I wondered if we’d see Cassian at the gates in November. Something told me we would.
He was deep in conversation with Leah Evans, the mother of a child I’d never taken to, when Heidi ran at me with the force of a cannonball, Mia trotting after her. I hugged my daughter with one arm and opened the other for Mia to step into it, which she did with some hesitancy.
“Have you had a good day?” I asked the pair of them.
Heidi responded with a monologue of everything they’d done that day, including how one of her classmates poured paint all over himself and ended up crying. It took about ninety seconds and three lungfuls of air to get through her version of the day, during which time Mia snuggled against my side.
“Did you have a good day, Mia?” I managed to ask when my daughter eventually came up for air.
“Yes. I got to change my reading book.” Her smile was sweet and soft and there, which almost surprised me. “Is my mum back?”
I shook my head. “She isn’t, but we have a key to your house so we can go and collect some of your things. Then Sue's going to take you for ice cream at Amelie’s – you remember Sue, don’t you?”
Mia nodded, staring at the social worker with big eyes.
“Hi, Mia. I wanted to have a chat with you to see how you were feeling about staying at Romy’s.” Sue crouched down low so she was at the same height as Mia.
Mia clung to me a little tighter. “I can stay with Romy and Heidi, can’t I?”Sue nodded, smiling. She’d been very tick box in her manner this afternoon, but she was far warmer with Mia. “If you’re happy there you can stay with Romy until we find your mum.”
“I don’t want to live with Mum anymore.”
The air froze.Sue nodded. “Maybe you can tell me about that when we have ice cream. How’s that?”
Mia’s chin dipped once and for a moment her expression was full of fear.
“Shall we go and see what things you want to take to Romy’s now?” Sue stood back up, wincing, probably because of her knees.
Mia nodded again, her hand slipping into mine.
She didn’t let go of it until we were at her house, the door open, a police officer standing outside.
I recognised the officer, Olivia Truman, who lived just outside of Benllech. Her boyfriend was part of the lifeboat crew and had been out on the night when Joel lost his life. Every so often we’d go for a drink together, maybe something to eat,and catch up about what was happening in our lives, which was rarely much, as Olivia didn’t gossip about work and neither of us had much of a life outside our jobs and me with Heidi.
“Hey, Liv,” I greeted her. “How are you?”
Her smile was warm, but she didn’t meet my eyes. “I’m good. I hear Mia’s staying with you.” She waved at Mia, then at Heidi. “How are two of my favourite kids?”
Heidi ran up to her, garbling something about robbers and cats, which I had no clue about but Liv played along.
“We’re here to get Mia’s things.” Were Heidi’s ending words.
Liv nodded and looked at me. “Can I have a word before you go in?”
I frowned and looked at Sue, who seemed as confused as I did. “Sure. Can you both wait with Sue?”
Cara’s house was a small semi-detached, with a messy front garden, overgrown and unkempt. I followed Liv to the front door, glimpsing through it to see part of the living room, furniture upturned and what looked like stuffing from the sofa on the floor.
“What’s happened?”
Liv shrugged. “A break-in. The place has been ransacked, including Mia’s bedroom. Her teddies have been thrown around and all her clothes are all over the place, but they haven’t done the same level of damage as they have in the rest of the house.”
“What were they looking for?”
“Drugs, money or weapons. Cara’s disappearance has just levelled up, but I’m going to guess Mia won’t be going back to her mum anytime soon – there was a lot of drug paraphernalia and other things that you wouldn’t want round a kid.” Liv shook her head. “The place is being treated as a crime scene – I’m just waiting for my boss to get here to look round, but we’re not going to be able to let you in, and you don’t want Heidi or Mia to see inside here either.”
Feelings swirled around me, a maelstrom of emotions some of which made no sense. Anger, that Cara would put Mia in danger. Fear, about what had happened to Cara. Sadness for the little girl whose life would be defined by this incident. And all the rest that I couldn’t define.
“There’s a teddy bear, a brown one with a red scarf. Any chance she could have that?” It was her favourite and she’d told me she was missing him.
