Читать книгу At Your Door - J. P. Carter - Страница 13

Having read the article in the Evening Standard, Sophie was struggling to keep her emotions in check. The words had proved as shocking as the three photographs that covered half the page.

She continued to sit there in the clinic’s reception, her breath stalled as the blood pounded in her ears.

She didn’t want to believe the evidence of her own eyes, but she had no choice. The facts, as laid out, spoke for themselves. They revealed a story that was both sensational and tragic. A story that revolved around a London police officer named Anna Tate.

The woman’s photograph was the largest of the three that had been published to help illustrate the article. Sophie squinted at what she considered to be a plain, unremarkable face. Tate had sharp features and dark hair down to her shoulders. She was in her early forties, according to the paper, but looked older.

Sophie let out her breath and returned her attention to the beginning of the article. She re-read it because her mind had struggled to take it all in the first time.

But as soon as she started her anxiety grew, and a hard knot formed in her stomach.

A MOTHER’S TEN YEAR NIGHTMARE

An Evening Standard two-part exclusive

DCI Anna Tate is the detective in charge of the Major Investigation Team based in South London.

She made headlines two weeks ago when she led the hunt for the kidnappers of nine children from a nursery school in Rotherhithe.

During the investigation it came to light that ten years ago her own two-year-old daughter Chloe was abducted and is still missing.

Thanks to an extraordinary twist of fate the kidnapping case has led to a dramatic development in the search for Chloe – but it has also raised fresh fears over the girl’s safety.

Anna has told her story to the Standard because she believes that the more people who know about it the more chance there is that she’ll one day be reunited with her daughter, who is now twelve.

Sophie’s throat tightened suddenly and for a few seconds she had to fight to get the air into her lungs.

The words on the page became blurred so she closed her eyes and willed herself to stay calm despite the panic that had seized her chest.

She was briefly tempted to stop reading and to throw the paper in the bin. But she knew that wasn’t an option. She had exposed herself to a cold, hard truth and there was no way she could run from it.

She snapped her eyes open and forced herself to take each breath slowly and carefully as she continued to read.

Detective Anna Tate’s nightmare began one day in July 2009, six months after she divorced her husband, Matthew Dobson, because of his adultery. He’d been trying to persuade her to take him back but she’d refused. As a result he decided to seek revenge.

He regularly looked after their daughter as part of a joint custody arrangement. But on that day he failed to take Chloe home when he was supposed to. Instead he disappeared with her and sent Anna a text message which read:

You won’t let us be a family again because I made a stupid mistake. So I’m starting my life afresh with my lovely daughter. Don’t bother trying to find us because you never will. You have yourself to blame, Anna. You should have known that I wouldn’t let you have a happy life if I couldn’t be a part of it … M

Anna discovered that he had packed in his job, sold his car and moved out of his flat. As Anna’s police colleagues launched a hunt for Dobson and his daughter, it was feared he had taken her abroad.

Horrific

Anna heard nothing for ten years, but she didn’t give up searching for Chloe. She ran various social media campaigns which included a dedicated FindChloe Facebook page and website. And she hired a private investigator to try to find them.

Then, just over two weeks ago, came the horrific abductions of the children from the Peabody Nursery School. Anna appeared on the television news and among the millions of people who saw her was a man named Paul Russell. He was compelled to contact her and his message was:

If you can find the time to come and see me I can tell you what I know about your daughter and her father. And I can apologise for the part I played in what happened ten years ago.

Anna went to see Paul Russell in a London hospice where he has since died of cancer. But in what amounts to a deathbed confession he revealed to Anna that he used to be a master forger who provided fake documents to criminals, illegal immigrants and anyone else who was willing to pay him.

Passports

Anna’s ex-husband was one of his customers. Matthew Dobson wanted fake passports for himself and his daughter. Russell produced them for him in the names of James and Alice Miller.

This was a significant development as far as Anna was concerned, but another staggering revelation was to follow. Russell told her that Dobson had contacted him three years ago asking for more fake documents because he and Chloe were returning to the UK from whichever country they had been living in.

Anna passed on this information to her private investigator who went on to find out that James Miller (aka Matthew Dobson) did indeed come back to the UK three years ago. However, shortly after setting up home in Southampton he was murdered.

Anna went to see the detective who led the murder investigation. She had lots of questions for him but the most important was: ‘Now you need to tell me what’s happened to my baby. Where is Chloe?’

Find out what DCI Anna Tate was told in tomorrow’s Evening Standard.

By the time Sophie had finished reading the article her eyes were brimming with tears and her mind was dull with shock. She also felt dizzy, nauseous, as though she were about to pass out.

To stop that happening she made herself stand up and walk unsteadily across reception to the toilet. Once inside she leaned over the sink and splashed cold water on her face. The feeling of nausea receded but her head continued to spin as a wave of despair washed over her.

She got another shock when she saw herself in the mirror. She was deathly white and the fearful expression in her eyes was evidence of the sense of dread that now consumed her.

She had only read the first instalment of the Anna Tate story. On the way back to the flat she intended to pick up today’s edition of the Evening Standard. And she knew with a high degree of certainty that it would contain more devastating details about the considerable threat she now faced.