Page 106 of Final Betrayal

‘Shut up, Chloe.’ This was surreal. They were in a crowd of people. Who the hell was this woman? ‘Is our mother okay?’

‘Come and see for yourselves. Don’t make a fuss. Just keep thinking of that defenceless little boy of yours.’

What could they do? They had followed her through the crowds with no one to help them. Now here they were, locked into a room with no sign of their mother. Chloe had been banging incessantly on the door until her knuckles bled.

‘You’re wasting your time,’ Katie said. ‘I’m sure this place is either soundproofed or out in the middle of nowhere. Let’s put our heads together and think of a way out of this mess.’

‘What if she’s gone to take Louis and Sean? Did you think of that, Miss Super-Cool?’

Katie had thought of it but tried not to. ‘You’re always the drama queen. I’ll figure this out if you shut up for a minute.’

‘Yeah, sure.’

‘Chloe! Please. Let me think.’

But all she could think of was her little boy and her brother, and she prayed that they wouldn’t be harmed.

FORTY-NINE

The Mondeo was dragging on one side and Lottie swore that if she had a flat tyre she was going to abandon it and run. Wind buffeted the vehicle, while the wet leaves on the road caused it to skid. With no time for a shower or change of clothes or even a bite of food, she’d tried the girls’ phones from Sean’s as she drove. Both were off. She swung round by the hospital and gave a description of her daughters to the security team there. But she knew it was unlikely Chloe and Katie had even been there.

She eventually pulled up at the station. Charging inside and up the stairs with adrenaline-filled energy, she reached the incident room. The night shift team were working the phones and writing up house-to-house reports from both murder incidents. No sign of Kirby or McKeown. She raced to the CCTV room. McKeown had been right. It was an airless cupboard. Struggling for the breath to speak, she motioned them both outside to the corridor.

‘What’s up now?’ Kirby said.

‘I need you to put a trace on these two phones.’ She handed over Katie and Chloe’s phone numbers. ‘I want to know their locations. ASAP.’

‘You need paperwork for that?’ McKeown said.

Lottie dug her nails into the palms of her hands. There was no point in ranting at him. ‘These are my daughters’ phone numbers. They were together in town a couple of hours ago. And I can tell you, they never switch off their phones. So I want to know where they are.’

‘Overprotective?’ McKeown said, raising an eyebrow.

‘Shut it,’ Kirby said.

‘No, I’m not being overprotective.’ She didn’t know if she should tell them about Bernie’s threat. ‘We’ve had four young women murdered in pairs this week. Some woman met my daughters and said she would take them to me, and now I can’t locate them. That sounds fairly suspicious to me, don’t you think?’

She eyed McKeown. She read the doubt written in his eyes.

‘Not really,’ he said.

She’d have to explain. ‘I’ve been a target before. Bernie Kelly, who claims to be my half-sister, has escaped from a secure unit, as you already know. She called to my mother’s house the other night and threatened my family.’

‘I saw the news report about Kelly being your half-sister,’ Kirby said.

‘Not now, Kirby,’ Lottie wheezed. Fear was catching in her breath. ‘What is important is that I think this is her work. Every district in the country is looking for her, with no results so far. I believe she took my girls to get back at me for incarcerating her a year ago.’

McKeown whistled. ‘Gee, sorry. I have a contact who will work on these numbers straight away.’ He hurried down the hall.

‘McKeown?’ Lottie called.

‘Yeah?’

‘This is higher than urgent.’

‘Got it.’

When he’d disappeared, Lottie felt Kirby taking her by the elbow and steering her towards their office. ‘Do you think we need to notify the super?’

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