‘I couldn’t go,’ Paul said. ‘I had to work. I told you that.’
‘Well, looks like you were right not to go. She would’ve seen you. Think how that would’ve looked.’ She watched him for a reaction but he kept his head down. ‘You still haven’t told me where you were.’
‘Away. There was a book fair,’ Paul said. ‘I don’t need to check in with you, Helen, we’re not together anymore. You can’t control me.’
‘What if there’d been an emergency? What if something had happened to Casey?’
‘When have you ever needed me for anything?’ Paul said. ‘You told me that yourself. You don’t need me. Casey doesn’t need me.’ He stood up and walked past Helen into the kitchen. Helen followed him and leaned against the doorframe while he pottered about. ‘Is that why you’re here? You need somewhere to hide?’ he said.
Helen stood up straight. ‘Where else would I go? We’re in this together, remember?’ Paul leaned against the worktop and closed his eyes. ‘We did this together.’ Helen could see his hand shaking as he turned to her.
‘If they’re looking for you–’ he started.
‘Why would they look here?’ Helen said. ‘I haven’t given them any possible reason to suspect you. What possible reason could they have for looking here?’
Paul swallowed. ‘None. They wouldn’t,’ he said quietly.
‘Then we’ll be okay won’t we?’ she said and went to the bottom of the stairs. ‘Casey?’ she called up. ‘Come down now, honey. Come and talk to your daddy.’
Casey came bounding down the stairs and ran at Paul. ‘Can we go and see the horses? Please?’ she begged.
The knock at the door caused them all to turn. When neither Helen nor Paul moved, Casey started running to the door. Helen ran after her but was too late. Casey pulled open the door. A blonde woman looked at Casey and then up at Helen before tossing a cigarette butt across the garden.
‘Yes?’ Helen said.
‘Is Paul there?’ the woman asked.
‘Who are you?’ Helen said, her arm going around Casey’s shoulders, pulling her close.
Chapter Seventy-Three
Gardner sat in the car, still in shock. He wasn’t sure he was capable of telling Abby that her ex-husband had been the one who’d taken Beth from her.
After Sara told him, he’d been in denial himself. She must’ve been mistaken. Maybe the man Helen claimed was the little girl’s dad just looked like Paul Henshaw. And happened to be called Paul too. Maybe Helen and Paul got involved with each other in the years after she’d taken Beth and Paul had no idea who the girl really was. He thought he was being a step-father to Casey Deal, none the wiser about her real identity. Maybe it was some awful coincidence.
No, Helen must’ve known who Paul was, known he was Abby’s ex. She’d practically stalked Abby, sending Miklos and his cousin to sabotage her car. She would’ve known who Paul was. Maybe it was another of her games. She’d taken her time and found Paul Henshaw, seducing him, getting him involved, playing him, making him an accessory to her crime. If only.
He knew Abby hadn’t had contact with Paul since the divorce. Bitter wasn’t the word for it. He’d called Lawton to find an address for Paul, hoping that Helen and Beth would be there, unaware that he’d found out about their connection to Abby’s ex.
Gardner rubbed his hand across his face and looked at the house again, wishing he was elsewhere. He could sit there all day coming up with conspiracy theories but he knew that’s all they were. Paul Henshaw had been involved from the start. How could he have missed it? He tried to think back to the early days of the case, how he’d dug into Abby and Paul’s lives. There was nothing that linked Paul to Helen Deal. Was there? There were no calls to anyone they hadn’t checked. No CCTV footage of Helen in the shop.
CCTV. Gardner remembered showing Abby and Paul the footage from the doctor’s surgery. Paul saw Helen on the tape. He covered it up, said he thought he’d recognised the man in the video. But it was there all along and he’d missed it. Missed something else.
This was a nightmare. In a way it was something; a new lead, a way to find Helen and Beth. But still. He could think of a million better ways for it to happen.
When he found out Simon remembered Helen he thought that’d been the link. That Helen, grieving over her own daughter, had seen an opportunity, found a baby girl and decided to take her. He thought Simon was the catalyst. His emotions about seeing his new daughter leading him to tell Helen about Beth and events spiralling from there. Helen had followed him, seen him with Abby, followed Abby with Beth and ultimately set things up to take Beth away.
But it wasn’t Simon at all. It was Paul. He must’ve known about Abby and Simon and planned his revenge. And who better to steal a child with than Helen Deal?
He took a deep breath and opened the car door. As he walked up to the house Abby opened the door.
‘We need to talk,’ he said.
Chapter Seventy-Four
Gardner sat facing Abby and Simon. He wished he’d come up with something before arriving, so he’d at least be prepared instead of sitting looking at them, their faces growing more and more concerned with every second.
‘What is it?’ Abby asked. ‘What’s happened?’
Gardner cleared his throat. He remembered the day he’d arrived to tell her and Paul that the body of a baby had been found. That had seemed so much easier. Or maybe that was just hindsight. He’d probably sat there trying to rehearse his words just the same. He recalled the sadness he’d felt when he’d first been informed, the bitter disappointment that the case had ended that way, with the death of Beth Henshaw. But as the details had come in he’d felt a rising hope that it wasn’t Beth at all, that there was still a chance she’d be found. The fact it meant it was a different baby, another mother’s child that was dead, didn’t weigh too heavily. It was always someone’s child, someone’s parent, someone’s friend. There would always be victims and they always had someone who cared for them. It was sad, yes, but if he was going to do his job he had to keep a distance from these things and if he had to feel then it was better to restrict it to his own cases.
He remembered Paul answering the door, asking what was wrong, refusing to get Abby. Paul had reacted exactly how you’d expect a father to react after being told his daughter could be dead. Except he wasn’t a father. And he already knew Beth wasn’t dead. He didn’t want Abby to know about the dead baby. He insisted he would do the DNA test. He was forcing Abby’s hand. Making her admit the truth.
‘Michael, what’s going on?’ Abby said and Gardner let out a breath.
‘I spoke to Sara Walters today, the nanny,’ he said. ‘I wanted to know if she had any idea where Helen could’ve gone. The thought had crossed my mind that she’d have gone to Alan Ridley.’
‘I thought he hated her,’ Simon said. ‘I thought they had nothing to do with each other.’
‘They don’t,’ Gardner said. ‘I asked about Casey’s father. She didn’t know a great deal. He only saw Casey occasionally. What she did know was his name,’ he said and Abby sat forward holding her breath. ‘She said he was called Paul,’ he said and he saw Abby stiffen. ‘I showed her a photo of your ex-husband and she identified him as Casey’s father.’
Abby couldn’t tell if it was her or the room that was spinning but she knew that if it got any faster she’d wake up. She’d had these dreams, or rather these nightmares, before. Gardner would tell her that he’d found Beth but she couldn’t have her back because someone better had her. Or tell her that she’d never had a baby and then lock her into a room and leave her there. Or Simon would come into the bedroom carrying Beth and tell her that he was sorry, that she’d been punished enough and that she could finally have her back if she promised to be good. But she always woke up just when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore.
But this time she didn’t. She could hear Simon’s voice but she couldn’t make out the words. He sounded angry and was standing, his arms waving around. But in front of her Gardner was still sitting, watching her, looking concerned.
‘Abby?’ he said and she tried to focus on his face. She’d never noticed before that he had green eyes. Or maybe she had. She couldn’t remember. ‘Abby?’ he said again.
She stared at him and tried to understand what and why and how. Her hands shook as her thoughts fought with each other, trying to push their way to the front of her mind. There
had
to be an explanation. Maybe Paul had just met Helen and the nanny was confused. Or she’d been completely wrong and it wasn’t Paul at all. It must’ve been a different Paul, there are lots of Pauls.
She could hear her heartbeat so she closed her eyes and concentrated on it, trying to amplify it and make it drown out the thought that Paul was guilty. There
had
to be another explanation.
Gardner’s hand on her shoulder made her jump. ‘Abby?’ he said.
Unable to speak, she turned to Simon. He was quiet now, standing there with his hands linked on top of his head. He was staring at her too. He was waiting for an explanation from her, they both were. Maybe she was supposed to have known all along that it was her husband who’d betrayed her, who’d torn her life apart. Or she was supposed to be coming up with an excuse for him, defending the man she knew could never do something like this. But she still couldn’t speak. She opened her mouth to try just in time for the vomit to hit the carpet.
Kneeling on the floor she could see their feet rushing towards her. Abby wiped her mouth and turned to Gardner. ‘Is it true?’ she asked.
Gardner bowed his head. ‘Sara identified him-’
‘She could be lying,’ Abby said. ‘Helen could’ve told her to say that. She could be trying to fuck with me some more.’
‘We don’t know anything for sure yet but I don’t believe she was lying. I don’t think she knew anything about what was really going on.’
‘You didn’t believe that she was my daughter either,’ Abby said and saw Gardner wince at her words. ‘She could be lying, trying to make him look guilty when he’s not.’
‘Are you sure he’s not?’ Simon said and they both looked up at him.
‘What?’ Abby said.
‘Are you sure he’s not guilty? Are you positive he wouldn’t do this?’ Simon said.
‘Of course he wouldn’t,’ Abby said. ‘He wouldn’t,’ she muttered and looked at Gardner for confirmation.
‘Look, we don’t know anything for certain yet but Sara claimed that she saw the photographs of Paul with Helen and Casey. Helen was cutting him out of them. I’m getting an address for Paul,’ Gardner said. ‘We’ll find him and get to the bottom of this.’
‘I think we’re already at the bottom of it,’ Simon said.
Abby closed her eyes and pictured Paul in her mind. He was a good person. This was all wrong. ‘We need to find him,’ Abby said, opening her eyes. ‘We need to know why the nanny thought it was him.’ When Simon shook his head Abby spoke again. ‘Simon, we need to find-’
‘I know why she said it was him!’ Simon said and slammed his fist into the wall. Abby recoiled as he raised his fist for the second time. Abby reached over for him but Simon pulled away.
‘Simon...’ Abby tried through her tears, ‘maybe she’s confused.’
‘What? You think she found the picture of him in a photo frame she bought from fucking Woolworths?
‘Simon, please.’
‘Wake up,’ Simon said. ‘He did it. He took Beth away from us. It makes sense. How else would they have known where you’d be that day? How else could they be sure? Because Paul told those fuckers to wait for you there. He told them to-’ Simon stopped and looked at her. She could see the blame in his eyes.
Why didn’t you know your husband was capable of this?
‘You’re the one who told her about Beth,’ Abby said. ‘You started this.’
‘No,’ Simon said. ‘He started it. He was so fucking angry at you he wanted to hurt you.’
‘Alright,’ Gardner said. ‘Enough.’ He moved between Abby and Simon. Abby turned away from them both. ‘We don’t know anything yet. We don’t know that he was definitely part of it.’
‘Yeah right,’ Simon said.
‘We don’t know anything,’ Gardner repeated. ‘But blaming each other doesn’t help. We’re going to find Paul and talk to him. Alright? Abby?’
Abby let out a shaky breath and turned back to him, nodding. Gardner looked at Simon. ‘Alright?’ he said, as his phone rang. ‘Gardner.’
Gardner stepped outside to take the call, eager to get some air. ‘You got the address,’ he said as soon as he picked up.
‘Yes,’ sir,’ Lawton said. ‘But there’s something you should know.’
‘What is it?’ Gardner said. Lawton didn’t speak immediately. ‘What?’ he said. ‘What’s going on?’
Lawton sighed. ‘I asked PC Wilson to do it because I was trying to deal with something else.’
‘And?’ Gardner said, feeling his patience running out.
‘And he said that I should ask DC Harrington because he’d heard him mention Paul Henshaw earlier.’
‘Harrington? Why would he be looking for Henshaw?’
Lawton sighed again. ‘Someone asked him to find an address for him. It was off the record, I think.’
‘Who asked?’ Gardner said.
‘I don’t know. He wouldn’t say. But he gave me the address.’
‘Is he there?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Put him on.’ Gardner paced up and down until Harrington came on the line. ‘Who asked you for Paul Henshaw’s address?’
‘Look, I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking-’
‘Who was it?’
‘Jen Harvey,’ Harrington said. ‘She was at mine last night, she asked for a favour.’
‘A favour? What the fuck were you thinking?’ Gardner said. ‘Why did she want it?’
‘I don’t know. She said she needed to see him. Said it was important.’
‘So you just handed it out?’ Gardner rubbed at his eyes. ‘We’ll discuss this later. Send me the address.’ He disconnected and walked back inside Abby’s house. ‘Why would Jen Harvey be looking for Paul?’
‘What?’ Simon said. Abby sat there, clearly still dazed.
‘Jen Harvey asked one of my team for Paul’s address. Any idea why?’
Abby shook her head. ‘I don’t know. She thought she saw him here a few days ago. I thought she was lying, causing trouble.’