The caretaker had his back to me but I could see him shaking his head and speaking. Jo listened and then turned her head slightly so I couldn’t see her mouth. She said a few words to him and they both turned and looked at me.
‘What?’ I shouted from inside the car. Evie was missing and those two were chatting like we had all the time in the world.
Jo rushed over to the car and slid into the passenger seat. ‘Oh my God, Toni, you look terrible.’ She grasped my hand and her fingers felt cool and damp. ‘What’s happened?’
‘What did he say?’ I snapped.’ What were you talking about?’
‘Mr Bryce is just concerned about you,’ she said evenly. ‘He said everyone has gone home. You poor thing, you must be out of your mind.’
Dissolving into tears at her concern, I just about managed to tell her the gist of what had happened.
‘I don’t know who to contact, what to do,’ I sobbed, and then a moment of clarity broke through the fog. ‘I think I should call the police.’
Jo stared at me for a second and then shook her head. ‘There are things to check first. The police will ask what you’ve done to find her,’ she reasoned.
‘Like what?’ I sniffed. ‘There’s nobody around to ask and I haven’t got Harriet Watson’s number.’
‘Well, Evie obviously isn’t here at school, but you were late, right?’
I nodded.
‘So maybe Harriet took her home. Have you been back to your house?’
My eyes widened. How could I have been so stupid?
‘She might be waiting for me at home,’ I whispered.
I reached towards the keys in the ignition.
‘No, we’ll go in my car,’ Jo said, narrowing her eyes. ‘You seem so upset and unfocused. Mr Bryce thinks you shouldn’t be driving.’
* * *
As we turned into Muriel Crescent, I undid my seatbelt and reached for the door handle.
‘Don’t open the car door yet,’ Jo said quickly.
My whole body shook as my eyes searched out our house at the end of the row of mews-style new properties.
‘She’s not there,’ I cried. And then, louder, ‘I can see she’s not there.’
I pulled on the handle and the door swung open, narrowly missing a parked car as we moved by it.
‘Toni, for fuck’s sake!’ Jo screamed, slamming on the brakes. ‘Close the fucking door!’
I stared at her, mouth open wide. It was liked someone had just flicked a switch inside her. I’d never heard her so much as swear in the office, never mind lose her temper. I jumped out of the car and started to run towards the house, the strains of Jo shouting my name growing fainter as I went.
It was clear there was nobody standing outside the house. No Harriet and no Evie. I reached the front door, panting and gulping in air. I dashed down the side of the house into the back yard.
‘Evie,’ I called frantically. ‘Evie!’
A head appeared over the hedge.
‘Lost your daughter again, have you?’ Colin smirked.
‘Fuck off,’ I snarled, and ran back to the front of the house. Jo had parked up and was walking towards me.
‘Toni, for God’s sake, you have to calm down.’ She grabbed my arm. ‘You have to think logically. Let’s go inside.’
57
Three Years Earlier
Toni
‘Is there anywhere Evie liked to go? A local park, perhaps?’
The detective and a police officer, DI Manvers and PC Holt, stood opposite me as I sat on the sofa, next to Jo.
‘She doesn’t know the area,’ I blurted out tearfully. ‘We only just moved here. Surely there are other things we can be doing apart from just sitting here?’
‘I can assure you there’s plenty happening behind the scenes, Mrs Cotter,’ DI Manvers replied. ‘Our team is currently in the process of contacting the head teacher and the chair of governors. We’ll be hearing back from them very soon.’
‘Could a neighbour have taken her in?’ PC Holt suggested.
Colin. I jumped up.
‘Sal’s son, next door. He’s been in prison.’ I moved towards the kitchen. ‘He’s in the garden now, he’s taken Evie before.’
DI Manvers stepped forward with a sense of urgency. ‘He’s taken her before?’
‘He said she could feed the puppy,’ I said, faintly aware my words were taut and high-pitched. I couldn’t stop shivering.
DI Manvers muttered something to his colleague and walked to the front door, reaching down to his radio. PC Holt put her arm around my shoulders and pressed me back down into my seat.
‘I don’t want to sit down,’ I snapped, standing up again. ‘You should be out there, looking for her. Colin could have her next door, he could’ve snatched her—’
‘Toni.’ The officer’s voice was firm but kind. ‘It’s important we remain calm. More than likely there’s simply been a misunderstanding. Perhaps a friend’s mum has taken Evie home.’
‘I keep trying to tell you’ – I pressed my face into my hands, distorting the words – ‘we don’t know anyone, we just moved to the area. I can’t just sit here, we need to do something.’
‘OK. There are things being done, Toni. We’re getting school staff, and DI Manvers is next door now, speaking to your neighbour.’
Colin’s smirking face flashed into my mind.
‘If he’s touched her, I’ll kill him, I’ll—’
‘Toni, have you been drinking?’ PC Holt stared at me and I turned my face away. ‘You seem a little vague.’
‘I’m just tired,’ I said quickly, the words feeling awkward on my tongue. ‘It’s been a terrible day.’ And then I remembered and I felt colder still. ‘Oh my God, I forgot about my mum. She’s stuck in A&E.’
‘Leave your mum to me,’ Jo said, standing up. I gave her the details and she left the house.
The doorbell rang and PC Holt went to the door. I heard voices and then Harriet Watson walked into the room.
‘Where is she?’ I shouted, dashing towards her. ‘Where’s Evie?’
PC Holt caught my arm before I could reach Harriet.
‘I thought you’d collected her, Toni,’ she said quietly. ‘I went to check where you were, and when I came back, Evie had gone. I thought you’d taken her without telling me.’
‘What? How could you do that? That’s negligence.’ I looked wildly at the police officers. Everyone looked back at me steadily.
Harriet coughed. ‘You’ve been late so often collecting Evie and you’ve taken her before without telling anyone, I just thought—’
‘I’ve never taken her before, you’re lying!’ My eyes darted around the room, trying to remember if I had been late or taken Evie out of school. ‘I left a message on the school answerphone. I said I was on my way.’
‘I checked the answerphone.’ Harriet shook her head. ‘There were no messages and no contact sheet in Evie’s file, so I couldn’t even call you.’
I thought about the incomplete pupil contact form on the kitchen worktop, perched on top of a stack of unpaid bills.
‘I left a message, I’m sure I did,’ I said faintly, but I couldn’t quite recall if I had, or what I might have said.
‘Mrs Cotter,’ said DI Manvers, who had just re-entered the room. ‘Your memory seems a little patchy, have you—’
‘No, I haven’t been drinking,’ I snarled. ‘She’s already asked me that.’ I narrowed my eyes at PC Holt. ‘It’s the shock, I feel all panicky inside.’
The officers glanced at each other.
‘You’ve been late for Evie before,’ PC Holt stated, looking at her notebook.
‘I haven’t, not that I know of. Anyway, that’s not a crime, is it? The traffic can be really bad sometimes.’
‘Of course,’ she agreed. ‘But Miss Watson has also said you’ve been a little mixed up about which days Evie has her after-school sessions, too.’
I glared at Harriet and she looked away.
‘She had a session today, I know that. And she’ – I pointed a shaking finger at Harriet – ‘she let someone take Evie.’
‘I thought you had taken her,’ Harriet said. ‘You were forty minutes late. I asked Evie to stay in the classroom and I went to reception to see if you were there. We couldn’t just sit there all night, waiting for you, when everyone else had gone home.’