Page 94 of Guilty Mothers
It took her a further minute or two to remove the boys.
52 results.
She removed the children that were older than a year.
21 results.
She removed the children who had been found safe and well.
13 results.
She removed the children who hadn’t been found safe and well.
3 results.
Stacey made a note of the parents’ names.
Lorna and Yin Wong.
Trisha and Danny Lewis.
Viv and Karl Anderson.
She searched for the first couple and ruled them out immediately. As the name suggested, the father was Chinese, and the photo of the baby they held definitely had some of her father’s facial characteristics.
She searched the second couple. News articles informed her that the abductor was the child’s father, who had taken his child to the Isle of Wight to start a new life.
That left one couple to check before Stacey increased the area radius of her search parameters.
Viv and Karl Anderson.
With the search refined, Stacey could note the details. Their daughter, Rebecca, had been abducted when she was three and a half months old. It had happened at a park in Ilkley where Viv had been with her two children, five-year-old Justin and baby Rebecca. Justin had fallen over, and Viv had instinctively run over to her son, leaving the pram unattended for a couple of minutes.
No one had seen a thing, and the baby, pink blanket and teddy bear had all vanished. The teddy had been found a quarter mile away. The distraught parents had issued heartfelt pleas to the public for the safe return of their daughter. They held a vigil on her birthday, 14 August, every year. Karl Anderson hadn’t been present in the last five photos, but Viv had been there, supported by her son, at every one.
Stacey took a screenshot of the photo that had been held up to the television cameras when the child had first been abducted.
She sent it over to the boss. She knew it was unlikely that she’d hit gold on her first attempt, but oh my God, what if she had?
SIXTY-TWO
It was surreal walking back into the murder scene with Katie now the woman of the house. Although this time a lot of things made more sense to her. After learning more about Katie’s childhood, Kim understood the complex reactions to her mother’s death.
Katie guided them to the kitchen where Sheryl had lain brutally murdered just days earlier. She showed no reaction as she headed towards the kettle.
‘Not for us, thanks,’ Kim said, taking a seat.
‘How can I help?’ Katie asked, turning.
‘It’s going to sound like a weird question, but did your mum have a middle name?’
‘Octavia,’ Katie said, leaning against the counter. ‘She hated it. After her grandmother.’
The art of successful deceit lay in staying as close to the truth as you could.
‘Katie, do you have a copy of your birth certificate?’
‘Of course. Why?’ she asked, colouring.