She sighed heavily, and not in the right frame of mind to listen to the latest true crime podcast she’d started late last nightwhen she couldn’t sleep, she wondered how Ben was getting on. He was in Lucerne attending a symposium on genetics and today he was giving a keynote speech about leukaemia, specifically regarding children. He was easily the cleverest person she knew and her awe of his intelligence together with her pride for the work he did were two of the many reasons she loved him.
Ben hadn’t been the first man to come into her life after Drew, but the ones before him had been of little consequence in comparison. Cassie had always loved telling the story of how they’d met at Linton Zoo. Cassie was there with Emily and it was Emily who had noticed Ben first in the aviary area. He was with two small children, both younger than Emily, and he was holding a very in-depth conversation about DNA with a parrot inside a large cage. Or more precisely, he was faking the conversation as the parrot’s responses were limited to the occasional squawk, which the attractively smiley man interpreted as agreement with what he was saying. He did it in such a convincing way that the children with him, and also Emily, were spellbound. He had his audience in the palm of his hand and in a charmingly unconscious way. He appeared to be enjoying himself as much as they were.
Cassie had assumed he was the father of the small boy and girl, but when he suggested it was time to go and see something else, they chorused, ‘No, Uncle Ben, talk to the parrot again!’ It was then that Cassie looked at him with slightly more interest. Fresh-faced. Slim. Sandy-gold hair. Faded jeans. Hoodie. Trainers. Attractive. Yes, definitely attractive.
He caught her eye and smiled. ‘Yes, you did hear right,’ he said, ‘I’m Uncle Ben and I’ve heard all the jokes about rice that you could possibly imagine.’
She’d smiled back at him and asked if he was always as chatty with parrots and was he any relation to Dr Doolittle?
They’d later bumped into each other when buying ice creams and again when queuing for the toilets.
‘If I gave you my mobile number, would there be any chance of hearing from you?’ he’d asked.
‘There might be,’ she’d said.
She’d called him the next day and the rest, as the cliché goes, is history. From very early on in their relationship, and after she’d explained about the absence of Emily’s father in her life, he understood that the only way she would trust him was to prove himself to her. And he did. Everything about him was so genuine and caring, not just with her but with Emily. He was completely reliable, which may not sound an obviously attractive character trait, but to her, it was. And not once did he ever lie or patronise Cassie for her insecurities or use them to gain an advantage over her.
So why, why,WHYwas she so ready to believe the worst of him, that he could be taken in by Rosalyn with her ah-poor-little-me routine? Or was that what appealed to Ben, the desire to be a gallant knight coming to the rescue of a damsel in distress?
The wind was gusting, and the rain was coming down even harder when she drove through the illuminated stone pillars of the entrance to Hope Hall. It had rained so much since the start of November the level of the River Cam had risen dramatically, and flood warnings kept being given.
Ahead of her lights glowed at windows in the stately building that she was lucky to call home. She always found the sight of the Hall at night especially spectacular and she still marvelled that she lived here.
She was living her best life, and in so many ways, she reminded herself firmly, so it was time to knuckle down and make sure she didn’t lose it through doubting Ben’s love for her. With her mother’s words still playing on a loop inside her head,she decided she would talk to Rosalyn. Or, as a more apt way of putting it, she wouldopen negotiationswith Rosalyn.
She made sure to park exactly within their apartment’s allotted space – the Enforcers had made a fuss at the latest residents’ meeting about parking infringements and incorrect use of bins. They’d also complained about the fireworks Ben had set off for Finlay on bonfire night earlier in the week. God, they were petty!
She was just carrying the bags of shopping across the illuminated courtyard towards the arched oak doors, when one of the doors was flung open, followed by a tumult of raised voices. Surprised to see Emily and Rosalyn, Cassie was then even more surprised to see they appeared to be in the midst of an almighty row.
‘How could you have been so careless?’ screamed Rosalyn. ‘You were supposed to be looking after him!’
‘I’ve told you a million times already, I took my eye off him for no more than a couple of seconds!’ Emily shouted back.
‘And that’s all it takes, you stupid bitch!’
‘What the hell’s going on?’ demanded Cassie, instinctively rushing to protect and defend her daughter from the onslaught of vitriol coming at her from Rosalyn.
A third figure then appeared through the open doorway; it was Venetia. ‘He won’t have gone far,’ she said calmly, ‘we’ll find him and Bon-Bon in no time at all.’
At that, Rosalyn started frantically screaming her son’s name at the top of her voice. ‘Finlay! Finlay where are you? Finlay!Finlay!’
Darting about the courtyard in the wind and rain, Rosalyn looked and sounded completely crazed, but having guessed what had happened, Cassie didn’t blame her. When Emily had been a toddler and had wandered off in a busy shop, Cassie had experienced several heart-stopping minutes when she had been petrified with sheer terror that her precious child had been snatched. There was no bigger fear for a parent.
‘If Finlay’s missing,’ she said, ‘we need to look for him in the most efficient way we can. We need to find the brightest torches we all have as well as have our mobiles to hand, that way we can spread out and call one another when we’ve found him. How long has he been missing?’
Emily opened her mouth to speak, but then clamped a hand over it and started to cry.
It was Venetia who spoke. ‘We’re not entirely sure. One minute he was playing with Bon-Bon in my apartment when Emily brought him down to me, and the next we realised they’d both gone.’
‘At a rough guess, how long?’ asked Cassie.
‘Twenty minutes, maybe more,’ replied Venetia.
‘Have you searched the building for them?’
Venetia nodded. ‘It was the first thing we did. Finlay probably got it into his head to take Bon-Bon for a walk.’
‘What if he falls in the river, Mum?’ Emily suddenly wailed. ‘If he drowns it will be my fault.’
