For the Sake of the Children: The first Chloe Webster thriller (Chloe Webster Thrillers Book 1) (13 page)

‘Nathan
please
don’t. I just want to be left alone.’

He stepped away and sat on the edge of the bed, unable to divert his eyes from the woman he loved as she stood staring out of the bedroom window. They’d travelled back to London a couple of days after they had received the news that Francesca was almost certainly in England. There seemed little point in staying in Amsterdam after that. The centre of the investigation had been transferred to Humberside police and they waited for news, but as every hour passed they knew that the chance of finding their daughter faded, and their hearts were slowly breaking.

They found themselves stuck in a routine of doing nothing. No work, no socialising, no shopping, nothing. Most of their time was spent in this room, with its neutral painted walls and modern furniture contrasting with the original Victorian features. The high ceilings and huge sash windows couldn’t take away the feelings of claustrophobia that crushed them both until they struggled for breath. Hardly sleeping, every time the phone rang they both jumped expectantly, but it was invariably a concerned friend or family member. When the police did call, they had nothing new to report. The hours dragged and the pain intensified.

Nathan returned to his wife’s side but respected her wish to be left alone. He gazed out across the small park opposite their house, and it reminded him again of the park in Amsterdam. A few children played happily as their parents looked on. If only he could go back. Why did he let her play so far away from where he was?

He cleared the thoughts from his mind as best he could. He wasn’t to blame. The police were sure he’d been targeted, the victim of a well-executed plan. What more could he have done? Children had to be given some kind of freedom after all.

But it didn’t help to remove the guilt. He blamed himself and he was frightened that his wife blamed him too. She’d said nothing to make him believe that was the case, but she’d become more distant in recent days.

‘Shall I get us something to eat?’ he offered.

Silence. She stood staring out of the window, and he wondered if he should try to find more support for her. They’d been allocated a police liaison officer who’d been very helpful, and his wife had spoken to a counsellor, but after one session she’d refused to go back. Her behaviour worried him. He’d lost his daughter and now he was terrified that he was losing his wife too. She was the strong one in their partnership, and now she was falling, and he knew he would go down with her.

‘I trusted you.’

There it was. Barely audible, but those three words confirmed all his worst fears. She
did
blame him and there was little he could say or do to repair things.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said softly. ‘I’d do anything to get her back here safely.’

She turned and looked him in the eye, her face expressionless.

‘I trusted you,’ she repeated.

‘I had her. She was safe. I had her.’

‘I trusted you!’ she yelled, her voice full of hurt and anger. He didn’t respond, what could he say? The look in her eyes scared him. Could they ever recover from this? Did they even have a future together?

He held his arms out wide and continued to hold her stare, not really sure what to expect. The redness around her eyes gave away the fact that she’d been crying too often lately. But there were no tears now, just emptiness.

His mobile phone rang and he placed it to his ear. As he listened to the words of the police officer, tears cupped in the bottom of his eyes and then broke free, escaping down his face.

‘Thank you so much.’ His voice was weak with relief. Still looking into the eyes of the woman he had loved since he was sixteen, he spoke the words that he hoped would start to fix them. ‘They’ve found her. They’ve found her. She’s safe.’

His wife collapsed onto the carpet in front of him.

Chloe was already flustered when she arrived at work. Overnight snow had caused chaos on the railway lines and her usual train never arrived. With only fifteen minutes until her meeting at the local authority, she had no time to grab a coffee or deal with e-mails. Not that she was expecting anything important, but she did like to clear the decks first thing in the morning before she started her day’s work.

She picked up Chelsie’s file and stuffed it into her shoulder bag, grabbed a notepad and pen and headed off to the stairs. As she hurried out into the corridor she ran straight into Ben.

‘Oh, sorry Ben, I can’t talk, I’m late for a meeting.’

‘That’s quite all right. I’m glad we managed to sort a few things out last night.’

She smiled. ‘Me too, but I really do have to dash. I’ll see you tonight.’

‘Yes, looking forward to it,’ he called as she disappeared through the door to the stairwell.

After taking the stairs two at a time, she thundered across the marble tiles in reception and outside into the chilly morning air. There wasn’t a great deal of snow on the ground in the city centre, and it had largely turned to slush, the cold moisture splashing up her legs as she half ran, half walked towards the local authority building.

On arrival she saw Chelsie standing in the ornate surroundings of the reception area. As she headed over, she noticed that Chelsie had obviously made a real effort to look her best.

‘Hi Chelsie, I’m glad you could make it. How’re you feeling?’

‘A bit nervous, but I’ll be okay.’ She sounded pretty miserable and Chloe could appreciate how hard she was finding this. She smiled at her warmly.

‘I think our aim here is just to agree that George will stay at your mum’s for the time being. They won’t let him come home until Mark is safely out of the way, and until you can show that you can provide a safe environment for George on a permanent basis.’

‘I wish he could just come home now. I feel like a bit of me is missing, you know?’

‘I know. And I appreciate it’s difficult Chelsie, but we
do
need to think about what is best for George in the long run, and that’s to be with you. We have to play by the rules for now, but he’ll be home soon. We just need to persuade this lot in here.’ Chloe nodded her head towards the main doors that led from the reception into the rest of the building.

‘Yeah, I know. I just miss him so much.’ Her eyes glistened as she spoke.

‘Come on then, let’s get things moving. I’ll be doing most of the talking, but if they ask you anything, just tell them the truth. We’ve got nothing to hide. Ready? Deep breath…’

In fact the meeting went as well as they could expect. The local authority was satisfied that George was safe at his grandmother’s house, and agreed to review the matter in another month.

‘Thank you Chloe,’ said Chelsie as they walked out into the cold. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you.’

‘Oh, you’re welcome Chelsie, it’s what I’m here for. Now listen, remember that we’re in this for the long haul. You
will
get George back, but you must look after yourself. I know it’s hard, but keep thinking about the future. And you know he’s happy at your mum’s house. At least you get to see him regularly.’

As they said goodbye and went their separate ways, the man across the street smiled to himself. Did Chelsie
really
think she could just walk away? Did she think she could just move on with her life and leave him behind? She was his girl, and if he couldn’t have her, no one would have her. And no posh solicitor bitch could do a damned thing about it.

‘Have you heard from Mr T today Mickey?’ Jez was starting to feel the first pangs of anxiety. The Timer was never late. The agreement was that he’d be at the club with the package by ten. That was fifteen minutes ago and still no sign. It did occur to him that the Timer had been unaware of the exact nature of the package. After all, it had always been drugs before. He still hadn’t convinced himself of the real reason why he didn’t give the Timer the full story before he set off. Maybe it was a nagging concern that he wouldn’t have agreed to it? Jez had been confident that once he’d started the job, the Timer would have been honour bound to complete it. But now that confidence was draining fast.

‘Nope. Were we expecting him then?’ Mickey was cleaning up the bar area from the night before, arranging clean glasses onto shelves above the bar.

‘Yeah, fifteen minutes ago. He was out on a job last night and said he’d be here by now.’

‘Drugs is it? He doesn’t usually bring them here…’

‘I know Mickey. But this one’s a bit different. You don’t need the details. Give me a shout as soon as he gets here.’ Jez wandered down to the far end of the club, pulling out his phone and redialling the Timer’s number again. Still no answer. He’d already left several messages.

Shit, where the fuck is he?

‘Jez, I need a word.’ Drabble’s voice almost echoed down the empty club. Jez looked up only to see the door of Drabble’s office closing behind him. Instantly concerned, he hurried back up to the bar and followed his boss into the office.

Drabble was sat behind the desk, immaculately dressed in his usual dark suit. ‘I seem to have confused myself here Jez. I thought you said that Mr T was coming at ten with the package.’

Jez felt the pit of his stomach lurch.

‘You aren’t confused Mr Drabble. He said ten and he’s never late. I’m not sure what’s happening.’

‘Of course I’m not fucking confused. I know he’s fucking late. But I do expect you to know what’s happening; that’s what I fucking pay you for.’ His temper was instant and terrifying. Jez was sure he felt one of his legs give way but somehow managed to regain his composure.

‘He’s not answering his phone boss.’

Drabble closed his eyes and placed a finger on his own temple, rubbing it slowly in a small circle. Opening his eyes, he spoke again, much more calmly.

‘Jez, the Kirklands are coming here tomorrow to collect the package. They aren’t going to be pleased if we can’t deliver it. Just find the Timer.’ He paused. ‘And Jez?’

‘Yes boss?’

‘Get the shooters out in the morning. Make sure you and Mickey are tooled up when they arrive if we haven’t got the package by then. I’m not taking any chances with the Kirklands, especially with that maniac Stevie in charge now.’

‘Okay boss.’ Jez spoke confidently, trying to sound as if he was relishing the prospect of a tussle with the Kirklands, but nothing could have been further from the truth. ‘You wanted Mr T to go to the solicitors again tomorrow to set a few things up. Do you want me to go instead?’

‘Yes, yes. You do that. Go in the morning before the Kirklands get here. And try not to fuck it up. Don’t take any shit from that girl we’re using. Have you sorted her cash yet?’

‘Not yet boss. I’ll do it on the way in.’

Drabble waved his hand and Jez scurried out of the room, hearing a crash behind him as Drabble thumped his fist down hard on the desk.

It was like a scene from the front of a greeting card as they strolled down the hill to the village pub. The snow still covered the ground here and Chloe had to admit to herself that she was impressed by Ben’s determination to come and see her as planned. Although the covering was only a couple of inches deep, he could easily have called it off due to the weather. Lights shone brightly from every window and although the car park was virtually empty, moving silhouettes told them that it was reasonably busy for a midweek evening.

Ben opened the door and let Chloe go in first. The low murmur of conversation and gentle music filled their ears and the warmth and the aroma of freshly cooked food welcomed them in like a home from home. The solid oak bar was set directly in front of them and Ben could see there was a good range of ales to choose from.

‘I understand why you like it in here; it’s very cosy isn’t it? What can I get you to drink?’

‘No, this round is on me,’ declared Chloe. ‘You bought the theatre tickets so I owe you at least one drink.’

‘At least one.’ Ben smiled down at her and she returned the gesture.

‘So what do you fancy then?’

‘I’ll have a pint of that one, I think,’ he said, pointing out a locally brewed golden ale. ‘But that’ll have to be it if I want to drive home.’

Chloe ordered the drinks, which included a glass of red wine for herself, and chatted to the barman like an old friend. She led Ben over to a small mahogany corner table and sat down. A fire raged nearby underneath a huge stone fireplace, decorated with traditional farming bric-a-brac.

‘Cheers,’ said Ben.

‘Cheers.’ They clinked glasses and each took a mouthful.

‘That’s a lovely pint. Very tasty.’ Ben was impressed with the place and now he’d tasted the beer his assessment was complete. ‘Right, didn’t you want to talk about something at work? Let’s get it out the way shall we?’

‘I did. I mean I do.’ Chloe took another sip of wine. ‘I just need to talk things through with someone. I find Ray really difficult to work with. I know he’s good at what he does, I can see that, but why does he have to be so odious?’

Ben laughed. ‘I know he’s difficult, but the thing is, he really
is
good at his job. He goes out of his way to look after his clients, and they love him for it.’

‘He seems to have dumped most of them on me.’ Chloe took another mouthful of wine.

‘To be fair, the vast majority of those were Simon’s files. You know, the guy I was telling you about last week who was here before you? The one that seemed to lose his way?’

‘Oh yes, I suppose I never really thought about that. I just assumed Ray had seen me as an easy target and dumped all his unwanted files on me.’ She drank some more wine, feeling a gentle head rush which served to relax her even more. ‘Ray was quite nasty about him, I thought. And he does seem to have some clients who appear to be a bit dodgy, if that’s the right word. Don’t you think that?’

‘I know what you mean, but they’re clients that have been around for quite some time. They provide us with plenty of work. And as for Simon, well he was a pain in the arse to be quite honest. He caused a lot of problems for a lot of people in the firm. He just wasn’t reliable enough.’

‘Well things seem to have settled down a bit now. Anyway, let’s not talk about work anymore. What do you think of this place?’ Chloe waved her hand as if introducing something new to him.

‘Yeah, it’s great. I love traditional pubs. The atmosphere’s really nice. Is it always so busy?’

‘More or less. I guess the snow’s probably kept a few people here who might otherwise have travelled further afield, but it’s never quiet. Perhaps you’ll want to come again one day?’ Chloe looked down at her wine shyly.

‘I think I might, yes.’ Ben looked at her as she looked up slowly and they held their gaze for a few moments.

Gotcha
, he thought.