The Skye Collection, page 85
Rosa, eh? Caitlin glanced over to see Rosabeth crouched down talking to Sophie. Sophie was wide-eyed with her hands scrunched under her chin, Bowie was glued to Sophie’s side with his head tilted as if he was listening to whatever was being said, and something about the scene made Caitlin uncomfortable. ‘Oh, not long. They met at a speed dating thing he and I attended.’
‘Oh aye, the speed dating. I couldn’t make that one. Shame really. I could have met you sooner.’
As the evening wore on, things calmed down and Archie put some music on in the background. The food was all but gone and the tray bake had been a huge success. Sophie seemed a little more subdued as night began to fall, but Caitlin put that down to the party being overwhelming and perhaps she was tired too. It was understandable, she was only five and it was getting late. But wherever she went, Bowie the pug was there, like her little protector.
The garden looked magical in the light of the moon. The fairy lights hung across the pergola illuminated automatically as it got darker, and everyone sat around chatting. Even the dogs were exhausted; Chewie and Cleo curled up on the grass, relaxing in the warm evening air, while Bowie nestled into Sophie’s side, where she sat on the grass, propped up against one of the pergola posts.
Bram was chatting to Mitch across the garden. Evin and Grace were playing a card game as Sophie watched. Rosabeth unravelled herself from Archie and went into the house. Ruby and Jules were deep in conversation and Reid and Dex were having a beer together, no doubt plotting some crazy scheme.
Caitlin sat staring into the firepit as the flames danced and one of her favourite songs came on, causing her to smile. ‘Rule The World’ by Take That always gave her goosebumps and tonight was no different.
As she raised her chin, she made direct eye contact with Archie. His features were highlighted by the firelight, an angular jaw, high cheekbones and dark yet friendly eyes. He tilted his head and smiled serenely at her, making her stomach flip. In the background, Gary Barlow sang about the stars in the night sky, and it seemed so incredibly apt.
As if reading her mind, Archie glanced heavenwards and then back down to her again, his smile a little sad this time. She couldn’t seem to remove her gaze from his and she suddenly felt a little overcome with emotion. Why does this keep happening? she wondered.
Bram appeared by her side and pulled her from her reverie. ‘Hey, Caitlin, I think I’m going to make a move. But can I give you a call and maybe we could go out somewhere just the two of us?’
She stood. ‘That would be lovely. I’ll grab my bag and walk down with you.’
He held up a hand. ‘No, don’t do that. You stay with your friends. I’ll give you a call in the week, eh?’
‘Yes, please do. I’ll walk you out at least.’ They headed into the house, which was quiet apart from the end of Take That’s song playing on the Bluetooth speakers that Archie had linked throughout the house. When they reached the front door, Caitlin opened it. ‘Look, I’m sorry about tonight. I feel like we’ve hardly had a chance to speak.’
He smiled warmly. ‘Honestly, I’ve had a great night. Your friends are lovely, and I was made to feel very welcome.’
‘I’m really glad. They are a smashing bunch, but maybe next time a night out just the two of us like you suggested.’
‘Aye, and I can’t believe you’re friends with Ruby Locke! I didn’t expect to see her here tonight. I’ve seen all her films.’
‘She’s very sweet, not at all what you’d expect from a former Hollywood star.’
‘Nah, she seems great. They all do.’ He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. He smelled of fresh laundry and pinecones mixed with a bit of firepit smoke. ‘Goodnight, Caitlin.’
‘Goodnight, Bram.’
‘Oh, are you leaving too? Maybe you could drop me off at home?’ Rosabeth appeared, as if out of nowhere.
Cheeky wee mare.
Bram looked a little taken back. ‘Oh… erm, sure. Where do you live?’
‘Just at Balmacara.’
‘Aye, okay.’ He looked uncomfortable but clearly felt he couldn’t turn her down. ‘Right, goodnight again.’
Caitlin raised her hand. ‘Bye, Bram. Bye, Rosabeth.’
Rosabeth linked arms with Bram, and they headed back towards where he had parked his snazzy little car.
‘And another one bites the dust,’ Caitlin said aloud as she watched them walk away. After all, they had hardly spoken, and she got the feeling he was just being kind when he offered to call her. He seemed like a nice enough man but there really had been no discernible spark between them.
She closed the front door and headed back through to the garden, where Archie was frantically looking under the bushes and trees. Everyone was on their feet and following suit and an air of panic hung around the place.
Caitlin made her way over to Archie and grabbed his wrist. ‘Hey, what’s going on?’
He ran his hands through his hair. His eyes were wide and even in the dim lighting, she could tell the colour had drained from his cheeks and his chest was heaving. ‘She’s… she’s gone. Sophie’s gone.’
22
‘She must be here somewhere!’ Caitlin said as they virtually ransacked the house, checking in every single room, cupboard, nook and cranny. Bowie was gone too, along with his lead, which meant Sophie had left on purpose. ‘She can’t have gone far.’ Her heart was hammering at her ribcage and her stomach was knotted so tight she feared she may throw up.
Grace was sobbing uncontrollably, she felt entirely responsible, and Caitlin tried to explain to her that it wasn’t her fault at all. Evin was sitting quietly staring at the floor in a state of shock, his skin pale and his eyes filled with tears. The poor kids. They couldn’t take the blame for this. Not when they were surrounded by supposedly responsible adults.
Mitch had phoned the police and they were on their way, so he was standing guard at the front door awaiting their arrival.
‘What time did you notice she’d gone?’ Ruby asked in a wavering voice as she closed the cupboard under the stairs after checking it for a third time, just in case.
Archie checked his watch. ‘I don’t know… about eleven-thirty? I know I shouldn’t have let her stay up so late, but I figured it was a special occasion. If I’d only made her go to bed…’
Caitlin placed a hand on each of his arms. ‘Hey, stop it. If she was going to run away, my guess is she would do it regardless. Let’s just focus on finding her. What was happening when you noticed?’
Archie rubbed his hands over his face and back through his hair. ‘Rosabeth had just come to say goodbye and I tried to find Sophie so she could say goodnight to her, but there was no sign of her. Rosabeth said it didn’t matter and that she had to go as Bram had offered her a lift.’
Well, that’s a lie, Caitlin thought. What other lies has she told?
‘I just let Rosabeth go as I needed to keep looking,’ the pain Archie was feeling was evident in his strained voice.
Dexter returned from upstairs. ‘Nothing up there, I’m afraid. I’ve checked the wardrobes and under the beds, as well as every cupboard big enough.’
Everyone was frantic, pale and filled with the dread no parent wants to experience.
‘I can’t sit here and wait for the police,’ Archie said through gritted teeth as he paced around the room. ‘I’ll have to go out and look for her.’
Caitlin walked over and gently took hold of his arm. ‘Hey, you stay here. We’ll go. The police will want to talk to you, and Sophie will need to see you when she comes back.’
Archie knotted his hands in his hair. ‘What if she doesn’t come back? Oh god, this is all my fault. She must hate me. I’ve dragged a traumatised child away from her hometown and tried to squeeze her into my stupid life. What was I thinking?’
Trying to help him see reason, Caitlin said, ‘Archie, she doesn’t hate you at all. She’s been through a lot, and something must’ve spooked her. Stay by the phone. We will keep in touch with you via your mobile, but keep the landline free, okay?’
Archie’s jaw ticked and his nostrils flared. She thought he was going to argue but instead he nodded. ‘I knew I’d be a shit dad. I should’ve listened to my gut. I’m just like him.’
‘Stop it!’ Caitlin snapped, hoping to shock some sense into him. ‘You are nothing like your father. And you did listen to your gut. That’s why Sophie is here. You absolutely did the right thing and deep down you know that. Now, you’re the only family that girl has got, so you need to stay strong. Just sit tight here and we’ll find her. I promise you that, Archie.’ As soon as the words had left her mouth, she regretted them. Why make promises that you may not be able to keep, you idiot? Then, as if a devil and angel inside her were having a confrontation, another thought sprang forth. No! You can’t think like that. Stay positive.
Archie closed his eyes for a moment as if trying to calm himself. ‘I’ve some torches if they would help,’ he told them, pointing to the cupboard under the stairs.
‘Already grabbed one,’ Ruby said, waving the shiny cylinder in her hand.
‘I’ve got my phone torch,’ Jules said.
‘Aye, me too,’ Reid added.
‘And me,’ said Dexter.
Mitch walked to the cupboard to grab a torch for himself. ‘Come on, let’s get out there. Evin and Grace, you stay here so we know you’re safe, eh?’ The two bewildered children nodded.
As they left the house in the dark of night, the only illumination was provided by the moon overhead and the pretty lights strung around the inlet. There was a little glow of lamplight in the windows of the village’s night owls who were blissfully oblivious to what was going on outside.
‘I’ll go knock for Kenneth. His mountain rescue training might help,’ Reid informed the small group.
‘Good idea. Jules, you walk over towards the museum,’ Caitlin said. ‘Ruby, you check around the hall. Dex, can you check all around the campsite? And Mitch, you go up the road leading out of the village going north.’ Her friends headed off in their separate directions.
Where would a tired-out, scared five-year-old girl go? She doesn’t know the area. She has no friends here. Where on earth would she go? Caitlin headed for the Skye bridge. If Sophie was planning to go back to Edinburgh, she’d know they had accessed the island by that route.
As she walked, Caitlin saw the police car with its blue lights flashing, entering the village from the north. It slowed when it reached Mitch and she saw him gesturing towards Archie’s.
Caitlin walked up onto the bridge, but there was no sign of Sophie. With her little legs, she surely wouldn’t have gone much farther. After around fifteen minutes, she saw that the police had joined the road search. She could see their hi-vis jackets glinting in torch light and could hear the intermittent calling of the little girl’s name.
She didn’t want to think about the time she had lost Grace in a large supermarket, but the panic she’d felt on that day came back to haunt her. She had turned her back for a split second and was then plunged into the worst kind of distress a parent can experience. She remembered the way she had frantically rushed around the aisles calling Grace’s name, her heart almost bursting from her chest, and her mind conjuring up the worst of scenarios. Some shoppers stared blankly at her as she manically asked them if they’d seen a little red-haired girl, while some joined in the search, assuring her that her daughter couldn’t have gone far – the same thing she’d said to Archie.
Grace had eventually been found in the toy aisle, under a pile of teddy bears where she’d hidden ‘to be safe’. After that, Caitlin had sat Grace down and they had formulated a plan for the future should they, god forbid, be separated like that again. The relief she’d felt on finding her child had rendered her an emotional, sobbing wreck for days as she played over in her mind the ‘what ifs’.
The search for Sophie had been going for an hour now and the sinking feeling inside of Caitlin had worsened substantially. Archie had texted repeatedly asking if there was any news and she had stopped replying because telling him no was breaking her heart. She knew it must be upsetting for Reid too, seeing as Evin had run away when his mother had decided he was to live with her. Thankfully, the woman saw sense and he was returned to his dad, albeit with a broken ankle. Caitlin’s stomach lurched at the thought of Sophie being injured and she had to stop to bend double for a moment until the feeling of nausea passed.
As she stood, she heard movement behind the nearby bus stop. A rustling and a snuffling sound. Warily, she tiptoed to the location of the noise, unwilling to spook whoever, or whatever, it was. It’s probably a fox, she thought, but had to check.
Behind the bus stop was a large gorse bush and the branches at the bottom were moving even though the night air was still. She shone her phone torch at the bottom edge and a bark made her jump.
‘Bowie!’ she exclaimed. ‘Sophie? Sophie, are you there?’
No reply came and Caitlin’s breathing rate increased. What was she going to find? Her palms were sweating, and her head was pounding. Please let her be okay. Please, please…
A shuffling sound could be heard again, and Bowie was pulled back with a yelp. Oh god, had someone got Sophie under there? Were they trying to keep her quiet?
‘Who’s there?’ Caitlin asked in a stern, assertive voice that she’d had to pull from nowhere. ‘The police are here, so you’d better come out.’
Caitlin realised she was unarmed, so if there was indeed an assailant under the bush, she was putting herself in danger. However, undeterred and putting her own safety aside, she stepped closer.
‘You’re surrounded. Come out!’ she hissed.
Another scuffling noise ensued, and Bowie pulled loose and ran from under the bush. Caitlin managed to step on his lead to stop him from going anywhere.
‘Got you.’ She gripped the lead in her hand and wrapped it around her wrist. ‘Now who is under this bush?’ she demanded, again sounding far braver than she was feeling with her weak knees and thumping heart.
Suddenly, from amongst the sharp spikes a mop of dark hair appeared. ‘Ouch! Owww,’ Sophie cried as she freed herself from the thorny branches.
‘Sophie! Thank goodness!’ Caitlin lurched forward and pulled the little girl into her arms. ‘Are you okay, sweetheart? What were you thinking? Why did you run away?’
Sophie didn’t answer.
Releasing Sophie, Caitlin fired off a text to Archie, not wanting to let go of the girl long enough to make a call.
Got her! All fine. Bringing her back now!
She called out into the night, ‘I’ve found Sophie! She’s safe! We’re over by the bus stop!’
Sophie was sobbing now. Her arms were covered in scratches and her face was dirty from where she had been hiding.
‘Sophie, sweetheart, can you tell me what happened?’ Caitlin asked in a soft voice as she cradled the crying child.
‘I want my mummy,’ Sophie replied through sharply inhaled breaths.
Caitlin smoothed back the hair that was sticking to the dampness on her cheeks. ‘Oh, sweetheart, I know you do. But… do you understand that she’s gone?’
Sophie nodded. ‘But that lady said I could go see her.’
Caitlin frowned. ‘What lady, sweetheart?’
‘Wozadeath.’
‘Sorry, who?’
‘Archie’s friend, Wozadeath.’
Caitlin stopped the smile from forming on her lips. ‘Ah, I think you mean Rosabeth?’
Sophie nodded. ‘That’s what I said. She told me I could go see my mummy in Devon, so I want to wait for a bus.’
Confused, Caitlin wiped at the tears that were still streaming down the little girl’s face. ‘I don’t understand, lovey. Your mummy isn’t in Dev—’ She closed her eyes briefly. Heaven… Rosabeth told her that her mummy was in heaven. ‘Oh, sweetheart.’ She pulled Sophie into her arms and picked her up. ‘Come on, let’s get you home.’ Bowie trotted along beside them, tongue lolling out and panting. Caitlin got the distinct impression he was happy the ordeal was over.
Back at Archie’s, Caitlin watched as he scooped Sophie up into his arms and sobbed into her hair. The police officers looked on with concerned expressions and the rest of their friends hugged and shook hands.
Caitlin thanked Kenneth and he embraced her. ‘Well done, lassie. You did a grand job,’ he told her before saying goodbye to the others and leaving.
Dexter came over and put his arm around her shoulders. ‘Are you okay, Cait?’
She nodded. ‘I am now.’ She whispered, ‘Sophie said that Rosabeth told her she could go see her mum in Devon, bless her.’
Dexter smiled. ‘Out of the mouths of babes, eh? Look, I’m going to shoot off. I think you and Archie might need some time to just calm down.’
She smiled. ‘That’d be good. Thanks for all your help, Dex.’
He squeezed her arm. ‘It’s no bother. Come on, guys, let’s leave these folks to it, eh?’
‘Hey, honey, Grace can come and stay at ours tonight if you like?’ Jules said with her arm around the girl and her soon-to-be stepson.
‘What do you think, Grace?’ Caitlin asked, secretly hoping her daughter didn’t want to leave her side after the events of the evening, but also knowing it would be good for her to be with her friend after the whole awful ordeal.
Grace nodded. ‘Yes, I’d like that. I’m so tired and I know you need to be here a bit longer.’
Caitlin hugged her daughter. ‘Thank you for being so understanding, sweetie.’
The other friends hugged Caitlin and left along with Dexter, with promises to check in tomorrow.
Archie was on the sofa with Sophie nuzzled into him. ‘You mustn’t do that again, sweetheart. I was so worried about you. Why did you run away?’
‘Wozadeath told me my mummy had gone to Devon and that I would see her again one day, so I wanted to wait for a bus.’
He smiled and stroked her hair. ‘Oh, sweetheart. I think we need to talk about this when you’ve had a good sleep. I’m so glad you’re home. I missed you so much.’
