Close to Home (DI Adam Fawley #1)(68)

He looks away.

‘Mr Mason?’

‘If you must know, they said he might have – problems. But when we saw him he seemed OK. Nice-looking kid. Took to Sharon straight away.’

And Sharon was desperate to have a child – desperate to keep Barry from changing his mind and going back to Moira. And the money. And his real son.

‘And then Sharon got pregnant after all.’

‘We could hardly believe it. Talk about bad timing. It was only a few weeks after the adoption went through. But by then it was too late. We couldn’t give him back.’

I can’t believe I’m hearing this.

‘What sort of problems?’

‘Sorry?’

‘You said they told you Leo had problems.’

‘They only said he might have. It was too early to be sure. He might just as well be perfectly fine. And he was – when he was a baby. Always really quiet, never gave us much trouble. Not like Daisy – she was always a bugger to get to sleep. Cried for hours – drove us both crazy. It was only later, when he was about four or five, that Leo began to get a bit, you know, weird.’

‘And when they told you he might have problems – did they say why?’

‘Apparently his mother was doing time and couldn’t look after him properly. Had a drink problem, you know the sort of thing. That’s why he’d been put up for adoption.’

I take a deep breath. It makes sense. The awkwardness, the mood swings. And what I saw with my own eyes, only two days ago. The question is whether that’s all it is. Whether it stops there.

‘What does your doctor say?’

He snorts. ‘Sharon doesn’t have any time for him – says all he ever does is poke his nose in. As far as she’s concerned Leo’s just a bit of a late developer and the doctor can’t prove otherwise. She says how we bring up our kids is nobody else’s business.’

And that adds up too. The last thing Sharon would want is for ‘them’ to think she was bringing up a less-than-perfect child. Or that she’d had to resort to adoption to get one.

‘All that trouble he’s been having at school – the lashing out, the bullying – ’

Barry looks exasperated. ‘Leo just needs to stick up for himself a bit more, that’s all – not be such a wuss. Look, it’s really not that bad. Honestly. Most days, you’d hardly even know. He’s a nice kid. Docile.’

‘Until recently.’

‘Yeah, well.’

‘Do you know why? Did something happen that might have triggered it?’

‘Search me.’

‘Does he know he’s adopted?’

He shakes his head. ‘No, we haven’t told him.’

I count to ten. ‘Don’t you think it’s getting rather late to tell him something like that? He’s bound to find out sometime, and the older he is, the worse it will be.’ I should know. My parents have never told me I’m not their biological son, but I’ve carried that knowledge round with me for over thirty years. I found out when I was not much older than Leo is now, rooting about in my father’s desk where I knew I shouldn’t have been. Snoopers learn no good of themselves. But that wasn’t why I didn’t let on; I knew, instinctively, the way children do, that this was something I could never raise with them, and even now, I never have.

Barry shrugs. ‘Not my call, mate. And it’s not worth arguing about it with Sharon. Believe me.’



* * *



—

Outside the cell, I strike the wall in frustration and jar my wrist. I’m still shaking the pain away when my phone goes. It’s Everett.

‘I wanted to call you last night,’ she says, ‘but I was worried it was too late. Look, I’ve been thinking about Leo. And I remembered that email from the doctor where he referred to Leo coming in for ‘his check-up’. That’s an odd phrase to use – makes it sound like he had them all the time. That’s not normal, is it? And the doctor was really cagey – all that stuff at the end about needing authorization to release any information about the family. I think he was trying to tell us something. Under cover of doing the exact opposite.’

So she’s got there too. She’s sharp, Everett. She’ll go far.

‘I got an email from Challow this morning,’ I say. ‘The evidence in the car proves Leo is adopted.’

‘Jesus – and they didn’t tell us?’

‘Don’t get me started. It doesn’t matter, of course, if that was all it was. But it’s not.’

I tell her what Mason just told me.

‘Shit,’ she says. And then, quickly, ‘Yesterday, when I was sitting with him, he said everything was “all his fault”, but when I asked him what he meant he clammed right up. And then this morning, I came back from the shower and found him under the bed. He said he’d lost something and he’d lit a match to help him look for it. The underside of the mattress had already caught. It’s a miracle the whole place didn’t go up. He said he found the matches in the drawer.’

My turn this time. ‘Shit.’

*

Find Daisy Mason Facebook Page

There is still no news of Daisy, despite an extensive police search in the area around her home. The police have questioned her parents, and there are now reports that an unnamed teenager is ‘helping with inquiries’. If you live in the Oxford area and saw anything suspicious on the afternoon or evening of Tuesday 19 July, please please call the police. The person to ask for is Inspector Adam Fawley on 01865 0966552. This is especially important if you’ve been on holiday and haven’t caught up with the news.