‘There was a lot going on. One of the Year Six kids was having a nosebleed and Mrs Patel was trying to deal with that and when Mrs Finley came in, well, I mean, it’s not like we don’t know her, is it? She’s here all the time what with the PTA and helping on the school trips.’
I stare at Vanessa, unable to comprehend what she’s telling me. I’m now facing the absolute worst nightmare of any parent and I can’t process it. My children are gone. Rachel has taken Beth and Archie, and while a huge part of me still wants to believe that this is a silly misunderstanding, I know it isn’t. Someone has been helping you. Someone was in my garden the other night. Someone put those dolls on my doorstep this morning. It has to be Rachel. Whatever happened with Stuart doesn’t change the fact that she’s connected to you, and now you’re out of hospital.
The second passes, the world pulls back into focus. ‘Call the police,’ I shriek at her so loudly that Mr Bell, the head teacher, appears from his office.
‘What’s going on?’ he asks.
‘Rachel Finley has taken my children out of school without my permission.’
‘I’m sure there’s a logical explanation,’ Mr Bell says in a calm voice that does nothing to quell my panic.
‘Rachel Finley is working with my stalker. You need to call the police.’
I call Stuart and rattle off the same information again. I wait for him to insist I’m wrong, but he doesn’t. ‘I’m on my way,’ he says.
I hang up and stare at Vanessa’s teary eyes. Mr Bell has the phone pressed to his ear and is speaking to the police operator.
The trajectory of the next critical hours plays out in my head. I see the police arriving at the school, Stuart not far behind them. Cups of strong tea being pressed into our hands as the police reassure us that they’re doing everything they can to find our children. Another image elbows into my thoughts. Stuart and me being driven back to the house, someone makingus more unwanted drinks. Sitting in our living room and waiting for news as the darkness creeps into the night.
I can’t let it happen. I won’t be the victim any more.
I turn to the door and leave without a word. Mr Bell calls after me to come back, but I’m already running to my car. A drop of rain hits the top of my head as I move. Then another. It’s tentative. One droplet, then a pause, then another. As if the sky has forgotten how to rain.
The downpour starts a second later, like a burst pipe, and by the time I reach the car I’m soaked.
Two police cars pull into the car park. I know I should stay and talk to them, but I can’t.
I grab my phone and find the number for the estate agents. A woman answers and I ask for Wayne. She puts me on hold and I listen to a nonsense tune while my heart continues to pound in my chest.
The dentist appointment on the calendar. I should’ve changed it, but then you were brought into hospital. It didn’t seem important, but now I think of the unidentified fingerprints and DS Church’s insistence that they’re not yours.
The music stops and then I hear Wayne’s gruff, ‘Hello?’
‘Wayne, it’s Jenna Lawson. Can you describe the buyers who came to the house the other week?’ The words spill out so fast I’m not sure I’m making any sense.
‘Er … sure,’ he says after a pause. ‘I told the police everything at the time. The bloke was in his thirties, I think. Shortish blond hair. Normal-looking.’
‘And the other ones? The couple.’
‘It wasn’t a couple, it was a woman.’
‘But you told Stuart it was a couple.’
‘I said a couple were booked in to see it, and then he asked about the second viewing and I forgot to tell him it was just a woman. Her husband couldn’t make it.’
‘What did she look like?’
He lets out a puff of air as though I’ve asked him the square root of seventy-four. ‘She had blonde hair, I guess. Pretty.’
It’s Rachel. It all keeps coming back to Rachel.
‘She—’ Wayne continues just as my phone buzzes with a text message and I hang up and stare at my screen in horror. It’s from Rachel. Blood rushes to my head. The world around me disappears. All I see are the words on the screen.
I have Beth and Archie. If you want them to live, come to Matthew’s house.ALONE! If I see any police, they’re dead!!
Chapter 57
Jenna
