The Lost

‘For Christ’s sake, shut up!’ Waverly’s hand slammed down on the granite island. ‘You think this is helping? Just... let me think!’

Jonah expected an explosion, but instead Chrissie’s face crumbled. She pulled away from her husband’s hand when he reached for her, but then sagged against him as he folded her into a hug. Watching, Jonah felt the fear and pain of losing Theo again as fresh as when it happened.

Except he couldn’t remember he and Chrissie ever comforting each other. When Theo had disappeared they’d turned on rather than to one another, tearing themselves apart in the process.

‘I’m sorry, but you need to decide,’ he told them. ‘I’ll go with whatever you say, but if you’re going to involve the police it has to be now.’

Wiping his eyes, Waverly moved away from his wife, trying to compose himself.

‘If we...’ He cleared his throat and tried again. ‘If we go to the police, what’ll happen?’

‘They’ll put out a Child Rescue Alert for Abigail and Harry. It’ll go out on email, text and social media as well as TV and radio stations. They’ll release Stokes’s name and description as well. They’ll throw everything at it.’

Waverly was nodding as though he understood, but there was a dazed look in his eye. ‘This Stokes... he was a suspect for your son as well.’

There was a low moan from Chrissie. Jonah felt a corresponding pain in his own chest.

‘Yes.’

There would be a time to talk about what had happened in the past, but this wasn’t it. Waverly had the sense to realise as much.

‘Then this isn’t the first time he’s... I mean, he’ll know what the police do in this sort of situation.’

‘It’s possible, yes.’

‘And if an alert goes out on TV and radio, he’ll hear it as well. He’ll know that we’ve ignored his instructions.’

Jonah could see which way this was heading but he couldn’t think of a way to prevent it.

‘They’d use discretion. They wouldn’t do anything to put a child at risk.’

‘Perhaps not, but Stokes obviously planned this. I think we’ve got to assume he’ll have anticipated the police response as well.’ Waverly’s confidence was returning now as he turned his lawyer’s mind onto the problem. ‘He’ll cover his tracks and take the twins somewhere that won’t be easy to find. He’s given us till midnight for you to take the money, which gives us... OK, that’s a little more than twelve hours. Can you guarantee the police will be able to find the twins by then?’

‘No,’ Jonah admitted. ‘But there’s no guarantee Stokes will keep his word even if he gets what he wants. I know it’s not what you want to hear, but I don’t think he’s got any intention of doing what he says.’

Waverly looked as though he might be sick. ‘Chrissie? What do you think?’

Her face was a ball of misery. ‘I just want my babies, I don’t care how. Please, just get them back.’

Waverly passed a hand over his hair, unconsciously smoothing it. ‘I agree. We have to do what he wants.’

Even though logic said it was the wrong thing to do, Jonah couldn’t blame the man or fault his reasoning. Faced with the same choice — the same chance — when Theo had disappeared, would he have ignored it?

‘Can you get the money?’ he asked.

‘By tonight?’ Waverly seemed to sag. ‘Not that much. Nowhere near.’

Chrissie rounded on him. ‘Then try! Jesus Christ, these are your children we’re talking about!’

‘You think I don’t know that? I can’t just snap my fingers and...’ He ran out of steam. ‘Even if I empty the firm’s accounts it wouldn’t be anywhere near enough. We don’t have access to that sort of money, not by tonight. If I call in a few favours I might be able to raise a hundred thousand or so, but that’s all.’

Chrissie was looking at him, her desperation laid bare. ‘If we can get the money, are you going to help us?’

If Jonah agreed, he’d be gambling his own life as well as Chrissie’s young son’s and daughter’s. Stokes had unfinished business with him, that much was obvious. Wanting to meet again at the warehouse sent a clear message, and Jonah knew this time would be different. He’d had surprise and luck on his side before. Especially luck. But now Stokes would be ready for him.

Yet if Jonah didn’t do as he’d demanded, he’d be condemning two children to death. Barring miracles, there was little chance the police could locate them before Stokes’s deadline expired, and his faith in miracles had disappeared along with Theo. The twins might be dead already, he knew that. But Jonah had brought this down on Chrissie’s family. If there was even a faint chance of saving them, he had to take it. That was an opportunity he’d never had with his own son, and he was going to do everything he could to grasp it now.

‘I’ll need some things,’ he said.