‘To prison?’ Mark laughed incredulously. ‘Why on earth would I do that?’
‘Because of the chocolate,’ Poppy said, her voice barely a whisper, her eyes now welling with tears.
Was that all? Mark’s laugh this time was one of sheer bloody relief.
‘I don’t want to go to prison, Daddy. It’s dark and cold. And they don’t let you take any toys, or play, or anything.’ Poppy’s voice quavered and her face crumpled, and Mark reached out for her.
‘You don’t go to prison for something like that, sweetheart.’ He squeezed her tight; felt like crying with her. ‘You shouldn’t have done it, but I’m guessing you’ve already figured that out. I’m not angry with you.’
A sob shaking her small shoulders, Poppy didn’t answer.
Mark reached to wipe the tears from her cheek with his thumb. ‘I love you, Poppy,’ he said firmly. ‘More than all the stars and all the fish in the sea. Got that? I will never stop loving you, no matter what.’
Poppy flung herself at him, almost knocking Mark backwards. ‘I love you bigger than a whole whale,’ she snuffled into his neck, locking her arms firmly around him.
‘That’s a lot.’ Mark hugged her hard. ‘Come on, sweetpops. Let’s go and get you ready for school.’
Taking her small hand in his as he got to his feet, he turned to Mel. ‘Shall I drive her there?’ he asked hopefully.
Sixty-Five
JADE
It was enough to melt hearts, it really was. Under cover of the trees on the opposite side of the lane, Jade watched Poppy skipping happily to the car alongside her precious daddy, her Bedtime Peppa clutched to her chest. Obviously he’d won her over with his false kindness and oh-so-caring persona. Lies. Little did his precious little Poppet know it, but he would hurt her too, abuse her, lie to her, just as he had Jade.
Naively, her body not yet grown, her emotions so vulnerable, Jade had forgiven him for abandoning her that first time, despite the initial doubt that had niggled inside her. She’d dismissed it. Made excuses for him, as women did for the despicable, abusive men in their lives. And she’d waited for him. Remade herself for him. Offered herself to him on a plate, and he’d rejected her. The bastard, as if he hadn’t enjoyed her going down on him. As if he wouldn’t have taken full advantage of what was on offer and fucked her senseless if needy Melissa hadn’t stumbled to the bathroom overhead. He was a user. An abuser of the worst kind. Jade’s humiliation simmered furiously inside her. It was time Mark Cain realised the grave consequences of using his position to exploit vulnerable young women.
He thought he could just walk away from it. Get away with leading her on and then crushing her under his feet, all the while hiding his deviant nature behind his family, his career, his respectability. He had no idea what the word respect meant. Now it was time to strip away his veneer and show the world what a deceitful, manipulative excuse for a man he was. The public weren’t safe with him. His children weren’t safe with him. Her baby wasn’t safe – vulnerable to his twisted whimsies, his wife’s mental instability. It was time to redress the balance, turn the tables. To have Mark Cain disgraced and removed to a place where he’d have a lifetime to ponder all that he’d lost. It was time to take back what he’d stolen, to ruin him as surely as he’d ruined her.
She sneered as she watched Poppy the spoiled brat chatting to her podgy-faced little pig, her fingers intertwined with her father’s.
Time to put away childish things, my lovely.
Mark would never hold his daughter’s hand again.
Sixty-Six
MARK
Coming back from a jog, which he’d hoped would clear his mind, Mark was turning into his lane when his heart slammed into his ribcage. What the…? His gut twisting violently inside him, he didn’t hesitate, sprinting towards the house.
‘Sorry, sir, I can’t allow you through access.’ A uniform barred his way as he approached the sea of blue lights. ‘There’s been an incident. We need to cordon off—’
‘Fuck off, this is my house,’ Mark shouted, attempting to push his way past the man.
The guy pushed back hard, sending Mark staggering.
‘Let him through! It’s DI Cain!’ Lisa shouted, emerging from his front door. Mark righted himself, his head reeling, blind panic almost choking him.
‘Who?’ The uniform glanced confusedly back at her.
‘Mark Cain!’ Lisa bellowed. ‘The baby’s father! Let him through.’
Evie? No! Feeling something break inside him, Mark scrambled past the officer. His baby. Christ, please not his baby.
‘Sorry, Mark, he’s the new probationer,’ Lisa said, looking him over apprehensively as she ran to meet him on the drive.
Mark nodded tightly. ‘What’s happening?’ he asked, his tone short as he desperately tried to keep a rein on his spiralling emotions.
‘I’m sorry, Mark… It’s Evie. She’s been taken.’
Lisa moved quickly forwards as his legs almost failed him. ‘Take your time,’ she said sympathetically, moving to wrap an arm firmly around him as Mark bent, clutching his thighs and attempting to draw air into his lungs.
Nodding again, Mark straightened up. ‘When?’ he asked, barely able to get the word past the hard knot in his throat.
‘Ten fifteen, give or take a minute,’ Lisa said, her tone quiet and measured – a hopeless attempt to reassure him.
Mark reeled inwardly. He’d forgotten to take his mobile with him. He’d been five minutes into his run when he realised, and had debated going back for it, but had decided against it. He’d been out, running, without his mobile while his child was being abducted.
‘Melissa fastened Evie into her seat and then went back inside to pick up a box,’ Lisa explained.
‘A box?’
‘A sculpture. She was taking it to the university to be fired,’ Lisa clarified, as Mark frantically tried to make sense where there was none. ‘She’d left the boot open, so the car was unlocked. When she came back…’ Lisa stopped, her voice catching.
Their child had gone. Nausea churning his stomach, Mark closed his eyes, feeling every one of Mel’s emotions, every second of the agony she would have gone through. ‘Witnesses?’ he asked gutturally.
Lisa shook her head. Mark guessed there wouldn’t be. The lane wasn’t a useful through road to anywhere, providing access only to the local farm and a few houses.
Mark half-turned away, no clue what to do at a crime scene that involved his own family.
‘We’ve been trying to locate Jade.’ Lisa cut through his deliberations. ‘I asked Mel, but she’s not making much sense. Any ideas?’
‘Jade,’ Mark repeated, cold foreboding washing through him. Could she…? Would she? ‘She’s gone.’
‘Gone?’
‘Fired,’ Mark said tersely. ‘Find her.’
‘I’m on it,’ Lisa assured him. ‘Do you have any details? Previous employers, addresses? Relatives we can start with?’
Mark’s heart nosedived into the pit of his stomach.
‘You did run a background check, right?’
Hopelessly, Mark shook his head. ‘Mel said she would. I… didn’t push it.’
Lisa drew in a sharp breath, but didn’t comment. ‘I’ll get everyone I can on it,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry, Mark. We’ll find Evie.’
Cursing his idiocy, his sheer bloody incompetence at not running the check himself, Mark nodded. ‘Where’s Mel?’ he asked, attempting some sort of focus as he glanced towards the house, their dream home, which had become a house of horrors. Mel would be broken, utterly destroyed.
‘Lounge. Distraught, obviously,’ Lisa said, and then hesitated. ‘She thought you’d taken her, Mark. I thought you should know.’
The news didn’t surprise him. It hurt, but it didn’t surprise him.