‘You’re going over to Granny’s house, and this time I’ll make sure there’s an officer with you. I don’t like the idea of someone watching for this eejit here to leave with Milot.’
‘What about Sean?’ Katie asked.
‘Boyd can pick him up from school.’
Boyd walked into the house. ‘Will I go for him now?’
‘Just a minute,’ Lottie said. ‘Katie, run up and get Chloe and Milot.’
‘What about me?’ Eamon Carter leaned against the back door. Looking for a quick exit?
‘You’re coming to the station. We need to trace the number of whoever contacted you.’ She shoved him towards the door. ‘You have to give a statement. And a description of the two men. Then we’ll see about letting you go home to your mum.’
Katie rushed into the kitchen. ‘I can’t find them!’
‘What?’
‘They’re gone. I can’t find them anywhere.’
Lottie rushed past her daughter into the hallway. ‘It’s not a feckin’ mansion. Chloe! Come down here this instant.’
‘Mam,’ Katie said, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. ‘I think Chloe’s a bit unhinged. She was like a lunatic with that hurley. I thought she was going to kill Eamon.’
‘She thought he was going to kill you.’ Lottie took the stairs two at a time. ‘Chloe?’
Minecraft flickered on Sean’s computer. No Milot. She glanced into Chloe’s room. Empty. Katie’s room too, as was her own. Running back into Chloe’s, she noticed the bed pushed up to the open window. The curtain hung limply, no breeze to blow it around.
She leaned out, shouting hysterically, ‘Chloe? Chloe, where are you?’
‘Shh, Milot. I won’t let the bad man take you.’
Chloe didn’t trust Eamon Carter. She hadn’t believed one word out of his mouth. She’d seen what had almost happened to Sean in January at the hands of a madman. Knew what had happened to Jason, Katie’s boyfriend. She wasn’t taking any chances with little Milot. She had been so caught up in her own misery, cutting herself, causing herself pain, that she’d ignored the little boy since he’d come into her home. Now was her chance to be brave and get him to safety. Her mother was too busy; she had to do this herself.
Her biggest fear was the man who called himself Lipjan. She’d felt an awful helplessness when he’d pinned her to the tree, and she believed he knew where Maeve was. He possibly had her captive and maybe he’d already killed her. She gulped down a cry. No, she couldn’t take any chances with Milot. The message she’d received on her phone moments earlier confirmed it.
A surge of fear fuelled by adrenalin had intensified her need to get out of her room, and not via the front door. Grabbing Milot from Sean’s room, she’d brought him into hers and dragged the bed over to the window. Wrapping the boy’s arms round her neck and his legs around her waist, she’d stood on the bed, eased out of the window and dropped onto the garden shed roof. Her ankles had jarred with the thud. At least she hadn’t fallen through. Disregarding the mild pain, she’d edged to the eaves, hauled herself over and slipped to the ground. She’d shrunk into a narrow space behind the oil tank and hunkered down with Milot snug to her body. Above her head she heard the rumble of the railway and knew a train was slowing down to enter the station.
Milot whimpered. Chloe held him closer. The poor child. What must he have gone through in his short life? Too much, she thought. While all she had done was indulge in self-pity. She physically shook herself and the boy let out a small cry.
‘It’s okay, little man. I won’t let anyone take you.’
A voice rang into the evening air. ‘Chloe? Chloe, where are you?’
She looked up to see her mother hanging halfway out of her bedroom window. Should she go back? Should she stay hidden? What was best for Milot?
No sound of sirens. No guards rushing around her house to protect them. What could her mother do? She began to cry, and Milot looked at her, his dark brown eyes filling up.
‘It’s all right, petal. I’ll mind you. No one will hurt you ever again.’
Sniffing away her tears, she momentarily wished she had her little blade. Just one cut. To feel the blood oozing slowly from her flesh. Giving her relief from her mental anguish. But the little boy needed her more than she needed her blade.
Chloe took her phone from her jeans pocket. Checked the text once more and made her decision.
‘We’re going somewhere safe and I need you to do what I tell you.’
She put the boy on her back. Winding his arms and legs tightly around her body, she scrambled up the bank at the rear of the house and through the bramble hedge. Once she was on the railway tracks, she began to run.
Seventy-Seven
‘Boyd! Boyd!’ Lottie ran down the stairs. ‘They’re gone. Where could they go? Oh God. Chloe. What will I do?’
Boyd gripped her by the upper arms and shook her. ‘Breathe, Lottie. Look into my eyes. Now, slow breaths.’
Lottie stared into the brown depths with their hazel flecks. She took her breaths and counted every one. Feeling slightly calmer, she said, ‘We have to find them. Quick. Look out the back. She must have jumped onto the shed from her bedroom window. It’s not that far, is it? I hope she’s not lying hurt somewhere. Oh God.’
‘Wait here.’ Boyd ran out the door. He returned in a few minutes.
‘No sign. She could’ve run round the side of the house or through the neighbour’s garden. I’ve contacted the station. The whole force will be searching. We’ll find them.’
‘But why would she do something like that?’
‘Maybe she feared for Milot’s safety. She didn’t stop to think.’
‘It’s more than that. All that stuff I went through over my brother, everything that happened with Sean, even Maeve… I think it’s seriously impacted on Chloe.’
‘Don’t go there, Lottie. Now’s not the time for analysis. First we have to find them. Are you all right?’
She scrunched up her shoulders and blew out a long, loud breath. ‘I’m okay. Honestly.’ She thought for a moment. ‘I need Sean picked up from school. He’s to be brought to my mother’s house along with Katie. Get someone to guard her house and at least I’ll know they’re safe there.’
Boyd made another call. When he hung up he said, ‘Lynch is on her way to the school. Lottie, I think you need a cup of tea.’
‘For fuck’s sake, Boyd. I don’t want tea. Are you mad?’
She turned to see Garda Gillian O’Donoghue standing at the table with Carter. ‘How did you get here so fast?’
‘You phoned me on your way over,’ the garda said. ‘To come and watch Milot while you sorted out whatever Chloe was ringing you about.’
‘So I did.’ She didn’t know what she was doing any more. She needed to get out and look for her daughter. ‘Boyd, you drive. My car’s at the station. I have to think where Chloe would go.’
‘Maybe Katie knows,’ Boyd said.
Katie was at the table, slumped over with her head resting on her arms.
‘Katie, are you all right?’ Lottie rushed to her daughter.
‘I’m fine.’ She raised her head. ‘Go find Milot and Chloe.’