The Real Me - Chapter 12

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The police were already on site when she and Richard arrived at the family home. The police sat in two cars and an unmarked white van. As she arrived another van with forensic services printed on the side, pulled to a stop. ‘Are you OK to do this Rachel?’ Richard asked. ‘I have to be Richard.

I want to know what happened.’ ‘But you’re OK to be left, only I have meetings. I could send someone out for moral support.’ ‘No, Richard. I don’t want this to be the chatter around the office. Can we just say I’m on compassionate leave? Say mother is in the hospital? I feel so ashamed of my Dad. If he has done all this, there is no way back for him into our family.’ ‘No. Well, I leave you to it but keep me informed please, and we will expect you to stay with us while this goes on.’

‘Thank you, Richard. You are so kind.’ She found his kindness embarrassing and his hospitality overwhelming, not something she was used to, especially from someone of his class. She left the car, waved goodbye, and went towards the gaggle of officers. Anna Rainsford detached herself from the group and greeted her. ‘We found your Dad’s car. It’s in Dover, in the ferry park, abandoned with a flat tire and no spare but that’s all we know until they fingerprint it.’ ‘Is the car in one piece?’ ‘Seems undamaged.

They are examining CCTV of passengers on the ferries to see if they can spot your father or Dannie.’ ‘Well, Dannie would never have gone with him. I can’t think Dad would have forced her to go with him either. Why would he? No, that’s not possible. So, where is she?’ ‘We realize that’s the greatest worry and we do take child disappearances very seriously, especially given the circumstances in this case.’ Anna replied. Rachel felt herself breaking down.

She took deep breaths and bit the inside of her cheek. Anna Rainsford watched her struggling for control. She knew if she reached out, she would break the dam and Rachel’s pent-up fears would get the better of her. ‘What we have to do, is look at the house, examine her room, take samples of blood and DNA, so we know just who has been in the house. They will also be examining the garden and the copse behind these houses.

I’ll just take a look and let them get on with it, then I suggest we go to the hospital and speak to your mother.’ ‘Yes, I have to see her.’ Rachel knew why they were searching outside and searching the wood. Thirty minutes later they were walking to Garston Ward where her mother was in bed under observation. They found mother propped on pillows looking pale. She had a blue-black bruise on her cheek and her right arm was in a sling and plaster cast. ‘Rachel,’ she greeted her daughter, ‘I’m sorry.’ ‘For what, Mum?’ ‘For not being stronger.

I should have told him not to come back.’ ‘You told me you fell down the stairs. That wasn’t the truth was it?’ She accused. Her mother ignored the accusation. ‘Who is this with you.’

‘Detective Constable Anna Rainsford, Mrs. Artherton.’ Anna replied. ‘We are searching for Daniella and we need to know exactly what happened and let’s start with why you fell down the stairs.’ ‘Oh, dear. I’ll try to get it right. It’s all a bit of a blur. I got a call from your father, well a message, that said he was going to the house to collect clothes and things, I suspect he was looking for money and savings accounts, but I had hidden any valuables, not that we had much. I panicked then, asked to go home, and said Dannie was ill.

I phoned and no reply. That was wrong, I knew Dannie should be there, she’s been so good since she changed. I drove home as fast as I could.’ She stopped as if trying to recall. Her lips moved without sound and her eyes glazed. ‘The house was real quiet. I went up to her room. The door was half closed and I had to put my weight against it to enter.

The room was wrecked, you had made it so nice for her too. The bed was tipped over, the mattress laying against the wall, her little knick-knacks on the floor, some broken. Lizzie, her doll was on the floor, her head broken. Her clothes lay strewn about. ‘I heard a noise and turned and found your father there, he had come from our bedroom. ‘What have you done?’ I said. ‘He glowered, his eyes were full of alcohol, glassy and he sweated, beads on his forehead.

He stank that unwashed male smell and drink, unpleasant. ‘What you shoulda done. Given the little shit a good thrashing.’ he said. ‘You stupid moron,’ I said and he hit me so hard I fell back against the wall in the turn of the stairs and tumbled all the way to the ground. When I came to, I was in the ambulance.’ ‘What about Dannie. What happened to her?’ ‘I don’t know, how could I. I never got into her room properly, never saw her.

Is she OK? Is she in the hospital?’ ‘We don’t know where she is Mum.’ ‘You have to find her Rachel. I’ll never forgive myself. I said he could go into the house to collect things and told him where I’d hidden the spare key. I never thought he would beat her.’ ‘Mrs. Artherton, we’ve put out an APB for your husband. If you should hear from him, you must contact us immediately or you could be considered an accessory.

People like your husband can so often appear to have turned over a new leaf and continually disappoint. We see it all the time. Seventy-six percent of prisoners re-offend within five years. Don’t trust him, Mrs. Artherton because that trust will be misplaced. When we catch Mr. Artherton, he will be held on remand, hopefully, if Crown Prosecution gets their fingers out.’ Anna Rainsford said. ‘I would like him out of the way.’ Rachel said bitterly. ‘Meanwhile, I have to find Daniella. Sorry Mum, but I told you. You should have seen this coming.

I hope you’re better soon, but Mum, Dannie is my first concern. I have to find her. You knew Dad was going to come back and plague us, yet you would not get rid and you gave him permission to enter the house when Dannie was there alone? I can’t understand you.’ ‘I know, Rachel, I feel so guilty.’ ‘No more Mum. I can’t forgive Dad and I can’t forgive you. I’ll make a safe home for Dannie and me if I ever find her.’ Rachel sees fresh tears appear in her mother’s eyes. ‘Sorry Mum.

I hope you’re better soon.’ She turns away without kissing her mother. Rachel and Rainsford walk to the hospital cafeteria. Over coffee, they discuss what to do. ‘You were hard on her.’ Anna said.

‘I know but I had tried to get through to her. I said Dannie had to come first. It’s not as though Dad treated Mum right, he didn’t, yet she kept taking him back, getting beat up when Dad was in drink, and whatever, her first concern should have been a vulnerable kid.’ ‘Sometimes it’s love, or what has been love. It’s amazing what women and some men, will put up with.

I had another case, the husband was trans, and when he admitted that, his wife tried to poison him. She confessed to him and yet, he stayed with her.’ Rachel stayed silent. At length, she said, ‘Well, if I was badly treated, I’d be off. Life is too short.’ ‘I guess, and yes, me too. OK, we have two tasks.’ Anna says. ‘Most important is to find a vulnerable fourteen-years old trans kid. Then we need to interview Dad about the assault on Daniella and your mother. That should make about five years in prison at least.

I find from records, we have previous on your father, a caution for assault of a mate in a pub. Witnesses said he had been provoked, so he just received a Police caution. We need your fingerprints and your mother’s so we can eliminate them and isolate your father’s. We shall be searching for his DNA too, in case we can pin any more unsolved crimes or involvement in crime on him.’ ‘Golly. I never thought this would lead to all that.’

‘You have no objection to giving us your fingerprints or DNA?’ ‘No of course not.’ ‘Good. Perhaps we should get that done now.’ They drove to the police station and Rachel gave fingerprints and was swabbed for DNA. Anna stayed with her. Afterward, they drank more coffee in the police canteen. It seemed to Rachel that Anna was fuelled by coffee. Anna outlined the inquiry. ‘We will check on CCTV at the bus station and the train station for Daniella and any other places, as well as look for your father. Do you know where he would have gone?’

‘No, he wasn’t so much a local villain, but he had London and Birmingham contacts. We thought he had been up in the North but we think he has just been in Spain. He could be anywhere. He never talked about what he did.’ ‘Why Spain?’ ‘He phoned Mum. She swore there was someone speaking in Spanish in the background. He knew lots of scallies, crooks who had fled there.’ ‘Really? OK, we will find out from a few informers if they know anything.

He seems to have been operating under the radar. I’ll put the wheels in motion. Priority for us will be finding Daniella. What do you think about a TV appeal? Ask her to let you know where she is?’ ‘Yes, of course. I’ll do anything.’ ‘I want you to stay around, at least for the next couple of days, so we can look at any CCTV footage we have.

Some moan because the UK has more CCTV cameras than any other nation, but at times like this, it comes in handy. It may give us a clue as to where she has run to.’ ‘She may be dead.’ Rachel says, her spirits have suddenly dipped. ‘Don’t think that. Why would she be?’ ‘The suicide rate is high for trans kids.’ ‘Don’t believe all the statistics you read. Most are guesswork. Do you think she is the suicidal type?’ ‘What type would that be?’ ‘Well has she ever mentioned it?’

‘No, no she just clammed, except, well she said staying a boy would be like death, life wouldn’t be worth living. She didn’t communicate at all sometimes. She only came out because I caught her wearing my dress. She’d fallen asleep wearing it.’ ‘And this had been going on for a long time?’ ‘By what she admitted, yes. For as long as I can remember.

When she was young, she loved to dress up and I admit, I joined in that game, but I don’t feel responsible. She was always a little girl, liked girl things, and never played out with the local boys. She joined in with the girls when they allowed, skipping, hopscotch, queenie-queenie, and girls’ games. That’s why their father hated her. Finding her living as a girl, not just dressing up, must have blown his stupid brain.’ ‘Better men than your father have shown the same attitude.

That’s not excusing him, the violence is inexcusable but many trans find themselves rejected by their families, not just their fathers. It just so happens, your Dad is a violent man, a dangerous man apparently.’ ‘You paint a bleak picture. Perhaps I should do criminal law rather than commercial.’ ‘Stick with commercial, at least the villains there are not violent. Well, we need to find Daniella. That’s my concern, and priority, Rachel.

Keep your phone on. As soon as I have anything, I’ll phone you.’ ‘I don’t know what to do now. Do I go home and tidy up? Will your colleagues have finished?’ ‘I’ll phone and find out. Why not go to work? I can contact you there as soon as we have any news.’ ‘OK. Perhaps work will take my mind off the worry. Nothing matters except getting Dannie back and safely home.’

‘Of course. This is now my boss's case, not mine. Inspector Riley is now in charge. Missing children are a priority, especially when there’s evidence of a struggle or discontent in the family. So, shall I drop you at work?’ ‘Yes. I better go there. I have to report on my trip to Las Vegas.’ ‘Las Vegas? I’d be lucky to get a trip to Blackpool.’ ‘Well, I don’t think you are missing anything, but that’s just me and I was a girl alone, so not really the place to be and I was working.’ ‘Well, I’d like to see it once.’ Anna drove them smoothly and quickly into the city center.

The traffic was heavy, especially on the inner ring, queued up before every set of lights and roundabout. ‘Here, will this do for your office?’ She stops at the lights on Castle Hill in the city center. ‘Yes, it’s just around the corner. Thanks. As soon as you hear anything, you’ll let me know?’ ‘Of course. If she was my sister, I’d be just as concerned.’ ‘Bye Anna, and thanks.’

At work, Rachel found Richard was out. She wrote a short report on her trip to rescue Simone. That seemed like another world. Now she was back to the harsh reality of this world, her world, the world of business insolvency, misappropriated shares, take-overs, contracts, and company flotation. Hers was a large practice that had once been in the City of London but had moved out to the home counties. Her mind remained on Daniella. That poor kid, she thought she must have felt so alone and so frightened. She shivered as her imagination took over.

She pictured Daniella floating in the canal or under the wheels of a train. She shook her head as if trying to shake out her imaginings and get back into reality. The reality was though, she had no idea where Dannie would have gone. They weren’t close to any relations, geographically or emotionally, her father had discouraged that, and disparaged all mother’s family as ‘stuck-up’, ‘up themselves’, snobs.

They weren’t, just they weren’t as low as him and they looked down on a criminal and especially, someone that didn’t provide for his family and who they suspected of violence within the home. That afternoon, she sat in her office trying to go through the accumulation of minutes and files that had landed there awaiting her return to work. That was always the penalty of having time off or away. On this occasion, it seemed an insurmountable task.

Her mind was on Daniella and her own harshness to her mother, words she now regretted. The press and other media painted such a bleak picture of trans life and the dangers attached, she worried every minute. Daniella’s disappearance weighed heavily upon Rachel. Balancing concern for Dannie and keeping on top of work seemed impossible. She shut her office door and her eyes filled. She sobbed quietly. Her life was a mess. She considered what she could do, what she should do, how she should extricate herself from the morass her life had become.

A month ago, the only cloud had been the imminent reappearance of her father, that she had hoped she could deal with. Now she was in loco parentis of a transgender sister who had disappeared and with a mother in the hospital, due to the violent reappearance of her criminal father. She had struggled out of her environment and felt now, that she was slowly sinking back into the underclass she had been born into. Worst was her worry for Daniella. She cursed the stupidity of Simone that had taken her away at such a critical time of her life.

Her door was knocked. ‘Come in,’ she answered automatically, hastily drying her eyes. Richard could see immediately that his protégé was suffering. ‘Rachel, there’s no point in being here, in that state. Is there anything we can do?’ She shook her head hopelessly. ‘It’s not knowing. It’s everything, worry over Dannie, wondering where she is, if she’s still alive, wondering where Dad has gone, whether he’s lurking about here somewhere, wondering whether the mother will ever properly recover and if she will be able to support herself.’ ‘What can we do to help?’ Richard asked. Rachel shook her head.

‘Nothing. Two months ago, I was just a girl trying my best to carve out a career. I really had few worries other than being between boyfriends. Now I know what worry is, and it’s the worst. I have the responsibility for an injured mother and her recovery and worst of all, a missing teenage trans-girl, shy, uncertain of herself, her gender, her place in society, and fearful of her father.’ ‘It’s too much, isn’t it. You can’t deal with all that.

Much of it is outside your control Rachel. Your father will no doubt be caught, they always catch up with people like him in the end. Your mother will hopefully recover and get back into things. Your main concern is sister Daniella. Let’s hope she turns up soon. I’m sure the police will turn up a clue.

Why don’t I phone this detective whatever her name was?’ ‘Anna Rainsford. I just left her. She said she would phone me as soon as she had any information, any sighting.’ ‘Well, phone her, she may have something.’ ‘She said she would phone me.’ ‘Maybe she forgot or has been occupied elsewhere. To be honest, they haven’t been very sharp up till now, have they?’ ‘No, no I was so angry with them last night.’ ‘I think they realized that Rachel.’ ‘I don’t want to distract Anna now. She seems pretty well on the ball.’ ‘I don’t think you will. Just phone, now while I’m here.

Go on, that’s an order from your employer.’ ‘OK then.’ She dialed Anna’s mobile. ‘Yeah, Rainsford.’ Anna’s voice was gruff and business-like. ‘Anna, it’s Rachel. Have you any news?’ ‘Your sister? Yes, we have her on video now, CCTV at the bus station. She got on the London Express. We are asking the London end for their CCTV of passengers leaving the coach. If she got off before Victoria terminus, we won’t see her, but my guess is she would stay on till the end of the journey.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because logically, people think that the London coach ends in London.

A city is a big place. The first stop is in Stratford, East London. Terminus is Victoria. They are ten miles apart. One might wonder where the center is. Is it the West End, with all the shops and theatres or is it the City of London, from East Cheap to St Paul's, or Westminster and Victoria? It seems to me logical that your kid would stay on until the London terminus unless she has some London knowledge.

Has she?’ ‘No. I think she’s only been there once, a school trip to the Tower of London and the Natural History Museum, and they are at opposite ends.’ ‘There you go, that’s my theory. Does she know anyone there or anything about London, any connections, relatives, friends?’ ‘No.’ ‘Just a minute, someone’s talking to me.’ Rachel hangs on the phone. Richard raises his eyebrows in question.

Rachel shakes her head. ‘Hi there Rachel. Yeah, look she got off the coach in Victoria. Why would she have gone to London? Is there any clue at all?’ ‘The transgender clinic, maybe, she talked about that, we talked about that with the GP. That’s the only clue I can think of. Not likely she would go there. She also talked about being on the stage, as an actor, she hoped to go to stage school, but she’s far too young for that.

These are just her fantasies, her wishes.’ ‘Well, Met police are trying to trace her. There are hundreds of CCTV cameras down there which is good and bad. The Met police are undermanned and in the grip of the terrorist threat and the scooter mugging epidemic and youth murders. When people like Michael McIntyre lose their twelve thousand-pound Rolex to scooter thugs, the police take notice, but they have people working on Dannie’s disappearance too.’

Rachel felt frustrated. She knew the police had problems but all she wanted was for them to find a fourteen-year-old. She bottled her annoyance. ‘Well, when was she videoed?’ ‘Twenty-eight hours ago. So, we at least know her father didn’t murder her. We also know, he took the ferry to Calais. The police impounded his car as illegally parked, it was un-driveable, with a flat tyre and no spare, an offense in itself.

It was in the port area but not in the public parking area. They are fingerprinting to make sure it was Mr. Artherton.’ ‘Well, that’s something. He’s not lurking around here then. It’s a relief.’ ‘I’ll let you know when we have any news.’ ‘Thank you, detective.’ ‘Anna, the name’s Anna.’ ‘Oh, thanks, Anna.’ ‘OK then, chin up. I feel sure she will be caught on video somewhere. From what you say, she isn’t a very devious girl.’ ‘Well she kept her trans persona quiet, that was quite devious but understandable. It was accidental that I found that out. I suppose though, that was a terrible secret, especially with our father’s attitude.

I just don’t understand why she hasn’t phoned me.’ ‘No, well people behave in all sorts of strange ways.’ She finished the call. ‘She’s in London.’ Rachel told Richard. ‘Look take time off. You may need to go to London. Don’t worry about any of this. If you need help, then phone me. I’ll do anything I can.’ ‘Thank you, Richard. Perhaps I’ll go down and see if she’s in a hostel.’ ‘I’m sure you would feel better doing something to find her.

I have a sister down there who I’m positive will give you a room. Would that help?’ ‘Richard, yes. Thank you.’ ‘I’ll get Philip to go through those files to Rachel.’ ‘I feel I’m letting you down.’ ‘You have enough to think about and your priority has to be Dannie. When you come back, a clean start. I feel responsible, for sending you to the US when you had your little sister to look after. Don’t worry about your work. I already have great respect for your abilities.

Now, get out of here. Oh, I almost forgot. In the foyer, there’s a large bouquet from Simone.’ ‘Oh, that’s nice of her. I haven’t my car though.’ ‘Get off now, Rachel. Take a taxi and charge it. Just keep me in the loop and ask if you need more help.’