Page 56 of Amazing Grace

‘Vinnie, I owe you an explanation about the event I went to with Mark.’

His face clouded over. ‘Not now, Grace. There’s a lot of stuff that we probably should have talked about and didn’t. But right now, we have something way more important to do.’

He suggested she get a piece of paper and write down a list of all the places she thought that Mark may have taken Archie. She couldn’t even write the words, her hands were shaking too much, so he took the pen and pad from her.

‘I know it’s hard, but it would really help if you could have a good think about it, honey,’ he said gently.

‘They don’t really have a place that they go. They don’t go anywhere in particular. Mark never takes him anywhere. I can’t even focus my mind. Think, Grace, think!’ She hit her forehead with the ball of her hand. ‘Can’t we just phone the police? They’ll find him, surely. They’ll know what to do.’

‘Involving the police might just wind him up more though, Grace. You need to be really sure. Once they’re on board, there’ll be no turning back. And you know he could lose his job because of this if they’re involved.’

‘OK, let’s just wait a bit longer. I’ll try his phone again.’ Once more, it rang out and went to voicemail. She left a message, trying to be as calm as possible. ‘Mark, please ring me. I know that Archie is with you and that you’d never harm him but I need to know where you are and why you’ve taken him. Please, call me.’ Her voice broke on the last three words.

She remembered then that a while ago Mark’s phone had broken, and he had borrowed Lorraine’s. She had put Lorraine’s number in her phone at the time, so as a last resort, she phoned it now. It had the international dial tone but went to answerphone. She left a message asking Lorraine to call her urgently.

Snatching up her car keys from the dish on the hall table, she said that she was going to drive round to Mark’s flat, but Vinnie told her firmly that she was driving nowhere in that state and grabbed his keys. After diverting the house phone to her mobile, they went round to Mark’s and rang every intercom on the door until someone let her into the block. Grace ran up the stairs, heart racing, and banged on Mark’s front door, Vinnie following close behind. Mrs Brown, the old lady from the flat over the landing, appeared when she heard the commotion.

‘You won’t find him in. He’s gone away for a few days, dear, he told me this morning. Why are you here?’ she said. ‘He said he was taking his son away on a little holiday. I did think it was a bit strange to be honest, as the children are still in school, aren’t they?’

‘Oh my God! No!’ Grace fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, her head pounding and a dizzy feeling overwhelming her.

‘My darling, whatever is the matter?’ Mrs Brown asked as she bent down to Grace and put her arm around her shoulders. Vinnie was starting to look anxious, although Grace could tell he was attempting to calm himself.

‘He’s taken my son out of school and they’ve disappeared,’ she exclaimed. ‘Did he mention where he was going at all?’

‘Let me think now. Yes. Yes, he did. He said he was taking his son to his friend’s house in the Lakes. Do you know where that would be?’

‘Mrs Brown, thank you, thank you, thank you.’ She scrambled up from the floor and kissed the dear old lady on the cheek. ‘You’ve been a massive help. I owe you everything. Come on, Vinnie,’ she yelled behind her as she ran down the stairs two at a time. ‘I know where they are.’

Grace looked at her watch as they jumped in the car. It was three hours since she’d gone to pick up Archie from school and that had been an hour and a half after Mark had picked up Archie. They would have already arrived in the Lake District if they’d driven straight there. She told Vinnie to just get on the M6 and drive north.

Grace’s phone rang and she saw an unknown mobile number flash up. Normally she wouldn’t answer unknown numbers, but she had a feeling deep down in the pit of her stomach that she needed to answer this one.

‘H-Hello?’ she stuttered.

‘Good afternoon. Is this Grace Carnegie?’ a woman’s voice asked.

‘It is.’ Her heart was in her mouth.

‘This is Police Constable Sarah James here from Cumbria Police. Please don’t worry, but I have a young man here who says he’s your son. He’s quite distressed but had your number in his coat pocket and asked me to ring you. I’m going to pass you over to him.’

Her heart skipped a beat or two.

‘Mummy!’ Archie cried down the phone. ‘Mummy, is that you?’ She could tell that he was trying to be really brave but could hear tears in his voice.

‘Archie! Where are you?’ she asked him, trying to stay as calm as she possibly could.

‘We’re at a service station on the motorway. Dad picked me up from school saying I had to go to the dentist, but I knew that there was something wrong because you always take me there. When we got in the car, he said that we weren’t going to the dentist but that he was taking me away to the Lake District for the weekend. I knew that if I was meant to be going somewhere with Dad, that you would have known about it and would have told me.’

He was now crying hard but trying to talk between his sobs. ‘I told Dad that we had to speak to you. We kept seeing that you were trying to call but Daddy kept laughing and saying that it served you right. What did he mean, Mummy?’

‘Oh, darling, I’m so sorry that this happened. You’re my wonderful brave boy. Where is Dad now?’

‘I don’t know, Mummy, he went to the toilet ages ago. He sat me down with a McDonalds and told me to stay still till he came back but this nice police lady came over and asked me why I was alone. I started to cry and she asked me what had happened so I told her. I had your number in my pocket. You always told me to keep it somewhere safe in case of emergency. I think this was an emergency, wasn’t it, Mummy? Have I done the right thing? Will Dad be mad with me?’

‘It was absolutely the right thing to do, darling, yes. You are a very clever boy. But please don’t worry any more, I’m on my way to you. I’ll be there as soon as I can. And I’m going to give you the biggest squeeze ever. Now, do everything that the nice police lady asks you to, OK? And remember that your mummy loves you so very much and I’ll be there really, really soon. OK, sweetheart?’

‘Yes, Mummy, I love you too.’

---