Page 62 of Little Children

Noah had heard something open before he was pushed forward, then he’d felt the sharp straw scratch against his ankles.

‘Sit down,’ Mister had said calmly.

Noah had done as he was told.

Mister had taken his right hand and held it flat to the ground, then a chain had been pulled around his wrist. He’d instinctively recoiled from the cold metal and tugged his arm away. Mister had grabbed it again but rougher this time and slammed his palm to the ground.

‘No talking,’ Mister had said as he’d removed the blindfold.

Noah had watched him leave through the gate of the pen he’d been placed in. It was smaller than the box room, and there was a brick wall to his left and a breeze-block wall to his right. In front of him was a wooden fence and the gate. It reminded him of an animal pen from when his dad had taken him to a petting zoo. He couldn’t stand, but it looked like a similar pen was directly opposite.

The overhead lights had gone out, and he had fallen asleep.

It was now Wednesday morning, as far as he could guess. He hadn’t seen his parents in three days.

He suddenly heard rustling and froze in terror. What other animals were in here with him? Could they get to him through the fencing? Did they bite?

For some reason, Noah felt even more frightened than he had before. His parents hadn’t found him yet, and there was something about this move that felt more permanent, as though he wasn’t going to be leaving here for a while and his captors knew it.

The realisation that his parents might never find him hit him hard. A sob escaped from his lips, and once it did a torrent followed. He couldn’t stop the tears that flowed over his cheeks. These strangers had taken him, and he didn’t know why. They weren’t nice, and he didn’t know what they were going to do with him. He just knew he was losing hope of ever seeing his parents again.

A cry caught in his throat as he heard a sneeze. And another.

Someone else was in here with him.

He felt both hope and fear at the same time.

‘Who’s there?’ he called out.

‘Shush,’ he heard from across the space.

‘Where are you?’ he called.

‘Shut up,’ came the terse response. ‘You can’t talk or we get no food.’

‘Please, just tell me?—’

‘You gotta shut up. Do you wanna get us killed?’

Noah shook his head as he heard the barn door open.

He didn’t know where he was or what they wanted him for, but at least now he knew that he wasn’t the only one.

Thirty-Nine

Despite Penn’s car looking as though it was held together by masking tape, superglue and a prayer, it had got them down the hundred plus miles of motorway in good time, landing them at Russell’s Hall Hospital just after 9 a.m.

Admittedly, it wasn’t as comfortable a ride as Bryant’s Astra Estate, she mused as they headed towards the morgue, but she’d been more preoccupied with what had prompted Keats to summon her specifically despite her being over a hundred miles away. There were other detectives, and one would have been assigned immediately, so there had to be a reason Keats had requested her, and she doubted it was just for his own amusement.

Jimmy, Keats’s assistant, opened the door as they approached. The pathologist was scrubbing up in the anteroom.

‘Okay, Keats, explain yourself,’ she said, reaching for the protective clothing that was already laid out.

‘Good morning, Inspector. I heard you were all up in Blackpool, so I’ll curb my curiosity as to why we have young Penn here instead of Bryant. I am sorry to disturb your holiday, but I have a body.’

‘Only one?’ she asked. She’d been thinking it was some kind of triple murder.

‘Yes, only one but?—’