J. P. Carter - In Safe Hands

‘I think that’s extremely unlikely,’ Anna said, but stopped short of ruling it out altogether. ‘And for what it’s worth, we also think it’s doubtful that the kidnappers are terrorists. I’m sure if they were we would have heard from them by now.’

She was then asked to explain how the children had been taken so she talked them through what she’d been told. There was sympathy expressed for Tasha Norris, but a good deal of vitriol was directed at all the staff, especially Sarah Ramsay.

The others echoed what Ruth Brady had said earlier and Toby Chandler’s mother, Rebecca, revealed that she had raised the issue of security with Sarah Ramsay on several occasions.

‘Before we moved here from Stratford we sent our daughter to a nursery that had much tougher procedures in place,’ she said. ‘It had a fingerprint entry system and a webcam so that we could watch our kids from home. I told Sarah that I didn’t think her nursery was as secure as it should be. She disagreed and told me that it met government requirements and that she took safety seriously.’

‘But that’s total bollocks,’ said Daniel Neville’s dad, Wesley. ‘At the end of the day she’s a businesswoman who doesn’t even have a kid of her own. With her it’s all about money and what happened at her nursery in Lewisham last year cost her a small fortune. So the last thing she wants is to have to fork out on expensive security equipment.’

‘Could you tell us what happened in Lewisham, Mr Neville?’ Anna asked.

Wesley, a pot-bellied black man with sunglasses perched on his head, said, ‘A little girl died after choking on a grape at the Peabody Nursery there. The inquest returned a verdict of accidental death and she had to pay a three-hundred-thousand-pound fine for gross negligence.’

Anna hadn’t heard about the case and it annoyed her that nobody back at the station had made her aware of it. Surely officers researching the nurseries would have unearthed the information before now. She would have to ask Sarah about it when she next spoke to her. Right now, however, she couldn’t see how it would have a bearing on what had happened this morning.

She checked her watch, saw that she had been with the parents for forty-five minutes, and decided it was time for her detectives to talk to them individually.

She finished off by telling them that she and her team were doing everything possible to find the children.

‘Scores of officers are already involved in the search,’ she said. ‘We’ve set up a mobile command outside on the forecourt and for the time being we’re using this community centre as a base for our operations. Officers all across London are on the lookout for the minibus and I’ve already issued a short television appeal for information.’

Kenneth Tenant shot to his feet again and this time he locked his angry gaze on Anna.

‘I just watched the interview you gave on the telly earlier,’ he said. ‘One of the reporters asked you a question that you didn’t answer because you got interrupted. So I’ll ask it now. Is it true that your own kid was snatched ten years ago?’

Anna drew a deep, steadying breath and said, ‘It is true that my daughter was taken from me, Mr Tenant, but as I made clear to that reporter it has absolutely no relevance to what’s happening now.’

‘Well, it’s relevant as far as I’m concerned,’ he said.

‘And why is that, Mr Tenant?’

‘Surely that’s bloody obvious.’

She held his gaze and said, ‘Not to me it isn’t, Mr Tenant. So perhaps you could explain what you mean.’

His wife tried to say something to him but he gestured for her to be quiet.

Then his eyes narrowed and he said, ‘If you’ve been searching for your own little girl for ten years and still haven’t found her, then why should we trust that you’re up to the job of finding our kids?’

She’d known where he was going with his accusation as soon as he began the sentence; each of his words felt like a blow to her stomach, but Anna knew she had to roll with the punches. The man was clearly distressed and aggression was obviously a coping mechanism that helped him avoid becoming outwardly emotional.

‘I have been appointed as the senior officer on this case and I can assure you, as will the entire MIT that have chosen me to be the leader of this investigation, that I am up to the job, Mr Tenant,’ she said, keeping her voice low and even. ‘The circumstances surrounding my own daughter’s abduction were entirely different to this. And for reasons that you may or may not be aware of, for most of the last ten years I’ve been the only person looking for her. But in the search for your children and the people who took them I have the support of every police officer in the country and access to an unlimited amount of resources. Plus, I hope you can take comfort from the fact that, because of what I’ve experienced, I can more fully appreciate exactly what you and the other parents are going through.’

Tenant’s whole demeanour changed in an instant and blood coloured his cheeks. He ran a hand through his thin brown hair and blew out a long, slow breath.

Then he shook his head and said, ‘I’m a fucking dickhead and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have had a go at you like that. I’m just worked up and my mind’s all over the place.’

‘No need to apologise, Mr Tenant,’ Anna said. ‘Just please understand that myself and my colleagues will not rest until we find your children.’

After telling the other detectives to stay with the parents until the family liaison officers arrived, she made a swift exit from the room.

She went straight outside and round to the side of the building where she rested her back against the wall and fired up a fag, her first of the day.

The blood was beating in her ears and adrenalin charging through her body. It wasn’t that she was hurt by what Kenneth Tenant had said. It was that his words had made her realise just how hard it was going to be to head up this particular investigation.

She wasn’t going to be able to squeeze the memories to one side like she usually did while working. It had started already. She was being reminded of how it had felt after her daughter had been taken from her. As each moment had passed, she’d known that she was less and less likely to see Chloe ever again. Anna had walked around in a fog for weeks, out of sync with her surroundings, and the pain was constant, crushing and unbearable.

She closed her eyes and dragged heavily on the cigarette, then let the smoke drift from her nostrils.

She tried to keep the memories at bay by focusing on the nine children who were missing. But she couldn’t. Her hands started to shake and the cigarette fell from her fingers as her back slid down the wall. When she hit the ground she put her head in her hands and her mind spiralled back through the years to when her life was changed forever.

It was the end of Anna’s first week as a detective constable in the Met. She was feeling tired but upbeat as she left the station in Eltham and headed home at the height of the Friday evening rush hour.

She knew it might take her up to an hour to get to Vauxhall, but that was OK because she had the whole weekend to look forward to. She’d be able to relax and unwind while spending quality time with Chloe.

She still found it hard to believe that her daughter was two already, and would soon be three. The time had flown by; it seemed like only yesterday that she’d given birth to her little bundle of joy.

Back then everything was perfect. She and Matthew had just celebrated their third wedding anniversary, and the future had looked really bright.