“And have you used or seen the phone since?” Jim sounded much calmer than he felt as panic and dread began to settle in the pit of his stomach.
“No. Shit!”
“What?” Jim’s guts churned again.
“When I left her, Mum was waiting for Liam.”
“This just gets fucking better,” shouted Jim before storming back into the house. “Sorry folks, Dan has lost his phone, but we think his mother has it. She was waiting for Liam when Tasha received a text from who she thought was Dan. Nobody knows what the message said, just that Dan wanted to meet Tasha alone, so if you wouldn't mind watching Connor, Dan and I are going to find my wife and while we're gone, we'll be having a chat, just the two of us.” Jim stared the younger man down and found little contentment in him looking away first.
“They won’t hurt her, will they?” asked Celia. “There'd be no point...” she trailed off knowing there had often been no point in people hurting Tasha but they'd done it anyway.
“Go,” called Paul urgently as Connor was sick again, over Pippa this time. “We'll deal with Connor, you just go and bring my girl home,” said Paul to Jim.
****
Half an hour later Jim was pulling up in front of Tasha's childhood home in his hire car and thought that from the outside the house looked a dark and intimidating place even though it looked just like the other houses. Dan knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He knocked again, louder this time then next door's front door opened. Jim knew the man standing there was Gerry's dad as they were almost identical.
“Dan, you okay there?”
“No. We're looking for Tash. Long story but she thought she was meeting me but we think it may be Mum or Liam she's meeting. Sorry, this is Jim, Tasha's husband. This is Keith, Gerry's dad.”
“Hi,” said Jim impatiently.
“Pleasure. Your mum went out about forty minutes ago, I only know because I heard her laughing. I think she'd been drinking and I don't know if she was with Liam, but she was with someone.”
“Thanks, Keith, any idea which way she went?” asked Jim.
“Yeah, left out of the gate, so I assume she was cutting through the park because there's nothing else down that way,” replied Keith.
“Thanks again. Dan?” Jim called. “Do we walk or drive?”
“Walk, there's no vehicular access from this end,” said Keith answering for Dan. “Let us know Tasha’s safe.”
“Will do,” replied Jim, already exiting through the gate followed by Dan.
“Why don't you tell me exactly what's been going on with you,” said Jim as an order more than a request.
As they swiftly moved towards the park, Dan began to fill in all of the gaps for Jim. He explained that once Tasha was safe and well, married to Jim and found out she was pregnant with Connor he’d been unable to get past all of the things Tasha had endured at other people's hands and all to keep other people safe; him, Pippa, Lizzie, Juan. He had, as Gerry had revealed, become a bit of a fighter and always threw punches intended for the likes of his father and Liam. Eventually, Dan had decided he needed answers so went to see his mother who’d played the role of manipulated victim to perfection until she’d sucked Dan in. She had asked for cash from Dan but he hadn’t had any to give her as all of his funds beyond any wages he earned went through his grandparents meaning he couldn’t syphon money off to give to her. With his mother making noises about selling stories about Tasha, in gaining some representation to get a better deal from the press, Dan had panicked, not wanting Tasha’s past to be revealed to the world at large because it would only distress and hurt her and she’d already suffered enough, too much.
In order to gain some cash for his mother he’d delivered some parcels for Liam and although he'd suspected them to be drugs, he'd asked no questions and just done it, to help his mum out. To protect Tasha. By that time, Dan didn't know which way to turn to escape and ended up visiting his father in prison who’d welcomed him back to the fold, a fold where he'd ended up again and sinking deeper and deeper into it but had no real clue how he'd got there.
After his row with Tasha that morning he'd been able to see more clearly that he'd been stupid but had also been played and manipulated because of where his head had been at. Knowing Jim wouldn’t take any crap or make allowances where Tasha and Connor were concerned, he’d decided he wanted no further part of it so had been to see his mum to tell her that. She'd been far more interested in Tasha's visit and her filthy rich husband than what her son did or didn’t want to be involved with. Dan hadn't been entirely shocked by that but he’d been stunned when his mother had asked if he could bring Connor to visit her. Just Connor. Without Tasha knowing. Just once as he was her only grandchild. He’d been unsure why but now words like kidnap and ransom were spinning around in Dan’s mind and that had given him the final clarity he’d needed to see straight. To see his mother for what she was again and to see himself and all the mistakes he’d made and been encouraged to make.
He assured Jim he would never have taken his son anywhere near anyone without permission and was apologetic for becoming involved again but after listening to Tasha that morning he had cut all ties once more, for good. Not that his mother was accepting that, but Dan was determined.
“Dan, I can't tell you that I'm not pissed to find myself in this hideous situation, one where my wife is in danger, again, but I kind of get what happened. Let's find Tasha and then we can sort out what happens next.”
“I’d understand if you forced Tash to cut me off,” he said sadly, resigned almost.
“Despite what you seem to think of me, I don’t force your sister to do anything, not against her will, anyway. Tasha loves you, you and Pippa and I would never want her to lose touch with either of you and there’s no reason for her to do so, unless remaining in touch endangers her. However, as I said, once we’ve found Tasha we can sort out what happens next.”
They stood at the entrance to the park and looked around.
“Needle in a fucking haystack springs to mind here.” With those words ringing in his head, Jim briefly allowed his mind to wander back to the stables, the hay loft. His lips curled into the smallest of smiles at the memory. He quickly shook it away because right now he needed to focus on finding Tasha.
“Bandstand,” replied Dan.
“What?”
