The Foster Family by Trope Nicole

Author:Trope, Nicole [Trope, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Suspense
ISBN: 9781803144795
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2022-09-20T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

ELIZABETH

Today, 1.30 p.m.

‘I need,’ she says, standing up, ‘I need to use the bathroom.’ She is clutching the shoe tightly, unwilling to return it to the constable.

‘Go ahead,’ says Constable Brown. He stands as well and walks her to the bathroom, watching her go in. She wants to scream at him to leave her alone. She hasn’t hurt her little boy, but she knows she can scream all she wants. No one will believe her, not now.

She takes the shoe with her to the bathroom, conscious that if she sets it down for even a moment, it may disappear. Joe did. She took her eye off him for a moment, only a moment. In the bathroom, she closes the lid of the toilet and sits down. She feels safer here, less scrutinised by everyone. She has her phone in the pocket of the sundress she is wearing. The constable is going to ask for it, of course, but there is nothing to see on it.

She has bought a couple of new sundresses since Joe arrived to live with them, and she has made sure they all have pockets. Joe is fond of picking up treasures when they go for a walk. She often returns home with her pockets stuffed with small rocks, flowers, coins. Joe likes to collect everything to store in his treasure box, a wooden box she found in a dollar store that is painted with a picture of a train. It’s a curiously old-fashioned-looking thing, with its metal latch and carved wood, but Joe loves it.

She scrolls through her phone, looking at all the pictures she has taken of Joe. She only sends them to Natalie and her parents, or looks at them herself. And every time she sends one and Natalie responds with So cute and an emoji, she feels the balm of motherhood wash over her. Finally she has some pictures of her own to send after years and years of liking her sister’s. But now… what now? What kind of a mother loses her child? What kind of a foster parent loses the child they are supposed to be taking care of? Joe has had enough bad parenting in his life. She allows herself some quiet tears. Where are you, little boy? Please come back. I promise to do better, to be better.

After a few minutes, she sniffs and blows her nose. She never shares the pictures she takes of Joe with Howard. Not after the first time she showed him one and he said, ‘Getting ready to fill up your phone with your new great love, are you?’

It could have been a question asked with love and gratitude for the boy’s presence in their lives, but his tone betrayed what it truly was: an expression of outright jealousy. He likes to be the centre of attention. She realises he was almost enjoying the desperate search taking place, the endless people smiling and nodding or patting him on the shoulder – the father with the missing child.

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