After spreading out a soft baby blanket, I went back to the bedroom to straighten up the bed and sort out some washing for the machine. While I was there, I checked on my mobile phone charging up next to the bed. I had five missed calls and two voicemail messages.
The first was from DCI Stevenson asking whether Aiden had made any progress. He usually made that call once every couple of days to ‘check in’, or, when the family liaison officers were with us all day every day, he’d check in with them. I felt bad for DCI Stevenson. He was a good man trying to do his job under extraordinary pressure. But the fact was that after two and a half weeks of investigation, he had come up with nothing.
The second voicemail was from Rob. I sat upright when I listened to the message. Then I quickly unplugged my phone from the charger and made my way downstairs. The message said: “Emma, it’s Rob. Dad has just been released. They didn’t find any evidence. They searched the house and there was nothing. He didn’t do it, I know that and you do too, probably. That’s not the main reason I’m calling you. Look, I didn’t want to say this over a voicemail, but you’re not answering and you need to know. I don’t trust Jake, you know that. Well, I’ve been following him for a while. He keeps going to some garage outside Bishoptown near the A59. There’s something dodgy about it all. I’m not saying that he’s hurt Aiden, I’m not saying that… yet. But I think we should go and see this garage and figure out what’s going on. No police. Just you and me. Drop Aiden off at my parents’ place and come meet me.”
* * *
It wasPeter who answered the door, though I’d been hoping it wouldn’t be. I offered him a thin smile. “I’m so sorry you were questioned by the police like that.”
“It’s all right,” he said, ushering me in. “They’ve questioned everyone else. I’m just sorry I never saw Aiden. I had no idea I was so close to where he was taken. If only I’d seen something. Anyway, they’ve cleared me from the investigation now. Apparently, the CCTV footage went on to show me taking pictures at the time they suspect Aiden was taken. Why they couldn’t check all that before holding me for hours, I don’t know. It’s that duke they should be questioning. I don’t like the look of that fella.”
“Me neither,” I said. “Is Rob around? He thought it might be a good idea for you guys to watch Aiden while we check something out.”
“Yes, and he was just as vague. I hope you’re not getting yourselves into any trouble?” Peter walked beside me as we made our way through the front of the B&B to the living quarters behind the main reception.
“No, nothing like that.” I hesitated outside the door into their personal rooms. “Listen, Peter. This is hard to say, but I need to say it. Can you make sure that Sonya doesn’t do anything without getting my okay? She had another child visit Aiden last time, and it didn’t go so well. He isn’t up to playing with other children just yet. It’s all a delicate balance, and I need to be sure that Sonya isn’t going to—”
“Upset the apple cart?”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Exactly.”
“I’ll keep her reined in, don’t worry,” he said.
“Thanks, I appreciate it.” I paused. For a moment I was going to tell him that I never suspected he could have hurt Aiden, but that would have been a lie. There had been a moment where I’d sat down and thought about whether Peter could be capable of kidnapping, imprisoning, raping, and torturing my own son. The truth is, I had thought that it might be possible, just as I had thought about virtually everyone in my life being capable of such an act. As we walked into the back rooms of the B&B, I felt sick to my stomach with the realisation that I presumed everyone guilty.
Whoever did take Aiden had won. He’d broken Aiden to the point where he was an empty shell, and he’d turned me into a suspicious, anxious woman. I attempted to rearrange my face to hide these thoughts from the others, but Rob was the first to frown at my fixed grin.
Nevertheless, we settled Aiden and left the B&B. I was on edge, scratching my hands and my temples. I didn’t want to leave Aiden with them, but I knew we couldn’t take him with us. We made our way back out of the B&B and headed to Rob’s truck.
“Are you all right?” he asked as I climbed into the passenger’s seat.
“I’ve been better.”
“What’s happened?”
I pulled the seatbelt across my body and clipped it in place. “There’s something you need to know. Whatever Jake has at this garage it might not be what you think. I found out yesterday that he’s been lying to me. He’s been meeting women and having sex with them.”
“What?”
“I know. I’m… I’m in shock, too. I… Look, can we just get on with this? Why aren’t we going to the police anyway?”
“Because they already think I’m an idiot. I’m aware that this whole thing might be nothing, and that’s why I wanted to bring you along. I’m not wasting their time if he has some secret motorbike in there or whatever. And I want you to see it too so I have someone to back me up. Besides, they’d need to get a warrant or whatever, and God knows how long that would take.”
“It’s probably some awful sex room.” I shuddered. “Full of porn and sex toys. He says he’s an addict.”
“Fucking hell.”
“Don’t say anything more. Just drive. I can’t… I don’t want to think about it, and I need to know what’s in that garage.”
Rob started the engine and the radio came on, blaring out Katy Perry. He apologised and turned the volume down as he pulled out of the B&B carpark. He had the radio tuned into a local station as we made our way out of the village and out towards the A59. Neither of us spoke, and we barely heard the radio, but there was some sort of talk about a storm hitting the Bishoptown area.
The baby was unsettled that day. I rubbed my pregnant belly and tried to calm myself down. Stressed mothers produce stressed babies, or so they say. With my due date approaching, I needed to think about my own wellbeing more than I had been. That wasn’t an easy task given what was going on around me.
Rob’s old truck thrummed with the sound of rain as it began to spill down from the dark clouds above. There wasn’t a single part of the sky that wasn’t grey or dark. There was no blue whatsoever. No sun. No light. I pulled the collar of my coat higher and tried not to think about the threatening sky.
We pulled into the storage centre in grim silence. Before clambering out of the truck, I pulled the hood from my coat down low over my face. Rob used a baseball cap to protect himself from the rain. We hurried along a long line of garage doors until Rob stopped.
“It’s this one. Number 29.”
