“He did? What a silly man.”
“Yeah!Andhe always wet the bed. Mummy shouted and made me change my pyjamas.”
Oliver closed his eyes for a moment, letting the connotations of that statement sink in. He could hear Patrick talking on the phone, his back was turned so Oliver seized the opportunity. “Alfie, shall we see if we can find some turtles? I love turtles.”
“Okay!”
Turning on his heel, Oliver carried Alfie deeper into the aquarium. Thankfully it was dark in most of the areas, the back-lighting from the tanks making it difficult to see. If Patrick came looking, they wouldn’t be easy to spot.
“There!” Alfie said, pointing towards the turtle enclosure. The boy wriggled, so Oliver put him down. Running over to a massive viewing deck, Alfie pressed his face against the glass. “Look Ollie! It’s huge!” Oliver jogged over, and saw that there was, indeed, a massive turtle lazily gliding through the water.
“Wow, look at that! It’s bigger than you, Alfie!”
“Mummy said I’m like a turtle.”
“Did she?”
“Yeah! When the jellyfish man came I wrapped myself up in all my blankets. Mummy shouted and pulled them all off.”
Bitch.
“D-Did she? How did that make you feel?”
“Scared. But Daddy sometimes took me swimming if I’d been a good boy.”
“Did he? Where did you go swimming?” It was a stretch asking a four year old to describe a location, but he had to try.
Alfie shrugged and continued to look at the animals. “There was a huge clock that went ding-dong. And a birdie. Sometimes it tweeted, but most of the time it was broken.”
“That sounds cool, did you like going swimming with Daddy?”
“Mhm, sometimes.”
Oliver cocked a brow. “Only sometimes?”
Alfie looked down at his feet. “Sometimes he left me on my own.”
“Where did Daddy go?”
“To his friend’s house. But sometimes I went to the house as well. They had a swing in the front and they let me play outside.” As Alfie stared into the glass, Oliver quickly pulled out his phone and texted Blake and Lucas.
‘Underwear brand with a jellyfish logo, swimming pool with a tall clock outside and a bird that’s sometimes broken. House nearby with a swing set in the front garden.’
Within moments, his phone pinged. It was Blake.‘Pardon?’
‘That’s what Alfie remembers.’
Within the same breath, Lucas replied.‘The jellyfish is from a brand called ‘Meduza,’ it’s Polish. As far as I can see, it is not a brand that’s sold in the UK.’
Oliver swallowed and began typing.‘So not many people will be walking around wearing them?’
‘Correct. According to their website, they’re a small-scale brand that only sells out of a few select stores. All within the same area of Warsaw.’
‘Which might suggest that the offender is from/visits that area?’Oliver replied.
‘Correct. DS Smith is looking into the swimming pool you mentioned.’
Oliver was about to text,‘shouldn’t you be sleeping?’But then remembered Blake was part of the group chat. His heart raced as he waited for the other sergeant to reply. Suddenly, a photograph of ‘Tintern-upon-Wye Aquatics’ flashed up on the screen. True to Alfie’s word, there was a clocktower statue directly outside, with a little wrought iron bird perched on its weather vein.
