“Yes.”
“Well, the little boy, Teddy, has possibly wandered off somewhere. And you definitely haven’t seen him or heard him at all?”
I told him about the petals on the path and the gate being locked. I said that I’d thought Mr. Charles was gardening at the front and had just gone around to the back for something. I didn’t tell him he’d called me a fish and pointed at the window—it didn’t seem important. The policeman scribbled on his pad, his tongue sticking out at one corner as if he had to concentrate on looping the letters together. He rocked back until he was balancing on the back legs of the chair. Dad hated that.
“And did you tell anyone about this? That you’d seen a toddler on his own? Near the street?”
I blinked at him.
“I … I, well, no. I thought his granddad was around. I didn’t think there was anything wrong. And he wasn’t near the road. The gate was shut.”
The policeman scribbled something, then looked up at me.
“And why would you notice a thing like that.”
I felt a bit sick. “What?”
“The gate being shut.”
I accidentally leaned onto the doorframe, then stood bolt upright.
“I don’t know … I just look at things and see stuff. That’s all.”
Officer Campen wasn’t taking notes anymore.
“And why were you looking out the window in the first place? It’s summer vacation, why aren’t you off playing football or frying your brain with all that gaming you kids do?”
He tapped his pencil against his lips. I looked around the room, trying to think what to say.
“I was in the office at the front of the house, checking my email.”
The chair banged back down onto four legs and scraped along our tiled floor as Officer Campen stood up.
“Can I see?”
I took a step back so that I was in the hallway again.
“See what?”
“The window where you saw the boy when you were checking your email. Get an idea of how much you could see from there, okay?”
He didn’t wait for an answer and walked straight upstairs, shoes and all. His sweaty hand squeaked along our banister. I needed him to leave.
“In here?” he called and turned right, into the office. I quickly followed and stood guarding my room across the landing. I could hear the Wallpaper Lion growling quietly behind the door.
“You’ve got a good view of the whole road from here, haven’t you?” He placed both disease-ridden hands onto the sterile white windowsill and looked around.
“So you haven’t noticed anyone different hanging around? Any cars you didn’t recognize? Anything that was a bit strange?”
I thought of Casey pushing him in the pond but kept quiet.
“No. Nothing.”
He turned away from the window, looking around the room.
“Mum expecting again, is she?” he said, nodding toward the elephant mobile.
I shook my head, but he ignored me and headed back downstairs.
“Our neighbor went out running,” I said as I followed him.
“Which one was that then?” said Officer Campen as he picked up his hat and notebook.
“Mr. Jenkins, next door at number seven. He left at …” I took my own notebook out of my back pocket. “12:51 p.m.”
The policeman narrowed his eyes.
“You wrote it down?”
I nodded and quickly stuffed the book back into my pocket. What did I do that for? The policeman narrowed his eyes at me.
“Why would you write something like that down, eh? Something so trivial? Are you sure you didn’t see anything?”
The phone began to ring, and we both stared at the black receiver lying on the kitchen work surface; the little red light blinked on the top.
“You going to answer that?”
I didn’t move as the phone made three more rings. Officer Campen leaned back on the kitchen counter and folded his arms, watching me. I swallowed, my mouth bone-dry, as I walked toward the receiver. Phones harbored some of the worst germs imaginable owing to their intricate parts. I’d owned one cell phone in my life, but it hadn’t lasted long. Disinfectant and cell phones aren’t really made for each other.
I reached out, trying to hide my trembling hand, when the answering machine cut in and my mum’s voice filled the kitchen.
“Hello, you have reached the Corbin household. We’re obviously out somewhere having fun, so leave us a message and we’ll call you back. Ciao!”
She never says ciao in real life. In fact, I’ve never, ever known her to say it at any other time apart from on our answering machine. Another, deeper woman’s voice began to speak.
“Oh hello Mr. and Mrs. Corbin, this is Debbie from Dr. Rhodes’s office. I just wanted to confirm with you that Matthew’s first therapy appointment is tomorrow at ten. We look forward to seeing him then.”
Officer Campen reached for his hat, avoiding my eyes.
“Right, I’d better move on and knock at your neighbor’s. Mr. Jenkins, did you say his name was?” He didn’t wait for an answer and strode toward the front door, opening it quickly. After hearing that message he couldn’t wait to leave.
“Hopefully we’ll find him soon; we usually do. But we might need to come back and talk to you again, and your parents when they’re home from work, okay?”
Putting his hat on, he walked away and turned toward Hannah and Mr. Jenkins’s house. I pushed the door closed with my foot and ran upstairs to grab my cleaning things and made a start on the windowsill in the office before the germs spread too much. A trumpet blast announced that I had an email.
To: Matthew Corbin
From: Melody Bird
Subject: Police
Matty! Have you heard? Teddy’s gone missing!
M x
It appeared that she’d forgiven me for practically throwing her out of my house earlier. I quickly typed my answer; my fingertips felt dirty hitting the keys without any protection.
To: Melody Bird
From: Matthew Corbin
Re: Police
I know. The police just knocked on my door and asked me a load of questions. Did you see anything?
Matthew
I looked out on the cul-de-sac as a small crowd formed in the middle of the road. I took my notebook out again as I waited for her reply.
Teddy Dawson has gone missing. There are police everywhere and it looks like they are organizing a search party. Gordon, Sue, and Claudia are all taking part.
Gordon was wearing a white, wide-brimmed hat and clutching a bottle of water. He looked like he was about to go off on safari. A policewoman was pointing toward the top of the road as he nodded, taking in her instructions.
Hannah was talking to Officer Campen on her doorstep, and I caught the odd sentence.
“… he went out about one o’clock for a run and hasn’t come back yet … usually stops at the gym … works on his abs … teaches PE at the school …” I couldn’t see from the window, but I imagined her Californian smile was there as she talked about how great her husband was.
Old Nina was peering around her front door, head down, clearly terrified to be exposed to the outside world like this as another officer talked to her. The trumpet blasted again.
To: Matthew Corbin
From: Melody Bird
Re: Police
No, I didn’t see anything. Did you?
M
To: Melody Bird
From: Matthew Corbin
Re: Police
I saw him playing in the front yard earlier. That’s all.
Matthew
Mum’s car crawled along the street, and she parked outside Old Nina’s house because our driveway was blocked. She rushed over to the search party and her hand went up to her mouth. Melody’s reply flashed up on my screen.
To: Matthew Corbin
From: Melody Bird
Re: Police
Oh wow! You’re probably their best witness! And you didn’t see anything strange? Nothing at all? What about that kid Casey. Was she playing too? Wasn’t Mr. Charles with him?
Mel.
I groaned. I should have kept my mouth shut.
To: Melody Bird
From: Matthew Corbin
Re: Police
No sign of Casey or Mr. Charles. Mr. Jenkins went for a run and that was it.
Matthew
Our front door opened and Mum yelled up the stairs.