The Babysitter(46)

‘Just like Dory.’ Mark smiled at Jade, looking hugely relieved.

‘They based the film on it, didn’t they, Mark?’ Her heart skipping a beat at the warmth in his decadent chocolate-brown eyes, Jade got to her feet before she melted in front of him.

‘Yup.’ Mark played along perfectly. ‘It’s a true story.’

Poppy looked up at him and then to Jade – her wide eyes so trusting, it could almost be touching. ‘Will you help me bury him, Jade?’

‘Of course I will,’ Jade promised with a reassuring smile. ‘I’ll just go and see to Evie first.’ She indicated the nursery, beyond the door of which Evie was crying, having woken up far too early.

‘And I’d better see to you, young lady.’ Mark placed the fish carefully back into the bowl and got to his feet. ‘We’ll leave him there for now, where he’s safe,’ he said, reaching to relieve Poppy of the bowl.

Parking it on the dressing table on the opposite wall, he gave Jade a conspiratorial wink as she headed for the door. Something deep within her swooped in response. Mark turned back to his daughter, who, in Jade’s opinion, was demanding far more of his time than was healthy. ‘Come on, Poppet, up we come,’ he said, plucking her up from the bed. ‘We can’t send Nemo to fish heaven wearing a wet nightie, can we? Arms up,’ he instructed, giving Jade another photo opportunity as he tugged the soggy nightie up over Poppy’s head.

Jade didn’t particularly want a wriggling, shivering, naked child in the photo, but with Mark’s state of undress… How was a girl to resist? And Mark might like the photos, she supposed, later, should Poppy no longer be around.

Humming happily, she turned to the nursery, nipping deftly inside when she glimpsed Melissa stumbling from the main bedroom. Jade shuddered as she closed the door. Bleary-eyed and white-faced, and with her bleached blonde hair scarily all over the place, the woman looked like something the cat had dragged in. She thought fleetingly of the feline fleabag they’d assumed was hers. She really hoped Dylan didn’t get it into his head to go poking around in the depths of his freezer. Preferring his mummy’s home-cooking to his own culinary disasters, he wasn’t likely to, and she had wrapped her parcel securely, first in polythene, then a carrier bag, before finally sealing it in a Perspex box and marking it Baby Milk. She’d told him it was imperative the box wasn’t opened until the milk was ready to use, but still, she really ought to move it soon.

Jade hurried across to lift Evie from her cot. ‘Hello, my gorgeous baby girl.’ She flashed her a smile. ‘Let’s get you changed and fed, shall we? We don’t want silly Melissa interfering, do we, Angel? No, we do not.’ Jade’s smile widened as, clearly delighted to see her, Evie chuckled gleefully and gave her a gummy grin.

Catching one excitedly flailing hand, Jade cradled her in the crook of her arm and pressed a kiss to her tiny fingers. ‘We want her gone, don’t we, my precious?’ she whispered. ‘Out of our lives forever and ever.’





Thirty-One





MARK





The local search for Daisy had now been widened, concentrating on woodland, orchards, beer factories and cider mills. Mark, meanwhile, was painstakingly going through historical maps and small-scale ordnance surveys, looking for abandoned buildings with basement access and properties that might no longer exist above ground level, in particular those with concealed septic tanks, or any conceivable place that might be used to secrete a small body.

‘How’s it going elsewhere?’ Lisa asked him, coming back from a call-out to the town centre, where a group of local youths had decided to break the tedium of hanging around looking bored and had phoned in a sighting of the girl. Another false alarm.

Mark guessed she was asking after Melissa. Edwards had pulled him up twice this week for tardiness, now the norm for him with pandemonium on the home front. Mel had gone from sleeping heavily to waking several times in the night, thus insisting on taking over the night feeds. Mark would have been glad of it, grateful, were it not for the fact that he felt he had to watch her like a hawk, which really didn’t make him feel great. Plus, it had thrown Evie’s routine into chaos. Jade must have the patience of a saint, Mark had decided. She hadn’t said so, but he’d guessed, from the look in her eyes, that she wasn’t happy trusting Mel with the baby. Mel was also trying to catch up and fill the orders that had come in from Garden & Homes head office. Mark had been relieved, until he’d helped her load some ceramic stuff into her car, only to discover a carrier bag full of empty wine bottles.

‘One day at a time.’ Mark smiled wearily in Lisa’s direction, glad she was concerned enough to ask. He’d discovered from Lisa the full extent of Mel’s reaction to his ill-timed text last week. Apparently, Mel had been reasonably calm, asking Lisa to leave and then telling her she didn’t think for one minute he’d fucked her, because he preferred younger women with tits. Mark still winced when he thought about that scenario. Lisa obviously didn’t text him early in the morning any more, which meant he was rarely up to speed when he did finally arrive at the station.

‘He’s still imagining the girl’s alive,’ Cummings said as he walked past Mark’s desk, heading for the door. Obviously, he had assumed they were discussing Daisy.