The Cold Cold Sea (31 page)

‘Before Hailey Marshall? She said never, ever tell. She hurt me.’

‘I promise I’ll keep you safe, darling.’

The child took a deep breath and looked up at Katie, and the anguish in her eyes made Katie want to weep.

Two tears rolled down Hailey’s cheeks. ‘My name was Olivia Granger.’

‘Olivia? So you said ‘Livvy’ to the ambulance man this afternoon? Right, Livvy. Let’s see if we can find out where you belong.’

A sudden bell jingled urgently and insistently in Katie’s head, and for a second it was difficult to breathe.

Have you seen Olivia Granger?

She’d been driving past the bus stop... and seen a poster... a vibrant little girl whose name was... Olivia Granger. The child who disappeared... and they said she had drowned. Last summer.

Oh my God, thought Katie, as the full implication of Olivia’s presence in the Marshall household hit her full force. The child hadn’t drowned, she’d been taken, she must have been. Jennifer Marshall had lost her own child and she had taken this one, and Olivia’s parents thought that their daughter was dead. Dear God, what should she do now? Phone the police? Livvy’s parents?

It was difficult to keep her voice steady and reassuring, but she had to, for Hailey’s - for Olivia’s sake.

‘Can you tell me your proper address, or your phone number, Livvy?’

But addresses and phone numbers were quite beyond Olivia. Katie sat on the sofa, rubbing the little girl’s back, her mind racing. More than anything else now she wanted to talk to Mark, but he would still be high above the clouds, heading south. So she would deal with this alone.

‘Okay, sweetheart. I think the best thing would be just to phone 999. The police’ll come and they’ll know where to find your mum and dad.’

The child stared at her, no expression at all on her face now.

This time Katie had to physically steady herself to dial the number. This was all beyond comprehension. Mrs Marshall was mad. And what about Phillip Marshall? He had seemed so much more normal than his wife. Why had he done this? What kind of person could do a thing like this to a little child?

It was a relief to give the emergency operator the details. Help was promised. Katie put the phone down and was sitting cuddling Olivia when the handset buzzed again. Trembling, she lifted it to her ear.

‘My name’s Howard Moir; I’m in charge of the investigation into Olivia Granger’s disappearance. We’re on our way now. Could you tell me what’s been happening?’

Katie could hear her voice shaking. ‘She’s here. Olivia. She’s been with a Marshall family in Polpayne, she... ’ Still unsteady, Katie told the story again.

‘Sit tight,’ said Howard. ‘We’ll be right with you.’

Katie turned back to the child on the sofa. She was crying quietly, making no attempt to wipe her tears away.

‘Oh Livvy sweetheart. Let’s make you a nice hot drink. That was Mr Moir, he’s the policeman who’s been looking for you all this time, and he’s on his way over. Come through to the kitchen, darling. Some hot chocolate or something’ll do you good.’

Olivia allowed herself to be led through to the other room and watched as Katie prepared a mug of hot chocolate. Katie looked round the kitchen as she encouraged the child to drink. This room looked like any normal, family kitchen. Baby things here and there, a wooden bowl of fruit on the table. But what horrors had gone on inside this house? Katie’s breath caught in her throat as she spoke.

‘Livvy darling, did Mr and Mrs Marshall - did they hurt you at all?’

Olivia laid her head on the table, pushing the mug away.

‘Sometimes she hit me,’ she whispered. ‘And she said she would hurt me if I told. But Da - he was nice. I liked him.’

Katie stroked the short brown hair. ‘And did anyone do anything else that was - nasty?’

Olivia shook her head. ‘She wouldn’t buy me jeans,’ she said, her lips trembling.

A faint sensation of relief made itself felt in Katie’s middle, and she managed to smile at the little girl. It sounded as if Olivia had merely been a substitute for dead Hailey. And her job now was to help Olivia as well as she could until the child’s mother could take over.

‘Drink your chocolate, Livvy, and don’t worry. Everything’ll be alright soon.’

But she knew that her words would be of little comfort to Olivia. She must have heard so many empty words in this house.

Abruptly, the doorbell rang. Olivia leapt to her feet, sending the half-empty mug crashing to the floor.

‘She’s come to get me!’

‘No, no, she’s in hospital, remember? It’ll be the police. Come on, come with me.’

Taking Olivia’s hand firmly in her own, Katie went to the door. Two police cars were parked in the windy street, and three officers were waiting at the door, sheltering under umbrellas. The oldest, a tall man with a tired, lined face held out his police identification, looking hard at the child pressed against Katie’s side. His face suddenly relaxed into a smile.

‘Olivia,’ he said. ‘Your mum gave me a photo of you. Want to see it?’

Olivia looked up at him, then at the two female officers, and to Katie’s horror she gave a loud scream and wrestled herself free before stumbling into the kitchen. Katie couldn’t stop her own tears as she spoke.

‘I’m sorry, she’s very scared at the moment. She’s very confused, you’ll understand.’

Howard nodded, then handed his colleague a car key. ‘Of course. Maybe having the three of us here is too much.’ He turned to his fellow officer. ‘See what information you can gather about the Marshalls, Amanda, and find out when you can speak to one of them.’

The woman turned back to the car, and Katie led Howard and his colleague through to the kitchen where Olivia was cowering in the corner. Silently, she lifted Olivia and sat at the table with the child on her lap.

‘It’s alright, baby. These are friendly policemen, you don’t have to be frightened. Let’s listen to Mr Moir, okay?’

Howard produced a photo and slid it across the table to the little girl. Katie stared, realising that ‘Hailey’ had spoken about this.

‘Your birthday cake with the marzipan waves. You told me about that, didn’t you?’

Olivia nodded solemnly, staring at the photo.

‘And you said you wanted a pink cake for your next birthday,’ said Katie, remembering. ‘But I thought you were Hailey. Oh God, Olivia, I’m so sorry - ’

She covered her face with her free hand. Howard leaned forward.

‘You didn’t know. How could you have known? Livvy. Listen. Do you remember being at the beach with your mum and dad and Joe? That last day you were with them?’

Olivia nodded.

‘You made a sandcastle with your mum and then you wanted to go to your dad and Joe at the rock pools, and Mum let you go. What happened then?’

Olivia stared at him silently.

‘Was Jennifer Marshall there?’

A nod.

‘On the beach? Up the path?’

Olivia started to cry. ‘On the path. She said come and look because she had babies in the car, and she was so nice and pretty and I love babies so I went just for a minute. But she didn’t.’

‘And she drove away with you?’

Another nod. Katie choked back a sob.

Howard nodded too, then leaned back in his chair and smiled. It was as if a light had been switched on inside him.

‘Good girl, Olivia. And now I think it’s time we phoned your mum and dad, don’t you?’

Joe, cross-legged on the floor watching cartoons, laughed loud and long, a happy child’s laugh. Maggie smiled at the sound.

‘Funny, is it?’ she called through from the kitchen.

‘Mm-hm.’ Joe was still engrossed.

Maggie went to join him. She hadn’t seen much of him today. She loved the time she spent with her son, and knew that sharing the laughter, the tears, the work and the play -that was what being a parent was all about. She sat watching as the cartoon cat chased the mouse round and round the garden. Suddenly a dog leapt out of nowhere and flattened the cat. Maggie and Joe both jumped, then laughed together.

Livvy would have laughed too, Maggie thought wistfully. Livvy had laughed a lot.

Colin came through from the hallway. ‘Sounds like fun,’ he said, flopping down on the sofa beside Maggie.

It was times like this that Maggie couldn’t help but feel grateful for her family. In spite of everything, they were together.

The cartoon came to a close, and Colin stood up. ‘I’ll put the pizzas in the oven,’ he said. ‘Is there anything to go with them?’

The phone rang, and Joe went to answer it.

‘Yes,’ said Maggie. ‘I bought some coleslaw and there’s a lettuce too, you could - ’

‘Mum? It’s Inspector Moir.’

Maggie looked at Colin, watching his face turn white. They had spoken to Howard only yesterday. Maggie felt her legs go weak, and the knot, even now never far from her middle, twisted painfully. Colin put his arms round her as she reached for the phone.

This was it. The moment she had been waiting for, an end to all the uncertainty, the waiting, the hoping. Maggie swallowed hard. Goodbye, Livvy, oh God Livvy, I loved you so much.

‘Howard?’ It came out as a hoarse whisper.

‘Maggie,’ he said. ‘We’ve got her, Maggie, she’s alive, she’s with me now. She’s not hurt, Maggie, she’s scared and bewildered but she’s not hurt at all. Maggie? Do you understand? We’ve got you Olivia back.’

Still dazed, Katie sat with Olivia on her knee, listening while Howard phoned the Grangers and then a colleague at police headquarters. Rain was coming down hard outside, the heavy clouds looming overhead and turning the afternoon dark. The policewoman had left, waving cheerfully to Olivia, and Howard was grinning too when he returned to the kitchen. Katie smiled back shakily, knowing that tears were a lot nearer the surface than smiles. Her heart was still pounding away, and she could only imagine what was going through Olivia’s head right now.

‘All sorted,’ said Howard. ‘Mum and Dad’ll be here in an hour or so. A police helicopter’s going to bring them to collect you, Livvy, and it’ll take you all home again too, if you like. Or a police car. You and Mum and Dad can choose.’

Olivia’s eyes were as round as saucers. She looked up at Katie. ‘I’ve never been in a helicopter before,’ she said confidingly.

Katie cuddled her close. ‘Neither have I,’ she said. ‘See how important you are? Everyone wants you to be back home with your real mum and dad just as quick as possible.’

Olivia nodded thoughtfully, then heaved a great sigh. ‘The daddy here was nice too,’ she said.

‘He helped you, didn’t he?’ said Katie. ‘That was good. But he knew all the time that you weren’t Hailey, so it was very wrong of him not to let you go home. And the mummy here was very bad to take you away in the first place. They were both wrong, but you didn’t know that, did you?’

She couldn’t bear thinking about how frightened Olivia must have been, especially in the days before Phillip Marshall arrived home. It didn’t make her proud to think that a child in her class had been fighting such a terrible private battle all this time - and she hadn’t realised.

Howard leaned towards Olivia.

‘Livvy, why don’t you have a look around and see if there’s anything you want to take home with you? Some toys maybe?’

Olivia thought for a moment, then slid off Katie’s knee and ran upstairs.

Katie covered her face with both hands. ‘The more I think about it,’ she said through parted fingers, ‘the more I realise that she gave me so many hints, the whole time. In her family picture she drew her real family. And she got the shakes once when another girl called Olivia came in. And the lost teddy, and the cat... And that awful bruise, Howard, she was badly bruised, you know, twice at least. And those birthday photos... dear God, she’s only four, isn’t she?’

‘Stop, stop,’ said Howard. ‘Look at it as being a hundred piece jigsaw. Olivia gave you maybe ten pieces, you couldn’t possibly see the entire picture. And I can see she trusts you, otherwise I’d have called for police psychologists and doctors. We’d have bundled her into a chopper and flown her straight home if she hadn’t had you. But this is much better. She can wait with someone she likes and trusts, and her folks will come and collect her. That way she’ll have closure here and it’ll be much less traumatic. Thanks to you.’

Katie reached for a tissue and blew her nose. ‘Thanks,’ she said. Maybe one day she would believe him.

They sat in the kitchen, Katie telling Howard all she could remember of the ‘ten jigsaw pieces’ that ‘Hailey’ had given her. It was all so obvious now.

Olivia came back downstairs, and Katie’s stricken heart leapt.

The little girl was carrying everything she had made at school over the past months. Drawings, paintings, clay birthday cake - it was all there. And the Halloween mask, and the shell box...

‘I can’t get my gull down, I want him too,’ she said. ‘And my plant you gave me, it’s up on the bathroom window ledge.’

Howard held out his hand. ‘Come and show me. I’ll help you,’ he said. ‘We’ll just have time before Mum and Dad get here.’

‘I’ll make coffee when the Grangers arrive, shall I?’ said Katie. ‘They might be glad of it.’

Howard nodded and went off upstairs with Olivia. Katie examined the coffee machine then texted Mark, glad when the answering text came just seconds later. Mark would wait at home until she called. At least that was one less thing to worry about.

Howard and Olivia reappeared with the gull and the African Violet. There was a tension about the policeman’s chin that hadn’t been there before, and Katie raised her eyebrows.

‘Livvy, I think I left my mobile by the washbasin,’ he said steadily. ‘Could you get it for me, please?’

The child ran off, and Howard turned towards Katie.

‘There’s blood on her pillow and on the bed sheet,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Ask her what happened, would you?’

Olivia returned with the mobile and Katie managed to ask the question, fighting to keep her voice steady.

‘Livvy sweetheart, Mr Moir’s a bit worried you might have been hurt - he saw some blood on your bed. What happened, darling?’

Olivia was silent for a moment, but her voice when she did speak was matter-of-fact.