting the child checked over. But it was also a priority to prevent this happening again. If Jake could provide information regarding the person who took him, where she took him, well that was information he needed.
‘You must be thirsty after all that chocolate,’ West said to him, ‘come and have a drink.’ He indicated the table where coffee and juice had been placed earlier. Filling a glass he handed it to the boy, offering him a chair. He indicated to the garda that he should sit alongside. ‘Did you have a fun afternoon,’ he asked as the boy drank, adding an orange moustache to the array of stains on his face. ‘Mmmm,’ Jake replied, happily.
Glancing up, West caught Andrews’ face and gave a nod of his head. He had no idea how to approach a five year old. He’d give way to someone who did. They quickly exchanged places.
‘Petey was tired after all the games today,’ Andrews started, ‘he went home to bed when it was all over. You must have a lot more energy.’
‘Petey’s a baby,’ Jake said. ‘I’m nearly six.’
‘So you weren’t tired?’
‘Uh uh,’ Jake replied.
‘So you went with the lady to play more games, did you?’
Jake looked at him and then over at his parents. He cupped his hands around his mouth and whispered, ‘I’m not supposed to go with strangers. But the woman said there were more exciting games in the other room. She said she’d show me.’
Andrews looked over at the parents. They seemed to be holding up ok. And Jake didn’t look anyway upset or disturbed by his ordeal.
‘So were the games in the other room better?’
Jake cupped his hands again. ‘The other room was a long way away. We had to go in her car. When we got there it was just the bumper cars. Daddy took me there before. I don’t like them; people shout and say rude words.’ He took his hands away and said clearly intending his parents to hear how good he had been. ‘I’m not allowed say rude words.’
‘Bumper cars?’ West asked looking questioningly at Joe Mathews.
He nodded. ‘In Bray. I took Jake there during the summer. He didn’t like them at all.’
‘How long does a ride last?’
Joe shrugged. ‘Twenty minutes maybe. No longer, I would have thought. Jake wanted to get out after two.’
West did some mental calculations. The drive to Bray, finding parking, the bumper ride. An hour, max. So where had the child been until now?
Andrews was wondering the same thing. ‘So where did you go then?’ he asked the rapidly tiring Jake. Thinking of Petey, he asked, ‘Did you go for something to eat?’
Jake nodded but said nothing.
‘Was it nice?’ Andrews persevered.
‘She got it from a window, just asked for it and they gave it to her.’ He looked accusingly at his parents. ‘We never did that.’
There was a moments silence as everyone tried to puzzle it out and the penny dropped collectively as, almost as one, they said McDonald’s. A drive through. Where was there a drive through McDonalds?
To clarify, Andrews asked the boy what he had had to eat. ‘Did you have a Big Mac?’
Jake nodded, a tired smile appearing, ‘A Big Mac and fries and ice-cream and a big Coke. I’m not allowed Coke. There was an awful lot. Then I had to pee. I don’t think the lady was too happy with me. She wanted to know why I hadn’t asked before we left McDonald’s. I told her I hadn’t wanted to go then.’
‘So what happened?’ Andrews asked.
Jake shook his head. ‘
She made me be a bad boy,’ he said sadly, looking over at his parents. ‘I didn’t want to but she told me I had to. And I didn’t want to pee in my pants.’ He looked over at his parents again and then turned and whispered into the young garda’s ear.
‘Is it ok if I tell them,’ the garda asked him, receiving a nod in reply. ‘Jake said she made him pee into his empty Coke cup.’
Andrews smiled. ‘That’s ok, Jake. Much better than peeing your pants, after all. And you didn’t want to upset the lady. Was she a pretty lady?’
Jake looked at him. ‘She had a thing,’ he said, waving a hand across his face.
‘A shawl,’ Andrews queried, ‘or scarf?’ The boy shrugged. The vagaries of women’s dress were beyond the interest of a five year old.
Kelly pulled a scarf from her bag, wrapped it around her head and pulled it over her mouth. ‘Was she wearing something like this?’ she asked.
Jake nodded.
Well that ruled any kind of identification out, thought West. Not that an identification based on the evidence of a five year old would hold a lot of weight but it would have helped.
The boy was wilting and his parents were getting restless. They wanted to help but they also wanted to take their son, get him checked out, get him home and put his ordeal behind them. He didn’t think they’d have too difficult a task. If the boy were hurt in any way he’d be very surprised. But still, they had to get this person, had to stop them. Next time they may not be so lucky.
‘Just one last question,’ he pleaded, pre-empting their request to leave. ‘Where did you go next?’ There were still so many hours unaccounted for.
Jake dropped his head to one shoulder, obviously and worriedly embarrassed by whatever it was that happened next.
At a nod from Andrews the young garda whispered in Jake’s ear. ‘You can tell me and I’ll tell them for you, if you like.’
Jake was happy to confide in the young man who had made the highlight of his day by putting the police siren on, so he turned and whispered into his ear.
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