Don't Let Me Go (21 page)

Mummy, Mummy, Mummy.

She didn’t understand what she’d done wrong. Why hadn’t Auntie Shelley and Danni come for her like Mummy had said they would? Maybe Mummy was cross with her for saying she wanted her to come and now she didn’t want Chloe at all.

The lady kept telling her not to cry, that everything would be all right, but Chloe was scared of her and wanted to go home.

‘Are you doing OK over there?’ the lady called out.

Chloe didn’t answer. She kept her head down waiting for Mummy to come and wishing she had Boots, because he made her feel brave.

When it was her birthday she was going to blow out all the candles and wish that Boots was always with her. And Mummy and Nanna and Auntie Shelley and Danni.

She didn’t understand why she was here.

Mummy, Mummy, Mummy.

The lady went to answer a knock on the door.

Chloe got to her feet. It would be Mummy coming to get her.

She could hear voices, but the TV was loud so she didn’t know who it was. She’d been told not to get out of the playpen but she had to go to Mummy so she climbed over the bars and ran towards the door of the room. Before she got there it opened and the lady came in.

‘Here she is,’ the lady smiled, and she stood aside for another lady to come in. It was the lady who’d picked her up from Aroha. She was going to take her back now and Auntie Shelley would be there with Danni.

Or Mummy would be there.

‘Hello pretty girl,’ the lady said, stooping down to her height. ‘Look what I’ve got for you.’

Chloe watched her hand going into her bag and when it came out it was holding Boots.

Chloe went to snatch him, but then wasn’t sure if it was allowed. This lady might be like her other mummy who’d teased and tormented her, pulled her hair, and banged her head on the floor and hissed at her like she was a snake.

She lowered her eyes and waited to be told what to do.

‘Here you are,’ the lady said, and she put Boots into Chloe’s arms.

Chloe hugged him hard. He must have been very lonely without her. She’d never shut him up in her locker again. He was going to stay with her all the time for ever and ever.

‘There you are,’ the lady who watched the TV said, ‘has that made you a bit happier?’

Chloe kept her head down. She didn’t want to look at anyone. She was going to close her eyes and pretend she was at the bach with Mummy.

Maybe Mummy had sent Boots because she didn’t want them at the bach any more. She must have been very naughty, but she didn’t know what she’d done wrong.

Chapter Eleven

ANNA WAS AT
the bach sorting out clothes and toiletries for Charlotte, her mind spinning with the fear of what might happen next. She hoped to God Don Thackeray was as brilliant a lawyer as everyone said he was, because they were going to need nothing short of a spectacular miracle to make even a small part of this go away.

And she was to blame for it all.

Her life was littered with mistakes for which those she loved had paid the harshest, cruellest price, starting with her impulsive marriage to Gavril Albescu. That disastrous union had ended with the slaughter of her entire family including their five-year-old son.

Hugo, Hugo,
she gasped inwardly. The image of the way his father had killed him would haunt her until the day she died.

Only she and Charlotte had survived the massacre, which was the strangest, and possibly the cruellest twist of all, since it was learning that Charlotte wasn’t his that had tipped Albescu over the edge. He’d come that night with the intention of killing them both, but Charlotte had been hidden away and, thank God, he’d never found her. The rest of the family, and Charlotte’s real father, Nigel Carrington, hadn’t managed to escape the attack, and the injuries he’d inflicted on her, Anna, had been so vicious that she should have died too, but somehow she’d been saved. By the time they’d released her from hospital almost a year later she no longer had a womb, or a right breast, and the scars all over her body were so severe that even now they seemed to ache along with her heart. By then Charlotte had acquired another name; another life; another family. So in order to keep her safe Anna had taken the heartbreaking decision to leave her only remaining child with the rector who’d rescued Charlotte the day after the killings.

Never, in her worst nightmares, had she imagined that twenty-five years would go by before she would see her again.

Now, here they were, she and Charlotte, back in each other’s lives, trying to heal what had gone before and find their way through to each other . . .

‘For God’s sake,’ Bob gasped as he came into the bach to find her sobbing. ‘It’s going to be all right, Anna. We’ll get through this . . .’

‘What is it about me that brings such tragedy to my family?’ she choked. ‘If I hadn’t told Charlotte to bring Chloe here neither of them would be where they are now, and we don’t even know where Chloe is.’

‘Wherever that might be at least we know she’s safe . . .’

‘And terrified and confused and desperate for her mummy.’

‘Anna, you have to pull yourself together.’

‘I’m trying, but I’m so afraid of what’s going to happen to them . . .’ She broke off at the sound of a car arriving at the top of the slope.

‘I’ll go and see who it is,’ Bob said, and after a fierce gaze into her eyes meant to bolster her, he went outside, expecting to see his daughter coming down to the bach. To his alarm it turned out to be two police officers, and more were arriving behind them.

‘Sherman, what’s going on?’ he demanded of Rick’s old schoolfriend, who was already coming over the footbridge. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘We’ve been told to search the bach,’ Sherman explained awkwardly. ‘They need her computer and stuff.’

Realising he should have been prepared for this, Bob spun round to check if Anna had heard, but for the moment there was no sign of her. ‘We’re just collecting a few things to take to the station,’ he said. ‘I guess you’ll need to see what’s in the bag?’

Sherman nodded and looked past him to where Anna was now standing in the doorway of the bach. ‘I’m sorry about this,’ he called to her.

Anna didn’t answer. She was watching the forensic team milling and drifting down the slope like ghosts in their baggy white overalls.
This wasn’t a murder scene, no one was dead.

‘I packed a bag for Chloe too,’ she told Bob as he came back to her.

Hugging her, Bob said, ‘They’ll need to have a quick look through what’s inside before we go.’

Standing aside as Sherman and the others began swarming around the bach, she gazed out at the bay, wondering what on earth hell was doing in their little spot of paradise.

A few minutes later they were in Bob’s car on their way back into town. Anna knew she should call Lucianne to apologise again and find out how the shoot was going, but Lucianne would want to know if she’d be there tomorrow and Anna didn’t know what to tell her. As things stood she couldn’t imagine being able to get away, but who could say what tomorrow might bring?

Picking up Bob’s mobile as it rang, her heart skipped a beat when she saw who it was. ‘Eddie Leeman,’ she told him, and passed the phone over. Apart from being a long-standing golfing partner of Bob’s, Eddie was the Commander of Northland District Police.

‘Eddie,’ Bob barked. ‘Thanks for getting back to me.’

‘I’d have been in touch sooner,’ Leeman responded, ‘but I wanted to find out as much as I could before I spoke to you. Where are you now?’

‘On our way back to Kerikeri station.’

‘Then you need to get a move on. The order’s come down to move her to Auckland.’

‘Oh Christ,’ Bob groaned.

‘What?’ Anna cried, putting a hand on his arm.

‘They’re taking her to Auckland,’ Bob told her. ‘What else do you know?’ he asked Leeman.

‘A couple of British detectives are due to arrive in the next couple of hours, but there’s the extradition process to go through before they can take her anywhere. I hear you’ve got Don Thackeray on the case.’

‘You bet. I’ll pass this on to him now.’

After calling Thackeray, who assured him he’d be waiting when Charlotte got to Auckland, Bob said to Anna, ‘We need to find out if we can go down there with her.’

‘They can’t stop us if we go under our own steam,’ she pointed out. ‘But maybe we need to be here for Chloe. Or I do. You can go to Auckland.’

‘Is that Shelley?’ he said, squinting as an oncoming driver flashed their lights. ‘Yes it is,’ and slowing up he put his window down as she drew alongside him.

‘I’m just taking Craig home,’ Shelley informed them as Craig waved out from behind her. ‘Phil’s on his way back from the labs and Rick’s plane should be here in half an hour. I’ll pick him up when I go for Danni.’

‘We’ve just heard they’re taking Charlotte to Auckland,’ Anna told her, ‘so Rick might be more use there. Can you get hold of him?’

Taking out her phone Shelley pressed the quick-dial, but was pushed through to voicemail. After leaving a message in case Rick hadn’t already boarded the plane, she said, ‘Any news on Chloe?’

With a catch in her heart Anna shook her head. ‘How did you get on with the social worker?’

‘She was very nice, but no way was she going to tell me where Chloe is. She promised to take Boots straight to her, though, and I’m sure she meant it.’

‘Well, at least we can tell Charlotte that,’ Anna said to Bob as they drove on. ‘I wonder if she knows she’s going to Auckland yet.’

Charlotte was with Grant beside a marked car outside the police station when her mother and Bob pulled into the parking lot. There was no trace of colour in her face and her eyes felt as raw and heavy as the dread in her heart. ‘Have you seen Chloe?’ she asked, as soon as Anna got to her.

‘I’m afraid not,’ Anna replied, glancing at Bob as he went to give Charlotte’s bag to Grant, ‘but Shelley just told us the social worker’s taken Boots to her.’

As a whisper of relief brushed through her fear, Charlotte said, ‘Do you know they’re taking me to Auckland?’

‘Yes,’ Anna replied. ‘Bob’s going to try and go with you. I’ll stay here in case something changes with Chloe.’

Charlotte nodded distractedly. ‘I’m sure they’ll be making plans to take her back to England by now,’ she said, stiff with the fear of it. ‘Maybe if we could find out which flight she’s on . . . If I could go with her . . .’ Her eyes moved to Grant. ‘They won’t let me of course.’

He shook his head forlornly. There was nothing he could add.

Wishing she knew how to comfort her daughter, Anna said, ‘We’ll find out what we can and as soon as we do we’ll make sure it’s passed on to you.’

Coming to join them, Bob said to Charlotte, ‘Apparently I can’t go in the car with you, so I’m going to try and get a seat on the next plane down. Don Thackeray, your lawyer, will be waiting when you reach the station in Auckland and the first thing he’ll do is try to get you out of custody.’

Charlotte’s smile was weak. Didn’t anyone understand? She’d stolen a child, some might even say kidnapped, and no jurisdiction in the world was going to look on her leniently for that.

Looking round as Wex, the sergeant, came to talk to Grant, she felt her insides turning to liquid. They must be ready to go. ‘I keep wondering,’ she said to Bob, ‘how they found out, and all I can think of is a woman who was at the Pear Tree when we were having coffee. She kept staring at me and I know she recognised me, but Chloe wasn’t there so how did she . . . I guess . . . Maybe she followed me . . .’

Bob’s eyes were grave as he took her hands in his. ‘I don’t think it matters how they found out right now,’ he said, ‘what does is making sure we get you and Chloe all the legal and moral support we can.’

‘I’m afraid we need to go,’ Wex told them, opening a rear passenger door for Charlotte to get in.

As a fresh wave of fear broke through her, the urge to run was so intense she felt it might break through her skin. Her arms, her legs, every muscle in her body needed to get away from here, to go to Chloe and take her somewhere no one would ever be able to find them again. She had never felt so powerless, so wretched or afraid. Seeing her mother’s stricken face, she said, ‘I’ll be fine,’ while feeling that she never would be again. ‘Just be there for Chloe, if you can.’

‘Of course, of course,’ Anna assured her, giving her a hug, ‘and Bob’ll try to be there when you get to Auckland.’

‘There’s a six o’clock flight,’ he told her as he hugged her too. ‘If I can get on it, it should get me in before you, so I’ll be waiting with Don.’

Feeling that she didn’t deserve such loyalty when she’d brought so much chaos to his life, she said, ‘You don’t need to . . .’

‘I’ll be there,’ he replied firmly. ‘You just hold on during the drive. It could be, because of how late you’ll arrive, that you’ll end up having to spend tonight in custody, but we’ll be straight on the case in the morning. OK? Do you hear me?’

Charlotte nodded and tried to smile.
She was going to spend the night in a cell. The first of how many? Oh dear God, what was going to happen, how could she have done this to herself, to Chloe?
‘Thanks,’ she whispered. ‘I hope nothing . . . I mean, if anything happens to you because of what I’ve done . . .’

‘Let me worry about that, but anyway, it won’t.’

‘Charlotte,’ Wex said gently.

As she got into the car Anna stooped down beside her. ‘We’ve put a bag in the back for you,’ she told her, speaking through her tears. ‘Let me know if there’s anything else you need . . .’

‘Don’t,’ Charlotte said abruptly. ‘Please, don’t break down now or I won’t . . . I won’t be able to hold it together.’

Standing up, Anna took a step back and swallowed hard. ‘It’ll be all right,’ she said hoarsely. ‘We’ll get through it.’

Knowing it was what she had to say, Charlotte simply nodded and turned away.

Minutes later Bob and Anna were watching the back of the car as Grant drove out of the car park. They waited for Charlotte to turn around and wave, but she didn’t.

‘Come on,’ Bob said, and pulling Anna to him he led her to where she’d left her car. ‘I need you to go and pack me an overnight bag,’ he told her, opening the driver’s door for her to get in.