The Surgeon's Family Wish (19 page)

Of the three new admissions the child with the suspected tuberculosis was giving the most concern. She was being kept separate from the other children in a side ward while tests were being done. A chest X-ray had shown abnormalities of the lungs and the sputum was being examined for tuberculosis organisms.

She was coughing all the time and so far the large doses of drugs she was being given were having no effect. But both doctors knew that the bacteria would have been in the lungs for some time and a quick cure was
not viable. It could take months of treatment before she showed any signs of recovery, but at least modern medicine did have a cure for most forms of tuberculosis.

At lunchtime Aaron sought Annabel out in the restaurant, and as she observed him questioningly he said, ‘Can I ask a favour of you?'

‘Er...yes.'

‘My mother and Tom flew to Spain this morning on the spur of the moment to look at property there. They fancy a Spanish villa as well as the property they'll have here, and while they're away I intend to finish early each afternoon to pick Lucy up from school. But I've just been told that the clinical services manager for paediatric care has arranged a meeting here for heads of departments this afternoon and it's vital that I'm present. Could you possibly pick her up for me just this once? I've checked your list and see that you are free then and for the rest of the afternoon.'

She smiled. ‘Yes, of course I will. Tell me where the school is and I'll be there.'

There would be just the two of them, she was thinking. She could pretend she was Lucy's mother for a couple of hours until Aaron came home...

A
S
A
NNABEL
stood amongst the group of mothers in the schoolyard, waiting to pick up their offspring, there was a lump in her throat.

Normally it would be her grandmother waiting for Lucy when she came out, and today it should have been Aaron, but due to circumstances he'd had to trust
her
with his daughter, and she wasn't going to put a foot wrong.

When the children came pouring out, Lucy was chatting to a friend and then she looked up, saw her in the crowd and her face lit up.

‘Annabel,' she cried, and running across flung herself into her arms.

‘I thought she was your mother, but you haven't got one, have you?' the other child said, observing them curiously, and Annabel saw Lucy's smile fade.

How many times had Aaron's daughter been faced with this sort of moment? Annabel wondered and, holding her close, she said softly, ‘I'm here in place of Lucy's mum and I love her just as much.'

As the friend, suitably impressed, went to find her own mother Annabel saw that Lucy's smile was back, her confidence restored, and taking her hand they went to find the car.

They'd had milk and biscuits when they got in and played a couple of easy board games. Now Annabel was investigating the larder to see what she could make for
an evening meal for when Aaron came home, when Lucy came into the kitchen and asked for some bread.

‘It's for the robin,' she explained. ‘There's one that hops around the garden and I feed it every afternoon when I come home from school.'

‘All right,' Annabel agreed, ‘but it will soon be dark. Don't move off the patio.'

She'd found some steaks and fresh vegetables and was setting the table when she heard Aaron's car pull up outside. Seconds later he came striding in, bringing a gust of cold air with him.

‘Hello, there,' he said. ‘Everything all right?'

She nodded. ‘Yes. Fine.'

‘Where's Lucy?'

‘On the patio, feeding the robin.'

He nodded. ‘It's getting very cold out there. I'll go and bring her in.'

He was back in seconds.

‘Where did you say she was?'

‘Er...on the patio. Why?'

‘She's not there.'

‘She has to be.'

‘She's not.'

‘Well, she must have wandered off into the garden, then, or come back inside while I wasn't looking,' Annabel said with calm reason, but when they went out together in the gathering dusk the garden was empty, and so was the rest of the house as they searched each room. There was no sign of Lucy.

Annabel could feel the blood draining from her face. Where was she? She hadn't been out there more than a couple of minutes when Aaron had come home. But the bread was there on the stone flags of the patio, and in her absence the robin was feeding itself.

‘She'll be next door at Richard's,' Aaron said suddenly. ‘The lights are on so he's home. She'll have wandered across. You can reach the coach house without going round the front of the houses.'

Even as he was speaking he was opening a wicket gate between the two gardens and striding towards the house next door.

As she watched him go Annabel felt the first sick stirrings of unease. Lucy had to be at Richard's, she told herself. Where else could she be? And with the asking of the question came the thought that there were a thousand places where she could be if someone had taken her.

But that was a ridiculous thought. It had to be.
She'd
been in charge of Lucy. No one else had been around. Nothing could have happened to her. She would be hiding somewhere, trying not to giggle as she watched them searching for her.

Aaron came back, his face grim. ‘She's not there,' he said tightly, ‘and Richard says he saw some guy hanging around the backs of the gardens when he came in earlier.'

‘No!' she breathed.

‘Yes!' he snapped. ‘She might have been abducted. I'm going to ring the police.'

Annabel was reaching for her coat.

‘Let Richard do that while we search the surrounding area. Every minute counts if she's wandered off.' Her voice broke. ‘Or been enticed away.'

* * *

They arrived back in their cars simultaneously and each knew that the other had nothing to report. The police were outside the house, talking to Richard. Night had fallen and there was still no sign of Lucy.

Annabel was in a state of complete shock. She'd been only feet away while she'd cut up the vegetables. Yet it must seem to Aaron and the others that she hadn't been looking after her properly. He
must
be thinking those sort of thoughts and she wondered how long it would be before he voiced them.

All the squad cars in the area had been notified to be on the lookout for a fair-haired, five-year-old in school uniform and slippers. That was something else adding to the nightmare that had come out of the blue. It was a cold night and Lucy's winter coat was hung up in the hallway and her warm boots were near the kitchen door where she'd taken them off.

‘I'm going out to search again,' Aaron said, adding when she got to her feet, ‘You stay here, Annabel. Richard will come with me. We need someone here in case she comes back.'

His voice was flat, expressionless, but she knew that he wasn't like that inside. He was dying a thousand deaths—and so was she, especially as she'd been the one looking after Lucy.

Daylight had been fading when she'd gone to feed the bird, but they'd only been a few feet away from each other. The child must have disappeared when she'd gone into the larder for a second time. Secure in the knowledge that Lucy had been safe in her own back garden, she'd seen no danger.

But now it was starting to look as if there had been. That she hadn't been safe. She'd seen the parents of missing children on television, traumatised and fearful as they'd pleaded with those who'd taken their child to bring it back. Was that what Aaron was going to have to do soon?

They'd left a policewoman with her and Annabel felt
that, as well as being there for support, the WPC was watching her, debating whether she was involved in Lucy's disappearance. And could she blame her? She had been the last person to see the child before she'd disappeared.

When Aaron came back his face was like a taut white mask. A police sergeant and a couple of constables followed him in and the senior officer said, ‘We're checking out what your neighbour saw just before your daughter disappeared. He reckons there was a man lurking at the back of the gardens. In the meantime, can you think of anyone who would wish you or her any harm?'

‘No, of course not,' Aaron snapped. ‘I'm a doctor, for heaven's sake, and when I'm not working I'm here with my family.'

‘How long have you known Dr Swain?'

‘A few months, but why? What has that got to do with it?'

‘Just checking. We have to look at all eventualities. How did Dr Swain come to be with your daughter this afternoon?'

‘I asked her to pick Lucy up from school. My mother usually goes to meet her, but she's away and I had an important meeting.'

‘What is the relationship between the two of you?'

Aaron hesitated and when his glance met hers Annabel turned away. She didn't blame the police for asking questions. They had to know what the domestic set-up was as lots of crimes were committed by people the victims knew.

But this was unbearable. If Aaron didn't blame her already, the doubts that were growing in his mind would put her beyond the pale for ever. Yet it was an indisputable
fact that she'd been alone with Lucy and she'd disappeared.

If only he would say something, she thought wretchedly. Reassure her. Tell her that he understood. But he had more urgent things to think about than the salving of her conscience. His daughter had disappeared on a cold winter's night when only a stone's throw from the kitchen door.

The police were preparing to commence the search again.

‘We'll be back shortly,' the sergeant told them, ‘and in the meantime, if you think of anything at all that you haven't already mentioned, get in touch.'

When they'd gone Annabel said, ‘I'm going home for a while. I know that Lucy's only been to the flat with you once, and won't know the address, but she does know that it's in the hospital grounds and might have found her way there for some reason.'

‘You're clutching at straws,' he said tightly. ‘Someone has got Lucy. I know it.'

The WPC who'd been left behind was bringing in mugs of tea from the kitchen and she said tactfully, ‘It's worth having a look at your place to be on the safe side. Children do the strangest things.'

‘Not this one,' Aaron told her. ‘For one thing Lucy doesn't like the dark. If she's alone out there, she'll be very frightened.'

And absolutely terrified if she's
not
alone, Annabel thought in silent anguish.

* * *

There were no signs of her at the flat. Annabel hadn't really expected there would be, yet she'd felt as if something had been pulling her back there. Maybe it was because she was desperate to wipe out the nightmare
with normality. To be near the hospital where she was always in control, instead of driving herself insane with the whys and wherefores of the terrible thing that had happened.

As she was locking up again the nurse who had the flat next door was just coming in off duty and she said, ‘Hi, there. You're just the person I need to see.'

‘Oh, yes?' Annabel said absently.

She had to get back to Aaron. She shouldn't have left him. Maybe there would be some news by the time she returned.

‘There's a very agitated woman hanging about outside the hospital's main entrance, asking to speak to Dr Lewis,' the nurse said. ‘I explained that he wasn't on duty at the moment but she was adamant that she has to see him.

‘It's a good job the public don't know where you doctors live, or those who think they have a grievance or should have priority treatment would be forever on your doorsteps.'

‘Did she say what it was about?' Annabel asked, putting her worries to one side for a moment. It was clear that the nurse hadn't heard the local news or she would have said something.

‘No. Just that she had to see him before it was too late. Presumably she has a sick child.'

‘Yes, maybe,' she agreed. ‘I'm going to his place now. I'll stop by the hospital to see if she's still there. What does she look like?'

‘Bright red fleece and grey trousers.'

The last thing Aaron needed was a distressed parent at that moment, she thought as she pulled up in front of the hospital shortly afterwards. The poor man was one himself. If anyone needed help, he did. But she might
be able to point the woman in the right direction once she knew what the problem was.

She was huddled on a bench near the front entrance. Annabel saw her in the light of the car's headlamps and she was out of her seat and beside her before she had a chance to move.

‘I'm Dr Lewis's fiancée and I'm a surgeon,' she said as the woman looked up with startled eyes. ‘I believe you have a problem, and as he isn't available maybe I can help you.'

‘It's him that needs help,' she said, raising herself upright. ‘I heard the late night local news half an hour ago and they said that his daughter is missing.'

Annabel caught her breath. Had this been the reason she'd felt compelled to come back to the hospital area? she thought as she observed the dishevelled person in front of her. Or was the woman an attention-seeker? One of those members of the public who thrived on sensation? They saw plenty of them at Barnaby's.

‘Do you know something about his daughter's disappearance?' she asked gently, knowing that she had to tread carefully.

‘Yes. He's got her. My Roy. I know he has.'

‘And why would that be?' Annabel asked in the same quiet voice.

‘Because they took our baby off us this afternoon and Roy said that if we couldn't have our little Sally, Dr Lewis wasn't going to have his child.'

‘So Roy is your husband?'

‘Yes, an' he's the kindest, gentlest father.
He
never touched the baby. It was me. I couldn't hold her properly. There's something wrong with my arms and she keeps slipping out of them and getting knocked. But I couldn't tell anybody as I knew they'd think I wasn't a
fit mother. Even Roy doesn't know I can't hold her properly.'