‘Joe?’ Becky asked, as she checked the number.
‘Finally.’ Sarah ran a hand under her nose, glad that he couldn’t see her, still in her jeans and her rescue centre T-shirt that smelled of dog. She hardly noticed it any more, but she was sure other people might. As for her mad crop of mousy curls, even Becky had looked a bit startled when she’d answered the door. It had clearly turned into an even more unflattering demented frizz after she’d got caught in a torrential summer shower earlier.
‘I’ll just pop to the loo,’ Becky said, giving her hand a squeeze as she got to her feet. She really was a good friend. Sarah smiled appreciatively. Perhaps she should just give up on men, since she seemed to make such a mess of everything.
‘Sarah, hi, it’s Joe,’ he said as she braced herself and took the call.
‘I gathered,’ she said. ‘I also gathered you’ve been rather busy,’ she added, trying to keep the sarcasm from her voice.
‘Yes. Sorry about that.’ He hesitated. ‘Look, Sarah—’
‘I won’t keep you long,’ she cut in quickly, her stomach twisting as she imagined what he was about to say. ‘I just needed some advice. A favour, really.’
‘As in?’ he asked cautiously.
‘I found Laura’s Facebook profile,’ she said, deciding not to beat around the bush, on the basis that he already thought what he thought about her anyway.
‘Right,’ was his weary response, which succinctly summed up how he felt.
‘She’s been married.’ Sarah pushed on regardless. ‘She said she hadn’t. She also has a child.’
He went quiet, then, ‘A child?’ he repeated, his tone incredulous.
‘A boy,’ she confirmed. ‘He has blonde hair, blue eyes – and she’s never even mentioned him.’
‘I see,’ Joe said, and paused.
Did he see? Whether or not he was reassessing his opinion of her didn’t matter. What mattered wasdidhe see?
‘And you think he looks like Ollie?’ he asked, after an interminably long moment.
He did.Sarah breathed a huge sigh of relief. ‘Remarkably like him. I wondered if you could find out more about him, and about Laura’s history? There’s not much to go on on her profile, other than the posts. I’m going to speak to Steve, obviously, but the more information I have, the better. He might already know, of course, but you have to wonder why he’s never mentioned it. Why neither of them have said anything about the existence of this child.’
Joe hesitated before answering. ‘I’d like to help,’ he said, after a second. ‘The thing is, I’m not sure how I can. The national database will only identify people who’ve committed a crime, and Facebook is a tricky area. We would need to make a legal request to access data. We can apply directly to Facebook now, but it’s still a lengthy process. If there’s a risk of serious injury, death, or imminent harm to a child, they might release data, but—’
‘Thereisa risk of imminent harm, Joe, toOllie,’ Sarah interrupted forcefully. ‘And what about the child? Where is he? He could well be …’ She stopped, stunned, as she heard a female voice in the background.
‘Joe?’ the woman called. ‘Sorry to be a pain, but do you think you could come and help me with the bath tap? The hot water’s not running properly.’
‘Shit,’ Joe muttered, not quite under his breath.‘One minute,’ he called back. ‘Sorry,’ he addressed Sarah. ‘I’m at—’
‘No explanations necessary,’ she said frostily. ‘It’s none of my business, I’m sure.’
‘It’s Courtney,’ he went on, nevertheless. ‘My ex-wife. She was upset, and I—’
‘I know who she is,’ Sarah replied, remarkably calmly considering her heart felt as if it was fracturing inside her. ‘You’d better go and warm her up, hadn’t you?’
‘Sarah …’ Joe groaned. ‘She was upset. She needed someone. I—’
‘So you offered her a shoulder?’ Sarah replied, unable now to keep the biting cynicism from her voice. ‘Sounds to me like someone else is obsessed with their ex, Joe.’
Twenty-Four
Joe
Cursing silently, Joe unscrewed the cap on the tap and tightened the nut under it, which had mysteriously come loose. ‘All done,’ he said, straightening up. ‘It’s getting a bit late. I’ll get off and leave you to it.’
‘You’re going already?’ Courtney asked, sounding surprised.
