he was at home when she called, vegging out on the sofa, streaming a movie. He has no alibi for the hours between two and six, when Mabel was taken.
DI Benedict cuts into the silence. ‘In your statement you said you don’t have your own key to number 74.’
She blinks. ‘Um … yes, that’s right. I always borrow the spare.’
‘Have you ever taken the key away with you by mistake – to your home, or to your workplace?’
‘No. Amber doesn’t trust me. She always asks for it back before I leave.’
He considers. ‘Has Lewis ever borrowed the spare key? When he’s babysat with you, for example.’
‘I always babysit on my own.’
‘Oh.’ He looks surprised. ‘Why’s that?’
She hesitates. To say he has no interest in babies will make him sound unfeeling and odd, especially in the circumstances. ‘Lewis works a lot of evenings,’ she replies instead. ‘If he has a free night, he likes to go out.’
‘He works at the escape room with you, is that right?’
‘Yes. He’s a games master.’
‘Has he ever borrowed the spare key to number 74?’
‘Not as far as I know. You’ll have to ask him.’
‘Don’t worry,’ pipes up DS Smart. ‘We will.’
Unable to face the baying hordes outside the police station, Ruby calls a minicab to pick her up from the rear entrance. She shuffles down in the seat as the car drives past the group of shouting reporters. Some of them run after her, and one even manages to bang on the window.
‘You all right, love?’ says the cab driver.
‘Yes thanks,’ she replies. But she isn’t all right. Not at all.
She arrives home to an empty flat. Lewis must still be at the station. She hopes he’s okay.
It’s late afternoon, the light already fading. The flat feels miserably cold. She goes into the bedroom and climbs under the duvet. Her head is aching and she feels weak all over. She wants to be understanding of her sister and brother-in-law, but it’s incredibly hard when they’re accusing her of such disgusting things. Rationally, she knows their actions are born out of desperation and frustration, also that the police wouldn’t be doing their job if they didn’t investigate. But this has got to stop before there’s some great miscarriage of justice, and more importantly, before Mabel’s real abductor does something stupid. There’s still time to save her niece, but the police are looking in the wrong place.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Day Four without Mabel
Amber is worried. Seth still hasn’t responded to the urgent text she sent him hours ago. They’re supposed to be speaking at 3 a.m. and she doesn’t know whether to try calling as planned or forget it. She’s been lying in the darkness for hours, hovering on the threshold of sleep, fighting off distressing images of Mabel that make her sweat with fear.
She turns on her side to look at the clock – thirteen minutes to go. This is not like Seth. Sometimes she has to wait several hours for a reply, but he never ignores her completely. Has she done something to offend him? Or rather, has she not done something? Could he even be exacting some kind of petty revenge? In the past, he’s accused her of turning him on and off like a tap, and there was that time when he badly needed her support and she wasn’t able to give it to him – not in the way he wanted, anyhow. But it was complicated and she had George to consider. Surely Mabel’s disappearance far outweighs any previous crises either of them has experienced.
Or perhaps there’s a simpler explanation. He could have gone away for a few days, or there might be something wrong with his phone.
Should she call anyway, and see if he answers? She’s not going to fall asleep now, so she might as well try. She turns over towards George, who is sleeping on his side, facing her. She marvels that he can sleep at all with Mabel still missing. Not that she thinks badly of him – the poor man is wrung out with exhaustion. She’s jealous, that’s all. He looks so innocent, curled into the foetal position with his hands clasped beneath his chin, as if in sleeping prayer. Not knowing. That’s what innocent means. How will she ever tell him he’s not Mabel’s biological father? It will break him.
She carefully extracts herself from the bed and puts on the towelling dressing gown borrowed from her mother. Tucking her phone into the pocket, she creeps out of the