Her Perfect Family(65)

‘She came straight inside and told a teacher about the letter.’

‘Wasn’t there a teacher on playground duty for the little ones?’ Matthew can’t help his tone. The nursery has its own section of the playground. Closer supervision surely?

‘Yes, of course. But the staff member with Amelie’s group was dealing with a child who’d fallen over and hurt her knee. So she didn’t see what happened.’ Mrs Lewis straightens her back.

‘Right. So was Amelie upset?’ Matthew tries to calm his tone. He doesn’t want Mrs Lewis to be defensive. Not her fault. But he can feel fury rising inside him that his daughter has been dragged into this . . . again.

‘No. She said the woman told her she had an urgent letter for Daddy. That she’d missed the post. We told Amelie that she’d been a good girl to tell us right away. But—’ The head teacher lets out a long sigh. ‘Look, I don’t want Amelie to feel she’s in trouble, but we will obviously need to agree how we take this forward with her. And with the other children too. We’ll need to be open that the woman was in the wrong; that children don’t always have to do what an adult says. We’ll need to reinforce the stranger rules. We can’t have this happen again.’

‘No. Of course not. We’ll talk to Amelie carefully.’

Matthew rakes his fingers through his hair. They’ve warned Amelie not to talk to strangers but she’s so young, she can’t be blamed. How could she know what to do in this situation? She was in nursery; supposed to be safe. And the woman was crafty – implying she was helping her daddy. Wretched woman. What the hell was she really doing? He asks Mrs Lewis to play the tape again and leans in even closer. The image of the woman is blurred. She’s wearing a pale mac with a belt and has long hair. Could be Laura. Could equally be someone else entirely.

Just this morning his money was on Alex as their man but now he’s not so sure. If this is Laura, he wonders what might have triggered her to suddenly pursue Ed after all these years. And his family too? He must speak to Ed again – see if there’s anything in recent times that might have upset Laura. Set her off. Stirred up her illness and made things worse?

‘I’m involved in a major investigation at the moment. With DI Mel Sanders.’ Matthew is directing this as much at the uniformed officer as the head teacher. ‘There’s a possibility this is linked. DI Sanders will want a copy of this tape to see if we can enhance it.’

The PC is looking worried now. ‘So this is definitely being bumped? I’ll still need to do a report.’

‘Of course. I’ll get DI Sanders to liaise with you. I can’t say too much at the moment. A lot’s confidential.’

The PC makes a note in his pocket book, still looking curious. Wary.

‘Thank you, Mrs Lewis. And the letter. Did anyone open it?’ Matthew’s desperate to see it but is reluctant to push too hard; he doesn’t want to clash with the PC in front of the head.

‘No. We called the police straight away. Tried to keep things low key for Amelie.’

‘Good. Thank you.’

‘Should the school be worried, Mr Hill? We need to be fully in the picture if there’s a threat. If this could happen again?’

Matthew feels his heart sink. This is the last thing he wanted for Amelie. And Sally too.

‘I’ll ask DI Sanders to speak to you as soon as possible, Mrs Lewis.’

‘Right. Good. And what about Amelie in the meantime? I understand she’s been having counselling. She’s been much more her usual self in nursery these past couple of days but I’m concerned this will set her back.’

Matthew notices the police constable raising his eyebrows, clearly wondering what is really going on here.

‘Yes. This is the last thing we all needed. May I see the letter, please?’

The PC puts his hand in his pocket, fishes out an evidence bag and puts it on the head teacher’s desk. Inside the sealed bag, ready for forensics, is a white envelope.

‘I’ll need to log this myself,’ the PC says, as if reading Matthew’s mind.

‘Sure.’

Matthew uses his phone to take a photograph of the evidence bag to show Mel while it’s being processed. It’s handwritten. Neat, sloping writing with quite a distinctive ‘M’– shouldn’t be difficult to get it checked against Laura’s.

‘As soon as my wife arrives, we’ll take Amelie home and be in touch once I speak to DI Sanders again.’ Matthew pulls back. He doesn’t add what he’s really thinking. That he’s not even sure if it’s safe to take his daughter and wife home.

He’s thinking of the dolls. So where does this fit in?

Matthew’s mind is spinning. Maybe his family should go away somewhere? Take a break while he and Mel try to figure out what on earth is really going on here. He looks away towards the door, spooling through the options. Mel’s mum is a close neighbour so that’s no good. Maybe an Airbnb. Tell Amelie it’s a little holiday? He badly needs to bounce this past Mel; see what she thinks.

Also Sally. He checks his watch again, bracing himself for her arrival. He prays she’s driving safely. She’s going to be horrified. Frightened. And quite possibly angry with him too for dragging them into this. He remembers how upset she was when he left them in town that very first day. There’s a gunman in the cathedral.