The Stolen Children by Oliver Davies

Author:Oliver Davies [Davies, Oliver]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-01-23T22:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

My phone started ringing as I was carrying two full mugs over towards Stephen and I’s desks and I hastily put them down.

“Mitchell speaking,” I said.

“We need you to come over here right away, please.” I hadn’t had the chance to check the caller ID before I picked up and I couldn’t immediately place the frantic, female voice coming over the phone.

“Slow down,” I said, cutting them off. “Who is this, please?” Stephen was sitting at his desk, watching me curiously.

“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s Alicia Kelley. My husband is here. Lawrence is missing. You’ve got to find him.”

My stomach sunk. “Lawrence is missing,” I repeated, partly to make sure I’d heard right, and to let Stephen know what was going on. “Let me put you on speaker. My partner DI Huxley is here with me.”

I put the phone down on the desk and Stephen scooted closer, his brow furrowed with obvious concern.

“Alicia, when did you last see him?”

“Last night. He wasn’t here when I turned up this morning!” Alicia said, and I could hear from her voice how panicked she was. “The nurses didn’t see him leave, and the doctor didn’t check him out. He’s meant to stay in for another couple of days, doing his physio.”

“I see,” I said, glancing over at Stephen. “And you’ve tried calling him?”

“Of course!” she said sharply. “The call doesn’t go through at all. He must have it turned off, or it’s broken somehow.”

“Alright,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “We’ll be over there as soon as we can. Please stay at the hospital.”

“We will,” Alicia said, before hanging up.

“Never boring around here,” I muttered, snatching up my things. I tipped my coffee into a travel cup in my desk drawer, snapping the lid on before we headed out of the building.

“You can say that again,” Stephen agreed.

We got into the car, Stephen in the driving seat and me sipping my scalding coffee. Stephen looked over enviously.

“I should get one of those.” He’d had to leave his tea mostly undrunk.

“You should.”

I fiddled with the radio as we drove over, but my thoughts were on Lawrence and why he might’ve run off. But we wouldn’t know any more until we arrived at the hospital and started looking around and asking questions, so instead, I said, “How’s your daughter?”

“Better,” Stephen said, taking us around a sharp corner. I was almost used to his driving by now, and his liking for screeching to a stop right before the red traffic lights didn’t alarm me quite as much. “Her temperature’s down, and she’s set to leave the hospital tomorrow if all goes well.”

I cracked a grin. “That’s great news.”

He nodded, looking relieved. “Yeah. She’s still on some heavy antibiotics, and she’s coughing, but she’s a lot better. Now we know it’s asthma, we’re hoping we can keep it more controlled in the future.”

I reached over to pat his arm. “I’m sure you will. Knowing what the problem is half the battle, right?”

He laughed quietly. “God, I hope so.”

We were getting close to the private hospital, and he pulled into the car park.

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