Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Andrew’s knuckles whitened as he gripped harder onto the steering wheel. ‘It’s not a good idea to try and predict what’s going on, Erica. It’ll drive you mad. We’ll deal with whatever it is when we get there.’
There was another phrase to join the others in the whirlwind of her mind. Gain entry. What we find. Whatever it is. She couldn’t bear it. ‘But what do you think she’s doing? Is she going to find whoever it was? This boy?’
Andrew glanced at her. ‘The boy doesn’t exist, Erica. They would have lifted those photographs from some kid’s Instagram account. He was unknowing bait.’
It was so creepy. Out there, that boy was completely oblivious to the fact that his face and body had been used to lure a vulnerable thirteen-year-old girl. Her girl. Her precious, beautiful, naive girl.
In the immediate shock of being told what had happened, it’d been hard to take in everything she’d been told at the police station. Now she was trying to shuffle these events in her brain to try and make sense of them. ‘This blackmailing gang uses photographs that they’ve stolen online and then, once they’ve gained the trust of whoever they’re speaking to, they coerce them into sending them naked photographs?’
It took so much effort not to picture Mollie in this situation. From the twitch in Andrew’s jaw, he was probably doing the same. ‘Yes.’
‘So could she be going to meet with someone from this gang, then? To give them money?’
As her dark thoughts became words, she shivered. For a whole host of reasons, this possibility was so much more dangerous. Meeting an adult man? Or men? And Mollie didn’t have any other money that they knew of so what would she do? What might she be forced to do? Please God, don’t let her be meeting anyone.
Andrew shook his head. ‘These animals are in another country, Erica. They’re not on their holidays in a twee English coastal town.’
She could do without his sarcasm. Could he not see how bad this might be? Did he not realise how huge this was that Mollie had even been talking to someone online that she didn’t know. Much less sending revealing pictures of herself. ‘It’s just so out of character. I can’t believe that Mollie was sucked into this. She always talks to us about things. Why was this such a secret?’
Clearly, she was wrong. Mollie didn’t talk to them about things. Or at least, not to her. She hadn’t known anything about what was happening in Mollie’s life. And last weekend, she hadn’t even been able to see her because Mollie had been out when she came. Why hadn’t she realised that something must’ve been seriously wrong? Why hadn’t she tracked her down, spoken to her? Why hadn’t she been there?
But Andrew had been there. Every day throughout it all. Why hadn’t he noticed? Was he not watching her closely enough? ‘According to your colleagues, Mollie was talking to this… fictious boy all last week.’
He nodded. ‘Yes. According to the information they have, it all started last Monday.’
Could he not see where she was going with this? Did he not feel as riven with guilt as she did? ‘And there was nothing unusual in her behaviour? She didn’t seem different at all? Preoccupied? Happier – or unhappier – than usual?’
He glanced at her before focusing back on the road ahead. ‘What are you trying to say, Erica? Don’t skirt the issue. Are you saying this is my fault?’
She would never be that cruel. ‘Of course not, but you were the one living with her. Did you not notice anything?’
He shrugged. ‘She’s a teenage girl. She doesn’t confide everything in her father. Isn’t that what mothers are for?’
That was a low blow, stoking the anger she was trying to contain. ‘I think you’ll find that fathers are just as capable at listening to their children. If they’re there, that is.’
Another twitch in his jaw; she knew she was getting to him but, right now, she didn’t care. His voice was cold and hard. ‘ I’m there every day.’
This again. ‘Really? So where were you on Sunday night when you told me you were going into work? When she was about to start her suspension from school and would’ve maybe been open to talking about what was going on?’
His face flushed. ‘It’s none of your business where I was and, anyway, where were you?’
None of her business? Wasn’t he still her husband? The face of the young receptionist at the police station came back to her mind. Was she reading more into the way she’d blushed when Erica introduced herself? ‘You know where I was. I had to go back to Ben because he didn’t have his cup.’
She was acutely aware of how indulgent that sounded, but Andrew should know as well as she did how small things like that could escalate quickly with Ben. Being able to anticipate and avert were the most powerful tools she had in managing his emotions and needs. Picturing Ben, she checked her phone for the tenth time in the last minute. No messages. ‘I might call the school again to check that he’s okay.’
His eyebrow twitched, but he kept his eyes on the road. ‘They’ll call you if there’s a problem.’
Irritation itched at her. ‘It doesn’t hurt to check, though.’
He sighed. ‘Surely you can trust the school to look after him if you don’t trust anyone else.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
He shrugged but kept his eyes on the road. ‘What I said. You don’t trust anyone to look after Benjamin other than you.’
She swallowed, tried not to bite. ‘Well, there is only me to look after him, isn’t there?’
‘Because you’ve made it that way.’
How convenient for him to make it out that this was her doing. ‘Really?’
‘You always took everything over. It wasn’t that I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t allowed to.’
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He wasn’t allowed to? What was she, his mother? ‘You were too busy all the time. Any time I asked you to help you had something urgent at work.’
‘Because you always asked me to do things at inopportune times.’
She almost laughed at that. Everything children needed was inopportune. They didn’t get sick to a schedule. ‘You were always working, Andrew.’
His laugh was sarcastic. ‘No, I wasn’t. But when I was home there was always a reason that you had to be the one who took care of Ben.’
‘Ben had – has – a routine. Your shifts would throw him out of that. I had to be the constant. I had to make sure that he had what he needed.’
She could see the veins on Andrew’s hands bulge as he tightened his grip on the wheel. ‘You prioritised Benjamin over all of us – including yourself.’
‘Because he needed me!’
The phone rang again and Andrew pressed the button to pick it up. ‘Hello?’
‘Hi, it’s Mac. The landlord has arrived with the keys, we’re just getting in now.’
‘Go ahead. We’re five minutes away.’
Was it possible for her heart to actually stop? It sure felt like it. They drove the last few streets in silence.