Chapter 116

Chapter 116

The two figures walked down the corridor in silence. Helen had made this journey many times during her long career, but never had she felt as hollow as she did this morning. Two days had passed since Naomi's dramatic rescue and, following a spell in hospital, the recuperating teen was now returning home with her mother, to rest and heal. But there would be no such happy ending for Mia Davies.

Ashen, uncertain, Christopher Davies was focusing hard on putting one foot in front of the other, as they moved slowly down the lifeless corridor. He was visibly shaking, overwhelmed by sadness and grief. After months of torturing himself over where his daughter might be, he had his answer, but it was not the one he'd prayed for. Reaching the mortuary doors, he paused now, as if unwilling to confront the final reality.

‘It's OK, Christopher. It's just Mia in there,' Helen said quietly, laying a hand on his arm. ‘Your daughter, who looks as beautiful, as peaceful, as she ever did. Go to her now.'

The distraught father still looked uncertain, so Helen continued.

‘I'm not sure how you left things with Mia, but it's important you see her now. This is your chance to say goodbye.'

This seemed to bolster him and Christopher took a step forward, standing tall as the mortuary assistants buzzed them in. Helen took the bereaved father's arm and two minutes later they were standing in front of the gurney. Taking his cue from Helen, the mortuary assistant lifted the sheet, turning it back to reveal Mia's head and shoulders.

Immediately, Christopher gasped. But it was not an exclamation of horror, but rather one of recognition. He'd imagined all sorts of desecrations and indignities, yet here she was, his Mia. Thinner, her features sharper, but still striking, with her long flowing hair, her porcelain skin, her beatific expression.

‘Mia, Mia …' he whispered.

His eyes were brimming, but not with tears of anguish. These were tears of love.

‘I didn't think we'd ever see her again …'

Helen nodded, grateful that Mia's dad could take some comfort from reconnecting with her daughter. The full weight of Mia's suffering, her appalling ordeal, would make itself felt over the ensuing weeks and months, but the opportunity to sweep his daughter up into the family's embrace once more seemed to afford him some solace.

Helen stepped away, giving her companion some privacy as he whispered to his lost girl. It was part of Helen's job to reunite families, to bring together the living and the dead, but she still found it gut-wrenching. Naomi had been saved, Reynolds imprisoned, but the whole case had left Helen feeling agitated and unsettled. The disgraced police officer continued to deny any involvement in these awful crimes, refusing to acknowledge that he'd even met the girls, let alone harmed them. A long and difficult legal process lay ahead, but for Helen that would be the easy bit. She was determined to bring Reynolds to book, to ensure he never set foot on the streets ever again, but she knew that his permanent incarceration would provide little comfort.

Nothing about this complex investigation sat right with Helen: Reynolds' arrogance and entitlement, the Force's wilful blindness to his crimes, and, worst of all, the devastation he'd wreaked on those poor girls. Naomi would survive thanks to her own strength and the determined love of her mother. Mia would not, her family having to lay her to rest now and find what peace they could.

And what of the families of Shanice Lloyd and Laura White? With Reynolds refusing to co-operate, to admit his wrongdoing, it was possible their bodies would never be found, that their loved ones would never be able to grieve, to love, to let go. Where was the justice in that? Where was the closure? The Lloyd family, the White family, would be haunted by what might have happened to them, where their girls might now be lying, alone and unprotected, prey to scavengers, to decay. It was too awful to contemplate, a fate worse than death, a slow drip, drip of agony and grief, but Helen had to face up to it, to acknowledge that she had brought a dangerous criminal to book, but had failed to deliver justice.

‘She looks so pretty, doesn't she?'

Helen looked up to see Christopher Davies smiling through tears. Lowering her gaze to the teenager, Helen nodded sadly.

‘She had so much to live for,' Mia's dad continued. ‘She was so clever, so beautiful, so funny, so … Mia. We argued all the time, but I never stopped loving her. I think she felt that I was angry with her for running off, but that wasn't true. I'd never have turned her away, closed my door to her. I'd always have welcomed her back. Why couldn't she see that?'

And now sadness seemed to steal over the grieving dad, as he added:

‘Why didn't she just come home ?'