After Anna by Alex Lake Page B

would be impressed by such a display of weakness? The girl’s mother should have appeared strong, threatening, powerful; that might have worried you, made you fear her. Respect her, even. But that snivelling display? Why would you care about someone like that? And the father? Even worse.
    It actually had the opposite effect. It just proved that you were right, that what you had done was for the best. Was a necessary evil .
    Did she really think that she could sway you – you – with her wet-eyed entreaties? Did she think that you would see her on television and think to yourself oh, the mother wants her daughter back, I never thought of that, better pop out and drop her off back home, then ? Did she think that you had done all this, just to hand the girl back? What kind of fool was she?

    The kind that lost a daughter in the first place.
    The daughter. Still there, drugged, silent. Beautiful.
    Her time was coming. It would be a little while yet, but not too much longer, at least, you hoped not. It was a shame to see her like this, locked up like some kind of trophy animal, although she would know nothing of it, have no memories of it. There was not much you could give her, but that, at least, was in your gift.
    As for you? You keep on waiting, waiting for the right moment to come.
    And when it does, you will act. You will end this.
    ii.
In an emotional press conference yesterday, the parents of missing five-year-old Anna Crowne appealed to any members of the public who might have information about the disappearance of their daughter to come forward. Mrs Julia Crowne also made a direct plea to any potential kidnappers, saying ‘And if you have her, if you’re watching this, then please bring her back. Bring her back to her home. Just bring her back and this will all be over. I won’t do anything to you. You can go free. I don’t care. I just want my daughter back.’
Speaking after the press conference, a spokesperson for the police said that there were few leads at present but that the investigation would continue to examine the evidence.
When questioned as to how a young girl could go missing in broad daylight without anyone noticing, the spokesperson said that the police had no comment to make at this stage. The spokesperson also declined to comment on speculation that the police were treating this as an abduction case, rather than a simple disappearance.
Henry Collins, a former major in the Army who now specializes in abductions, claimed that it was often the case that abductions took place in the most routine of circumstances.

‘People will notice something out of the ordinary,’ he said. ‘Perhaps a child alone at night or leaving a school outside of normal hours. But there is nothing exceptional about a child and an adult leaving a school together at the end of the day. Provided that the child was not being taken against its will then many people would simply not notice this.’ He added that this was especially true in today’s world. ‘A generation ago people would have known all the other mothers at the school gates and a strange face would have stuck out. Nowadays there are all sorts of people picking up children – nannies, babysitters, friends, grandparents – and people have become accustomed to new faces at the school gates.’
When asked about Anna’s possible whereabouts, Collins was pessimistic.
‘She could be anywhere by now,’ he said. ‘Eastern Europe is the likeliest destination, but there is no way of knowing for sure. The police will have descriptions of Anna out at every major port and airport, but European borders are porous and she could be easily—’
    Julia closed the browser. The story was all over the internet. And it wasn’t just in the UK. It was all over the world. It seemed that humanity shared a common interest in missing children.
    The efforts of the police were also international. DI Wynne informed her that across Europe police forces were actively engaged in searching