28

In the kitchen, I leaned against the sink and looked out of the window. Mum had a neat back garden, the grass clipped, a clothes pole posted at each corner and bordered on each side with hedges, shrubs and small flowering plants.

I looked at the sky, at the clouds sliding past and the scraps of blue in between and thought that somewhere under that sky, not that far from here, my boy was walking with a man who had murder in his heart.

‘Can I suggest you sit with Pat, Andy?’ Bairden came up behind me. The rest of the police officers had left the house at the first sighting of Ryan. ‘He needs to be distracted somehow.’ Subtext: so do you.

‘So you’re our Family Liaison Officer?’ I asked him.

He nodded.

‘Cos you’ve got the skills,’ I said, wanting to wound.

‘Andy,’ Mum said. ‘That’s enough. This is not a good situation for any one of us. Let the man do his job.’

I straightened my back and crossed my arms, unwilling to acknowledge that my attitude was suspect. To hell with Bairden. If his feelings were injured he should get himself down to the job centre.

My mind returned to Ryan. Those big, blue eyes of his were a demonstration of why Disney gave their cartoon animals that same feature. To most humans they were irresistible. Most humans.

I saw Ryan. Trusting. His small hand in Hunter’s. Walking with the man, completely unaware of what was going on. Every adult he’d ever met had been a source of affection and fun. To Ryan, why would this guy be any different?

I felt emotion build. Knuckled a tear from my eye.

‘Pat,’ I said, forcing light into my tone. ‘Fancy a kickabout in the garden? Maybe Detective Bairden would like to join in?’ I looked at the careful shine on his black brogues and took some satisfaction that between us we might dull that a little. To his credit, Bairden was unfazed.

‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Great idea.’

We passed an utterly surreal thirty minutes in the garden, kicking the ball back and forward, each of us listless and distracted.

‘The Early Learning Centre?’ Bairden broke the silence.

‘Yeah, what about it?’ I asked.

‘I don’t have kids and I assumed, from the shop name, that it would be kind of a boring place for kids. You know, learning centre? Doesn’t say come in: you’ll have a blast.’ He shrugged. ‘How would Hunter know to take him there? The CCTV operator said that was the only shop they went in to.’

‘Maybe they walked near it and Ryan pulled Hunter in?’ I suggested.

His radio buzzed and voices issued from it. We all stopped moving.

‘They’re not here, Detective Bairden,’ I heard a voice say.

Bairden held his hand to his radio and spoke. ‘Any sign of them?’

‘Negative.’

‘Liaise with CCTV. See if they took up his tracks when he left the shop?’ He signed off the call, our eyes met and he sent me a determined look. We will get him. He beckoned to Pat to give him the ball. ‘If he’s buying toys, that’s a good sign, no?’ he asked me.

‘Sure. The psychopath is buying shit for my son.’

Bairden opened his mouth as if to explain what he meant, but changed his mind and closed it again.

We heard the house phone ring. Moments later Mum opened the kitchen window and called to me.

‘It’s for you, Andy. One of the guys from work.’

‘What do they want?’ I asked no one in particular. ‘You guys keep working at your skills,’ I winked at Pat and sent a smile of apology to Bairden. ‘I better go and see what can’t wait for Monday.’

When I walked into the hall Mum handed me the phone and whispered, ‘It’s Jim.’ She then gave me a look of warning. ‘I don’t know what you two are up to, but if it gets any of my boys hurt I’ll bloody kill you.’

I looked at her as I held the phone up to my ear. ‘Nothing to worry about, Mum.’

‘Yes?’ I said into the phone.

‘If you’d get yourself one of those mobile phones that would have made this a whole lot easier.’

‘What’s going on, Jim?’

‘The young lassie that works in the Early Leaning Centre recognised me. Said that Ryan was quite chirpy when he was in…’

‘You didn’t—’ I tried to interrupt.

‘I didn’t let on anything was wrong. Kidded on the wee fella was with a mate while I was buying him a present in another shop.’

‘And?’

‘The weirdo bought Ryan a fishing net. You know one of those wee nets at the end of a long pole? And a red bucket.’

‘Anything else?’

‘A dinosaur,’ Jim said with a what else tone.

‘Right,’ I said thinking out loud. Listened for noises from the back garden and was satisfied that Bairden and Pat were otherwise occupied. ‘Where are you now?’