‘Why didn’t you answer your phone? It’s a bloody good job Linda’s been with me all week at the caravan park to give me an alibi. I dread to think what the coppers would have thought if I’d been somewhere on my own.’
‘They’re only doing their job,’ Christine reminded him. ‘But, as usual, you seem more concerned about yourself than your daughter.’
‘You want to watch that mouth of yours, Christine. It’s gonna get you into serious trouble one day.’
‘Are you threatening me?’
Colin laughed. A chilling sound without humour. ‘I’m just giving you some friendly advice.’
‘I don’t take advice from pigs. Especially ones who dip their snouts in other people’s troughs.’
Colin’s hair, bleached white by the sun, made his face look like an overripe tomato. ‘I’m gonna ignore that on the grounds that you have the mental capacity of a frog.’
‘Pack it in. Both of you.’ Alison turned to her ex. ‘Just say what you’ve come to say and leave. I’ve got enough on my plate without listening to you two exchanging insults.’
‘I just want to know what’s happened.’
Alison sighed. ‘Jodie went to Abbasi’s to get milk and didn’t come home.’
‘I bloody well know that already.’
‘That’s it. There’s nothing else to tell.’
‘What were you thinking of, sending Jodie to the shops on her own?’
‘What the hell’s that supposed to mean?’
‘She’s a child.’
‘She’s eleven years old. She walks to school on her own. Goes to dance class. What are you suggesting? I never let her out of my sight?’
‘If that’s what it takes to keep her safe, then yes.’
‘Says the man who abandoned her when she was two years old. Didn’t even have the decency to say goodbye.’
‘That’s got nothing to do with this.’
‘Hasn’t it! Maybe if you’d done your fair share towards caring for her, none of this would have happened.’
‘Now you’re talking crap. I’m not the one who moved a dodgy bloke in with me.’
‘And how, exactly, is he “dodgy”? At least he’s supported us. Hasn’t gone sniffing around other women.’
‘Don’t listen to him, love. He’s judging everyone by his own grubby standards.’ Christine turned to Colin. ‘Terry might not be perfect, but he’s ten times the man you’ll ever be.’
‘Where is he?’ Colin asked.
‘At work,’ Alison said. ‘Not that it’s any of your business.’
‘You should have called me,’ Colin said. ‘Told me what was happening. I had a right to know.’
‘I tried. It went to answerphone.’
‘You obviously didn’t try very hard. There was only one missed call all week on my phone from you.’
‘So, why didn’t you return it? Or didn’t you want to ruin your nice little holiday in your nice little caravan with your nice little tart?’
Colin’s face went a deeper shade of red. ‘Linda’s not a tart.’
‘If you say so.’
‘I’m gonna fight for custody when they find Jodie. You’re obviously an unfit mother.’
‘Good luck with that,’ Christine said. ‘No court in the land’s gonna award you custody of a child when you're nothing but a selfish overgrown one yourself.’
‘We’ll see.’
‘You’ll get custody over my dead body,’ Alison said.
‘Don’t fucking tempt me, Ali. Don’t fucking tempt me.’
Christine took a few steps towards him. ‘You think you’re such a big man, don’t you? Coming in here and throwing your weight around. Acting all concerned for your daughter for the first time in your life. But you’re not fooling anyone. For all we know, you might have her stashed away in that caravan of yours.’
Colin glared at her. ‘Don’t you dare suggest that, you spiteful bitch. For your information, plenty of other people at the holiday park saw us. Me and Linda. No one else. Jesus Christ, you really do have a poison mind.’
‘And I wonder who poisoned it.’ Christine walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water.
Colin wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. He turned back to Alison. ‘Anyway, the police asked for the keys to the caravan, so I’m sure they’re gonna search it. And they won’t find nothing in there because there ain’t nothing to find.’
Alison sat at the table. She didn’t believe Colin was capable of abducting his own daughter. ‘I don’t have a clue what’s happened to her. Every time I manage to snatch a few hours’ sleep, I wake up and forget she’s missing. For a few seconds my life is normal again. The sun’s streaming in through the curtains. Birds are singing outside. And then I remember she’s missing. It’s as if the bedroom ceiling collapses, and all my hopes and dreams come crashing down with it.’
‘If you ask me, the old bill ought to take a closer look at Stevens. I’ve never trusted that idiot. Every day I have to hope and pray he’s not molesting her. Bullying her. You hear all sorts of shit about blokes moving in with single women to target their kids. Disgusting predators.’
Alison banged a fist on the table. ‘Terry might be a lot of things, but he’s not a paedophile.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Because I do. It’s called instinct.’
‘Bullshit, more like.’
‘Jodie would’ve said something to me if he’d been acting out of line.’
‘Not if he’d threatened her.’
‘Jodie’s not scared to speak out.’
Christine walked back into the front room. ‘I think you should leave now, Colin. Alison’s told you everything she knows.’
He stood. ‘You make sure you call me as soon as you hear anything.’
Alison nodded. She watched her mother escort him to the door. Things couldn’t get any worse.
Could they?
Chapter Thirteen
Jim had often felt like committing murder. Bad drug deals, wankers who’d disrespected him, his dad for beating the crap out of him more times than he cared to remember, and his mum for giving birth to him in the first place. But that had all been fantasy stuff. Mind movies to ease the pain and humiliation that had accompanied him all his life.
It had been as much as he could do to stop himself dancing a jig and spitting on the grave when they’d lowered his old man into the ground three years ago. He’d even imagined he was responsible for his death. Killed him with his bare hands and popped out his eyes with a corkscrew.
But there was a vast difference between fantasy and reality. He wasn’t a killer. Yes, he was a bit wayward at times. He’d even listen to arguments that he was a loser. A waster. So what? He liked to get high. Guilty as charged. You couldn’t travel to amazing places when you hopped on a number forty-nine bus, could you? None of the funky stations were sitting along the railway line. Sobriety was for dumbed-down fools who wanted to spend their entire lives trapped in spiritual prisons.