by J. P. Carter
‘I want to begin by informing you that since we last spoke there has been a significant and surprising development, Mrs Gregory,’ she said. ‘You see, your husband was overheard in the corridor a little earlier telling you to stick to the story. I’m sure you can remember it clearly. Well, because of that we decided to interview him again and half an hour ago he finally admitted mouthing those words and went on to give a different account of what happened to your niece in your home on Tuesday night.’
The shock was evident in her expression. Her jaw dropped and she shook her head.
‘That can’t be right,’ she said. ‘You’re lying.’
‘I’m afraid not, Mrs Gregory. What’s more, in your husband’s latest version of events he places the blame for Holly’s death squarely on your shoulders.’
Once again Anna was stepping over the ethical boundary in the full knowledge that it might backfire on her. But she felt it was a risk worth taking if, as she now suspected, the couple hadn’t told the truth.
‘There’s really no point holding back now,’ she said. ‘We know that you and your husband concocted a story that you believed we would fall for. And we probably would have if Robert hadn’t made a stupid mistake by not trusting you to say what had been agreed.’
Freya broke down for the second time that day and when she eventually stopped crying, she said, ‘It’s true what Robert told you. It wasn’t an accident. I stabbed Holly. But she might have survived if Robert had let me call an ambulance.’
Much of the story the couple had told earlier remained the same. Holly had turned up at their house unexpectedly and they’d got into an argument during which their niece grabbed a kitchen knife.
‘It’s true she threatened to kill herself,’ Freya said. ‘But I didn’t struggle with her and she didn’t fall on the knife.’
‘So what happened?’ Anna pressed.
Freya squeezed her eyes shut, but it failed to stem the tears.
‘She was waving the knife in front of her face and telling me how much she wanted to die and how much she hated her mother and how she’d never forgiven her for what happened to her father. And she didn’t give a shit if what she was going to do to Nathan Wolf would destroy her mother’s chance to become Mayor.
‘She then held the knife against her own throat and I instinctively grabbed it from her. In response she spat in my face and told me that she hated me as well for always siding with Rebecca. And she accused me of being jealous of my sister because I had no children of my own and that was why I’d acted like she was my daughter. She said it was pathetic.
‘Then she thrust her face forward and dared me to kill her, to end her suffering, she said. And before I knew it, I was lashing out with the knife. It was like I was possessed. I stabbed her in the throat and she fell to the floor. I immediately regretted it and tried to call for an ambulance when I saw that she was still breathing. But Robert stopped me. He said I wasn’t thinking straight and that if Holly lived she would tell the police that I had tried to murder her and I’d spend years in prison.
‘So I didn’t try to save her and to my shame we both sat there in the kitchen and watched her die.’
‘And how long did it take?’ Anna said.
‘I’m not sure, but I think it was about forty-five minutes.’
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
After Freya’s revised confession, Anna re-interviewed her husband and it didn’t take long for him to come clean as well.
It was an outcome that shocked every member of the team. But it was also a relief because if it hadn’t been for Officer Jackson they might not have uncovered the truth.
Freya was charged with murdering her niece and Robert with being an accessory. They were also charged with perverting the course of justice and withholding evidence.
By the end of the process, Anna was exhausted. She decided to hold one final meeting with the team and assign a list of jobs to the night shift. Then she planned to go home and have a celebratory meal and drink with Tom.
But everything changed when she took a call from Jack Keen. The excitement in his voice was evident as soon as he began to speak. He told her about his conversation with the woman named Sophie.
‘She says she lives in Shoreditch and that the girl she calls her daughter is twelve and named Alice. She’s the same girl who was spotted outside the school in Bethnal Green and the hair salon in Shoreditch High Street.
‘But the woman also reckons that Alice is really Chloe and they’ve been together for ten years. She’s been the child’s sole carer since her father was murdered in Southampton three years ago. She refused to give me her address or second name.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Anna said. ‘If she’s genuine, and not a prankster, why would she reveal all this?’
‘Because she says the child is in trouble and she needs your help. She’s given me her number and you’re to ring her right away.’
‘What does your gut tell you, Jack?’
‘That you should call. I think this could be the woman we’ve been looking for.’
Anna felt uncertainty beat in her heart as she went into her office and closed the door behind her. She took a slow breath to try to control her emotions before making the call.
‘Is that Sophie?’ she asked when a woman answered.
‘It is. I take it you are Detective Tate.’
‘I am. Jack Keen has told me that you have information about my daughter. Is that true?’
‘Yes.’
‘You told Jack that she’s in trouble. What do you mean by that?’
‘I’ll tell you when you come to my flat, Miss Tate. But please understand that I wouldn’t be asking for your help if I wasn’t desperate. Alice, or Chloe, needs you for reasons I’ll explain when you get here. I can’t involve the police in an official capacity so you cannot tell anyone about this.’
‘How do I know this isn’t some vile prank?’ Anna asked.
‘You won’t know for sure until we talk face to face,’ Sophie said. ‘But I beg you to take me seriously because if you don’t you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.’
Anna filled her lungs and held her breath as Sophie gave her the address of her flat in Shoreditch.
‘Come now,’ Sophie said. ‘And please come alone.’
Anna picked up her bag, and on her way out of the office she told Walker to take charge of the briefing.
‘There’s something I have to do,’ she said.
‘Is everything all right, guv?’ he asked, a look of concern on his face.
She shrugged. ‘I’m not sure yet, Max. But if I need help I’ll call you.’
It took Anna forty minutes to get to Sophie’s flat. It would have taken longer if she hadn’t used the siren and blue light to whizz around traffic hold-ups along the way.
Before getting out of the car she rang Tom to say she’d be home later than expected. As usual he took it in his stride and said he’d delay making dinner.
Sophie buzzed her into the small, insalubrious block after she pressed the flat number on the security buzzer at the entrance. Emotions were running high in her head as she mounted the stairs to the first floor. She wanted to believe that she’d done the right thing in coming here and that it meant she was closer to finding her daughter. But she was bracing herself for disappointment.
The first thing she was going to demand was proof that this person calling herself Sophie had been acting as Chloe’s stand-in mother for all these years. If that wasn’t forthcoming then she saw no point in wasting any more time.
Anna reached the first floor and Sophie’s flat was right in front of her. The door was open and the woman was standing just inside with one hand behind her back. She was middle-aged, with long black hair and an attractive face.
Anna stopped abruptly and for several seconds the two stared at each other.
Was it really true? Anna wondered. Was this the person who had shared the house in Southampton with Matthew three years ago and then fled the ci
ty with Chloe after he was murdered in the park?
‘Is my daughter here?’
‘No she isn’t, but this is her home.’
Anna stepped forward. ‘Before we talk you need to convince me that this is not a hoax or even a genuine mistake. I have to be sure that the girl you call Alice is really Chloe.’
‘I expected you to ask that,’ Sophie said.
She brought out the hand she’d been holding behind her back. In it was a photograph which she held up for Anna to see.
Anna took one look and it was like being hit with icy water. The picture showed Anna holding baby Chloe in their back garden on her first birthday. It was one she hadn’t seen in years because Matthew had taken it on his phone and had never got around to printing it.
‘I’ve got more photos to show you,’ Sophie said. ‘Lots of them are of me and your ex-husband, who told me his name was James Miller. I met him ten years ago when he came to Spain, where I was living and working. He said he went there with his daughter to start a new life after his wife died. I had no reason not to believe him and I didn’t know that he’d lied to me until I read your story in the Evening Standard.’
Anna continued to stare at the photo, her throat too tight to speak.
‘Come in,’ Sophie said. ‘I want to get this part over as quickly as possible.’
Sophie led Anna into a small kitchen and pointed to the table.
‘Sit down, Detective Tate,’ she said. ‘In a moment I’ll tell you why I need your help. But first you need to satisfy yourself that my Alice is your Chloe.’
Sophie disappeared into another room, leaving Anna struggling to get her mind around what was happening. When she reappeared she was holding a photograph album. She placed it on the table.
‘Start with that,’ she said. ‘While you look through it I’ll make you a cup of tea. Or would you prefer something stronger?’
As Anna looked up, there was a tightness in her chest and her hands were shaking. She wasn’t sure what to make of the woman, or whether to believe that she had only just discovered that Chloe’s mother was alive. Was that actually conceivable? Did Matthew really manage to convince her that he was a widower with a two-year-old daughter?
‘So what’s it to be?’ Sophie said. ‘Tea, coffee or wine?’
Anna shook her head. ‘Nothing for me.’
She sat at the table and turned her attention to the album. And as soon as she opened it she knew that the ten-year search for her daughter was over.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
For Anna each turn of the page was a painful reminder of how much she had missed.
The first few photographs featured Chloe before her father abducted her. Anna remembered taking one of them herself. It showed Matthew sitting in an armchair with his sleeping daughter on his lap. But after that the snapshots were of their new life in a place called Puerto de Mazarron in Southern Spain. Beneath most of the photos was a date and many of them also had a caption.
Alice’s first paddle in the Med.
Day at the beach.
Christmas morning 2009.
Her first day at school.
Mixed emotions gripped her as she ploughed through the album with tears in her eyes.
It was a relief to see that Matthew had taken good care of their daughter. From the photographic evidence it seemed that Chloe had enjoyed growing up in Spain. While there she’d grown into a beautiful little girl with a dazzling smile.
But it was impossible for Anna not to feel jealous and resentful. It should have been her with Chloe when she first paddled in the sea, and on the day she started school. Not some stranger that her good-for-nothing father had shacked up with.
‘For your information we never got married,’ Sophie said as she sat down opposite Anna at the table. ‘That’s why I kept my name. It’s Cameron, by the way. Sophie Cameron. And I don’t have an important job like you. I’m a cleaner and for Alice and me these past few years have been a struggle. But we’ve got by.’
Anna lifted her eyes from the album and looked at her.
‘So you were with him from 2009 to 2016,’ Anna said.
Sophie nodded. ‘I was. And in all that time it never occurred to me that you might be alive. That’s why reading your story in the paper came as such a shock. I’d never heard of you before then, and I knew nothing about the abduction, probably because it didn’t attract much coverage in Spain. And for what it’s worth I’m really sorry. If I had known I would never have got involved with him. What he did to you was unforgivable, and even now I can’t believe that he made his own daughter believe that her mother was dead. But I have to say that he treated me well and I loved him. For seven years we were happy together. After he died I took responsibility for Alice and brought her here to live.’
‘So why didn’t you call the Evening Standard as soon as you saw the story? The first part was published five days ago.’
‘I wasn’t sure what to do, or whether to do anything at all,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t – can’t – bear the thought of losing Alice. She’s all I have. My plan was to take her away on a holiday and think it through. I appreciate that you’re her real mother, but I’ve been with her virtually every day for the past ten years.’
Anna felt her blood heat up, and she wasn’t sure if it was because she suddenly hated the woman or pitied her.
‘So now tell me why you did decide to get in contact with me,’ Anna said. ‘What kind of trouble is Chloe in?’
Sophie’s eyes grew intent under dark brows as she answered the question.
‘She’s been kidnapped, Detective Tate. And the man who has her is threatening to kill her if I involve the police. Which is why I called you.’
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
Sophie watched as the detective’s features hardened with shock. It was clear that she hadn’t expected to be told something so serious.
‘Who has her?’ Anna said. ‘And where is she?’
Sophie shook her head. ‘I don’t know where she is, and that’s why I need your help to find her. But I do know who took her. His name is Bruno Perez and he’s my estranged husband. It was because of him that we had to leave Spain three years ago, and he’s the man who murdered Alice’s father.’
Sophie told her story. She began with her marriage to Bruno and how it quickly became an abusive relationship. She explained how she was instrumental in him being sent to prison and how soon afterwards James Miller walked into the restaurant where she worked, with his little girl.
‘We started going out and within months we were living together,’ Sophie said. ‘But he wasn’t the only one who harboured a secret from the start. I didn’t tell him about Bruno, or that I was married. I thought it would scare him away. Despite the deceptions on both our parts we were happy for seven years and I came to love Alice as though she were my own daughter.
‘James invested in a bar and it did well. But when Bruno was released from prison he somehow found out where I was. He turned up one day three years ago and reminded me that he was going to make me suffer for what I’d done to him. That was when I confessed everything to James, but he continued to keep his secret from me.
‘That same night we decided the safest option was to leave Spain and return to the UK, and that’s what we did. James found a rented house in Southampton, where he used to go to university.’
Sophie then gave a detailed account of what took place there, how Bruno tracked them down and how he stabbed James to death in the park.
‘I didn’t go to the police because I knew they would never be able to prove it was him,’ Sophie said. ‘Plus, I didn’t want Alice taken away from me. So we fled the city and came here. And life was good until a few days ago when I read your story and then received a call from Alice’s headmistress, who’d been contacted by your detective.’
Sophie then told Anna how at the same time Bruno found out that she was living in Shoreditch.
‘Michael Taylor works for Bruno and he’s the one who stole Lisa’s
phone and used it to find my number,’ she said. ‘He then used it to track the location of my mobile.’
She went on to describe what had happened this morning. How she discovered that Alice hadn’t turned up at her friend’s house, and then the call from Bruno to say he’d abducted her. When she relayed the conversation she’d had with him in the park, Anna bit into her top lip and tears swelled in her eyes.
‘I’ve tried ringing Alice’s mobile but it’s switched off,’ Sophie said. ‘So please tell me what we can do to find her before he does bad things to her.’
For half a minute the silence stretched between them. Sophie knew that whatever happened next there was no going back to her cosy life with Alice. But she didn’t want to dwell on that yet. What mattered now was getting Alice back.
Anna stood up suddenly and took her phone out of her pocket.
‘Do you have Bruno’s address?’ she said.
‘No, I don’t. But he probably lives south of the river. That’s where his family own some wholesale businesses, which are fronts for all sorts of crooked activities that I didn’t know about until after we were married.’
‘What about his phone number?’
Sophie shook her head.
‘This bloke Michael Taylor. Do you think he was there when Alice was snatched?’
‘According to Bruno he was.’
‘Then there’s a chance he’s still with him. Tell me what you know about him.’
‘Nothing at all really. I haven’t seen him for years.’
‘What about your friend Lisa? Would she have his number? Or if not, maybe she knows someone who does.’
‘I could call.’
Anna nodded. ‘Do it now. I know you’re worried that Bruno will find out that you’ve involved the police but my guess is he’s bullshitting. And we can’t afford to hang around.’