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‘Great. It’s just procedure, nothing to worry about. If you could stay around here, I’ll find you when they’re ready.’
‘Sure.’
DI Farnham makes her move, leaving Neil and me in the newly unfamiliar space of my kitchen, with DC Lorraine Stephens, my newly appointed chaperone.
‘Everyone’s out there,’ Neil says. ‘They’re checking all the houses and gardens,’ he adds, looking out onto my back garden. ‘Anywhere she could have wriggled through.’ He takes a breath. I wait. ‘I can’t believe someone would take her from her own home.’
‘What?’
His brow creases. He looks frightened. ‘I mean, in this area, you know?’
‘No, I mean how do you know she was taken?’
‘I don’t. I mean I can’t believe someonewouldtake her… not round here, that’s all I meant.’
‘We don’t know that’s what’s happened, Neil. We don’t know she was taken.’
He throws up his hands. ‘I’m sorry, Ave, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. Come on, babe.’
I cover my face with my hands and he pulls me into his arms. He is right. It has occurred to me a thousand times that she’s been taken, of course it has. But I haven’t thought for one second that it might have been from inside the house. She might never have undone the clasp.
Someone else might have.
Eight
Matt
The helicopter overhead is for Abi. Matt knows it instinctively and feels the muscle of his heart spasm. The sight of the police vans on Thameside and the tape at the end of his road sends a thump of panic through him, even though he’s already seen them. Further into his street, neighbours hold their hands to their mouths against the black and acid-yellow swell of police. A horrible calm. The whole atmosphere has changed. All sound has been muted.
Neil, Ava and a policeman are walking towards him. When they see him, they stop at the end of next door’s driveway.
He brakes to a standstill, unclips his feet. ‘Did someone hand in her hat? A woman said it was on the wall outside the pub, but there was no sign.’
Neil nods grimly. ‘One of the searchers handed it in. It looks like she got as far as Thameside at least.’
Ava bursts into tears. ‘What if it was a hit and run?’ She pushes her head against Matt’s chest. He folds his arms around her and kisses the top of her head, wonders if he’s ever felt more helpless in his life.
Neil swats the rain from his face. ‘I suppose she might have made it as far as the river.’
Matt shakes his head. ‘Someone would have seen her. And she won’t have been run over. That road’s too busy. Someone would have seen.’
‘You’d think.’ Neil frowns.
‘But people can be so focused on their own lives,’ says Ava. ‘Especially at that time in the morning. Parents are busy keeping an eye on their kids.’
The rain is no more than wet mist. A rainbow has formed in a sky trying to hold on to its blue. Neil claps Matt on the shoulder and leaves his arm there.
‘Listen, mate,’ he says, thumbing over his shoulder to the copper from earlier, PC Peak. ‘I’m just going to show this guy round the Lovegoods’ place, yeah? They want to check over all the houses and I’ve got their key. I don’t think they’ll mind.’
‘Go for it.’
‘So it was locked this morning?’ Matt hears the police officer say as he and Neil wander away towards the house.
‘I haven’t been in yet, but yeah, it will have been.’ Neil unlocks the door; their voices fade as they walk into the house.
Ava whimpers. Matt pulls her into his arms again and rests his head on hers, scanning the street, the upstairs windows. All are empty. Everyone out at work or out here, searching. On the damson trees that line the road there are already posters: Abi’s face stares out, her smile incongruous, wrong. He cannot look. He cannot. Ava is sobbing hard against his chest. Lorraine comes out from the side return of his house. She strides over, one arm reaching out.
‘Ava,’ she says. ‘Come inside, love. Come on. You’ll catch a chill out here.’
