Authors: Susan Lewis
‘I’m sorry, Anna,’ he said roughly, ‘there’s nothing I can do.’
Wex started again. ‘I’m detaining you, Charlotte Nicholls, for the abduction of a child. You have the right to remain silent. You do not have to make any statement. Anything you say will be recorded and may be given in evidence in court. You have the right to speak with a lawyer without delay and in private before deciding whether to answer any questions.’
‘Chloe,’ Charlotte whispered desperately.
‘Do you understand your rights?’ Wex asked.
‘I can’t leave Chloe,’ Charlotte sobbed. ‘Please Grant, you know her . . .
Grant, please,
’ she cried as he turned his head away.
Wex repeated the question. ‘Do you understand your rights?’
Wave after wave of panic was crashing through her. She couldn’t let them do this. She had to get to Chloe. Breaking free of her mother, she started to run.
Wex grabbed her, so did Grant. ‘I have to get to Chloe,’ she choked. ‘I promised her. Grant, I can’t leave her . . . Don’t make me, please, please don’t make me.’
Unable to take her distress, Grant turned away again. ‘I’m sorry,’ he mumbled. ‘If it was up to me . . .’
‘You have to do something,’ Anna implored. ‘You know the situation. Chloe’s been through enough. If you do this . . .’
‘Anna,’ Wex interrupted gently, ‘it’s not up to us. The Brits are already on their way here.’
Anna turned her stricken eyes to Charlotte.
‘Charlotte, I have to ask if you understand your rights?’ Wex insisted.
Charlotte could hardly think or speak. She could only see Chloe waiting for her to come home, waiting and waiting . . . ‘She’s just a baby,’ she gasped, ‘she needs me . . .’
Putting an arm round her shoulders Grant said, ‘Come on, let’s get you to the car.’
Every muscle, every instinct Charlotte possessed wanted to lash out, to scream, to run and run and never stop until she reached Chloe, but there was nothing she could do. Her worst nightmare was happening and she had no way of stopping it. They were arresting her, taking her into custody. Today, tomorrow, she would be flown back to England and . . . and what?
‘Oh God, Mum, get Chloe,’ she cried. ‘Please, just go and get Chloe.’
Chapter Ten
‘
SHELLEY, WHERE THE
heck are you?’ Bob barked into his phone.
‘At the farmer’s market in Paihia. Why?’
‘Charlotte’s been arrested. I’m . . .’
‘What! How . . .’
‘. . . on my way to Aroha to get Chloe. You know I can’t do it alone, so I need you to get back as fast as you can.’
‘Oh my God!’ Shelley murmured in a panic. ‘I thought Charlotte was at Kauri Cliffs today . . .’
‘That’s where they picked her up. Anna’s on her way back . . .’
‘What about the shoot?’
‘She had to abandon it. I’ve been trying to get hold of Grant Romney, but he’s not answering his phone. Apparently he arrested her. And Wex Harris.’
‘Jesus Christ. Oh Dad, I don’t know what to do, I feel so scared . . .’
‘Shelley, get a grip.’
‘OK, sorry. I’ll be there as fast as I can. Call me if there’s any more news.’
After ringing off Bob swerved to the edge of the road to bring up Grant Romney’s number again. This time, when he tried to get through, to his great relief Grant answered.
‘Bob, I’m sorry, mate,’ Grant said, before Bob could speak. ‘This is right out of my hands. CIB, immigration, CYFS, they’re all over it . . .’
‘But how did it happen?’
‘Wex got a call from Auckland last night asking him to check out information they’d received from Britain. When he realised who they were talking about he rang me. I couldn’t tell you anything, he shouldn’t even have involved me, being a friend of the family, but he broke the rules to try and make it easier on Charlotte.’
Suspecting he should be grateful for that, Bob said, ‘Where is she now?’
‘Here in the car with us. We’re bringing her back to Kerikeri.’
‘Can I speak to her?’
‘Sure, but . . .’
‘Hang on, before I do, what happens next?’
‘We’re still waiting to hear. Our instructions are just to bring her in and hold her, I guess until they’ve decided whether we have to take her to Auckland, or if they’ll come here . . .’
‘OK, put her on.’
A moment later, Charlotte said, ‘Bob, I’m really sorry. I . . .’
‘You stop that now,’ he told her, finding himself choked with emotion. ‘You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. You did what was right and we’re going to get this sorted.’
‘What about Chloe? She’s all that matters . . .’
‘I’m on my way to get her now. Your mother’s going to meet me there, so’s Shelley. I’m waiting for a call back from one of Auckland’s top lawyers, Don Thackeray. He’ll know what do . . .’
‘I can’t go back,’ she said brokenly.
Wanting to hold it together for her, he said, ‘We’ll get through this, I promise . . .’
‘But what’s going to happen to Chloe? You can’t let them take her, Bob.’
‘We won’t. She’ll be fine. I’ll stay with her until your mother or Shelley arrives, then I’ll come to see you at the station. OK?’
‘OK.’
‘Put Grant on again.’
‘I’m here,’ Grant told him.
‘Keep me as informed as you can,’ Bob said. ‘I don’t want to cause any trouble for you, but I need to stay on top of this.’
‘Sure, I’ll do my best.’
‘How long before you’re back in town?’
‘Twenty minutes.’
‘She’s not talking to you, is she? You can’t let her talk to you,’ Bob insisted.
‘Don’t worry, she understands that. Does she have a lawyer yet?’
‘I’ve got a call in to Don Thackeray and someone’s trying to get through, so I’m going to ring off in case it’s him.’
It turned out to be Anna. ‘Are you at Aroha yet?’ she demanded, not sounding much calmer than when she’d rung to deliver the shock.
‘Two minutes away,’ Bob told her. ‘I’ve just spoken to Charlotte. She’s holding up, but this isn’t going to be easy for her. What’s happening with the shoot?’
‘Lucianne’s got my notes. She was very good about it, but obviously she doesn’t know the whole story. She thinks it’s just a mix-up. Do we know yet how they found out?’
Though he had a fairly good idea, all he said was, ‘Not yet. The point is, the Brits have taken it seriously enough to fly out here.’
‘In that case I’m terrified of what’s going to happen . . .’
‘One step at a time,’ he cautioned. ‘I’m at Aroha now. Get here as soon as you can, but don’t go running yourself off the road.’
Leaving his car across two spaces, he ran to the side gate of the Centre and up the ramp to the main veranda. To his alarm there was no sign of any children, but when he put his head in the door he saw them hunched in a group around two of the carers.
Celia was already coming towards him, her face drawn with confusion.
‘Where’s Chloe?’ he asked.
Gently ushering him outside, she said, ‘She’s not here.’
A thump of real fear hit Bob’s chest.
‘Someone came from CYFS,’ she continued, referring to the government agency, Child, Youth and Family Services. ‘They had an emergency order so there was nothing I could do. They said,’ her eyes flicked anxiously to his, ‘they said Chloe’s not her real name and that she . . . she . . . She was abducted from her home in the UK. Is that true, Bob? Did Charlotte . . . ? Isn’t Charlotte her real mother?’
‘You’ve seen them together,’ he replied, almost viciously. ‘So what do you think?’
Apparently at a loss, Celia gestured indoors. ‘It was very upsetting for the other children . . .’
Not caring about them right now, he said, ‘Was Chloe scared? Did she fight them?’
Celia’s eyes were tormented. ‘She didn’t really understand what was going on,’ she replied, ‘but yes, I have to say she was scared.’
Bob was already punching a number into his phone. ‘Did you get any names?’ he asked. ‘Do you know where they were taking her?’
‘One of them left a card. I’ll go and get it.’
Connecting to the most senior social worker he knew, Bob said, ‘Mary, Bob Reeves here. I need your help.’ After explaining the situation without going into the real crux of it, he took the card from Celia as he asked, ‘Can you find out where they’ve taken her? I’ve got the name of someone here, Angie Jeffries. She’s from the Whangarei site office . . . You’ve heard of her? Great. Call me back as soon as you have some news.’
After ringing off and apologising to Celia for the upset, he returned to his car, connecting to Rick as he went. ‘All hell’s breaking loose up here,’ he growled into the voicemail. ‘Call me back as soon as you get this.’ As he ended the call he clicked on to take another.
‘Bob, Don Thackeray. Secretary said it was urgent so what can I do for you?’
Knowing there was nothing to be gained from hedging around the issue, Bob launched into the full details of what had happened, holding back on nothing, not even his own compliance in it all.
‘Well, this is a very interesting scenario you’ve got on your hands,’ Thackeray responded in a dry, lawyerly way when Bob had finished. ‘I wouldn’t worry too much about your own position . . .’
‘Believe me, I’m not,’ Bob assured him. ‘It’s Charlotte and Chloe . . .’
‘Where are they now?’
‘Social services have got Chloe, I’m trying to find out where, and Charlotte’s being taken into custody here in Kerikeri.’
‘I see. And you say the Brits are already on their way. That makes it doubly interesting. Have they applied for extradition yet?’
‘No idea, but I think we have to assume it’ll happen if it hasn’t already.’
‘Indeed, but it’s not a foregone conclusion, and from what you’ve told me, I think we have some good grounds for fighting it.’
Shocked into relief, Bob said, ‘That’s what I wanted to hear. So what do we do next?’
‘Let me make some calls this end to try and find out how far this has gone. It could be I need to come there to speak to her, but obviously not if they’re going to bring her here.’
‘OK. Meantime, is there anything we can do to get Chloe back into our care?’
‘Frankly, I’m doubtful about that. When it comes to kids . . . Well, as an ex-social worker your stepdaughter will know better than most how powerful the authorities can be. That’s not to say you shouldn’t try, because you never know. After all, the child’s interests are supposed to be paramount and she’s obviously come to no harm while she’s been with your family.’
‘To the contrary,’ Bob assured him, and after thanking him with a promise that he’d receive top dollar for his help he rang off in time to take a call from Shelley.
‘I’m about ten minutes away,’ she told him. ‘Rick just rang me because he couldn’t get through to you. I told him what’s happened. Like me, he’s pretty sure Katie’s behind it, but obviously we don’t know that for certain.’
Putting a hand to his throbbing head, Bob said, ‘I’ll let him deal with that, because frankly I’m just not up to fathoming what’s going on there. On the other hand, if it does have something to do with this . . .’
‘Are you at Aroha yet?’ Shelley broke in.
‘Yes. Anna’s just turned up, so I’ll talk to you when you get here.’
As he clicked off the line and watched Anna pull up next to him, he felt as helpless as he ever had in his life.
‘Where’s Chloe?’ she asked hoarsely as she got out of her car.
He shook his head.
Panic shot through her eyes. ‘Do you know where they’ve taken her?’
‘Not yet. At least we know they won’t harm her,’ he said, by way of comfort.
‘Do we?’ she demanded. ‘How do we know that? We’ve no idea who they might put her with. Oh my God, this is the very thing Charlotte feared, it’s why she did what she did . . .’
‘I know that, but things are different here . . .’
‘Not so very different that we can rule out the possibility of her going to a bad family.’
‘We won’t let it happen. I promise.’
She looked away and back again. ‘I don’t know how we’re going to break this to Charlotte,’ she said shakily. ‘And what’s going to happen to
her
? I’m so scared, Bob, if they take her back to England . . .’
‘I’ve spoken to Don Thackeray and he’s saying we stand a good chance of blocking an extradition.’
A flicker of hope showed in her eyes, but quickly died. ‘It’s all my fault,’ she mumbled. ‘I should never have . . .’
‘Stop that. You’re not to blame. No one is, apart from Chloe’s father and he’s already serving his time.’
Anna nodded absently. ‘Do you know where Charlotte is? Can we see her?’
‘She should be at the station by now, so we should head over there.’
‘There you go,’ Grant said, putting a cup of tea down on the table in front of Charlotte and sinking into the small sofa opposite hers. They were in what he’d called a soft interview room at the Kerikeri police station, where non-violent offenders were taken before being questioned. It was small, not much more than ten feet by six, had no windows, nothing on the walls and no locks on the doors that she could see. At least it was clean. ‘Would you like some biscuits?’ he offered.
She shook her head. Her face was ashen, her eyes blurred and sore, her whole body rigid with the horror of what was happening. ‘I have to see Chloe,’ she told him hoarsely.
‘Wex is on the phone to Aroha now,’ he replied, not quite meeting her eyes.
She looked down at the tea, but found herself unable to pick it up. ‘I don’t know what to say to you,’ she told him. ‘I feel so ashamed, you trusted me, you were kind to Chloe, and now . . . but even if I had the time over . . .’
‘I have to remind you you’re under caution,’ he said gently.
Nodding abstractedly, she turned to stare at the wall. All she could think about was Chloe and how terrified she’d be if social services took her.
‘I’ll get some Kleenex,’ Grant said, as she put a hand to her head.
Closing her eyes as the door clicked shut behind him, she struggled to hold back the panic that was trying to crush her. The thought of what lay ahead was so terrifying it was making her dizzy. Nothing was ever going to be the same again. She’d committed a terrible crime and the time had now come for her to pay. Never mind that she’d done it for the best of motives: loving a child who had no family, apart from a paedophile father who would soon be sent to prison, was no excuse for stealing her.