17. Sam
Sam
T here have been so many times I wanted to tell Iris the truth about Brent and the undercover operation, but that would only put her in danger, as well as Brent and all the children who’d been taken.
I never once thought Iris was getting this deep into it all.
Now I can’t get onto her and we’ve lost all communication with Brent.
I hope it’s just a coincidence. Maybe she’s misplaced her phone, gotten caught up with something else.
As much as I hope it’s only that, it’s not like Iris, and the pressure building in my chest is palpable.
Balancing a twin in each arm and with Billy at my feet, I free a hand enough to knock hard on the door to Eva’s house. I’m hoping she has some idea of where Iris is.
‘Billy!’ Archie says when the door opens. Billy runs in as though this is a completely normal situation.
Eva looks at me, her eyes narrowing.
‘I’m Sam,’ I say. ‘Iris’s husband.’
She nods. ‘Eva.’
One of the girls in my arms squirms so I place them both on their feet. ‘I’m sorry,’ I say. ‘Can we come in?’
Her face goes ashen and she says nothing.
‘It’s urgent,’ I add.
She gestures for me to come in and then jams her hands under her armpits, hugging herself.
‘Thank you.’
She leads me through the house to the kitchen while the twins chase their brother and Archie down a hallway.
‘What’s going on?’ she asks, taking a seat on a bench stool, and I follow her lead. ‘Where’s Iris?’ Her voice is shaky and I can tell I’ve made her uncomfortable by being here.
‘I was hoping you might know.’
‘Why? What do you mean?’
I run a hand over the stubble on my chin. ‘I can’t get onto her. Kinder called when no one picked Billy up, then I got the girls, and Iris isn’t answering her phone. She’d never miss pick-up.’
She shrugs. ‘What’s that got to do with me?’
‘I know you’ve been hanging out, thought maybe when she came here earlier that she lost track of time.’
Eva’s head flinches back slightly, a confused frown on her face.
‘She told me she was dropping the kids off and then bringing muffins over.’
Eva shakes her head. ‘Iris hasn’t been here today.’
I frown. ‘Did you see her at drop-off?’
‘My husband does drop off now.’ Eva bites at a fingernail and avoids eye contact.
She’s nervous, and my conversation with Iris a few days ago hits me like a freight train.
This is the woman who’s being abused by her husband.
I promised Iris I’d look into it and I never even wrote down the details, didn’t even ask her for his name.
How could I be so distracted? So stupid?
If this is all connected, I’ll never forgive myself.
‘You’re not telling me something,’ I say, harsher than I should speak to a victim but I’m desperate. ‘Where the hell is she?’
Her cheeks redden.
‘I’m a police officer and you’re hiding something. I can tell.’
She nods and tells me about her husband and the photo in his office, and about Iris wanting to investigate, and what she’d found so far.
I press my fingers to my eyes. It’s worse than I thought. ‘She never knows when to stop,’ I whisper. I look up at Eva. ‘Do you still have the photo from his office?’
She shakes her head and my shoulders slump.
‘But Iris said her name is Carly and she’s missing.’
My vision blurs as fear takes a hold of my entire body but I have to keep going. I stand. ‘What did you say your husband’s name is?’
‘I didn’t. It’s Matteas.’
‘Fuck!’ I’m pacing the kitchen now. ‘Of course it is. Of course this is his house. Shit. Shit, shit.’
‘What’s going on?’ she asks.
‘You said Iris had already started digging. Do you know what she found?’
‘Not really. I was mad that she didn’t listen to me. But she did show me a photo of two guys to look out for.’
‘Did you know the men in the photo?’
Eva shakes her head. ‘No. But Iris said their names are Eddie and Kyle.’
I curse. ‘Iris, what have you done?’ My voice is a whisper. ‘Have you got somewhere you can stay tonight?’
She shakes her head. ‘Matteas doesn’t let me see anyone.’
‘That’s fine. I’ll take you and Archie to the station. You’ll be safe there and someone can explain to you what’s going on.’
Eva grips the bench, eyes widening. ‘Is that necessary? We’ll be fine here.’
‘I’m not sure it’s safe for you to be here when your husband returns. It’d be best to come to the station.’
Eva’s tone changes suddenly. She’s no longer the meek woman who told me her story. Her voice has a sharp, confident edge to it. ‘Am I under arrest?’
‘No, of course not. I just want to keep you safe.’
‘We’ll be fine, we won’t be going. Is there anything else?’
Before I can answer, she’s calling out to the kids that it’s time to go. I don’t like leaving her here but I can’t force her to come to the station.
Once the kids are strapped into the car, I pull out of the long driveway and inwardly curse myself.
I can’t believe Matteas was here under my nose the entire time.
And Iris had tried to warn me there was a bad guy from kinder but she never mentioned his name.
Or did she? She told me about Eva and her husband.
I would remember the name Matteas. She mustn’t have.
During our communication, Brent had only used the name Matteas a few times and we didn’t look too much into it when there were other names Brent spoke of more regularly, and Brent was more concerned with another player in all of this. Someone we still don’t know the name of.
We think they’re someone higher up, pulling the strings, and Matteas could be the first puppet to give us a lead on them.
And hopefully he knows where Iris is.