Page 44 of The Stolen Child

‘You know your parents better than anyone. Is there any scenario you can see where they killed Robert? Either on accident or purpose?’

‘No!’ Lily said without hesitation. Her mother had her neuroses, but she loved her children. And why would her father give his life to finding the truth if he knew it? ‘My parents did not kill Robert.’

‘Exactly. So it is more likely that someone entered the cabin and took him.’ Gaga topped his glass, but Lily held a hand over the rim of hers to stop him from doing the same for her.

‘If this is Robert, then we can finally find out what did happen that night. And my son can finally have some peace. His life has been on hold for forty years. It’s time his pain ended.’

They sat in silence for a moment, each thinking about Jason and the miserable life he’d curated for himself since Robert’s disappearance.

‘Will you come back to Dublin with me? I could use your support when I tell Mum and Dad.’

‘Of course. I’ll stay with Jason and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. You could ask Kimberly to stay with you.’ He pulled a face and Lily mirrored it.

‘Great,’ Lily said, feeling guilty that the notion of being under the same roof as her mum wasn’t appealing. ‘She’ll say no, though. We’re too noisy for her and her work. She’s always on the phone to clients.’

Her grandfather rolled his eyes. He’d never been a Kimberly fan. ‘She had begun to show interest in the business before Robert disappeared. But when we got back from Spain she threw herself into it. And maybe that’s good, because Jason lost his way, unable to let Robert’s disappearance go.’

‘It’s understandable that they both threw themselves into something to take their minds off their pain,’ Lily said.

‘Maybe. But they didn’t do right by you. Either of them,’ Gaga said gruffly.

‘I had you,’ Lily replied softly.

‘Always,’ Gaga replied, and for a moment they locked eyes with each other as they remembered the countless times it had been just the two of them, while Lily’s parents hid themselves away from life.

‘I’m scared, Gaga.’

‘Of what, love?’

‘That if this isn’t Robert we’ll lose Dad too. He’s worse than ever, with this over-zealous need to find out what happened. He’s lived with all the unresolved trauma for forty years. We all have, but for Dad it’s developed into an obsession.’ Lily ran her hands through her hair, sighing deeply. ‘It’s robbed him of so much. For his sake, Dad needs to stop searching and start living. He needs Zach to be Robert.’

Gaga put his glass down. ‘We’ve talked about this many times over the years. Jason has always been hard on himself. As a kid he never stopped making lists and was such a perfectionist. We worried about him, because he put so much pressure on himself.’

‘Which is why he succeeded so early with his business. His attention to detail,’ Lily added. ‘But what was once a manageable need for order has now taken over his life.’

‘Do you have a photograph of him? This Zach fella?’ Gaga asked, his brow furrowed with deep lines.

Lily nodded mutely, pulled out her mobile and opened the photo stream. ‘Swipe to the left. There are about a dozen photographs I’ve downloaded from his Instagram account. With his family in Westport, mostly.’

Lily watched her grandfather’s face as he scrolled through the images. She could see the wonder and hope in his eyes, which glistened with emotion. He clasped his chest and let out a strangled sob. Lily moved around the garden furniture and knelt at Gaga’s side.

‘It’s a lot. I know,’ Lily said with understanding.

‘It’s just . . . I never thought I’d see him again. And I loved that little fella. He might not have been my grandson in blood, but he was in every way that mattered.’ He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and stroked Lily’s cheek gently. ‘With you, we loved you before you arrived. The excitement of knowing you were on the way. But with Robert it was a little more complicated.’

‘How so?’

‘When your dad told me that he’d met a woman and they were getting married, I was shocked and a little sceptical. It all happened so fast. He’d barely mentioned he was dating, and the next minute they were engaged. A single mother from Scotland, that I knew nothing about, and she had a son. I wished your nana was still alive, to get her opinion.’

‘What made you so worried about Mum?’ Lily asked, sitting back in her chair again.

‘I was afraid Kimberly was a gold digger after Jason’s money. And I felt she was hiding something from us. She always seemed on edge.’

Lily’s throat constricted with emotion at the word ‘hiding’. Her grandfather was a good man who had lived in service to his son and, in turn, to his granddaughter. She trusted his judgement.

And Lily had felt more than once that her parents were hiding something. The more she delved into Robert’s disappearance, the more frustrated and frightened she became. She hoped with every part of her that Zach was Robert so that the truth of what had happened to her brother might end the pain of so many. But she couldn’t shift a nagging feeling that this truth could cost them all dearly.

NOW