Sophie had worshipped him. She’d had the best relationship it was possible for a daughter to have with a father.
Alicia clenched her fists. Why had she done it? Why had she waited, knowing this would eventually come out? That when it did, it would tear her beautiful family apart. Jessica had been right. She’d lied to herself and everyone else. She was everything Sophie thought she was – a selfish, unfeeling bitch.
‘So, she already had her overnight bag packed?’ DI Taylor asked her.
Alicia hardly heard him, her gaze going past him as the lounge door opened – hoping to see what, she didn’t know. If he met her gaze, which Alicia was petrified he wouldn’t, there would be nothing but hurt and disappointment in his eyes. Open contempt, too – that would be there. How could it not?
Seeing the gash on Justin’s cheek, his dishevelled appearance, Alicia felt another part of her curl up and die. ‘Justin…?’ She moved instinctively towards him, and then stopped as he fixed her with a stare that could freeze an ocean.
He didn’t speak as she faltered, turning his gaze quizzically towards DI Taylor instead, obviously wondering why he would come again personally.
‘What happened to you?’ DI Taylor asked, turning to look at him.
Justin smiled ironically. ‘Security guards weren’t too keen to let me go,’ he said, his expression wary as he glanced between Taylor and the woman police officer with him.
He looked utterly exhausted, jaded to his very bones. Alicia wished there was some way to take his pain away, but there was none. She couldn’t go to him, hold him. Dear God, how much she wanted to do that. There was nothing she could do but take herself, the cause of his pain, away. Her guilt threatening to choke her, she glanced down as Justin’s gaze came back to her. She could feel his eyes on her, studying her, obviously looking for some clue as to who this stranger he’d lived with, loved with all of himself, was. In the edge of her vision, she saw him walk across to her, stand a foot away. The space felt like an iceberg between them.
Tentatively, Alicia reached out to him, placing a hand on his arm, and Justin flinched, physically flinched at her touch, and Alicia knew. She’d lost him. There would be no going back. Even if their beautiful, precious daughter walked through the door right now, there would be no going back for any of them. She’d done that.
‘So, what do you propose to do?’ he asked DI Taylor. His tone was tight with pent-up emotion. Emotion that surely had to be vented, if he wasn’t to go the same route he had once before, driven slowly and steadily out of his mind by grief.
‘I’m afraid there’s nothing much we can do at this juncture,’ DI Taylor said, with an apologetic sigh.
‘What?’ Justin reeled where he stood. Alicia knew this was too much to take on top of his frustration with the police’s lack of progress in regard to Lucas and the crash. ‘My daughter is missing and you’re telling me you’re going to do nothing?’ Raking a hand furiously through his hair, he stared at Taylor, stunned.
DI Taylor’s expression was sympathetic. ‘It’s too soon to register her officially missing,’ he explained. ‘And then, the first thing we have to establish is the level of risk to the person who is missing. If she—’
‘My daughter!’ Justin’s voice rose. ‘The person missing is my daughter! Jesus!’ He banged the heel of his hand against his forehead. ‘She’s fifteen! Doesn’t that make her at risk? What the hell is wrong with you people? Why aren’t you out looking for her?’
Taylor looked regretfully to Alicia, before turning uncomfortably back to Justin. ‘We have your statement, Dr Cole,’ he said quietly. ‘We’re doing all we can for now.’
‘Which, as you’ve just pointed out, amounts to nothing,’ Justin said furiously.
Again, Taylor glanced away, plainly unable to meet his gaze. ‘She went of her own volition, according to Mrs Cole.’
Alicia nodded. There was no escaping the fact that Sophie had been driven out, her life shattered and her heart broken, by her own mother.
‘Which means what, exactly?’ Justin asked, his jaw tightening.
‘If a person goes missing voluntarily, then it’s generally an indicator of a problem in that person’s life,’ Taylor explained patiently. ‘And you’ve obviously been having a few problems…’
‘Obviously,’ Justin said, his tone now bitter with contempt. ‘Meaning, in your expert opinion, she’s classed as a low-risk case?’
‘For now, yes.’ Taylor nodded ruefully. ‘We have a list of her friends and acquaintances. I gather Mrs Cole has already contacted most of them, but we will contact them again and keep you posted if anything new comes up.’
‘Right. Such as my daughter being found raped or murdered?’ said Justin. Alicia’s stomach tightened like a slipknot.
Taylor glanced quickly in her direction. ‘We could use a recent photograph,’ he said, offering her a commiserating smile.
Nodding, Alicia swallowed back the jagged glass in her chest. ‘I have one in my bag,’ she said, fighting tears as she turned to the sofa to retrieve the photo she carried in her purse. She couldn’t cry. Though she wanted to curl up and weep like a child – for her children, for Justin, who once would have comforted her – now was not the time. Now, Justin would hate her as much as she’d known he’d once loved her – and it hurt. It hurt so very much.
Shoving his hands in his pockets, Justin watched as Taylor looked at the photo and then passed it to his colleague. ‘So, have you made any progress in regard to whoever murdered my son? Just wondering whether you’re even trying. You know, out of idle curiosity,’ he said, his tone scathing.
‘We don’t take the death of a child anything other than seriously, Dr Cole,’ Taylor assured him. ‘We’re following every lead, I can assure you. I’m afraid we don’t have much to go on, other than the colour and type of the car.’
‘A black Land Rover,’ Alicia said.
DI Taylor nodded, and then sighed. ‘Unfortunately, black Land Rover doesn’t really give us much to go on without at least part of the registration. And, as we have no witnesses to the road traffic accident, we’re—’
‘No witnesses?’ Justin almost choked.
‘No independent eye witnesses who can provide a description of the driver of the car,’ Taylor clarified. ‘We’ve appealed for people to come forward with any information, but without a clear identification or fingerprints, we can’t check the national database, which means we’re at a bit of a loss, I’m afraid.’
‘A loss?’ Justin stared at him, incredulous. ‘I don’t believe this! You mean the bastard is going to get away with it?’
‘What about CCTV footage?’ Alicia asked, feeling as desperate as Justin looked.
‘Not much use, I’m afraid.’ Glancing apologetically at her, Taylor shook his head. ‘We don’t have a clear image of the driver’s face and, unfortunately, the angle of the camera doesn’t show us the number plate. I’m sorry, Mrs Cole. I can’t give you any further information, as yet.’
He was going to get away with it. Nausea rose rancidly in Alicia’s chest. She looked at DI Taylor in disbelief, while Justin simply laughed, a short, derisive laugh, and then walked away. He stopped at the door. His frustration was tangible, his anger emanating from him. Breathing out, eventually, he reached to knead his forehead, and then, ‘Stuff it!’ he growled, slamming the heel of his hand hard into the lounge door.
‘Dr Cole,’ DI Taylor took a step towards him, a warning edge to his voice. ‘I realise how frustrated you must feel, but I’m not sure getting aggressive is going to help, is it?’