Part 25 (1/2)

Maggie had no idea how she managed to get through the rest of the day. She hadn't wanted to go into the office, but she knew the future was uncertain and before long her job might be the only thing she had to support her and the children. So she stuck it out to the end of the day. She had spent every moment since lunch on her own, thinking, making deals with herself, evaluating the options. And now it was just after six and she was no nearer to a solution.

Josh had sent her a text from Suzy's phone asking her to pick him up from his football practice, and for one awful moment she had worried that she was going to be terribly late. There had been an accident on the motorway, and traffic had been backing up on all the main roads. But she was nearly there now, and only about ten minutes late, thank goodness.

She turned onto the side road that led to Josh's school, surprised not to see a flood of cars coming in the opposite direction full of muddy kids in football kit. Maybe practice had overrun. As she got closer to the school, though, a knot of worry started to build inside her. There were no lights on. The school was in darkness.

She turned into the entrance but the gates were locked. There was n.o.body there.

Where the h.e.l.l was Josh?

Maggie had never picked him up from football before it had always been Duncan. Where was her boy?

She pulled her phone from her bag and quickly dialled home.

'Come on, Suzy, pick up the b.l.o.o.d.y phone,' she said quietly, desperate for her sister to answer.

'h.e.l.lo?'

'Oh, thank G.o.d, Suzy. I've come to school to pick Josh up and everywhere's in darkness. I don't know where he is there's n.o.body here.' She couldn't control the panic in her voice.

's.h.i.+t, I'm sorry, Mags. I should have insisted on going back for him. He said it would be better if you picked him up. Do you want me to try to find a number for somebody from the school the head teacher, or somebody?'

'I don't know. I've let him down, Suzy. He didn't need this.'

'Is there another entrance to the school playing field?' Suzy asked.

And then it came to her. The school only had a small field, and football practice was always at a nearby park. But which one? What had Duncan said about football practice? Think, Maggie. Think.

Then it came to her. It was quite a big park not huge like Heaton Park but it was open all the time, so at least Josh wouldn't be locked in. It had to be there about ten minutes' drive away.

'Got it,' she shouted down the phone and hung up.

Surely his teacher wouldn't have left him there alone? But that wasn't the point. With everything that had happened, Josh would think she wasn't going to come for him.

She slammed the car into reverse to get out of the school's entrance and set off in the direction of the park as fast as she dared, praying that she had the right place.

The problem with the park a.s.suming she had chosen the right one was that there were several entrances, and Maggie didn't know which one was closest to the football pitches. It wasn't helped by the fact that with the overcast skies it was now nearly dark.

'Oh Joshy, I'm so sorry, sweetheart,' she said to herself as she drove into the first entrance she came to. Not only was he totally confused about his dad disappearing; now his mum had failed to pick him up. She was fairly sure that the usual time was six and it would be nearly twenty past by the time she got there. He must be worried sick.

Into her head came an image of her telling Josh about his father who he really was, what he had done. She couldn't do it. Whatever else happened, her children mustn't grow up believing their father was a monster. She couldn't let that happen.

There was a small, but empty, car park ahead, and she raced into it, slamming on the brakes and abandoning the car where it stopped. She couldn't see any goal posts. There were some rugby posts poking up above some trees over to her right. Maybe the football pitches were near.

'Josh,' she shouted at the top of her voice. 'Joshy, where are you darling?'

There was no answer.

She was suddenly hit by a mad thought. Could Duncan have come to watch today hidden in the bushes and then taken Josh himself? It was the sort of thing he might do. He would want to let his son know how much he was missing him. She hoped and prayed she was right, because it meant Josh was safe. Equally she hoped she was wrong, because how was she going to explain to Josh that his daddy wasn't coming home just yet?

She started to run, but her heels sank into the muddy turf. It didn't seem to have stopped raining or snowing for more than five minutes since they had arrived in Manchester, and the ground was sodden. She stopped for a moment and kicked her shoes off, bending to pick them up. She tried to run and shout at the same time, but she was soon out of breath.

Finally she saw some football goals up ahead, but as she had expected the field was deserted.

A sob broke free. Oh G.o.d, where was he? She forced herself to calm down.

'The teachers would never have let Josh stay here on his own,' she muttered to herself. 'It's more than their pensions are worth.'

He would be safe. She just had to find him.

Beyond the football pitches she spotted another car park much closer than the one she had used. There was a lone car parked there, not a car she recognised. She raced towards it. Suddenly the field was flooded with light as the car's headlights came on, then went off. The driver was flas.h.i.+ng her. She sped towards the car as fast as her failing legs would take her.

A man stepped out from the driver's side and moved to stand in front of the car. He was backlit by the headlights, and all she could see was a stocky build, legs planted apart.

'Mrs Taylor?' he asked.

'I'm Maggie Taylor, yes. How did you know?'

'Because your son is in my car.'

Maggie stopped dead in her tracks. 'Is he okay?' She didn't like this man's tone.

'He's fine.'

'So why hasn't he got out of the car?'

'Because he's asleep, thank goodness. He's been crying for nearly half an hour. He has it in his head that you've left him. I don't know why I didn't ask but maybe I should.'

Maggie was about to scream, 'And what business is it of yours?' but she recognised that this man was close to reporting her to social services.

'I'm so sorry,' she said. 'My husband usually picks Josh up, but he's away. Josh sent me a text from my sister's phone, but I thought I had to pick him up from school, so I went there.'

The man looked at her. His mouth was set in a tight line, as if he was disgusted with her as a mother. As well he might be, she thought.

'Who are you, if you don't mind me asking?' Maggie said.

'I'm Archie's dad. He and Josh are in the same team.'

'Where's Archie then?' Maggie's suspicions were not yet fully allayed.

'In the car. They played a hard match and won, by the way.'

Maggie could hear the subtext As you would have known, had you been here but she had no idea what to say.

At that moment, the pa.s.senger door flew open and a little boy came hurtling across the gra.s.s. 'Mum,' he shouted and flung himself at her.