Free Stolen Child by Laura Elliot Page A

more audible as his voice faltered. He bowed his head, unable to continue. Microphones were shoved forward to capture his harsh weeping. Carla held his hand and spoke for him.
    ‘Isobel is our child,’ she said. ‘She is only five days old. Please have pity and return her to us. Please…please, if you have taken her for some misguided reason, talk to someone you can trust – a friend, a priest, the police. They will treat you with understanding and we are waiting to forgive you. But please…please return our darling baby to us.’
    Her eyes felt like stones, hard and bright. She longed for tears but they refused to fall and give the photographers the shot they needed. Leo asked if there were any questions from the floor.
    ‘Carla, how did you feel when you woke up and discovered your daughter was missing?’ A journalist sitting in the front row raised her pen.
    ‘Devastated.’ Carla sucked in her breath and wondered why the answer was not blindingly obvious to anyone with feelings.
    The journalist, young and eager, waited for a more dramatic response.
    ‘I felt as if a knife had gone through my heart.’ Carla winced. Her emotions, veering from manic hope to utter desolation, could not be described in a mawkish soundbite but the journalist seemed satisfied.
    ‘Mr Gardner, as a member of the Garda Síochána, have you been personally involved in the search for your daughter?’ another journalist shouted from the centre of the room.
    ‘I’ll take that question.’ Detective Superintendent Murphy held up his hand. ‘In any case directly involving a member of the Garda Síochána they are automatically disqualified from participating in the investigation.’
    ‘Are you satisfied with the progress of the investigation so far?’ Again the question was thrust at Robert, who nodded.
    ‘I have the utmost faith in my colleagues and appeal to the woman who has our child to trust the Gardaí—’
    ‘How do you know it’s a woman?’ shouted a journalist. ‘Have you inside information that—’
    ‘We don’t know who took our child,’ Carla swiftly intervened. ‘And it doesn’t matter. We don’t want revenge. We simply want our daughter back in our arms.’
    ‘Carla, has a ransom been demanded?’ Josh Baker from The Week on the Street , a prime-time television programme, moved forward in tandem with his cameraman.
    ‘We’ve heard nothing—’
    ‘No ransom demand has been made,’ snapped the superintendent. Carla could sense his desire to bring the conference to a conclusion but Josh had now reached the table and the camera was zooming in for a close-up of her expression.
    ‘Carla, had you any suspicions that you were being stalked during your pregnancy?’
    Carla shivered. She had not believed it would be possible to feel even more terrified. The camera was drawing her terror to the surface, beaming it outwards as she struggled for composure.
    ‘I’ve no reason to believe I was being stalked.’ She forced conviction into her voice and tightened her grip on Robert’s hand. He trembled, knowing as she did that she would not necessarily have noticed a stalker. She was used to the gaze of men, indifferent to their eyes studying her as she walked past. No, she would not have noticed a stalker, just as she had not noticed a thief entering the ward where she was supposed to be keeping her daughter safe from harm.
    ‘I agree with Mrs Gardner.’ Detective Superintendent Murphy leaned towards the microphone. ‘We have absolutely no evidence to back that theory.’
    ‘Is there a link between Isobel’s disappearance and the excessive promotion surrounding your pregnancy?’ Alyssa Faye asked.
    ‘Excessive…?’ For an instant Carla’s mind went blank. She shuffled the papers in front of her and stared at her statement. ‘What do you mean?’
    Leo calmly answered the question. ‘Carla worked in a professional capacity throughout her pregnancy. There was nothing excessive about her public