‘He’s gone. He said he was your friend. I thought it was okay,’ she repeated.
Peter looked at his sister, noticing she was holding something.
‘Daisy, did the man give you that?’ Peter asked, an edge of concern in his voice now. It was a large, brightly coloured lollipop. Concentric circles in alternating colours, getting smaller into the middle.
Peter saw his mother’s gaze turn towards Daisy’s hand. Her eyes widened.
Peter watched in shock as his mother snatched the lollipop from Daisy. ‘Did the man give this to you?’ she asked, less stern, but deadly serious.
Daisy nodded.
‘Never take sweeties from strangers. I’ve told you that so many times. Never! Understand?’
Beth threw the confectionary down onto the pavement. It hit the ground and shattered into tiny splinters. People were gawping now, but she didn’t seem to care. Peter was mortified.
Daisy’s eyes filled with tears.
‘Mum, you’re scaring her! What the hell? It’s a lollipop… she didn’t eat it. It’s fine.’
‘Get in the car!’ Beth shouted.
Beth unlocked the Range Rover, opening the back door. Daisy crawled in, fastening her seat belt sheepishly, tears streaming over her cheeks. Peter climbed into the front. He tried not to look at the two girls he had been talking to, who now stood a few metres away staring at him with bemused expressions on their faces. They were whispering and laughing.
Beth pulled herself into the driver’s seat, slamming the door with a thud. The kind old lady was shaking her head.
Peter sat in silence as his mother started the engine and sped off towards home.
3
‘I still don’t understand why you haven’t called the police,’ Charlie grunted, standing in the doorway.
‘What would I tell them? That somebody gave our daughter a lollipop?’ Beth replied.
‘She could have been abducted!’ Charlie slammed his fist against the door frame, making Beth jump in her seat. He rarely got angry.
Beth stood up from her armchair, ushering Charlie into the living room and closing the door.
‘Can you keep your voice down. I’ve not long got her calmed. We don’t want to set her off again.’ She sat on the sofa in front of the bay window and patted the cushion next to her. Charlie sat obediently, still holding his leather jacket and car keys. He felt pissed off but was also aware that Beth had had a scare, so he was trying to keep his cool.
‘Let’s put this in perspective. She wasn’t abducted. Somebody gave her a sweet and took her over the road to show her something in the window of the toy shop. And yes, that’s creepy, and definitely not okay for a stranger to do that. But in the grand scheme of things, he didn’t do anything illegal, and Daisy is fine. I upset her more with my meltdown. I had a scare and I overreacted.’ Beth’s voice, calm and matter of fact, bugged Charlie.
‘I don’t like it at all. And why the hell is she taking sweets and walking off with a stranger anyway? I hoped we’d brought our kids up to be much smarter than that.’ Charlie’s eyes, red and tired after a Saturday morning at work, bore into Beth’s, as he tried to make sense of the situation.
Beth ran her hands through her hair, holding them on the back of her head. ‘He said he knew me. He used my name. So Daisy assumed it would be okay. She’s six.’
Charlie stood up. ‘But that’s even freakier. Why would somebody say that? And how would he have known your name?’
‘I don’t have the answer to either of those questions, Charlie, I’m sorry.’
Beth put her hand on his inner thigh and stroked his leg. ‘The crucial thing is she is okay. She’s upstairs, and she’s fine.’
‘And you’re sure it’s not someone from work?’
Beth put her fingers against her temples, sighing. ‘One hundred per cent positive, Charlie. I don’t work with anyone called Billy. And anyway, why wouldn’t he have stuck around to speak to me? Rather than disappearing?’
‘I guess,’ Charlie mumbled. He walked to the door, opening it and leaning out into the hallway. ‘Daisy! Can you come down here a minute please?’ he shouted in the general direction of the stairs, his voice loud and authoritative. A few seconds later, they heard the sound of Daisy’s bare feet on the stair carpet. She came into the living room sheepishly. Her eyes were still red from crying. Charlie sat back down next to Beth on the sofa.
‘Sit down, love, will you?’ Charlie said softly, motioning towards the armchair with his head. Daisy crossed to the chair, plonking herself down.
‘Your mum told me what happened in town.’
Daisy looked down at her hands and started fidgeting. For a second Charlie was worried she would bawl.
‘It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re not in trouble. We just want to talk to you.’
‘Okay,’ Daisy replied quietly.
‘So you remember that your mummy lost her parents when she was young?’ Charlie asked.
‘Yes. In a fire.’ Daisy’s eyes darted towards Beth.
‘That’s right.’
Beth sat staring at Daisy. Charlie hated having to bring back the memories for Beth, but this was important.
‘And you know that Mummy doesn’t have anyone from her childhood, any friends or anything, who you wouldn’t recognise, right?’
Daisy looked at Beth for reassurance. Beth smiled, nodding. Daisy nodded too.
‘Because she moved around a lot when she was little,’ Daisy said, more assured this time, well versed in the story of Beth’s upbringing.
Beth’s father had been in the army. Beth and her parents had never settled in one place. She didn’t remain in any school long enough to make any lasting friendships. She had been a very lonely child. Her parents were killed in a house fire when Beth was eighteen. When Charlie met her in the first year at university, she had still been grieving. She had been aloof with their peers and had struggled to bond with anyone. It took months for Charlie to get her to open up about her family. Charlie was one of the few people she told. Their friendship grew at a fast pace
