‘They’re all in here,’ the girl said, opening the door marked ‘Office’.
Inside was Inspector Plant, a woman in her early fifties and a younger woman wearing a nurse’s uniform beneath a light summer jacket. Her expression and pallor needed no introduction.
Kim introduced herself and her partner just as Inspector Plant began edging towards the door. He looked to her for confirmation. She nodded. He was eager to go and check on his team, who would be conducting the initial search of the area and carrying out door-to-door checks.
‘Andrea Newhouse, owner,’ said the woman from behind the desk. ‘And this is Claire Lennard, Grace’s mother.’
Kim nodded at them both as she took a seat. She could feel the trembling of the woman beside her. Kim guessed she was feeling a mixture of despair, anguish but also hope that Grace was going to turn up safe and sound any minute now. Kim had that same hope, but after her earlier exchange with Steven Harte the hope was diminishing with every passing minute.
‘Can you tell us exactly what happened, Ms Newhouse?’
‘Yes, it was just after lunch. Around two o’clock some of the staff were settling the little ones down for a nap. The older ones were making their way outside. They’re planting a herb garden at the top of the yard. The fire alarm went off. Everyone headed for the designated meeting point: the shed by the back fence, away from the building. There was a roll call. Everyone was present and accounted for. We did a search of the premises. The fire service attended to do a check. They put it down to a blip in the app we all have on our phones that control the intruder and smoke alarms. They reset the system, declared us safe and left. The kids were all milling around, chatting about all the excitement, when Deana noticed the back gate had been left open by the firefighters. She alerted all staff and took another roll call and that’s when we found that Grace was missing.’
‘Did you check the immediate area?’
The woman nodded. Of course she had. Any decent day-care business had procedures in place.
‘Myself and two colleagues searched the streets behind the property while another staff member called the police.’
‘What was the exact time of the second roll call?’ Kim asked.
‘Two thirty-eight,’ she said as Bryant noted the times in his notebook.
Grace had been gone for almost three hours.
‘So, she might still be wandering around, lost, might she?’ Claire Lennard asked hopefully. She stood. ‘I should be out looking…’
‘Please sit down, Ms Lennard,’ Kim said, placing a steadying hand on the woman’s arm. ‘There are officers out searching for Grace right now.’
Kim knew that every available officer had been called to the area. They would already be knocking doors and checking gardens.
‘I know you want to be out there trying to find her, but we need you here right now.’
She nodded and sat back down.
‘Is there anyone at home?’
Claire shook her head.
‘How far is it and could Grace make her way back?’
‘It’s about four miles away, in Sedgley, but I don’t think…’
‘Kids are cleverer than we think. Can you call a neighbour and ask them to keep watch on the house until we get someone there to check properly?’
‘Yes, yes, of course,’ she said, taking out her phone.
Kim wasn’t hopeful but she had to cover all bases and treat it like every other missing child case. She had to put the conversation with Steven Harte out of her mind.
‘Have you noticed anything suspicious around the property?’ Kim asked the nursery owner as Claire ended her call. Kim caught the look of horror that crossed Andrea Newhouse’s face.
‘You don’t think she’s been taken?’ Claire asked.
‘We have to consider every possibility,’ Kim offered gently.
She knew full well that the thought would already have crossed the woman’s mind. But it didn’t have legs until it came out of someone else’s mouth.
‘We’re doing everything we can to find her, Ms Lennard. I promise you,’ Kim assured her, turning back to the business owner as she spoke.
‘Nothing suspicious that I’m aware of, Officer, but the girls are talking to all the children to see if they’ve noticed anything untoward.’
Kim turned again to Claire. ‘Has there been anything strange at home? Weird phone calls? Unusual comments from Grace?’
Claire shook her head as the tears began to gather in her eyes.
‘Grace’s father?’
Claire shook her head.
‘Are you sure he couldn’t have…?’
‘He’s dead,’ she offered, severing the tie on one of the last balloons of hope Kim had.
‘Sorry. I didn’t mean…’
Claire waved away her apology.
‘CCTV?’ she asked Ms Newhouse.
She nodded and stood. ‘I have the app on my phone, but the full system is next door.’
Kim stood. Their interrogation of the system would take more than a mobile-phone app.
‘I’ll be back in a sec, Claire,’ the woman said before leaving the room.
Kim noted the business owner’s hunched apologetic demeanour as it finally hit her that she’d lost someone else’s child.
She followed the woman past a kitchen/break room to a door marked ‘Private’ at the end of the corridor. She key coded the door and pushed it open.
‘Do you need me to…?’
‘Just the password,’ Kim said, expecting the woman to move ahead and log them into the system.
‘Top drawer, yellow Post-it notes and yes, I know what you’re going to say, but I can’t remember them all.’
Oh, if only it was one of their priorities to police password security instead of dead bodies and missing children.
‘Thanks, we’ll be fine.’
Bryant took the seat closest to the keyboard and mouse. Although not technically minded like Stacey or Penn, he was adept at navigating his way around most CCTV systems, and this looked like a decent set-up.
Bryant logged in using the password from the Post-it note.
The screen filled with mini screens, sixteen in total. In the bottom left-hand corner was a label for each location.
‘Where to start?’ Bryant asked.
‘Confirm the timeline,’ Kim said.
Bryant clicked on the screen for the kitchen and set the clock for two o’clock. She could see three adults and two older kids tidying around the area. At exactly five minutes past the hour they all froze and looked at each other. Okay, the owner was bang on with that.
‘Okay, go outside,’ Kim said.
‘Which one?’
There were four external cameras. One on the front door, one on the back door, a wide lens that covered almost all of the outside space and a fixed camera on the back gate.
‘The wide view,’ she said, poking the screen.
He adjusted the time to catch the mass exodus of kids and adults as they streamed out of the back door and headed towards the shed at the edge of the property.
Last to leave was the owner, carrying a clipboard, behind two women each carrying a young child.
‘There she is,’ Bryant said as Grace Lennard entered the screen from the other side of the garden, matching the description they’d been given while they’d been travelling towards the day centre.