Snatched (27 page)

Watching as Hilton strode away, the air of self-importance streaming off him almost visibly in his wake, Terry muttered, ‘Smarmy cunt.’ Then, remembering that he had company, he said, ‘Sorry. Didn’t mean to say that out loud.’

Taking a deep breath to stop herself from laughing, Jay said, ‘It’s me who should be saying sorry – for landing this on you like that. But DI Hilton didn’t warn me when he rang; he just told me to pick him up to take him somewhere. I hope you don’t feel like you’ve been railroaded?’

Shrugging, Terry said, ‘Not exactly looking forward to it, but I’ve said I’ll do it, so I will. I think you’ll have a job getting Sue to agree, though. And she’s not too good at hiding her feelings, so you’ll be lucky if she doesn’t tell me to piss off in front of the camera.’

‘I’ll speak to her,’ Jay said quietly, knowing that he was right; that Sue would be the more difficult of the two to persuade – and the far more likely of the two to let her emotions get the better of her and disrupt the whole purpose of the appeal.

‘Rather you than me,’ Terry said, scraping his chair back. ‘Not that I’m going to have it any easier, ’cos I’ve got to try and explain it to Leanne – and
that
won’t be fun.’

Feeling for him, because he was trying so hard to do the right thing despite the opposition he was facing from all sides, Jay gave him a sympathetic smile, saying, ‘At least it won’t take too long once it gets going. Hope you don’t mind the thought of wearing a bit of make-up, though, because they’re likely to want to put something on you for the cameras.’

‘Aw, you’re joking?’ Terry groaned, looking thoroughly unimpressed by the idea as he stood up.

‘You might get lucky; they might decide it’s more authentic for the concerned parents to be pale.’

‘Yeah, well, I’d prefer that. Mind, I bet your DI will have some on, though, won’t he?’

Probably already in make-up as we speak
, Jay thought scathingly. Keeping it to herself, because it was unprofessional to slag off a colleague – however much you loathed them – she glanced at her watch, and said, ‘I’d best go and find Mrs Day. Shall we meet back here in, say, fifteen minutes?’

Nodding, Terry came out from behind the table and waved her to go ahead of him. Following her across the hall, he left her having a quick word with Pauline, and set off outside to look for Leanne.

Expression thoroughly attentive, and suitably solemn despite the excitement that was coursing through her at the thought of her event being televised, Pauline listened to what was being proposed.

‘Never mind all that,’ she said when Jay warned her that the TV crew would undoubtedly make a mess of the hall. ‘You just do whatever you need to do and let me worry about putting things back to rights. And I’ll personally vet everyone before they get so much as a foot through that door, so don’t worry about anyone causing trouble.’

After nearly being caught with Dave in the car park, Sue had gone back to the refreshment tent, figuring that it would be the first place Carole would head for. And if Carole saw her sitting behind the counter with Irene, she’d assume that she’d been there the whole time, which would throw her off the scent.

Just as she’d predicted, Carole walked in a few minutes later. Already scowling, her eyes flashed with hatred when she saw Sue sitting there.

‘How long have you been here?’ she demanded.

‘Who you talking to like that?’ Irene jumped in before Sue had a chance to open her mouth.

‘I’m talking to her, not you,’ Carole spat. ‘And this has got nothing to do with you, so butt out.’

‘It’s got everything to do with me, seeing as she’s been sitting with me all day keeping me company,’ Irene informed her icily. ‘Not that it’s any of
your
business. And I’d thank you to take your nastiness elsewhere if you can’t control yourself, lady, because this day is all about her and her kiddies, not you and your big gob!’

Sucking her teeth, Carole cast one last eye-dagger at Sue. Much as she’d have loved for it to have been her she’d seen with Dave so she’d be justified in giving her a good kicking, it obviously hadn’t been, or Irene would have taken a great deal of pleasure from telling her and rubbing it in deep.

Turning on her heel now, she marched back out, brushing roughly past Jay who was just coming in through the entrance flap.

Shaking her head, wondering why some people had to be so rude, Jay headed towards the counter.

Sue had just lit a cigarette. Smiling guiltily, she said, ‘You’re not going to arrest me for smoking inside, are you?’

‘Not today,’ Jay assured her, returning the smile. ‘I just wanted a quick word, if you’ve got a minute.
Outside
,’ she added pointedly, for the benefit of Irene who was all ears.

Giving Irene a little shrug as Jay turned and walked away, Sue followed her out into the daylight, wondering what she wanted to talk about.

Going to a bench that was set some distance away from the crowd, Jay sat Sue down and explained what was being proposed. Pre-empting the immediate protest that she knew she would get, she said, ‘Mr Day’s already agreed to do it if you will. And, given the high feedback these things generally bring, I would ask you to seriously consider it before you make a definite decision.’

Face pale, hands visibly shaking, Sue said, ‘I can’t believe Terry would agree to do something like that. He hates me.’

Telling her that Terry was willing to put his own personal feelings aside for Nicky’s sake, Jay explained about what would happen when Nicky reached the age of sixteen.

Having thought that they would just carry on looking with the same intensity until they’d found her, Sue couldn’t believe that the search would get scaled down so drastically.

‘Okay, I’ll do it,’ she said, her voice shaking as much as her hands now. ‘But can you make sure I don’t have to sit too close to Terry, or he might lose his temper and go for me.’

Assuring her that they would be seated at a reasonable distance – without adding that Terry had already requested the same thing – Jay said, ‘I’ll have to talk you through everything before the TV crew arrives, so if we could just go inside, I’ve arranged to meet up with Terry so we can all sit down and discuss it.’

‘Me and him together,
now
?’ Sue murmured nervously. Biting her lip when Jay nodded, she said, ‘What about Leanne? I don’t want her there.’

‘However you feel most comfortable,’ Jay said. ‘It’s your call.’

Seeming mollified by this, Sue said, ‘You’ll be there, though, won’t you? You won’t leave us on our own?’

Telling her that she would be with her every step of the way, Jay waited for her to finish her cigarette, then walked her into the community centre.

Terry had been through the crowd twice now, but he still hadn’t seen Leanne. And more people were turning up by the minute, making it hard to keep looking. Assuming that she had decided to go off somewhere with her mates, he felt a bit relieved. At least if she wasn’t here, she couldn’t kick off and mess everything up. He’d just have the sulking to put up with when he got home and told her about it later.

Heading back towards the community centre now, his heart sank when Leanne suddenly came into view up ahead. But she wasn’t with her mates, she was with her mum and dad, and Carole was obviously in a foul mood about something, because she was swinging her arms around as she walked, shouting something that Terry could hear in volume if not in actual words. Wanting to avoid getting dragged into whatever was going on, he was about to take a detour round the back when Pauline appeared in the doorway with a microphone in her hand, and the static of the centre’s PA system crackled out.

‘Can I have everyone’s attention . . .’ Pauline said, her words badly distorted by the feedback she was creating by almost eating the microphone. ‘As you know, we’re holding this fund-raiser today for Sue and Terry Day and their children. And I’ve been asked to tell you that there’ll be a television crew arriving shortly, to film an appeal to help find Nicky.’

Pausing for several beats to let that sink in, she said, ‘Now the police have asked me to invite some of you into the hall while Sue and Terry are filming. But not yet!’ she added quickly, holding up a hand to prevent them all from running at her. ‘I’ll give you the word when we’re ready.

‘Now, if I decide you can come in,’ she went on self-importantly, ‘you’ll be expected to behave yourselves. No talking, no fidgeting, and no nonsense. There won’t be room for everyone, so if you want to be involved, queue up outside the refreshment tent and wait for me to come and take your names. Thank you.’

A deathly hush had fallen over the crowd by the time Pauline had finished speaking and gone back inside. But they all started talking at once now, their excitement about the impending arrival of a TV crew ringing out across the field as they made a mad dash for the refreshment tent – hoping to be first in line so they could bag a seat at the front of the hall and get themselves on camera.

Terry could see at a glance how badly Leanne had taken the news. There was no excitement on
her
face, just blind rage that he had obviously agreed to do this alongside Sue. Knowing that she was looking for him when she marched away from her parents with murder in her eyes, he put his head down and ran down the side of the community centre. He could have wasted time explaining, but she’d never have understood, so he’d just have to go ahead – and deal with the fallout later.

Knocking on the fire-exit door, he rushed inside when Tina opened it. Sue, Jay and Pauline were sitting at the table straight ahead of him, having a cup of tea. Joining them, he sat down and folded his arms.

Relieved that she’d finally got them in the same room, even if they weren’t speaking to or looking at each other, Jay gave them a brief rundown of what would happen once the TV crew arrived – apologising in advance should anything happen differently and throw them off balance.

‘I haven’t done too many of these things myself,’ she admitted. ‘But DI Hilton’s an old hand, so I’m sure he’ll help you if you get stuck. He’ll make the initial statement, detailing what’s happened and what we’re asking of the public. Then you’ll both be asked to speak.’ Turning to Sue now, she said, ‘They’ll probably want mum first, so just look straight at the camera, as if you’re talking to Nicky herself. Tell her how worried you are, and how much you’re missing her – that kind of thing. Then you’ll pick it up from there.’ Jay turned to Terry. ‘Tell her not to worry, she’s not in any kind of trouble, you both just want her to come home.’

‘Home?’ Terry repeated quietly. ‘I’m not being funny, but if she’s somewhere where she’s able to watch TV, surely she’ll have already seen the papers and she’ll know that there’s no
home
to come back to.’

‘We’ve got to keep it simple,’ Jay told him, hoping he wouldn’t be pedantic about it when they started filming or it would alienate people. ‘We’re aiming this as much at the viewer as at Nicky, because we need them to feel emotionally involved, as if they’re sharing this experience with you. If it feels personal, they’re more likely to really think about what they were doing the day Nicky disappeared. And, with any luck, someone might remember something.’

‘Like what?’ Sue asked, her voice cracking because she felt so nervous being so close to Terry.

‘Like, if they saw a young girl matching Nicky’s description doing anything out of the ordinary,’ Jay said. ‘Maybe running, or crying – anything they might have considered odd at the time, but then forgot. Or somebody might remember seeing her talking to somebody after she left the house or the garage, which could point us in a direction we hadn’t thought of.
Any
thing is better than nothing.’

Blushing with the guilt of still not having told the truth about Nicky not being home when she went out, Sue dipped her head and stared at her cup. She’d wanted to confess loads of times, but couldn’t bring herself to do it because she was terrified of the police delving into Julie’s past and tarring her with the same brush. And she definitely couldn’t let Terry find out, because he would go crazy if he thought she’d had a suspected child abuser around his kids. And it wouldn’t make any difference that she hadn’t even known about it herself.

Seeing the misery etched on Sue’s face, Pauline reached out and gave her hand a squeeze. ‘I’m so sorry you’re going through all this,’ she said, glancing at Terry to include him. ‘And if there was anything I could have done to prevent it, you know I’d have done it. But at least you’re both talking again, and that’s got to be better for Connor, because this has hit him hard, and he needs to see you pulling together as a family again.’

Terry sighed and his gaze drifted to Connor who was sitting across the room with Tina. He was holding an ice cream, but he didn’t seem in any hurry to eat it. In a world of his own, his eyes were huge and vacant as he stared off into space. There had to be some dark thoughts swirling around in that little head of his, but until he decided to start talking again Terry didn’t have a clue how to reach him.

And neither did Sue. Looking at her son now, she suddenly saw him as other people must. Not an infuriating little boy who grunted and soiled his pants to piss her off, but an innocent child who had almost died, and who couldn’t understand why his sister still hadn’t come to see him – and his daddy had abandoned him again.

Knowing that she was totally to blame for the latter, her voice was hoarse with guilt as she forced herself to speak to Terry for the first time in months.

‘I know I shouldn’t have stopped you seeing him, but it’s been really hard knowing what to do for the best since he came home. He’s been so upset about Nicky, and I just feel like I’ve got to protect him.’

‘From
me
?’ Terry asked, his eyes betraying the hurt that her words had caused him.

‘No,’ Sue murmured, forcing herself to look at him now. ‘From
us
. Every time we see each other it ends up in a fight, and the kids have suffered enough, so I don’t want Connor seeing any more of it. It’s not fair.’