The Lost and the Found (31 page)

But my sister and I know the truth.

We know that sometimes you have to do whatever it takes to protect your family.

Imagine you're playing in the sandbox in the front yard on a warm summer's day. You're showing your little sister how to build a sand castle. Your mom is inside, in the kitchen, perhaps. You can hear your dad mowing the lawn in the backyard. A man stops to talk to you. He seems nice. He looks up and down the street, then opens the gate and walks toward you. The man takes your sister by the hand; he says he's taking her to get an ice cream. What do you do? You tuck your teddy bear under your arm, then push your sister away—so hard it makes her cry. You say, “No!
I
want an ice cream! Faith can stay here.” And you walk away with the man, quickly. You don't look back.

You do whatever it takes.

Sarah Braithwaite, known to her family as Sadie, was last seen on 7 April 2001. The police were convinced she was snatched by her father, notorious local criminal Eddie Gibbons. Sarah's mother, Gail, never believed that version of events. Sadie's disappearance was only reported to the police after a week. For seven whole days and nights, no one was aware that anything was amiss. It was only when a neighbor visited, finding Gail Braithwaite unconscious in a pool of her own vomit, that the alarm was finally raised.

Gail Braithwaite was unable to help the police with their inquiries. A drug-and-alcohol addict for many years, she was not a credible witness. The police investigation into the disappearance of Sarah Braithwaite was closed within a month; the investigation into Laurel Logan's disappearance is still ongoing, twelve long years after she went missing. The fact that the two little girls lived less than an hour away from each other only serves to highlight this terrible contrast.

UPD
A
TE:
I visit Gail again, thirteen years after Sadie's disappearance, ten years after I last saw her. The town of Blaxford may have changed little since my last visit, but the woman who greets me at the door could not look more different from the one I interviewed all those years ago. Today, she may look slightly older than her forty-three years, but Gail Braithwaite is healthy and, to some extent, happy.

“Sober for eight years,” she says. “I want Sadie to be proud of me when she comes home. I want her to see that I've changed. Things are different now.”

“I think about her every day, you know. She's the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about before I go to sleep at night.”

As we're talking, a little face peeks out from behind a door. “This is Selina,” Gail says proudly. The little girl is shy at first, but before long she's sitting on her mother's knee, bouncing up and down and pretending to ride a horse. Looking at mother and daughter playing together, you'd never guess at the terrible tragedy that tore Gail's life apart all those years ago.

Selina's resemblance to Sadie is striking, and I say so. Before Gail can say anything, the little girl pipes up. “Sadie! Sadie! Sadie!”

Gail smiles sadly. “We talk about Sadie a lot. I think it's important that Selina knows all about her big sister. So that she's not confused when Sadie comes home to us.”

Selina's face shines with hope as she looks up, unaware of the living hell her mother has endured. “Sadie come home?”

Tears glisten in Gail's eyes as she looks at the photo of her missing daughter, in pride of place in the middle of the mantelpiece. “One day, sweetheart. Maybe one day.”

Sincerest thanks to Allison Helleghers, Julia Churchill, Emily Easton, Samantha Gentry, Roisin Heycock, Ray Shappell, Trish Parcell, Alison Kolani, Talya Baker, Glenn Tavennec, the Sisterhood, UKYA bloggers, Mari Hannah, Gillian Robertson, Sarah Stewart, Lauren James, Cate James, Ciara Daly, Robert Clarke, and Caro Clarke.

CAT CLARKE is a full-time writer, and one of the UK's leading YA authors. She was previously an editor at Scholastic UK, where she worked on some of the UK's biggest nonfiction bestsellers. Cat has always been fascinated by the media coverage surrounding missing children—it was this idea that inspired her to write
The Lost and the Found
. She lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. You can find out more about Cat on her website
catclarke.com
, or follow her on Twitter at
@cat_clarke
.