Like This, for Ever

surrogate?’
    ‘I think so. You mean he’s killing ten- and eleven-year-old boys because there’s one particular ten- or eleven-year-old he really wants to kill but can’t?’
    ‘Well, it probably won’t be quite as simple as that, but basically—Barney, what’s wrong?’
    He was crying. The tough, defiant kid had tears gleaming in his eyes. Knowing she’d seen them, he brought his fists up to his face like a much younger child, to hide the tears and wipe them away at the same time.
    Lacey looked up the street and spotted a café still open. With one hand on Barney’s shoulder, the other steering her bike, she led the child across the road towards it. When he asked for a Coke, she ordered two to save hassle and led him to a table next to the wall.
    ‘Going to tell me?’ she asked, when nothing but gulping sounds and sniffs had come from Barney for quite some time.
    ‘I’ve been trying to find my mum,’ he said, as though he’d only been waiting for her to ask.
    ‘I didn’t know you had a mum,’ she replied.
    He looked up at her with eyes that were suddenly so much brighter than the grey they usually seemed. ‘Everyone’s got a mum.’
    ‘I know, sorry, I just assumed …’ She stopped. She hadn’t assumed anything, she hadn’t really given it any thought. ‘What happened to her?’ she asked.
    ‘She left,’ said Barney. ‘When I was little. I don’t remember her at all. I’ve got a picture, though, I know what she looks like.’
    ‘Does your dad know where she is?’
    ‘I don’t know. He never talks about her. All I can remember is him telling me she had to go away for a while. But that means she’s going to come back, doesn’t it? For a while means not for ever. Why would he tell me she’s gone for a while if he knew she wasn’t coming back?’
    To soften the blow, of course
, thought Lacey.
Hoping you’d forget, just get used to her not being around. Oh Barney!
    ‘Have you never talked about this with your dad?’ she asked him.
    ‘Not for a long time. I think when I was little, I used to ask where she was and he always said the same thing. Mummy’s gone away for a while. After a bit, I just stopped asking. I’ve been looking for her myself though.’
    Lacey listened, as the cappuccino machine hissed and spat, and while Barney told her about how he’d divided the whole city into zones, and researched the various newspapers and free-sheets in each area. That he was advertising in the classified columns, doing an area at a time, ticking them off when they were done and he’d got no response. He told her how he funded the cost of the advertisements from money he earned working at the newsagent’s, and about the secret email account that he checked every morning.
    God love him, it would never work. Even if his mother was still in London – in itself quite unlikely – what were the chances of her combing the local newspapers on a regular basis?
    ‘It won’t work, will it?’ said Barney, as though he’d read her mind. ‘You think I’m mad.’
    ‘I think you’re brave and intelligent and resourceful,’ said Lacey. ‘But you’re right, I’m afraid. It won’t work.’
    His face crumpled. They were facing each other across the table and all she could do was reach forward and pat his hand. She wondered how long it had been since a woman had hugged him. She sat there, feeling helpless and awkward, until he gave a massive sniff and looked up.
    ‘The police could find her, couldn’t they?’ he asked, and now his face had taken on a sly look. ‘They know how to find missing persons.’
    ‘The police have procedures for tracing missing persons,’ said Lacey cautiously, ‘but even they don’t always work. If people want to stay missing, they usually do.’
    ‘How do they do it?’ said Barney, leaning forward. ‘What do I have to do to find her?’
    ‘You know what a database is?’
    He nodded.
    ‘Well, the first thing the police would do is search through the various databases,’ she said. ‘We’d probably start with the police national computer. I’m sure this wouldn’t be the case, but if your mum has ever been arrested or given a police caution, there’ll be a record of it. Assuming that didn’t trace her, we’d check the electoral roll – you know, the list of people who are eligible to vote; then the DVLA, the people who issue car licences; the Department for Work and Pensions; Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs; the various utility companies