What She Saw Read Online Free PDF Page B

smiling, relieved after the flash of parental panic.
    â€˜I’ve just fed him. He’s asleep, he’s great.’
    In the corner of the room, Bannerman Square came onto the BBC News 24 channel. Rosen’s attention locked on to the TV. A series of now all-too-familiar images played out as the reporter narrated the background story. Pictures of Thomas in school uniform, the school he attended, the palatial house he lived in, his parents, his father’s TV adverts, replicas of the clothes he’d worn and the phones he’d taken on the day he went missing, came up one by one on screen.
    â€˜The disappearance of Thomas Glass,’ said the reporter, ‘was initially thought to be a kidnap for ransom plot. When no ransom demand came, his multi-millionaire father’s connections with the Conservative Party provoked speculation that the abduction was politically motivated and that terrorists were responsible.’
    Library footage played of a press conference in which Emily Glass wept and pleaded: ‘Please, he’s the only child we have, we’ll ever have. We went through IVF.’ John Glass, at her side, had looked uncomfortable at the release of such personal information.
    Rosen sighed and turned off the television with the remote. He had hardly seen Sarah for days, and could have kicked himself for being hooked to the TV now.
    â€˜It’s been all over the news about Thomas,’ said Sarah.
    â€˜What’s the media making of it?’
    â€˜A big deal. You remember the scene near the end of
Frankenstein
?’
    â€™ David sighed. ‘The torch-wielding mob?’
    â€˜That’s the one, love. I heard a phone-in on Capital Radio. People are demanding the return of the death penalty. The consensus is it’s a paedophile gang.’
    â€˜Well,’ said David. ‘They’re not going to get the death penalty, and the consensus is wrong. Whoever’s done this has just broken every protocol in the paedophile handbook: do not leave the body in a public place; do not do anything to attract attention; if not inclined to kill within twenty-four hours, do not give the child a chance of surviving. . . I could go on.’
    â€˜Have you seen his parents?’
    â€˜It was terrible. I told his father Thomas knew the person who took him.’
    The painted eye flashed through his mind.
    â€˜How’s his mother?’ asked Sarah.
    â€˜Distraught.’ He recalled how she’d thrown her husband’s hand away.
    â€˜David, you’re in the room but you’re miles away. What’s up?’
    â€˜I’m dead tired.’
They’re going to do it again
. The idea rolled around his mind and his eyes closed. Darkness invaded his senses. Sarah tapped him on the shoulder and his eyes flew open.
    â€˜Have you eaten?’
    â€˜I’ve got no appetite.’ For once in his life it was true. ‘I’m just exhausted.’
    â€˜Well, come on then, David, bed.’
    He walked up the stairs with Sarah right behind him. ‘What time’s the alarm clock set for?’ he asked.
    â€˜Eight.’
    He stopped at Joe’s bedroom door and went straight to the Moses basket where his son slept. A soft glow from his night-light played on his skin and his little mouth pouted and smacked in the contentment of sleep. Love rose up inside David and, with that love, renewed determination. He kissed his son’s forehead. The touch and the smell of a happy, healthy baby soothed the jaggedness inside him. Quietly, he said, ‘I’m sorry I didn’t see you awake yesterday. Or the day before.’ He hadn’t had waking contact with his son since Tuesday. It was now Thursday.
    â€˜I’ve missed you, little one,’ said David. He felt the weight of Sarah’s hand on his back.
    As Rosen undressed, he pictured the sinister eye on the wall and was moved once again by the need for urgency. He picked up the clock at his