Finding Grace(43)

Nadine ignores him and asks me again, ‘So where were you when Grace was walking home?’

‘I’d just woken up from a nap.’

‘I see. You were sleeping.’ Her words are loaded with unspoken disapproval.

‘Look, it’s no good sniping at each other like this,’ Colm remarks. ‘The important thing, and what we came to find out, is what exactly are they doing to find Grace?’

Blake runs through what we know so far.

‘I know the chief constable of the South Yorkshire police,’ Colm declares. ‘I could give him a call.’

‘We’re fifty miles away from his jurisdiction, Dad. I hardly think that’ll help.’

‘It will if there’s something they’re not telling you,’ Nadine says. ‘He’ll be able to find out if they know something awful…’ Her voice peters out.

I study her for a moment. She hasn’t shed a tear since she arrived. She’s not pale, her dyed curled hair is as immaculate as ever and her lips are a harsh red slash on heavily rouged skin.

‘Something awful like what? What might they not be telling us?’ I challenge her. ‘Do you think they’ve found Grace lying in a ditch somewhere? Is that what you mean?’

‘Lucie, for God’s sake!’ Blake shakes his head at me, warning me to pipe down.

‘Really!’ Nadine reaches for her coat. ‘I haven’t come here to be spoken to like this.’

‘Sit down, Nadine.’ Colm’s stern voice cuts through our bickering. ‘This has got to stop. We came here to support, not antagonise.’

Nadine’s eyes well up now as if someone has flicked a switch inside her bony chest.

‘This was supposed to be a wonderful day. Your father just heard—’

‘Not now,’ Colm says wearily.

‘What is it?’ Blake asks.

‘Your father just found out that he’s to become a magistrate,’ Nadine says, her face lighting up with pride. ‘It’s been months of the bar scrutinising his suitability, and now, he’s finally been approved. It’s such an honour.’

Blake told me about the rigorous process his father had been subjected to. They’d even asked for family members’ dates of birth and any previous names.

‘To make sure none of us have criminal records,’ he explained, which made my heart hammer.

‘That’s… great news, Dad,’ he says flatly now. ‘Congratulations.’

The praise sounds hollow, because this is all a load of crap. Nadine and her driving ambition for social advancement make me sick to my stomach. I don’t want her here. I feel desperate for the two of them to leave.

‘All we need now is for Grace to walk through that door,’ Colm says brightly. ‘She’ll be back before long, I just know it.’

‘And how do you think that’s going to happen?’ I say quietly.

‘She might’ve got lost, or simply been delayed talking to someone,’ Nadine says.

‘For over five hours?’

They’re adding nothing to our dire situation, just inflaming it. I feel worse, if that were possible, since they arrived.

‘Anything is possible,’ Nadine bristles. ‘When young children are left to their own devices, anything is possible.’

The living room door opens and DI Pearlman steps into the room.

‘There’s been a sighting,’ he says, his voice urgent. ‘Someone who lives locally claims they saw Grace as she walked home this afternoon.’





Thirty-One





Everyone crowds around the detectives. Blake, Nadine, Colm. Even our FLO, Fiona.

But I find I can’t move from my seat. And I can’t say a word.

Is this it? Is this the moment when we find out what happened to Grace?

If Grace isn’t home safe, then she’s missing. But while she’s missing, there’s a chance she’s safe. Does it even make sense that I’m thinking that? What if it’s bad news? I don’t think I can bear to know…

I swallow down the bitter taste that floods my mouth.

Where, who, when?

I sit there, staring up at my husband and his parents. They spit out their one-word questions and the detectives stand silently with their hands in the air, waiting for them to quieten down.

Finally they fall away and give DI Pearlman some space.

‘A lady called in at the police station in response to the local poster campaign, to say she’d seen Grace walking alone. Apparently she watched her turn into Abbey Road which leads off Violet Road. The witness was a passenger in the car her husband was driving.’

‘Mike said he’d watched her across Abbey Road,’ I blurt out. ‘He didn’t watch her right to the bend because Bev called him inside the house.’

After referring back to pages in his notebook, it was DS Paige who spoke next.

‘Mike Parker did confirm that to us. The witness didn’t see anyone else; she said Grace didn’t stop walking. Unfortunately, their car then passed by and Grace fell out of her sight.’

‘How did she know it was definitely Grace?’ Blake asks. ‘Was it by her clothes?’

‘The poster gives a good description, but the witness is likely to prove reliable because she confirmed she actually knows Grace, knows your family. It was exactly the right time of day for it to be your daughter, too.’