She lay back down in bed, making a small effort to cover herself. “Have you had a situation like this before?”
I nodded. “Once. It was just last year. A parent was wanted for questioning around a murder. They took off and left their kids. The kids were at risk potentially from the parent, but also from repercussions from the murder. It was a difficult time, but it gave me some idea of what we needed to have in place last week and this week for Mia.”
“And Heidi. She’s at risk as well.” Romy turned on her side towards me, her hand going on my chest. “I feel bad for that. Scared shitless too. But I still wouldn’t have done anything differently. I couldn’t have handed Mia over to a foster carer who she doesn’t know. I still couldn’t, so I guess I’ve made the decision that I go from one kid to two overnight.”
“I guess you have. What are you going to do today when Deryn drops them off?” I wanted to know if she was involving me in those plans.
“We’re going to have a quiet day at home, I think. In the garden, reading, making friendship bracelets and daisy chains because the lawn’s exploded. I might get a table outside for painting and then they can make as much mess as they want.” She leaned closer to me, draping half her body over mine. I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her closer.
“Want company? I was only going to go and watch the cricket this afternoon.” Was this too much? “I get it if you don’t want a spare part though so don’t feel you have to say yes.”
She leaned her arm on my chest and lifted her head up. “You’re not a spare part but I would’ve thought you’d have had enough of kids given you’re with them all week.”
“I don’t mind kids.” I threaded my hand through her hair.
“Okay. How about we meet you at the cricket. I haven’t watched the team for ages, and if I remember right, there’s a pitch next to it where the kids can run around. I’m all for them burning off energy.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
The weekend was idyllic when looking back. Puffin Bay won their cricket game against a team from the mainland. The girls settled back at home, planning on how they wanted their bedrooms decorated, and Roe was happy that security at Romy’s was akin to that in a prison. There were no more updates about Cara or Stan or Blake, and the sunny weather continued.
By Monday morning, I felt like I’d fallen into a bubble where everything was on exactly the right track. The first visit from our school improvement partner, who helped to assess what plans the school needed to carry on being effective, went well and it wasn’t until the afternoon that there was the slightest inclination that the bubble was about to burst.
It wasn’t unusual for a child to come to my office because they were doing a job, or the teacher wanted them to get me so they could show me some of the work the class was doing or they needed support, so I didn’t think much of it when Mia knocked on my door just before home time.
She looked pale and scared, something wasn’t right with how she was behaving from the moment she walked into my office.
“Mr Caddick, I think my mummy’s in the field.” She sat down at the table. “And I don’t know what to do.”
I felt every muscle tense and the overwhelming urge to call Liv, whose number I’d put on speed dial.
I stayed still though, maintaining head teacher mode. “Why do you think she’s in the field?”
“Because William Lawler told me.”
Will Lawler was a child in year six. I knew for a fact that he walked across the field to get to school every day, and usually spent the hour after school climbing trees at the back of it and making campfires, which was probably going to get him into trouble one day. He was old enough to get himself to and from school, which he’s apparently been old enough for since he was in year three.
“What exactly did he tell you? Can you remember?”
Mia nodded. “He told me to go out of school through the other door when no one’s looking and run across the field and my mummy would meet me there.”
“Thank you for telling me, Mia. Does Will know who your mummy is?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. But I’m not going to run across the fields. Romy is taking us swimming again tonight.”
My heart broke for her because that told me a lot.
“I’m going to ask Miss Poppy to come and sit with you in here. We’ll tell her what Will’s said too.”
“Am I in trouble?”
I shook my head. “Not at all. You’ve been very brave and done the right thing.” I paused, listening to my gut feeling. “Did Will say if anyone else was in the fields or was it just your mum?”
“He said there was a big man too.”
“Was it this morning?”
She nodded. “He came in my class and whispered to me before assembly. He was fruit monitor.”
