Free Please Don't Take My Baby by Cathy Glass Page A

folder, but Jade’s mobile number wasn’t included, only those of her mother and the social worker. I wondered if Rachel had Jade’s mobile number; I would ask her when she phoned back later, but given she’d been trying to contact Jade on my landline I thought it wasn’t likely.
    But Rachel didn’t phone back that evening, and as we sat down to dinner, without Jade, I was starting to feel really worried and also a little angry: with myself for not asking Jade for a coming-home time or her mobile number, and with Jade for just going out without telling me. I hid my anxiety from Adrian and Paula and said simply that Jade was at a friend’s and would be home later.
    ‘But she’s missing dinner,’ Paula said, worried.
    ‘I’ll save her some,’ I said.
    Halfway through dinner the doorbell rang. Clearly it wasn’t Jade, as she had a key, so I thought it was probably a salesperson on another ill-timed visit. But as with any unexpected caller it crossed my mind it might be the police with bad news, so I left my dinner and answered the door.
    ‘Oh, Meryl,’ I said, surprised. ‘Hello.’
    ‘I hope it’s not inconvenient,’ she said. ‘I just wanted to say hi to Jade and see how she’s doing.’
    ‘She’s not here at present,’ I said. ‘Although she’s fine. She’s at a friend’s house.’ I didn’t ask Meryl in, as there didn’t seem any point. Jade wasn’t here and we were in the middle of dinner.
    ‘But she’s doing all right?’ Meryl asked.
    ‘Yes. We’ve been home and collected some of her belongings, and I met her mother. Perhaps you’d like to call round another evening?’
    ‘Yes please. Some of the staff and Jade’s friends at school have been asking after her. I don’t want Jade to think we’ve forgotten her. I’ll call round later in the week, if that’s OK?’
    ‘Yes. Sure.’ Then I had another light-bulb moment. ‘I don’t suppose you have Jade’s mobile number? It should have been included in the paperwork but it wasn’t.’
    Meryl nodded. ‘Yes, I do,’ she said, taking her mobile from her coat pocket.
    ‘Great.’ I wrote the number she read out on the notepad I kept by the phone in the hall. ‘Thanks very much,’ I said, relieved. ‘I hope you don’t mind if I don’t ask you in tonight but we’re just having dinner.’
    Meryl smiled. ‘I’m sorry. I seem to making a habit of that. Shall I call round a little later next time?’
    ‘Yes please. After six thirty is usually good for us.’
    ‘See you soon, then,’ she said, and we said goodbye.
    As soon as I’d closed the front door I keyed Jade’s number into the phone. Disappointingly the call went straight through to her voicemail, so I left a message: ‘Hi Jade, it’s Cathy. I hope you’re having a nice time with your friend. Could you give me a ring and let me know what time you’ll be home? My number is –’ For it occurred to me that she might not know my number; she hadn’t asked for it and I hadn’t thought to tell her.
    I’d purposely kept my message short and light, as I didn’t want to sound the heavy parent/carer. But an hour later when Jade still hadn’t returned my call I was really worried and phoned her mobile again. It went straight through to her voicemail and this time my message was firmer: ‘Jade, it’s Cathy again. It’s seven o’clock and I need to know where you are, and what time you’ll be home. I thought you’d be back by now. Please phone straightaway. I’m worried.’
    I returned to the sitting room, where Adrian and Paula were, and hid my anxiety. But they too were becoming worried. ‘It’s very dark,’ Paula said. ‘Where is Jade?’ They both looked at me.
    ‘She’s a big girl,’ I reassured them. ‘She’ll be home soon.’
    When it was Paula’s bedtime I helped her with her bath and then saw her into bed, but as I read her bedtime story my heart wasn’t in it. It was now 7.30 and there’d been no word from Jade; I knew I needed to take further