Think of the Children (13 page)

Cole checked the notes in front of him. ‘I’m going to spend most of the day liaising with the super and the SCD. Jason will be going back over the Toby Whittaker case as well as
working with the team at the dig site.’ It was clear they had already spoken about it but the chief inspector looked at Reynolds. ‘Things aren’t going well today because the
ground’s frozen.’ He looked at Cornish. ‘Louise, I’d like you to take on the information relating to Isaac Hutchings and the car theft. I know we’ve hit a few dead
ends but maybe a new set of eyes will give us something fresh?’

Louise was making notes, nodding.

The DCI raised his eyebrows and focused on the final member of the trio. ‘Jess, the SCD have agreed we can work alongside them. You can visit Lloyd Corless’s mother along with one of
their officers. Leave me to sort out the warrants for Simon Hill’s mobile phone and bank records but we don’t have anything specific to link him to any of the disappearances yet, so
let’s find out as much as we can about Lloyd first.’

He leant forward and gave Jessica a Post-it note bearing the name and details of the SCD officer she would be working with.

The three detectives stood almost in unison. Jessica knew she was being given possibly the most trusted job because she would be looking into an active part of the case. She felt a little silly
for her earlier outburst.

After getting Lloyd Corless’s address, Jessica called Esther Warren, her contact from the kidnap squad, who told her that a support officer was with Lloyd’s mother, who had already
been interviewed once. The situation was unusual because a missing child wouldn’t necessarily mean the kidnap squad had to be involved. Because Lloyd’s name had been found on the same
list as Isaac Hutchings’s, usual procedure had been bypassed. The truth was no one actually knew if the boy
had
been taken.

The two women met a couple of hundred metres away from the Corless house, much as Jessica had done with Cornish a few days ago when they had visited Lucy Martin.

Esther was around Jessica’s age, with long brown hair and a smart grey suit. She got out of a large saloon car and shook Jessica’s hand as they stood on the pavement. The frost from
the morning had cleared but the cloudless skies meant it wasn’t very warm. Esther invited Jessica into her car and they sat to exchange notes.

Jessica wouldn’t have admitted it but she actually liked Esther, even from a first impression. There was something about the gentle, knowing smile on her face; the look of ‘I know we
have to work together, I hate it, you hate it, let’s just be mates’, that endeared her immediately.

‘Have you read the case notes?’ Esther asked when they were both settled.

Jessica nodded. ‘I read through the initial interview notes. Lloyd went missing last night, yes?’

‘Right. I think we’re best going over all the details again with his mother. Have you ever spoken to a parent in a situation like this?’

‘Not exactly …’

Esther was flicking through a file but looked up to catch Jessica’s eye. ‘All right, I’m sure you’ll be fine. She’ll be keen for people to be out there looking for
her son. It’s always the thing – everyone assumes that if there are two people talking, then that’s two people who should be on the streets. No one ever realises that most people
are found away from any of that. We’ll have to keep her calm, let her know there are lots of officers on the case and that we’re simply trying to get as much information as possible to
help the police who are already searching.’

‘Do you know who’s already with her?’ Jessica asked.

‘One of her friends and a support officer.’

‘Husband or boyfriend?’

Esther looked down at the papers. ‘I don’t know. There’s definitely a father in the notes but I don’t think they live together.’

Jessica was used to being the person in the know who took the lead but was happy to take instructions from the other woman. Her outburst from earlier felt even more misplaced.

‘All right, let’s go,’ Jessica said.

The estate wasn’t as new and clean as the one Isaac Hutchings had lived on – but was a step up from where Lucy Martin was living. Some of the homes were well looked after, with tidy
front lawns and cars parked on driveways but Jessica saw an old washing machine dumped in the front of another. One of the first things she looked for when she was assessing an area was the number
plates of the various cars. It was a fair indication that the estate encompassed all types of people, given that the vehicles varied from being less than a year old, to one or two that had been on
the road for fifteen years or more. A few of the windows had tinsel pinned around them, others had fairy lights. Two properties side by side looked as if they were in a competition to see who could
have the most elaborate Christmas decorations. One had a giant inflatable Santa fluttering in the breeze on the front driveway, the other had a tree almost as tall as the house decorated with any
number of lights and hanging decorations. Esther noticed the houses too, muttering a ‘tacky shite’ under her breath that made Jessica like her even more.

The Corless house fell into the ‘tidy’ category. The front lawn had been paved over and had a small car parked on it that was a few years old. In the front window was a foil
‘Happy Christmas’ sign with a string of fairy lights ran around the inside frame.

Esther rang the bell and the door was opened by the support officer, who had been expecting them. The officer introduced both women to Rachel Corless, her friend Diane Briggs and Marcus Corless,
Lloyd’s older brother. Rachel was sitting next to her friend on a battered leather sofa with a hole in one of the arms. She didn’t stand to welcome the officers but did tell Marcus he
had to leave the room. The support officer took him upstairs, Jessica and Esther each sitting in an armchair facing the sofa. In the corner was a Christmas tree nearly as high as the room. It was
decorated with more lights and various shiny objects.

Jessica watched Rachel closely but she didn’t offer much emotion. She had short brown hair and was wearing a pair of jeans with a loose jumper. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she looked as if she
hadn’t had much sleep and, much like Kayla Hutchings, had dark bags under her eyes. Her expression was blank.

As they had entered the house, Jessica felt as if she was walking into a wall of heat, which only got worse as she entered the living room. The central heating seemed to be fully on and she
could feel herself beginning to sweat. Everyone else seemed oblivious and Rachel was hugging her knees into her chest, as if she felt cold.

Diane did much of the initial talking but, after plenty of reassurance from both detectives that officers were out looking for Lloyd, Rachel was finally persuaded to talk about what had happened
the previous evening.

She spoke quietly, not looking up from the floor. ‘Lloyd started at the comprehensive this year. It’s the same school his brother Marcus goes to.’

She tailed off quickly and Diane picked up the conversation. ‘I gave them a lift to school, along with my two. We both work at a factory a few miles away. Usually we try to arrange it so
one of us is off, which lets us pick them up. Sometimes we’re both off and we go to the park or something but, once a week or so, it just doesn’t work out. Yesterday we were both down
for late shifts. It’s not really late but it means we don’t finish until six o’clock.’

Esther was taking notes and looked up from her pad. ‘Do they walk home when they can’t be picked up?’

Rachel didn’t look as if she was going to answer and it was Diane who spoke. ‘Yes, it’s only a mile or so away.’

Jessica had already read the initial report so knew the rest of the story. The officer who had taken the statements had spoken to Marcus Corless as well but there was no need to go over his
details a second time. Other officers were visiting the school to take more statements.

Esther asked the next question. ‘We know Lloyd left his final lesson with classmates and there is CCTV of him leaving the school,’ she said. ‘Do you know if he regularly walks
home with his brother or other friends?’

Diane answered. ‘I asked my two. They said they didn’t see Lloyd after I’d dropped everyone off in the morning. They’re all in different classes.’

She looked at her friend. For a few moments it didn’t seem as if Rachel was going to speak but wearily the words came out. ‘Marcus
knows
he is supposed to walk home with his
brother when we aren’t able to pick them up. Lloyd is on the small side for an eleven-year-old and Marcus has always been a protective older brother. He says he didn’t see him after
school. Someone said last night there was camera footage of Lloyd leaving school but I don’t think the boys had a specific meeting place.’

That was exactly what Jessica had read. She had not seen the camera footage but knew Lloyd had been seen walking off-site around two minutes before his brother was seen waiting by the very same
gates. No one knew why Lloyd had left without waiting, but talking to the number of students who might have seen him by those gates – or witnessed him leaving with someone – was going
to take a while.

Jessica was feeling increasingly uncomfortable because of how hot the room was. As she was thinking about undoing a button on her shirt, Rachel put her feet down and sat up slightly straighter.
‘I know who’s got him.’

Jessica and Esther exchanged a confused look. ‘Who?’ Jessica asked.

‘It’s his dad, Adrian. I told the police last night and this morning they should be round his house to find him.’

Jessica had also read that in the report. Someone had visited Adrian Corless to let him know his son was missing but he insisted he hadn’t seen the boy.

‘What makes you say that?’ Jessica added.

‘We separated last year and have been arguing over custody ever since. The court ruled in my favour a month or so ago and he said then he wasn’t going to leave it there.’

Jessica was surprised by how calm the woman was. It was clear she was in some sort of shock but Jessica would have expected her to be showing more emotion. As Rachel finished speaking, the
Christmas-tree lights switched themselves on and began to blink. The woman barely acknowledged them, simply saying, ‘They’re on a timer.’

Esther finished writing and looked up. ‘Can you think of anyone else, aside from your former husband, who could be involved?’

Rachel shook her head. ‘Why did someone contact me last week making sure Lloyd was okay?’

Jessica knew it was because Lloyd’s name had been on the list she had found at the allotment. So far that information had been kept within the force. Revealing its existence to the parents
of the children involved would almost certainly result in one of them talking to the media. That was the type of thing which could cause very unhelpful headlines or, even worse, a panic about how
safe children were in general. The added problem now was that if the media did find out about the list, the force would face massive criticism for not being open about it in the first place.
Jessica knew she would be better placed to answer but also realised she had to be careful what to say.

‘That was a reaction because of Isaac Hutchings’s disappearance,’ she said. ‘We were checking in with parents who had children of a similar age.’

It was a half-truth but Jessica felt uncomfortable uttering the words. There were lots of follow-up questions that could have been asked – especially as there was no obvious link from
Isaac to Lloyd – but Rachel said nothing.

With not much else they could get from Rachel directly, Esther and Jessica exchanged a look and stood together. They said their goodbyes, left a business card and slowly walked back to their
cars.

The sky was still clear of clouds but the temperature had dropped by a degree or two, a total contrast to the heat from Rachel’s living room. Jessica knew dusk was imminent, children
walking along the street in ones and twos on their way home from school. Across the road, the large Santa sitting on the driveway was now lit up, rippling in the breeze.

‘What do you reckon?’ Jessica asked.

‘I reckon that Santa needs a bloody kitchen knife taking to it,’ Esther replied. Jessica laughed, appreciating her response. ‘Honestly? I don’t know,’ Esther added.
‘I’m going to have to phone in and see what’s going on at our end. No one knows who’s supposed to be leading the investigation. From what I gather, our lot have been at the
school today trying to see if anyone saw anything, while your lot have been checking cameras in the local area. Someone’s going to have to sort out who’s supposed to be doing
what.’

‘I want to see the ex-husband,’ Jessica said. ‘What are you going to do now?’

Esther looked at her watch. ‘Oh, sod it, I’ll phone in later. Let’s go see this Adrian guy.’

‘What did you make of Rachel?’ Jessica asked.

‘She’s in shock, you never know what you’re going to walk into with these situations. Everyone thinks a mother’s going to be shouting and demanding results, either that
or running through the streets trying to find their kid. Some are like that but a lot act like Rachel – they don’t know what to do with themselves. They sit at home and wait for the
phone to ring or the doorbell to go. It’s the right thing to do really.’

As they reached their cars, the lights flickered to life on the giant Christmas tree at the front of the house next to the one with the oversized Santa. The illuminations alternated colours,
blinking on and off. ‘Imagine living opposite that,’ Esther said. ‘I’d be out there with a chain-saw in the middle of the night.’

Jessica was partly in agreement. ‘Nah, that’s too obvious. The best thing to do is pour a litre or so of petrol in the pot it’s in. The whole thing will wilt in a few
days.’

Esther looked at Jessica with a big grin. ‘Ooh, that is naughty. Aren’t you a dark horse?’

Jessica shrugged. ‘I’ve had thirty-odd years of people pissing me off – I’m full of ideas.’

‘Well, I’ll remember not to get on your wrong side then.’

Jessica unlocked her car. ‘Do you know where we’re going?’