‘I c-can’t tell anyone.’
Kim fought hard to steady her breathing as she saw this child’s future change shape before her very eyes.
‘Do you know that there’s a law with secrets?’ Kim asked, trying to keep her voice light.
Ava shook her head.
‘It’s true. The law says that if you tell a police officer a secret, they’re not allowed to repeat it, not to anyone.’
‘Really?’ Ava asked with wonder.
‘Honestly, it’s in our rulebook. Any secret you tell me, I have to keep to myself,’ Kim said, crossing her fingers on the steering wheel.
‘We have a secret, but Daddy told me not to tell anyone,’ Ava whispered. ‘It happened in the bedroom.’
Kim gripped the wheel hard.
‘Whose bedroom, sweetie?’
‘Mine.’
‘Go on,’ she urged her.
‘It was my fault. I dropped a whole glass of Ribena on my new carpet. I was scared to tell Mummy because it was only a day old, but Daddy put a rug over the stain to hide it and said it was our little secret.’
Kim almost laughed out loud at the innocence in Ava’s voice. Relief washed over her.
‘Do you think Mummy can see it now, from heaven?’ Ava asked, looking out of the car window.
‘Maybe, but she’d understand why you didn’t want to tell her, so I don’t think she’d be angry with you.’
‘Don’t tell Daddy I told you.’
‘I won’t, sweetie. I told you – I’m not allowed to tell anyone.’
The little girl relaxed into the seat, and Kim knew beyond a doubt there was no truth to the accusation.
A few minutes later, she parked the car and sounded the horn before turning to the girl.
‘Ava, I can’t take you back to your daddy tonight, but I’m going to leave you with some people that I trust completely. They’re going to take very good care of you, and I’ll be checking in all the time, okay?’
Ava nodded sadly, as though she knew she had no control over what was going on in her life right now.
If the Chances had been in front of her, Kim would have happily strangled them both with her bare hands for what they’d caused.
Two figures appeared at her window.
She wound it down.
‘Stace, I’m really gonna need your help.’
Forty-Two
‘So, what do we do now?’ Devon whispered in Stacey’s ear as Ava perched on the edge of the sofa clutching her cuddly toy.
‘Your guess is as good as mine,’ Stacey said, biting her lip.
The boss had just left after explaining that the only option left open to child services was to send the child to the Chances. Stacey had heard enough from Penn to know that was to be avoided at all costs. The boss had persuaded child services to release Ava into the police’s protection, and, after a few words of comfort to Ava, she had left them. Stacey currently felt like they’d acquired a new gadget without a manual of how to put it together.
