For Your Own Protection(56)

‘I think you were right. It’s James. He’s gone. Taken his stuff and disappeared. And there’s something else. Someone has been in the house. They’ve been up to the top floor, turned everything upside down.’

‘What? Are you there now? Have they definitely gone?’

‘There’s no one here now.’

‘Good. I’ll be right there,’ Matt said, already grabbing his keys from the kitchen table. He paused. ‘As long as you want me to come over.’

There was a painful silence, and for a moment Matt thought there might still be some resistance.

‘Yes, please come over, Matt.’



She left the door open for Matt to close as they both made their way into the living room. Charlie was now sitting on the sofa, watching the Cars movie.

‘Hey, Charlie,’ Matt said. Charlie didn’t so much as move a muscle. ‘Lightning McQueen, eh?’

‘Quiet, Daddy, I’m trying to watch the movie,’ he replied, putting a hushing finger to his lips.

‘Okay, I’ll be quiet,’ Matt smiled.

‘Daddy and me, we’re just going to have a chat in the kitchen,’ Beth explained to him. Charlie didn’t seem bothered, his face not even flickering. ‘If you need anything, just let us know. We’ll keep the door open, okay?’

‘So, what happened?’ Matt said, as he and Beth settled down around the kitchen table.

‘Charlie went to go to the toilet while I was preparing tea, and he said he saw a man upstairs. I thought it was just Charlie’s overactive imagination, but when I went to look, the top-floor room was turned upside down, as if someone had been looking for something.’

‘And James has gone?’

‘James rushed out of the house this morning, after getting a phone call. Said it was about work. I tried to call him today but couldn’t get an answer. And when I got back from picking Charlie up from school, James had been back to the house and taken clothes and his passport.’

‘I’m sorry, Beth.’

Beth shook her head. ‘What the hell’s going on, Matt?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Could James be in danger?’

‘Maybe. I just don’t know.’

‘And Charlie?’

He saw a single tear trickle down her cheek. All he wanted to do was embrace her and tell her everything was going to be alright.

But he had to keep his distance.

They both looked towards the living room, where they could see Charlie still sitting on the sofa.

‘If anything ever happened to him, I don’t know what I’d do,’ Beth said.

‘Me neither.’

Beth closed her eyes briefly. ‘I can’t believe this. Shouldn’t we call the police about the intruder?’

Matt looked over at Charlie again. ‘Yes, let’s do it now.’



Matt waited in the living room with Charlie, as Beth said goodbye to the officers.

‘Well, I’m not sure what good that did us,’ Beth admitted as she sat down on the sofa next to Matt.

‘I guess they can’t do much,’ Matt said, ‘when Charlie couldn’t describe the person he saw.’

Charlie, who was pushing his toy train around the carpet, didn’t look up.

‘The way they kept coming back to James,’ Beth said, ‘they probably thought it was him, didn’t they?’

‘It seemed so.’

‘Do you?’

‘Charlie,’ Matt called, ‘are you sure it wasn’t Uncle James you saw?’

Charlie turned around. ‘It was a naughty man.’ He went back to playing.

‘This is such a strange situation, Matt,’ Beth said, shaking her head. ‘I really don’t like it.’

‘I know. Neither do I.’





CHAPTER FORTY


An hour after the police had left, Matt approached Charlie, taking a seat next to him on the sofa. Maybe with the passing of a bit of time, Charlie might be prepared to open up a little. ‘Charlie,’ he said, ‘the naughty man you saw at the top of the stairs, what did he look like? Have you seen him before?’

Charlie’s attention was back on the movie.

Matt tried again. ‘Charlie, it’s really important that you answer my question. The man at the top of the stairs, have you seen him before?’

‘Yes,’ he said flatly, ‘I’ve seen him before.’

Matt shot Beth a glance. ‘Where, Charlie? Where have you seen him?’

He didn’t turn his attention away from the screen. ‘I can’t remember.’

Matt wanted to shout at his son, wanted to turn off the TV and force him to pay attention. But he knew that would be completely counterproductive. ‘Charlie, you’ve got a really good memory. You remember lots of things, from a long time ago. Don’t you?’

‘I remember lots of things,’ Charlie agreed, eyes straight ahead.

‘So I think you might be able to remember where you saw the naughty man before. Can you have a good think about it, Charlie?’

Matt looked up at Beth, who signalled for him to cut the conversation. He nodded, but had one last question for now. ‘Why did you call him a naughty man, Charlie?’