The Cold Cold Sea (3 page)

And Colin had ignored her completely since making the emergency call. Maggie felt loose inside; the sour taste of sick was still in her mouth and although she could feel the sun on her neck, her arms and legs, she was cold.

Another ghastly thought crashed into Maggie’s head and she almost fell off the rock. It was the most appalling thought of all and yet so logical that she didn’t know why she hadn’t thought it right at the start.

‘Col, you don’t think she’s been... she’s been taken, do you?’

It was the worst thought of all. She hadn’t watched Olivia this morning and in those few moments... Olivia could be in the clutches of some pervert right now and it would all be her fault.

‘Fuck,’ said Colin, staring along the road to the hotel about three hundred metres away.

Maggie raised clasped hands to her mouth. Today was Sunday, so none of the usual crew of construction workers were banging around there. The hotel was empty.

‘Mr and Mrs Granger? I’m Sergeant Craig Wilson and this is Constable Tim Davidson. Your little girl hasn’t turned up?’

‘No. We don’t know if she’s lost or taken, please, you must do something quickly, please!’

Maggie couldn’t hold her tears back. The two men glanced at each other and the younger one took Joe’s hand and spoke to Maggie.

‘I’ll just take your boy over here while you talk to Sergeant Wilson. What’s your name, son? Would you like to see inside the police car?’

Maggie nodded to Joe and Tim Davidson led him away.

‘I won’t say “Don’t Worry,” but nine times out of ten lost kids are exactly that, and we soon find them,’ said the sergeant.

He rattled off a few quick questions and Colin answered. Maggie relaxed slightly. This was obviously routine to the policeman, he had all the right questions at his fingertips. Surely they would soon find Livvy.

The sergeant stared at them for a few seconds and then cleared his throat.

‘Right. I’ll report all this back to the station. We’re going to need assistance. If you’ll just wait here in the meantime.’

He strode across to the car. Maggie stood motionless as Colin raised his binoculars again. Joe was sent back and he pressed himself against Maggie’s side, his face blank.

A few minutes later another car swung into Cliff Road. This time the occupants were plain-clothed: a middle-aged man with a tired, weather-beaten face and wearing a grey suit, and a younger woman clad in black.

‘Mr and Mrs Granger? I’m Detective Chief Inspector Howard Moir and this is Detective Sergeant Amanda Donnelly. A helicopter is on its way to help search for your daughter and the coastguards are out now too - look, there’s the boat coming round the headland. A land search party’s being organised as well.’

He walked a few steps to the side and spoke tersely to his uniformed colleagues, then turned back to Maggie and Colin.

‘You understand it’s most important to get the sea search going as quickly as possible.’

Maggie pressed her hands to her chest. It was a relief that something was being done, but - the sea? She watched as the coastguard boat began to move round the edge of the cove, as near to the cliffs as it could get.

A helicopter appeared further down the coast, flying towards them and then quite suddenly sweeping down low over the water, right along the beach beyond the hotel and then back out to sea again.

Maggie’s knees began to tremble and she could hardly stand up. She pressed both hands down on Joe’s small shoulders, aware that she was hyperventilating. Colin was staring at the helicopter too. He made no effort to touch her.

‘Mr Granger, I think your wife...’ started Howard Moir.

Maggie stumbled the two steps towards Colin and he hugged her to his chest. All she could hear now was Colin’s heartbeat and the thuka-thuka-thuka throb of that helicopter engine; she could feel it all the way inside her. She moved to get a tissue from her bag and Colin immediately let her go.

The next question was unexpected.

‘Have you been inside since Olivia went missing?’

‘Only to check she wasn’t there,’ said Colin, and Maggie nodded.

‘I went in for my bag. For my phone.’

‘And apart from yourselves, who saw Olivia this morning?’

Maggie froze. It sounded like something from a murder mystery.

Colin’s voice cracked with fury.

‘You cannot seriously think... ’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Howard Moir steadily. ‘I have to ask. Let’s just get it over with and go on.’

‘Colin and Livvy went into Newquay for croissants this morning,’ said Maggie dully. ‘The woman in the shop gave Livvy a biscuit.’

‘And the neighbours saw her later, when we were setting off for the beach,’ said Colin. ‘They were in their garden and we chatted for a moment.’

‘Good,’ said Howard. ‘So what happened on the beach?’

Maggie moved towards Colin but he moved away, and she folded her arms to stop her hands trembling.

Howard was looking at her, his face neutral.

‘Colin and Joe were looking round the rock pools and Livvy and I were over at the other side,’ she said, trying to keep her voice steady. ‘We played in the sand and then we went back to the rocky ring for biscuits, and Livvy wanted to go to her dad and I - I said she could... ’

It sounded so polite when she said it like that. But the guilt of those few moments was still niggling away inside her. She hadn’t been kind to Olivia.

‘I want to go to Daddy.’

The same whine for the hundredth time, and Maggie felt her patience desert her. This was her holiday too, and there was nothing in the marriage contract that said she had to be the one looking after crabby daughters all the time. Colin could do his bit now
.

‘Oh, for goodness sake, on you go,’ she said, spreading her towel inside the ring. ‘But they might not be very pleased to see you, you know.’

Olivia had dashed off across the beach without a backward glance. Maggie shivered.

‘And then?’

They were looking at her, these police officers, what were they thinking? Had they noticed her guilt, seen how much she regretted what had happened?

Maggie took a deep breath.

‘I watched her start across the beach and I could see Col and Joe at the rocks, they weren’t far away. But I... ’

Her voice trembled and broke, sobs welling up in her throat.

‘I didn’t watch her all the way round. I - I sat down and had a cup of coffee!’

Sheer terror doubled her up, and she tore at her hair, hearing her own voice moaning.
Was
Livvy in the sea? This time Colin did take her in his arms, and she clutched the front of his t-shirt, fighting for composure.

Howard bent towards them.

‘I know how difficult this must be,’ he said quietly. ‘But we need an accurate picture of what happened. That way, we can conduct the search more efficiently.’

One of the uniformed officers approached and murmured in Amanda Donnelly’s ear.

‘We can go inside now,’ she said to Howard, and Maggie flinched.

They had been searching inside the cottage. Looking for signs that Olivia had been hurt in some way. She led the way into the tiny living room and sank down on the sofa beside Colin. Howard sat opposite, looking expectantly at them.

Maggie forced herself upright and scrabbled in her bag for another tissue. She had to talk to this man, help him find Olivia.

‘I was looking out to sea at first,’ she said, wiping her eyes. ‘I was in the rocky ring but I could see the caves. The water was just up past Borrower’s. So I know Livvy didn’t go in there.’

‘Good,’ said Howard. ‘But you couldn’t see the whole sea line from where you were sitting?’

Maggie shook her head, trying to breathe calmly. It was impossible.

‘I’d have noticed if she’d run down to the sea,’ said Colin. ‘Joe and I were wandering from pool to pool. I did see her at one point, dancing about with Maggie, and I’m
sure
I’d have noticed if she’d clambered over the rocks to get further along the beach. So she
must
have come back up here.’

‘Mmm, yes,’ said Howard, and Maggie could hear the doubt. Sadness, pity and professional police manners were mingling in his face.

‘How much time passed between you noticing Olivia on the beach, and realising that she was gone?’ Amanda Donnelly asked Colin.

Colin shrugged. His mouth was still white round the edges, and Maggie saw a nerve twitch repeatedly at the corner of one eye.

‘Fifteen, twenty minutes?’

Howard nodded.

‘Do you have a recent photo of Olivia?’

Maggie reached for her handbag and gave him the snap she carried in her purse. Olivia, tousle-haired and happy, beamed out at them all. A birthday girl with her cake, a ‘sea’ cake with green and blue marzipan waves and three candles. It wasn’t very recent but it was the only one she had here.

‘Thanks. What was Olivia wearing today?’

‘A pink and white t-shirt, pink shorts and blue plastic sandals. And her hair’s longer now.’

‘There are recent photos in here,’ said Colin, handing over his phone.

Maggie felt a kind of numbness start inside her. She sat back, grateful as it worked its way up her body, taking over from the pain.

The sound of cars and voices came from the end of the lane. The search party had arrived.

‘I want to go with them,’ said Colin. ‘If they find Livvy I want to be there too.’

Howard glanced at him and then at Maggie, his face expressionless. ‘You should stay here, Mrs Granger,’ he said. ‘In case she’s found elsewhere. Detective Sergeant Donnelly will stay with you.’

A grim-faced crowd had gathered, some policemen and others in ordinary clothes. Most were armed with long sticks, and stood waiting quietly for instructions. The lane was full of cars. Maggie stood in the doorway and watched as Colin strode off with the first group of searchers, hands deep in his pockets.

There was nothing to do but wait. Policemen were searching along the lane, peering into the other cottages and opening garden sheds. They had dogs and Maggie had given them Olivia’s pyjamas for the animals to sniff.

She perched on the front garden wall, massaging her middle, where the muscles were aching as if she’d done a hundred sit-ups. After a moment Joe joined her, and she hugged him close.

‘Oh, Joe, love. My poor sweet boy.’

He burst into noisy tears and Maggie held on to her remaining child as tightly as she could.

The numbness inside her spread out again. It was as if her body knew that she couldn’t cope with so much fear. She stared down the road towards town, willing a small pink and white t-shirt to appear. This was the kind of thing that happened to other people and then you read about it in the newspaper.
Child (3) missing from beach - Search for Olivia, (3), missing since... - Where is Olivia (3)?

What might be happening to Olivia right now? Maggie leapt to her feet, and lukewarm coffee splashed over her legs as the half-empty mug she’d been holding shattered on the stony ground. Clutching her middle, she retched violently. Joe began to cry again.

Amanda patted her back. ‘Try to keep calm. The search parties might find her quite quickly, you know.’

Maggie nodded, forcing herself to breathe, in and out.
The search parties might find her quite quickly
. That was something to hold on to.

The hours passed slowly. Maggie sat watching Joe push his cars up and down the garden path. Amanda was still with them, playing with Joe, and Maggie wondered suddenly if the younger woman was actually there to make sure no harm came to her son.

It was late afternoon when Colin came home.

‘Nothing,’ he said heavily. ‘We went right along the cliff as far as the river and back up the gorge. Another party’s going out again now. I - oh God, Maggie, where is she?’

Maggie took him in her arms, and for a few moments they stood there, hugging silently. But there was no comfort that either of them could give the other.

At six, Howard returned.

‘Nothing yet,’ he said. ‘There’s no sign of Olivia, not in the sea or on the clifftop or any of the other places we’ve searched. No-one we’ve spoken to has seen her today and no-one has noticed anything unusual. The dogs were taken through the hotel but found nothing. The search will continue, of course, but at the moment there’s just no trace of her. An officer from the Special Investigations Unit is here now to interview your son; a social worker will be present at the interview too. You’ll both have to come to the police station with me to make an official statement now. We’ll bring you back afterwards.’

Numbly, Maggie stood up. So now her son was to be interviewed by the police while she had to report her daughter missing. She caught sight of herself in the hall mirror as she passed. She looked twenty years older at least.

This is
not
happening, thought Maggie, sitting limply on a plastic chair in the cheerlessly furnished interview room. It was all so grey and cold, and the strong smell of bleach was making her eyes water. Left alone with a policewoman, Maggie sat staring at her hands. She had picked her nails right down to the quick. Nothing in her life up until today had prepared her for this; there was no past experience she could draw on now to help her.

She became aware of her clothes - crumpled t-shirt and old denim shorts, stained now with sand and sweat and vomit. What a state she was in. But that wasn’t important.

Was Olivia still alive? Or in the sea? Washed up on some rock, being picked at by gulls? Or was she locked up somewhere, terrified?

Footsteps sounded in the corridor, and she heard a man’s low voice.

‘A hundred to one she’s in the water.’

The answering murmur was clearer.

‘Well, if she’s not, something a whole lot worse has happened to her.’

It was impossible for Maggie to feel more frozen. She sat stiffly on her plastic chair until Howard came back in with a woman. He introduced her, but the woman’s name didn’t register in her mind. The first WPC closed the door with a bang that echoed down the corridor.

Maggie told her story again. There were more questions this time.

Exactly what happened that morning?