Read Online Think of the Children by Kerry Wilkinson - Free Book Online Page B

on his way back from school. Camera footage was limited but they had images of him on a device placed outside a newsagent’s on his route home. The next time he would
have been spotted was four hundred metres away on a traffic camera but by then he was gone. Cars going into and out of the area had been checked with no clues and there were apparently no witnesses
to anything. It was as if he had simply vanished.
    Jessica was struggling to know what to say and beginning to wish she had brought someone else with her but Kayla broke the awkward silence.
    ‘I’ve still got his Christmas present upstairs,’ she said. ‘He wanted that new games console thing. Mike went to the city centre and waited in a queue at midnight when it
first came out because everyone was saying they’d sell out straight away. It’s wrapped up under our bed. I guess when he first disappeared I just thought he’d be back in time to
have it.’
    Jessica was becoming more and more uncomfortable. She tried to say something reassuring but Kayla spoke again, this time in a slightly harsher tone. ‘No one’s told me anything. I had
someone asking me questions about a football kit, then something about a car. All everyone ever says is that they’ll keep me up to date with developments. I’ve had to keep Jenny off
school because of the other kids. She’s only thirteen …’
    Kayla tailed off again and this time there were definitely tears. She reached forward and took a tissue from the coffee table, blowing her nose loudly.
    Jessica was trying to see both sides. The woman would obviously want to know who had taken her son and why but, if she had too much information which she then revealed either to the media or her
relatives, it could end up harming the investigation. Although the press had reported on the car crash, some of the most important details had been kept back, largely because they didn’t
really know what the dead driver looked like. They hadn’t had anything back from the woodland dig, the clothes they had found or the allotment connection either.
    At some point the media would be brought in but it wouldn’t do any good if they released all of the information in one go because they didn’t yet know if it all linked together.
Jessica had seen the media used in a bad way a few years previously when one murder completely unconnected to a serial killer was assumed to have been done by him. The resulting coverage had
created big problems for both investigations and she was glad people had learned their lessons.
    Almost as if on cue following Kayla’s outburst, Jessica heard a voice coming from somewhere just outside the room. ‘Mum?’
    A girl with straight blonde hair down to her shoulders walked in. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a tight wool jumper. She eyed Jessica suspiciously but barely got into the room before Kayla
turned around and spoke sternly. ‘Jen, I told you to wait upstairs.’
    ‘I know but I’m hungry.’
    Jessica stood, knowing it was a good time to go. Kayla rose too and peered from Jessica to her daughter then back again. ‘Are you leaving?’ she asked.
    ‘I’m not sure there’s anything else I can help with,’ Jessica said.
    The woman blew her nose again, pocketing the tissue. She gave a small, entirely unconvincing smile. Jessica returned it, then took out a business card and left it on the coffee table before
saying her goodbyes and walking back to her car. She knew the meeting hadn’t gone well but had no idea how she could have made it any better.
    As Jessica arrived back at her vehicle, she took out her mobile phone. There was a single text message from Izzy: ‘Know uve got big morning & dint wanna interrupt. Call when u
can.’
    Jessica phoned her colleague. ‘Did you want me?’
    ‘We found something in the old case files,’ Diamond said. ‘It’s not been transferred to the computers and the whole thing’s a bloody shambles but we think we know
where those clothes in the