Page 26 of The Stolen Child

She had always been a good mother to Robert and Lily, giving her life to them and putting them above all else. Every single moment of every single day was in service to her children.

Unlike her own mother.

And yet this was what she got in return.

Why has this happened to me? she thought to herself, feeling the shame rise from her toes upwards, through her heaving stomach, to her flushed face. She knew why it had happened. She had let her guard down, and now the unimaginable had happened.

THEN

July 1983

Kimberly

Hotel Miramar, Barcelona, Spain

It had been seven long days, which translated to one hundred and sixty-eight hours of agony and uncertainty, since Robert went missing. Ever since then, Kimberly had been living in a state of perpetual fear and anxiety,

Her hand rested on the side of Lily’s cot. Kimberly had got into the habit of sleeping like that, always with a hand ready to reach out and catch her daughter if she should need her. Or to clasp an unknown predator between her fingers before they ran away with another child. Kimberly sat up and massaged her shoulder, which ached from its unusual position.

Jason’s side of the bed was empty, but that didn’t surprise her. However little Kimberly slept, he managed less every night. He’d taken to walking the streets of Barcelona at all hours of the day and night in the hope he’d spot Robert. She missed him, but she understood why he had to do this.

Her father-in-law, Kevin, was by his side for every trek. Together, they were determined to knock on every door and leave no stone unturned. Kevin, a retired civil servant, had come prepared for battle. His hotel room became the headquarters for their unofficial ‘Find Robert’ operation. He’d created a missing-child poster, with a photograph of Robert, centre, under a large headline, ‘Help us bring Robert home.’ Over the past couple of days, they had distributed over a thousand of these posters throughout Barcelona.

Inspector Ortega had updated them daily, but, unfortunately, there were no genuine leads for him to go on. The lack of progress made it difficult for them to maintain any hope.

Lily stirred in her sleep. She’d be awake soon. So Kimberly washed and dressed quickly.

The hotel room, which had appeared spacious and luxurious during check-in, now looked cluttered and cramped. Kimberly couldn’t help but long for the comfort of their home in Dublin.

Maybe this was her hell – to stay in this room, neither living nor dead – a purgatory for her sins.

At seven o’clock, like clockwork, Lily reached her two chubby arms upwards, calling for her mama. Twenty minutes later, Kimberly made her way down to the dining room with Lily in her arms. She was directed to an empty table in the corner of the room by a member of the waiting staff. A highchair appeared, and Kimberly busied herself, settling Lily into it. All the while, she was studiously avoiding eye contact with any of the guests, who she knew were all watching her as they ate their bacon and eggs.

Kimberly had heard their whispers as she’d passed them by in the lobby over the previous week.

‘There’s the mother of that missing child.’

‘How could you sleep through someone taking your child?’

‘Something suspicious about all of this.’

‘I heard the dad isn’t the dad, but the stepdad.’

Kimberly wanted to scream at them all to mind their own business, to shut up, shut up, shut up. But she had to find the strength to keep going and stay sane. Robert’s disappearance had been covered by the local and national press here in Spain. They’d had several requests for interviews that, up to now, they’d refused to give. And the story had broken at home in Ireland too. Her family’s nightmare had become the source of sensationalist headlines.

‘Good morning,’ Kevin said as he approached the table. He gave Kimberly a polite nod, and then his face broke into a happy smile as he looked down at his granddaughter.

Lily babbled in delight when she saw him. He kissed the top of her head, saying, ‘Whose my best girl?’

‘Where is Jason?’ Kimberly asked, looking around the room for him. She didn’t like being in her father-in-law’s company without her husband. Kevin had a way of looking right through her, and it felt as if he were uncovering all her secrets.

‘He’s done in. Barely able to move one foot in front of the other. I wanted him to go to sleep, but he insisted he must see you and Lily. So he’s splashing cold water on his face before he comes in to eat.’ His brown eyes scrutinised Kimberley, a frown creasing his forehead. ‘This cannot continue, you know.’

It appeared that this, whatever this was, was all Kimberly’s fault.

‘He needs to get some rest,’ Kevin insisted.

Ah, that’s what this was. ‘I begged him to stay in our hotel room last night,’ Kimberly said. She sighed and added, ‘Wherever Robert is, he’ll be long gone from Barcelona.’