animal would do that to a child, invade his world, his safe space, and possibly scar his little mind forever?
‘I’m not surprised.’ Scanning her eyes, his own growing dark with anger, Joe pulled her to him, holding her close for a second, and then eased away to crouch down to Ollie. ‘How are you doing, mate?’ he asked him gently.
‘Okay,’ Ollie murmured, his voice tiny.
‘You sure?’ Joe searched his face.
Ollie nodded, doing his best to be brave, but then his face crumpled. ‘They took Mr Whale,’ he cried, tears escaping his eyes to plop down his cheeks.
Looking pig-sick, Joe pulled him close. ‘We’ll get you a new one,’ he said throatily, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek, which almost caused Sarah to crumple.
Whatever Joe had done, however gullible he seemed to have been where his ex-wife was concerned, he cared about her son, cared about her. He was the man she’d thought he was. And he was here for her. Buoyed by that knowledge, her heavy heart lightened a little.
Hoisting Ollie into his arms, Joe leaned to brush Sarah’s lips with his and then gave her an encouraging smile. ‘There’s a car on the way. I’m going inside to take a look. Do you think you could look after your mummy while I do that, Ollie? She’s looking a bit sad.’
Blinking hard, Ollie replied with another small nod, and then reached to hook his arms around Sarah’s neck.
‘I won’t be long,’ Joe assured her, making sure she had a firm hold of Ollie. ‘Do you want to go back to your neighbour’s?’
‘No, I’ll wait here,’ Sarah said determinedly. This was her home. She wanted to go back inside it. She wanted to clean it – though she doubted it would ever really feel clean again.
Joe’s face said it all when he emerged a few minutes later to meet the police car drawing up outside. His expression was thunderous. ‘All right, Joe?’ a woman police officer asked, looking him worriedly over as she climbed out of the driver’s side.
‘Hi, Kayla. I’ve been better.’ He nodded to the male officer who climbed out of the passenger side.
‘How’s it looking?’ The man indicated the house.
‘Pretty grim,’ Joe said, his jaw tight. ‘They’ve trashed the place.’ His gaze flicked anxiously in Sarah’s direction. ‘This is Sarah and Ollie. It’s her house, you gathered that?’
‘We did.’ The woman smiled sympathetically at her. ‘Pleased to meet you, Sarah. Joe’s told us a lot about you. All good, by the way,’ she added reassuringly. ‘I’m sorry you had to come home and find this. You must be gutted.’
‘I am,’ Sarah said, hitching Ollie higher in her arms. Joe had been right. Whoever had done this had trashed the place, just for the fun of it, it seemed. Furniture had been upturned, drawers opened, the contents left spewing out. Cushions had been slashed and strewn about, ornaments and photographs swiped from the shelves. One of her and Ollie laughing together, which she’d loved, had even been trodden on, the glass smashed and ground underfoot. Nothing seemed to have been taken, apart from Ollie’s whale. Sarah simply couldn’t understand the mentality of someone who would do that. Why they would.
‘Any signs of a forced entry, Joe?’ the male officer asked.
‘I can’t see any,’ Joe answered with a despondent shake of his head.
Sarah glanced guiltily between them. ‘The downstairs loo window was open,’ she admitted. ‘I suppose someone could have squeezed in through that.’
‘It would have to have been a small someone,’ Joe said, a curious frown crossing his face.
‘Kids, most likely,’ Kayla commented with a weary sigh. ‘The scenes-of-crime officer’s on his way.’ She looked back to Sarah. ‘He’ll assess any forensic opportunities. Hopefully we’ll come up with something – fingerprints, footwear marks.’
What they actually came up with was nothing. A shiver ran down Sarah’s spine as she surveyed the chaos after the forensics people had left. It was as if a ghost had swept through her home. A poltergeist, she thought with bitter amusement as she dusted a splinter of glass from her beloved photograph.
‘Will they find Mr Whale, Mummy?’ Ollie asked, his little face grave.
‘They might,’ Joe said, walking across to where the little boy sat on the sofa playing listlessly with his Lego, which Joe had painstakingly gathered together. ‘We’ll go shopping at the weekend anyway, shall we?’ Sitting down next to him, he threaded an arm around his small shoulders. ‘See if we can find another toy who needs a warm bed to sleep