Her Perfect Family(36)

She’s listing what she needs. The parents’ address. Is Laura with them? If not, urgent checks on her passport. Has she travelled? Is there any way she could have flown to the UK? Every now and then, Mel pauses to listen and Matthew is praying she’s getting cooperation. Liaison with foreign forces can be slow and frustrating, not through lack of will but lack of resources. Everyone always so stretched with their own caseload.

He feels his phone vibrate in his pocket just as Mel tells her contact that she’ll have to ring back; has another call coming through from her team.

Matthew checks his own screen. It’s Sally. He wonders for a second whether to message that he’ll call her straight back, but he sees only now that he’s missed a couple of texts from her while dealing with Ed Hartley.

He puts the phone up to his ear, still watching Mel who’s taking her new call.

‘It’s horrible. Horrible, Matthew. You need to come home now. Right away. I don’t know what to do.’ Sal’s voice is near hysterical. ‘I thought it was from you. I thought it was a surprise. I would never have let her open it if I didn’t think it was from you . . . What have I done?’

‘Sally. Sally. You need to slow down. What’s happened?’

‘A parcel turned up. I thought it was a surprise from you. A gift. There was a card which looked as if it was from you so I let her open it. Oh, Matthew. I let her open it.’

‘So what is it, Sally? What’s in the parcel?’ His heart’s thumping in his chest and he raises his hand in a ‘stop’ sign to signal to Mel that there’s a crisis. But instead of ending her call, Mel pumps the signal straight back at him. An emergency of her own?

‘I’ll get bomb squad, just in case,’ Mel is saying. She moves her free hand from the ‘stop’ sign to the top of her head – her posture of disbelief.

Matthew’s heart is now pounding. ‘Sally. Hold one second. I’m getting some advice this end. It may be important.’

He listens again to Mel’s side of her conversation. ‘Right. So is it possible to evacuate the ward?’ She pauses, closing her eyes. ‘Do what you can until I speak to the hospital board. Ring you straight back.’

Matthew feels a new punch to his gut.

Bomb squad.

‘Right. I’m back. So what’s in the parcel, Sally? You need to describe it to me. Any wire? Anything like a battery? And where is it now?’

‘It’s a doll, Matthew. But it has blood coming out of it.’ She’s crying now. ‘It’s disgusting.’

‘Jeez. Did Amelie see? Where’s Amelie?’

‘In the playroom. She saw it. Yes. I told her it was a Halloween joke. A mistake . . . It’s all I could think of on the spot. But she’s really upset, Matthew.’

‘Right. So where’s the doll and the box?’

‘Here. In the kitchen.’

‘OK. Did you hear me before? Can you see any wires? Anything like a battery in the box?’

‘No, I don’t think so. Nothing like that. Just the doll.’

‘Right. You need to get out of the house, Sally. Leave the doll and the box there in the kitchen. Don’t touch it again. Clean your hands, and take Amelie out to the summer house.’

Matthew’s mind is in overdrive as he listens to the water running. They’re lucky that their cottage has a long garden. The summer house a good stretch from the building. Safe distance. It’s good there are no obvious wires. All the same . . .

‘Are the neighbours in? Your mum. Is she home?’ Sally’s mother lives just two doors along in the little row of thatched cottages.

‘No, she’s out shopping. We’re the only ones home.’

‘Good. Good. Tell Amelie it’s a game. Take some toys to the summer house and wait for me there. Leave the doll and the box. Don’t touch it. OK? Go now. Right away.’

‘You’re scaring me, Matthew.’

‘I’m sorry, darling, but just do as I say. OK? It’s just a precaution. Playing safe. I’m on this. It’s going to be OK. I’m on my way to you. It’s going to be all right.’

There’s a pause. It sounds like Sally’s crying. Matthew badly needs to speak to Mel but can’t bear to ring off.

‘Is your phone well charged, Sal?’

He waits while she checks the screen.

‘Sixty per cent.’

‘Right. Stay on the line. Get Amelie and let me talk to her as you move outside. OK?’

‘OK.’

Matthew can hear Sally calling Amelie through, but she’s moved the phone away from her face. He can’t make everything out. There’s quite a pause and then at last he can hear his daughter’s voice in his ear.

‘Daddy. I got a doll but it’s broken. It’s not nice. I don’t like it.’

‘Yeah. Mummy told me. Don’t worry about that, princess. There’s been a mistake. It was the wrong doll sent to the wrong house. Isn’t that silly? We’ll get you a better doll. It’s a nice day so I’m going to finish work early and meet you in the summer house for a game.’

‘What game? I want to watch television.’

‘I’m going to let you choose the game but you need to be a good girl for Mummy, honey. Can you do that for Daddy? Be a good girl and wait in the summer house for me.’