Stolen by Rebecca Muddiman Page B

right. Most of his team had lost hope. It had only been three days but in most cases like this, forty-eight hours was the window of hope. After that things usually didn’t turn out so well. And by bringing in the divers perhaps he was making a statement to the world that he agreed with them. The truth was he’d brought them in as a formality, to cover all bases, but he hadn’t given up hope himself. Someone out there had taken Beth Henshaw and he didn’t believe they’d taken her to kill her. It didn’t make sense to him, didn’t feel right. But now he was there to tell Abby what they’d found. And his hope was drifting away.
    Paul motioned for Gardner to sit down but he remained by the door.
    ‘What is it?’ Paul asked, his fists clenching. ‘What? Has something happened?’
    ‘Is Abby here?’ Gardner asked, looking around the room, wanting to see anything but the eyes of the man in front of him.
    ‘She’s asleep.’
    Gardner opened his mouth but closed it quickly and moved towards him. ‘You should go and get her,’ he said.
    Paul frowned. ‘Why? What’s going on? Tell me.’
    Gardner rested a hand on Paul’s shoulder, cleared his throat and exhaled loudly. ‘There was a body found this morning,’ he said.

Chapter Twenty-Five
    Gardner watched as Paul’s face froze for a second and then what seemed like all of his breath came rushing out. His eyes darted around the kitchen, as if his mind was furiously trying to process the information.
    ‘She appears to be about the right age,’ Gardner continued and took a seat across from Paul. ‘According to preliminary results she’s been dead over a week, which would suggest it’s not Beth but...’ Gardner stopped. He didn’t need to go into details now. Didn’t need to tell the man that a body in the water will decompose at a different rate to one found outside. ‘There’ve been no reports of another missing child of that age in the area so to be sure we need to do a DNA comparison.’
    Paul raised his hand to his mouth and swallowed hard. Gardner stood and found a glass in the cupboard beneath the sink.  Filling it with water, he handed it to Paul. Paul took it from him with shaky hands but didn’t attempt to lift it to his mouth. Gardner sat next to him and folded and unfolded his hands.
    ‘I know this is hard. But I think you should get your wife.’
    Paul dropped the glass onto the table, spilling the liquid across the tablecloth. ‘Can I see her?’ he asked.
    Gardner shook his head. ‘No.’
    Paul looked directly at him and gave him a questioning look. Gardner licked his lips and wished he’d gotten a glass of water for himself. ‘I’m afraid a visual identification would be impossible. The child was found in the river.’
    ‘Jesus,’ Paul said and rushed to the sink, dry heaving over the dirty dishes. Gardner stood and moved closer to Paul. Paul turned back to Gardner, his eyes red and wet. ‘You need a DNA sample?’
    ‘I really think you should get your wife. I don’t want her finding out about this from anyone else.’ 
    Paul shook his head. ‘No. I don’t want Abby to know unless she has to. If you need DNA, I can do it.’
    Gardner’s jaw clenched. ‘That won’t be necessary, Mr Henshaw. I know it’s not my place but I really think you should tell your wife.’
    ‘No,’ Paul said again. ‘No. She doesn’t need to know yet. It’ll kill her. Let me do the test. Let me do it and then if it’s not Beth Abby never needs to know. Hasn’t she been through enough already?’
    Gardner blew out a breath. ‘I realise that you just want to protect Abby-’
    ‘So why won’t you let me?’ Paul said. ‘Why won’t you let me take the test?’
    They both turned when they heard Abby walk into the room.
    ‘Because you’re not Beth’s father,’ she said.

Chapter Twenty-Six
    Simon Abbott closed his eyes and ignored the stewardess’ questions. He hoped if he kept his eyes closed he’d be able to go to sleep, God knew he