I hope everyone continues to read and enjoy this story, and so you know….I love writing it! :D Yay! X
Chapter 2 – Tell Me A Story
DI Manson received the call just after 6am.
It had woken him up from a short, uncomfortable sleep he'd had in the chair beside his son's hospital bed. He'd popped in late the previous night after his shift had ended to see Jake in the cancer ward, hoping to see a vibrant, happy young boy sitting up excited to see his dad. It was the same hope he carried around with him on every visit to the ward, but it didn't help him deal with the inevitable: the small, emaciated boy lying on his bed, trying to raise a smile but obviously too tired to see it through. It broke Neil's heart to see, and sometimes he felt like just staying away; shielding himself from the pain and anguish of watching Jake fight a losing battle with an invisible enemy. Often, Neil would sit in his house with his head in his hands, cursing himself for being a failure as a dad because he was supposed to protect his boy from danger, and instead danger had taken his son while Neil's back was turned. That was the most horrible thing, and Neil would never forget it. Not in his entire life.
He picked up the phone. "DI Manson." He stood up and moved out of the ward into the hall, scared that he might wake Jake – or one of the other kids.
"Guv." It was Grace Dasari, one of Neil's team. An experienced officer, Grace was normally one of the first people Neil turned to for help with a job, as he knew her professionalism and commitment were second to none. He enjoyed working with her, and often found himself filled with admiration as he watched her work. At that moment, he wondered why he felt so happy to hear her voice.
"Grace. What is it at…" he glanced at the wall clock, "…6 in the morning?" He could hear in the background the sounds of rustling and footsteps, plus vaguely muffled voices.
"You're not going to like this." She sounded stressed. Really stressed.
"When do I ever?" He said, with only a slight hint of humour. On the other end, Grace smiled a half-hearted smile, knowing exactly what the DI was saying.
"It's a missing child Guv. 6 year old girl, snatched during the night." As soon as she had said it, Neil felt his heart sink like a lead weight. He'd spent all this time looking after Jake, and so he didn't know how many more child-related tragedies he could face. But he had to get it together, because this wasn't about him.
"Ok Grace. What's the address?"
"17 Wellbank Road, Guv. It's the house with the blue door."
"Ok Grace, I'll be there as soon as I can." He hung up. Looking down at his dishevelled clothes, he knew he couldn't go into work like that. His shirt was crumpled and his jacket the same, plus he could feel the sweat gathering at his underarms and neck. So he made the executive decision to head home and get changed, before meeting Grace and the team at the girl's home address. He re-entered the ward, and thankfully Jake was still sound asleep. As Neil watched him, he looked so innocent and so dainty. If it weren't for the baldness – and the fact he was in hospital – to look at him you wouldn't know there was anything wrong. He just looked like a normal – albeit rather thin – young boy who was enjoying a dreamy, comforting sleep. It hurt, as Neil wished more than anything that it could be true, but he knew that he just had to learn to deal with the cards he had been dealt. So when he had these thoughts? Well, he cursed himself for being so selfish when it was Jake who was suffering. I didn't matter what he did, he just couldn't stop feeling useless, like somehow this was all his fault, and that Jake could maybe get better if Neil could just be stronger; be a man about it. He picked up his overcoat – and makeshift duvet – off of the mauve bedside chair and put it on, before leaning down to plant a quick kiss on his boy's forehead. It was a small sentiment, but Neil hoped it made a difference. Just one last glance at his son, then Neil walked out the double doors and back into his job.
Grace pressed the end call button and slid her hone back into her jacket pocket. For whatever reason, it made her feel better knowing that the DI was going to arrive soon; like things would be OK once he took charge. It wasn't that she felt she was incapable of running things with this investigation; she was. She just felt good knowing there would be someone else from CID with her to take control of what was fast becoming a stressful situation for all the officers. Being outside, it was such a refreshing April morning that it didn't suit the situation they were in. As a child, Grace had always thought that you would be able to tell if something bad was going to happen. Maybe the sky would darken, or the birds would stop singing. It wasn't until her uncle died in a car accident that she realised that the world just kept spinning, even when the people living in it were losing their minds. It seemed perverse somehow. She turned to the girl's mother, who was being spoken to by PC Mel Ryder and PC Leon Taylor. She sometimes glanced at Mel Ryder – the young female PC – and remembered her own days in Uniform. All the messy jobs they had to deal with, and the obscure shifts that pretty much destroyed any chance they had of having a personal life. That's partly why Grace had become so committed to the job: she had never had the time to establish a life for herself outside the station. It had never happened for her: never met the right man, never had kids, never done the whole 'late night, partying, pick up a guy' thing. Again part of that was because it had just never appealed to Grace; she preferred having a job to go to, to give her something to strive for and become engrossed in. Sometimes though, she couldn't help feeling like she'd let herself miss out on a lot of things, and she wasn't too sure if she'd come to regret it one day.
"DC Dasari." She turned, hearing the familiar, cockney tone of Inspector 'Smithy' Smith. A 'veteran' at Sun Hill, Smithy had been there long before Grace; since 1999, or thereabouts. Yet he looked so young and energised, like a new recruit getting bang into his work. She got on well with Smithy, although they weren't what people would call 'close friends', but she liked him anyway.
"Sir." She watched as he lifted out his notebook and flipped the pages until he evidently arrived at the correct one.
"Ok. I spoke to the sister, Jasmine, and she tells me that she was asleep, but she thought she heard something during the night, but can't be sure of the time. Then, when she woke up and saw her little sister wasn't in her room, she told her mum, who called us."
Grace tried to take it in. "So…are we saying abduction?"
Smithy rubbed his chin in thought. "I dunno. Roger says there are no forced entry signs at the door, and as soon as forensics arrive, they'll be up in Rose's room. We can't rule out that this is simply a case of a little girl running away." Even as he was saying it, Grace could tell that he didn't quite believe it. This just didn't feel like a runaway case. Something felt wrong.
"Sir, all things aside, in your opinion, does this seem like a runaway case to you?"
Smithy thought about it, then shook his head.
"No. No it doesn't, but we need to be objective about this. So no jumping to conclusions. We'll have more when forensics get here." He paused, before saying:
"Grace, can you go and speak to the girl's mother right now? I need my officers to conduct a door-to-door."
Grace nodded. "Of course Sir."
Smithy nodded his acknowledgement and thanks. He then turned around and approached Mel and Leon. Grace couldn't hear him, but she could see him directing them towards the opposing houses and the neighbours, gesturing for them to be quick but thorough. They nodded and headed off to carry out their duties. Grace walked towards the girl's mum, conscious of perhaps being confronted with a very angry, very confused woman. What greeted her instead was silence, as if the fragile little woman wasn't even there. Nonetheless, Grace smiled what she hoped was a comforting smile.
"Mrs…" It was just then that Grace realised she didn't even know this woman's name. Why hadn't she asked Smithy before he'd left? Rookie mistake.
"…Halpern," the woman finished for her. "Denise." She didn't bother returning Grace's smile, she just looked at her with sad eyes, so sad they struck her immediately. They were haunted; the eyes of someone who had given up on life….or at least given up on herself.
"Sorry. I didn't…I'm DC Dasari. Grace." She felt bad for not knowing Denise's name before, but she seemed to have let it go already, so so would Grace.
"Would you like to go into the house Denise? I need to talk to you about Rose." Denise nodded, and so she led Grace into the family home, indicating that she could sit down. Grace sat, and eventually so did Denise.
"Mrs Halpern…"
"Denise."
"Ok, Denise. Can you tell me about Rose?"
She nodded, clearly struggling t keep it together, so Grace placed a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder in a bid to relax her. Looking at her, Denise was clearly a pretty woman: long blonde hair tied up in a bun, and perfectly smooth unblemished skin with a hint of now runny make-up; a clue at her sorrow. Grace guessed she was no older than 35.
"Rose. My little baby. Possibly the funniest little girl I've ever met; always smiling. That…sweet smile. She's so perfect." She then tried to rescue her resolve. "I…I take it you want a picture of her?"
Grace nodded, adding: "If that's alright with you. It means if we have a picture of her, we can show people what she looks like, and that increases our chances of finding her."
Denise stood up and reached across to the television unit, lifting a medium sized silver photo frame with 'Angel' on it. She handed it to Grace, saying;
"Rose knows not to go with strangers. We've always told her that, ever since she was old enough to understand. I don't get it. Why would she go with someone she doesn't know?"
But Grace had another question.
"We've?"
"Hmm?"
"You said 'we've always warned her about strangers."
Denise nodded. "Yes, myself and my husband." Suddenly realising where Grace was coming from, she explained. "He's away on business right now. I'll get you the details."
Grace muttered 'thanks' whilst looking at the photo of Rose. She was also pretty, with short blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a pink t-shirt with 'Hannah Montana' on it, and in the photo she was smiling sweetly for the camera. It was a head and shoulders shot, so perfect for identification purposes. Just then, Denise returned, holding out a piece of paper. Grace stood up and took the paper from her.
"Here. Nigel Halpern. He's staying at the Marriott Hotel in Newcastle. That's his room number and phone extension. Plus, his mobile."
Grace smiled at Denise.
"Thank you. I'll go give this to my Inspector, and I promise we'll call him right away. If you wait here Denise, I'll be back soon."
Grace pocketed the piece of paper, and left the house, still clutching the photo of Rose. Suddenly, DI Manson pulled up in his car, looking rather tired.
"Guv."
Neil looked over and saw Grace heading towards the car. He smiled at her before shutting the car door and locking it.
"Grace. I got here as quick as I could." He checked his watch. Only half an hour after she'd called. Perhaps he hoped she hadn't noticed how long he'd been; she decided to give him that little victory.
"Guv, let me fill you in." She handed Neil the photograph. "Little girl called Rose Halpern, aged 6. She went missing during the night, and when the sister Jasmine discovered she was gone, the mother phoned us."
Neil nodded slowly, taking it all in.
"Ok. So if the mother called us just after 6…"
"…and she had gone to bed just after midnight, as she told Smithy…"
"…then this little girl went missing anytime between those six hours. That's a big gap." He sighed. "Did neither the sister nor the mother hear anything during the night?"
Grace nodded. "Jasmine told Smithy that she heard something during the night whilst she was in bed, but that she can't be sure of a time. Denise didn't mention anything when I spoke to her."
"Ok, well we need to speak to Jasmine again, find out if she can shed any more light on what it was she heard, and then we need to see what comes back from the door-to-door that I presume Smithy's officers are conducting?"
Grace nodded.
"Yeah, they've been doing that for about 5 minutes Guv."
"Good. I presume Eddie's here by now?"
Grace shook her head.
"Haven't seen him yet. I guess he'll be here soon though."
Neil sighed. It would be hypocritical of him to chastise Eddie for being late, considering he himself had been over half an hour late. He decided to let it slide.
"Well, where's the mother?"
"In the house."
"Ok, well we'll also need to continue talking to her. She might be able to help us."
Just then, Grace remembered the piece of paper in her pocket.
"Oh, and there's this. Denise's husband is away on business in Newcastle. I have his details here, shall I give him a call?"
Neil nodded. Just as Grace was about to leave, Smithy came running over, a frantic look in his eyes.
"Neil. You're here. It's about Mrs Halpern's daughter, Jasmine…"
"What is it Smithy?"
Smithy sighed in frustration. "She's gone!"
End of Chapter 2.