The Next Girl(Detective Gina Harte #1)(25)

The woman shook her head. ‘They’ve gone to Brooke’s house. She lives on the next road. They’ll be back shortly. We thought it best.’

Luke stood. ‘Please take a seat.’ He sat back down on the settee and began twiddling his thumbs. ‘Have you found her?’

‘She’s dead, isn’t she?’ Cathy cried, and she burst into tears.

‘Mrs Beddows – Cathy – it’s quite the opposite,’ Gina replied. She licked her dry lips and swallowed.

‘You mean you’ve found my wife? She’s alive?’

‘No. I wish I could say that. Let me explain.’ Gina swallowed again and rubbed the back of her neck. ‘We have reason to believe that your wife is still alive. Do you know about the abandoned baby, the one found outside Cleevesford Library?’

Luke hunched over and placed his head in his hands. ‘I saw something on the local news.’

‘We ran a DNA check on the baby. Your wife’s DNA is on record from the time we had to eliminate her from a previous enquiry, and it turns out that her DNA is a match for the baby’s.’

‘You must be joking.’ Luke stood and began pacing the living room. ‘That can’t be right.’

Mrs Beddows followed Luke around the lounge and grabbed his hand. ‘Luke, please sit.’ He shook her hand away, walked towards the window and stared out.

‘What does that mean? What does it all mean? Did she leave us on purpose?’

Gina stood and walked towards Luke. ‘I don’t believe she left you that night. In fact, we’re still treating Deborah’s disappearance as highly suspicious and we’re reinvestigating the case.’

Luke turned to face her. She noticed how his eyelids seemed to have a red rim around them and his skin had taken on a pale tone. He once again ran his hands through his hair before bursting into tears. ‘She’s been abducted, hasn’t she?’

‘We don’t know that for sure—’

‘She has. I know it. I always knew it. Some psychopathic creep has abducted her and is abusing her. You need to find her.’ Luke’s knees buckled. Cathy steadied him and led him back to the settee.

‘What’s happened to my baby?’ Cathy asked, her voice cracking. Gina could see that she was trying to stay calm, but tears streamed down her cheeks.

‘We are going to do everything we can to find your daughter. Whatever it takes, we are going to do it. I will be going over the whole investigation again and contacting everyone involved.’ Gina felt her nose tickling again. She grabbed a tissue from her pocket and sneezed violently into it.

Jacob leaned forward in the chair and continued speaking. ‘The investigation is now back open. You need to let us know if you hear or see anything suspicious. Anything at all. It could be something or it could be nothing, but we are determined to find her.’

The room went silent. Luke had his head buried in his hands. Cathy was holding a tissue out in front of him. ‘I need her back,’ he said, sobbing. His breathing quickened and he began to hyperventilate. As he gasped for air he started shaking.

Cathy held him tight and rocked back and forth with him in her arms. ‘There, there. We’ll find her.’ Luke stood and held his arms up in the air before allowing them to fall back down. Still trembling, he jogged to the kitchen. Gina placed the wet tissue in her pocket and listened as Luke began to run a tap.

‘I need my wife back. You gave up on her back then. You lot let her down!’

‘We had no leads, Mr Jenkins, and we certainly never gave up. We’re not giving up,’ replied Gina, pacing between the hall and the lounge. She felt her face redden with the heat of the house. They had given up, he was right, but they’d reached dead ends all round. ‘We’re really sorry to have caused you so much stress, but you both needed to know what was going on.’

‘Don’t apologise. For the past couple of years, I’d resigned myself to thinking that my Deborah was dead, but you’ve given me hope and—’ Cathy sobbed as she forced her words out. ‘And I have another grandchild.’

‘She’s being well looked after,’ Gina said.

‘There’s one thing I know for certain that Deborah would want, and it’s for us to take care of her child. That’s my daughter’s baby, my grandchildren’s sister. Can I see her? I need to see her.’

Gina watched as the woman continued to dab her eyes and nose. Luke was still sobbing in the background. The tap stopped running. ‘Of course,’ said Gina. ‘I will arrange for you to see her. She’s beautiful.’

The woman looked up and forced a smile. ‘She has a beautiful mother.’

As Luke entered the lounge, there was a knock on the door. ‘I can’t deal with the kids right now.’

Cathy passed him, placing a hand on his shoulder. ‘Why don’t you go upstairs and sort yourself out. I’ll deal with the kids.’

The knocking continued, faster and louder. ‘Dad! Let me in, I need a wee,’ Max shouted. Luke passed Cathy and ran up the stairs. She opened the door and Max darted in.

‘Max has weed his pants!’ Heidi shouted as she entered, throwing her bag on the floor. ‘Max is a baby!’

‘Shut up, you ugly hippo,’ he called back as the toilet door slammed shut. Heidi began banging on the toilet door, shouting at Max.