Those are the words I’ve been mulling over all morning. The words that have made me sick to my stomach, worrying about what they mean. Did Shaun Morris go to prison? What else could Marie Damerham have meant? I mean, where else would someone go where you could say they ‘got out’? A psychiatric unit? Possibly, but prison is what immediately springs to mind. And the fact that this Marie woman is offering her support sounds like it wasn’t anywhere good.

If Shaun was in prison, what was he in for? How would I go about finding that out? It could be anything from tax fraud to violent assault.

Again, I think about the fact that he was in my house with our children. What if he has violent tendencies? What if he’s a serial offender? He might be really unhinged. Perhaps he took my child all those years ago and is now playing some sick game. My mind keeps jumping from theory to theory… What if Shaun snatched my daughter before he met Kate and then gave Kate some story about being a single father? He could have married Kate, who then raised Holly as her own. So maybe Kate knows nothing about the abduction and it’s all Shaun’s doing.

I know I’m speculating wildly, and I shouldn’t jump to conclusions, but it doesn’t look good. I already suspected the Morrises of being child abductors. Knowing Shaun has been inside does nothing to alleviate those fears.

It’s crazy that Kate would even leave that comment up on Facebook. If it was my page, I would have deleted it as soon as it appeared. Then again, Facebook does have this annoying habit of not showing you everything. Maybe Kate never even saw it. Maybe she has no idea it’s there. After all, she didn’t reply to it, and she seems to reply to most of her comments.

Thinking about it, it was pretty out of order for her friend to comment on it in the first place. If Shaun did go to prison, Kate didn’t mention it anywhere on her page, so for one of her friends to post it up in black and white for all to see feels quite passive-aggressive. Either that, or just plain thoughtless.

I wonder how long Shaun was inside for. I scroll back through Kate’s posts once more, and then the notion hits me. He must have been put away around the time Kate’s friends were offering her help and sympathy – two and a half years ago. I keep scrolling back until I come to that part of her timeline and begin to re-read the posts with fresh eyes:

Thinking of you, lovely.

Anything I can do to help, give me a call. Happy to have the kiddiwinks if you need a break.

Sending hugs xoxo

Kate, we’re all here for you.