‘Thank you for your co-operation, Mr Reynolds. We’ll be addressing the complaint immediately, and someone will be along tomorrow to talk with you. Right now, our priority is Ava, as you can imagine.’
‘Where are you taking her?’ he asked.
‘I’m sorry but I can’t tell you that. We’ll take very good care of her, I promise.’
Gloria Lincoln turned and headed out of the kitchen, leaving a shell of a man behind.
He fell into one of the kitchen chairs and held his head in his hands. ‘How did we get here? Forty-eight hours ago, I had both my wife and my daughter. Now I have neither and I’ve done nothing wrong.’
Kim heard the front door close before Bryant appeared in the doorway.
‘Donkey is on board,’ he said, taking a seat.
‘I knew it, you know,’ Daniel said, shaking his head. ‘I knew they’d try something. They know how much I love her, but I knew they’d try and take her from me.’ He met Kim’s gaze as tears filled his eyes once more. ‘You should have let me go this morning. I’ve lost her. I’m never going to see her again.’
‘That’s not going to happen, Daniel. You’ve done nothing wrong, and she’s your daughter so she’ll be…’
Her words trailed away as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. His absence in the baby photos, his urgency about getting away. The sudden appearance of an uncle who had shown no interest before. Ashley’s boss insisting he was one of the ‘good guys’. His fear every time Warren’s name was mentioned. It had nothing to do with Ashley’s murder.
Kim had a sinking feeling as the truth of his biggest fear hit her.
Ava was not Daniel’s biological child.
Thirty-Four
‘We thought we had time,’ Daniel said, rubbing his forehead.
Kim should have clocked that the man was only present in photos after Ava was around two years and up. She should have also noted his concern every time Ashley’s brother was mentioned. His attempt at a quick getaway wasn’t due to him being involved in Ashley’s murder; it was to avoid this very situation.
‘We always planned to track down Ava’s biological father and get him to give up his parental rights so I could adopt her.’
‘And would he have?’ Kim asked.
His face tightened. ‘He left Ashley on the day she gave birth to Ava. He took one look at her arm and neither of them ever saw him again.’
‘Bastard,’ Bryant said.
‘He’s no loss to her. I’m her dad, the only one she’s ever known. That’s why Ashley wouldn’t have told me about the baby until she felt it was safe. She wanted to give me a child of my own, but I didn’t care. Ava is my child in every way that matters.’
‘Does Ava know her uncle?’
Daniel shook his head. ‘She’s met him twice in seven years and she’s scared of him. Oh Jesus, what will happen now?’
Kim didn’t need to tell him that he had little claim on the child due to there being no blood relationship or adoption certificate. In the eyes of the law, Daniel was Ashley’s husband, but he wasn’t Ava’s father, regardless of the closeness they shared.
‘Will she go to them?’ he asked.
Kim shrugged. ‘They are the natural choice, especially in the short term.’
He closed his eyes and swallowed back the tears. ‘She’s going to be bloody terrified.’
Kim had spent enough time in the company of child services that she couldn’t reassure him to the contrary about any part of the process. The child was terrified of her uncle, and few of the emergency placement children’s homes were any better. Ava had been removed from everything familiar, and she was going to be frightened however the next few days panned out.
‘It’s the money, isn’t it?’ Kim asked. ‘That’s why they want her.’
Daniel nodded. ‘There’s no other reason. They don’t know her, but they know they’ll get paid for taking her in. They barely look after their own children.’
Kim felt sick as she predicted the future ahead. Ava would likely be placed with family members during the investigation. That was the dangerous part. Once the Chances had their claws into her, it would be difficult for social services to remove her from blood relations and hand her back to someone who had no legal or parental rights.
