Page 94 of The Thief
Those words hit me harder than anything had ever done in my life. Like someone had wrenched my rib cage open and ripped my heart from my goddamn chest. I struggled to comprehend what was happening as my head spiralled into freefall, my ears ringing as I tried to make sense of it.
Ava was missing.
She was gone.
Jess was screaming, crying, not making any sense as she knelt on the floor, panting for breath. Tears streamed down her cheeks, plastering her hair to her face as she sobbed and begged for help.
“Slow down, sweetheart.” I ran to her, dropping down by her side, trying to get her to calm down so she could explain what had gone on. “Tell me exactly what’s happened.”
She peered up at me, the pain in her eyes showing me how broken she was in this moment. And I felt it pierce my heart; I felt it shatter my soul, because her pain was mine to feel too.
“My mum called. She said Ava was playing in the back garden. One minute she was there, the next she was... gone.” She struggled to finish the sentence, her voice and her heart breaking completely as she gasped each breath.
“Just breathe, Jess,” I told her, trying to get her to take deep breaths with me, even though I was struggling right along with her. “What else did she say?”
“The back gate was open, but they’ve checked everywhere. No one has seen her. All the neighbours are out looking. But she’s gone, Tyler. My baby. She’s gone.”
“Have they called the police?” Liv asked, and Jess nodded.
“Yes, but I need to get over there. I need to be out there looking for her. She needs me. She’ll be frightened. She’s on her own and...” She stood up, her eyes darting everywhere as if she was looking for the exit but had no idea where she was.
“I’ll get you there,” I promised. “I’ll take you right now.” I pulled her into my arms as the rest of the room stayed deadly silent. All that could be heard were Jess’s heart-breaking cries and pleas for help, along with my quiet words of comfort.
“Does she have her phone with her? The one I gave her?” I asked, hoping to God she did. But it was a long shot.
“No. She left it on her bedside table. I saw it before I left last night.”
Jess was desperate to escape. She needed to get out of here. So, I took her hand, walking her towards the door, ready to get into the car and race over to her mum’s house.
But then Adam called out, “Wait. I have something.” Andwe stopped, turning around to see him looking down gravely at his phone. “You need to see this,” he said, and when he looked up at me, all the blood drained from my body.
Jess tried to argue, telling me we didn’t have time, we had to go, but I had to see what was on Adam’s phone, and when I stalked over to him, Jess followed.
“Show me,” she snapped, putting her quivering hand out, demanding he hand over his phone as we stood in front of him. “If it’s about my little girl, I need to see it. Give it to me!”
Adam didn’t argue, just passed the phone to her, then looked right at me.
“It’s him. Number three, Con Hinds. He sent us that fucking message ‘cos he wants to draw us out. But he’s just fucked up big time.” Then, looking at Jess, he added, “We’ll find him, and we’ll kill him. He’ll pay for taking your little girl. We’ll make sure he fucking pays.”
On the phone was a photo of Ava smiling into the camera, eating an ice cream. There was also a hand in the shot, holding up a copy of the morning newspaper. A hand that had a black, barbed wire tattoo inked around its wrist. A tattoo I’d seen before during the bank robbery. A tattoo that sparked fury right through my soul. That made me want to burn the fucking world to the ground to find him. And underneath the photo was the caption, ‘I’m having fun, Daddy. Ready or not, come and find us. We’re waiting.’
Jess’s hand shook as she held the phone, staring at it in disbelief, and then, she looked up at me, her face red with rage. “You have to call him. Send a message. Do something... ANYTHING! He’s got my baby.”
“We will.” I took the phone out of her hand, found thenumber it’d been sent from and tried to call it, but it didn’t connect. Just told me the number had been disconnected.
When she saw my expression and realised I couldn’t get through, her panic exploded. It consumed her. She grabbed the phone, pleading, “No, no, no! There has to be another way,” as she tried the number herself and then screamed when it wouldn’t connect. But she wouldn’t, couldn’t accept it, and kept dialling as she cried and begged for a miracle to happen, her sobs getting more frantic with each attempt she made.
“If he touches her. If he does anything...” she whimpered.
“He won’t. We’ll find him.” I tried to take the phone off her, but she whipped her hand away.
“I’ll kill him,” she hissed. “I’ll fucking kill him if he harms a hair on her...” Her voice broke as she tried and failed to keep it together.
“I can find him faster,” a voice from the shadows announced. And we all froze, turning to Dan as he panted, nostrils flared, face twisted in fury.
“Where is she?” Jess charged over to where Dan stood, grabbing the front of his T-shirt as I tried to pull her away from him. “Please, you have to help me.”
She started to pant faster, struggling to breathe as she fought the panic attack taking hold.
