‘Don’t say it as though you mind it,’ Kim said.
‘What I mind is that it was only ten minutes ago I was fixing stabilisers to her first bike and now its wiper blades to her car.’ He shook his head. ‘Doesn’t matter how much time passes, you still want to protect them.’
They remained locked in their own thoughts until Bryant pulled up outside a small semi-detached house in Lower Gornal.
‘Hope she’s not gonna mind us dredging it all up for her,’ Bryant said as they approached the front door.
‘With an eight-year-old girl still missing I can take a little discomfort.’
A woman answered the door wearing a pencil skirt, heels, collared shirt and carrying a laundry basket.
Her pleasant features instantly contorted into concern as most parents’ faces did when strangers knocked on their door.
Kim took out her ID and introduced them both. ‘And your daughter is fine,’ she added, to put her mind at ease.
‘How did you know I have a daughter?’ she asked, panicking.
Kim nodded towards the linen basket that was drowning in small pink garments.
‘Oh, of course. I’m sorry, how can I help?’
Kim took a breath. She didn’t know how much pain she was about to cause.
‘May we talk to you about what happened to you as a child?’
‘Sorry?’
For a moment Kim thought there had been some kind of mistake.
‘The abduction?’
‘Oh, yes, of course,’ she said dismissively. ‘Come in, but we’ll have to chat upstairs while I do this, or I’ll be late for work.’
Kim followed her upstairs and into the first bedroom on the left. Bryant remained in the doorway.
‘Nice room,’ Kim said, taking a quick look around.
A white quilt cover with daisies matched the pillowcase. A couple of Barbie dolls sat on the bedside cabinet. A small desk sat beneath a wall-mounted TV. Perhaps a little dated but spacious despite the three-quarter-sized bed.
‘Cammie likes it. She’d love a computer up here but that’s not happening.’
Kim smiled as the woman took out folded clothes and started putting them away.
‘So, how can I help?’
‘You were abducted twenty-seven years ago when you were nine years old. If it’s not too painful, can you tell us about it?’
Susie smiled. ‘I was away for a year, Officer. You’ll have to be more specific than that.’
Kim found the word ‘away’ a strange choice – captive, kidnapped, gone, taken – but she let it pass.
‘Did you see the man that abducted you?’
‘Never. Not for the whole time I was there.’
‘So he never touched you or…?’
‘God, no. It wasn’t like that,’ she said with an expression of distaste.
Kim was confused. Yes, it had been a long time ago, but the woman showed no emotional response at all. Right now, she didn’t know which questions to ask.
Kim took a seat on the bed. ‘Please, tell us what you remember as long as it’s not too difficult.’
‘It’s not difficult at all,’ she said, putting leggings in the second drawer. ‘I’m sure you’ve got the dates and times etc, but all I remember is going to look for the ball. Some older girls were playing rounders and allowed me to join in. They put me right out in the field. Lizzy Brown was batting, and I knew she could slog ’em, so I went right back as far as I could go. Still it sailed over the top of my head and into the bushes. Went after it, bent down, felt something over my mouth and that was the last thing I remembered before I woke up.’
‘Where?’
‘In a room; a nice room. It had its own bathroom. It was quiet, peaceful. I could hear birds. I was scared. I stared at the door for hours, terrified it would open and someone would come in and hurt me. I cried a lot while I waited and waited for something bad to happen, but it never did. Food and drinks came when I was asleep, and then comics and the TV remote and then books and then tests that were marked and returned. Never did understand geometry until then and now I’m an architect, go figure.’
‘But you were separated from your family. Weren’t you terrified?’ Kim asked, trying to understand.
‘At first, yes. I missed them like mad and I was petrified that something bad was going to happen to me, but as each day passed I felt safer, sure that no one was going to hurt me.’
‘How could you know that?’
Suzie shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Maybe I just convinced myself of that so I could let go of the fear. After about a week I began to feel the relief.’
‘Of what?’ Kim asked, trying not to show her astonishment. Never had she had this type of conversation with the victim of a kidnapping.
‘I wasn’t happy at home. My parents had just announced they were getting divorced. I cried myself to sleep every night and did what every nine-year-old does. I blamed myself. I questioned everything I’d done from arguing about going to bed to leaving my plate on the floor. All I could think of was how to make them stay together. Here’s another irony for you. My time away brought them closer and they’re still together now.’
‘Please don’t be offended but you sound almost grateful that you were kidnapped,’ Kim observed and waited for the eruption of denial.
‘Such an ugly word and one I don’t use in relation to my own experience. I was removed from my life for a while. I had a nice room, food, books, TV, music, school lessons, a birthday cake and peace and quiet. I felt no pain, maybe a bit lonely sometimes, but I also felt safe. I’d been removed from everything that was hurting me. It’s difficult to explain but I felt protected. I knew he wasn’t going to let anything hurt me. It did me no long-term harm, and I returned to normal life. It’s no different to when children are removed from toxic situations by social services. They’re placed elsewhere temporarily and then returned when the time is right.’ She smiled. ‘When I came back everyone was so pleased to see me. I was spoiled rotten all over again.’
Kim agreed that on the face of it she hadn’t suffered. She had a nice home, a family, a good job. But how could she have been ripped from her family, held captive for a year and suffer absolutely no ill effects?
‘And how did you leave?’ Kim asked curiously. So far, she hadn’t mentioned seeing anyone.
‘The door opened. No words. Just a small van with the back door open. I got in and closed the door.’
‘You didn’t see anyone?’
She shook her head.
‘What about the building, the surroundings?’
Suzie shook her head again. ‘I didn’t register anything. I just got into the van.’
Kim tried not to show her surprise at the trust she’d placed in her captor. He could have been taking her anywhere.
The news report stated that she’d been dropped a hundred metres from Old Hill police station.
‘How long were you in the van?’ Kim asked.
‘You know, I was asked this question back then and I couldn’t answer it. It could have been fifteen minutes; it could have been an hour.’
Kim calculated the difference in radius to the drop point from approximately seven miles to a 30-mile radius working on a rough speed of 30 miles an hour.