Joanne had come back to find the policeman who’d saved her and Gerry had tried to cover it up. But why? And how far had he gone to make sure they weren’t linked?
And then she realised. If Gerry carried Aoife’s baby to safety, then Gerry must know the person who handed her to him.
Mary.
Fifty-four
Now – Eve
I pull petals off the roses Gerry brought me. ‘My husband loves me, my husband loves me not,’ petals fall on the kitchen floor, ‘my husband loves me, my husband loves me not …’
‘Eve?’
I close my hand round the head of the rose and crush it. ‘My husband loves me not.’ I turn to face him.
‘What’s the matter? Has Mary been here again?’
‘Why would you think that?’
His face is one of studied concern. ‘You just seem angry.’
‘I’m not angry. I’m annoyed we’ve got ourselves into a position where the police are now circling.’
‘And you blame me for that?’
‘It was your idea.’
‘But you agreed.’
He’s right. I did. When Mary sent her latest creation, it felt different from the others. Like she was stepping up her attack. So we agreed it made sense to wrong-foot her by going public. ‘But I didn’t agree to the rest, did I?’ And that is the crux.
Gerry sits down. ‘I had a run-in with Bremer.’
I stare at him. This just keeps getting worse. He is pale and his hands are shaking. I soften. We are, after all, in this together and if we fight we’re doing Mary’s job for her.
I put the kettle on. ‘Or would you prefer a glass of wine?’
‘A beer would be good.’
I open the fridge and take out a bottle of wine and a beer. Popping the lid, I hand it to him before getting myself a glass and joining him at the table.
‘What happened?’
‘I went to see Carla and he told me to leave. I refused.’
I am lost for words.
‘He thinks you have something to do with Connor’s death.’
‘What? That’s absurd.’ I almost laugh.
‘Is it?’ Gerry’s eyes don’t leave my face, searching it for the answer he wants. I take a mouthful of wine.
‘I need a cigarette.’
‘No, please, Eve, answer the question.’
‘Are you seriously asking me if I murdered a man?’
‘Yes.’
I stand, grab my wine and pull open the kitchen door. Gerry follows me. After a couple of drags I’m able to reply.
‘Why do you think I killed a man, Gerry?’
He looks pained. ‘Because since Mary’s come back you’ve been distracted, distant, and I feel like you’re slipping away from me and I don’t know what to do about that.’
He’s right. I have been. But that’s to be expected. It was a shock to hear from her after all this time. It was Joanne’s fault, coming back and bringing Mary with her.
I take his hand and hold it up to my cheek, then kiss it. He smells of soap but tastes of salt after a hot day in the office. I kiss it again.
‘I’m sorry. You’re right. And we need to be together on this one or it’s going to go very wrong. But you can’t seriously think I would kill a man and then go and work the crime scene immediately after?’
Gerry shook his head. ‘No, of course not.’ I see him hesitate and I’m about to get angry when he says, ‘I think they know I called Joanne.’
I let go of his hand. I told him not to contact her. I told him no good would come of it and we needed to cut her out of our lives, not bring her into it.
‘The phone bills?’ I say.
‘Yes. They may have got Joanne’s call data and it would show up. Carla would recognise the number, I’m sure of it.’
‘But she hasn’t said anything to you?’
‘No.’
I relax a little. ‘Well, then. Carla would have told you. She adores you and your friendship would matter more to her. She’d definitely put you first.’ I take a couple of mouthfuls of wine and start to feel better. Maybe this is all going to work out OK. We just need to get rid of Mary first, then deal with Joanne afterwards.
I feel a laugh brewing at the absurdity of it all. Me chasing Mary, who’s chasing Eve, and Joanne chasing all of us. I think I may be drunk. I take another mouthful of wine just to make sure.
‘Anyway,’ I say, ‘the point is, Carla mustn’t know yet that you called Joanne, so what we need to concentrate on is getting rid of Mary.’ I can see he’s still hurt, but we don’t have time for nicey-niceness.
‘Eve,’ he says. I stub out my cigarette.
‘Yes.’
‘Do you think Mary killed Connor?’
And there we have it. He’s finally figured it out.
‘Yes. I do.’
‘Why did she kill him?’ The pain in his expression is almost unbearable.
‘I have no idea. Best you go and ask her that yourself.’
Fifty-five
‘What do you mean, you won’t charge her?’ Nell was standing, hands on the custody sergeant’s desk, wishing she could grab the charge sheet and fill it in herself. The uniformed sergeant stared coolly back at her.
‘As I said just a second ago, charge her with what?’
‘Withholding evidence, resisting arrest, to name but two.’
He looked at Joanne, who was standing next to Paul, looking at the floor, her face streaked with tears.
‘I must say, I’ve never seen a more compliant subject, Sergeant.’
‘Well she is now, but half an hour ago she was screaming bloody murder.’
‘That’s not true,’ Ian shouted, his handcuffed arms held lightly by Paul. The sergeant raised an eyebrow at Nell and she knew she’d lost.
‘Are you going to be the one to tell my DCI you’ve let his suspect go, or am I?’
‘You are, Sergeant Jackson, and you might ask him to train his officers not to waste my time while you’re at it.’
Nell didn’t answer. Turning to Paul, she said, ‘You OK to book him in?’ She nodded at Ian.
‘Sure.’
‘I assume you’re going to let us book him for resisting arrest?’ she asked the custody sergeant.
‘That one I’ll do for you.’
‘Much obliged.’ And she didn’t bother hiding the sarcastic tone.
In the office, Nell sat down in her chair and leaned her head back, staring up at the ceiling. The custody sergeant had wound her up so much she needed a cigarette, but feeling in her pocket, she realised she’d left them in the car. ‘Just fucking typical.’
Carla came to the door of Bremer’s office. ‘What?’
‘I’ve just had a run-in with a job-pissed custody sergeant and now I’ve got no cigarettes. And what are you doing in there?’
Carla looked tired. The trademark red lipstick had worn off; it made her look younger.
‘Want me to roll you one?’
Nell couldn’t think of anything worse than a rolly, but her nicotine craving overrode her disgust. ‘Sure, thanks. Join me?’
‘Yeah, why not.’
Outside was cooler than it had been in weeks. Clouds passed the sun, shutting out light before suddenly revealing it again. Nell took a drag of the roll-up.
‘Not bad. Smooth.’ She watched a cloud, the underneath of which carried rain past them, and felt the anger of the last half-hour pass with it. ‘What were you doing in Bremer’s office?’
Carla looked uncomfortable.
‘What’s wrong?’
Carla let out a sigh that felt to Nell as if she was giving in, offloading something into the air, allowing it to drift away with the smoke.
‘I think Gerry is the policeman who saved Mary and the baby.’
‘What? The fat sergeant? Eve’s husband?’
‘Yeah. And I also think Joanne could be Aoife’s baby.’
‘How did you get to that?’ Nell listened as Carla explained the timeline. She w
asn’t convinced. ‘But that could just be a coincidence. That Joanne’s the same age. There’s nothing really to link her to Gerry, is there?’
She could tell from Carla’s face there was.
‘Jesus. What is it?’
‘He called Joanne.’
‘Gerry called Joanne?’
‘Yep. A few days before O’Brian was killed.’
‘Jesus Christ, Carla, when did you find that out?’
‘Yesterday?’
Nell stared at her. ‘Are you kidding?’
‘No. I was hoping it was a coincidence.’
Nell didn’t bother to reply. Flicking her cigarette into the road, she turned to go. ‘Come on, we need to tell Bremer.’
Nell nodded for Paul to join them as the team gathered by Carla’s desk.
‘Go on,’ she said. Carla relayed her theory about Gerry and Joanne. She clocked Bremer staring hard at her as she spoke.
‘This phone call Gerry made to her. When exactly did you find that?’
‘About two minutes before I walked in the door,’ Nell said before Carla could reply. ‘That’s why we went for a cigarette break, trying to work how it all fits.’
Bremer looked satisfied with the reply. ‘So we now think Mary is the main suspect for Connor, and Gerry and Joanne are linked to her?’
‘Looks that way, yes,’ Nell said.
‘You brought Joanne in, didn’t you? Let’s go and ask her.’
‘The custody sergeant refused to book her. Said there wasn’t enough evidence.’
‘So where is she now?’
‘On her way home, I imagine.’
‘Jesus.’
‘But the husband’s tucked up downstairs,’ Paul pointed out.
‘Yeah, but he’s not going to land her in it, is he? Not after everything they’ve been through.’
‘I’m not sure Joanne will know anything anyway,’ Carla said. ‘I’ve checked and checked, but there are no calls to Joanne and Gerry from the same number. Which you would expect if Mary was in contact with them. I’d have seen a pattern, a triangle of calls, if you like. But there just isn’t one.’
‘Are we any closer to finding out where Mary is?’ Bremer spoke quickly, his face one of measured concern.
‘No. When she left Portsmouth she disappeared and left no trace that I can find. It’s like she disappeared into thin air.’
‘What if we’re on the wrong track?’ Nell said. She went to the board and picked up a pen. ‘Mary disappears in 1984. From Portsmouth,’ she wrote as she spoke. ‘Eve’s HR file says she was in Portsmouth at this time, but we can find no record of her there. The next time we get a record of Eve is when she went to university, right?’ She looked at Carla, who nodded. Nell looked at them all to see if they got where she was going. They didn’t.
‘What if Mary is really Eve?’
‘And that would mean Joanne has been right all along about Eve deliberately fitting her up?’ Carla started to speak quickly. ‘She approached Gerry and he told Eve, who wanted to get rid of her because—’
‘Of her “crimes”,’ Nell finished for her. ‘Joanne alleged Eve had committed a crime in her past that Joanne’s presence threatened to expose. And we know Mary was implicated in the death of Aoife.’
‘Right,’ Carla went on, eyes bright. ‘So when Joanne’s baby died, Eve saw a way out. There’s only four pathologists, and they write their cases on a board so everyone knows who is doing what. What if Eve saw it and asked to be assigned the case, then faked the evidence to get Joanne put away?’
‘But why would she then take the report just before the appeal?’ Bremer asked. ‘That action directly led to Joanne’s release.’
‘Gerry,’ Carla said. ‘Maybe he felt guilty about what Eve had done and wanted to right a wrong.’
Bremer held up his hand. ‘I get your train of thought, but I’m very conscious of the fact we have a potential threat to life against Joanne and Eve. If Mary is Eve, and I’m far from convinced she is, I don’t see how Eve can be in danger, but Joanne still is. So our priority, Nell, Paul, is to ensure Joanne is safe.’
They nodded.
‘How long ago did the custody sergeant let her go?’
Nell checked the clock on the wall.
‘Half an hour, give or take five minutes.’
‘How far away does she live?’ Bremer asked Carla.
‘An hour, maybe hour and a half at this time.’
‘So if she’s gone home, she’ll still be on her way now. Nell get over there, I’ll get uniform to back you up and if Mary’s there, consider her dangerous and proceed with care. Ditto Eve,’ he said, as an afterthought.
Nell grabbed her jacket and keys.
‘I’m going to send someone to Eve’s home address, as we have to assume she is linked somehow, and if Gerry is at either address,’ Bremer said, anger flashing, ‘I want him arrested on the spot.’
Fifty-six
Now – Mary
‘Where are you going?’
I keep my back to him.
‘Mary,’ he begins, quietly. I know what he’s going to say next but it won’t help. ‘Please don’t go.’
‘I have to.’ I keep my back to him because I know if I don’t he’ll persuade me.
‘It’s all going wrong,’ he says.
The hall feels very still, like time has stopped for a moment. I almost daren’t breathe in case I disturb it.
‘If you leave I know something awful will happen. Are you going to find Joanne? Because that’s just not fair. She’s innocent in all of this – she was just a baby, she can’t be to blame.’
‘It’s all her fault. If she hadn’t come back, if she hadn’t contacted you –’ I swirl to face him, ‘– and if you hadn’t agreed to meet her, then maybe we could have found a different way. But now there is nothing left. She is proof of what happened that night on the beach.’
‘But she isn’t. She has no idea what really happened. She thinks you saved her life, Mary, and you did.’ His tone is rising with his sense of urgency. ‘You carried her to safety and saved her from harm.’
‘And look how she’s repaid me.’
Gerry throws up a hand and turns from me. ‘She just wanted to connect with the one person who knew her mum. Aoife.’
Hearing her name makes my heart shiver.
‘Please don’t do anything to hurt her.’
I wait for him to turn around but he remains with his back to me.
‘She has Alf’s blood running through her. Blood never lies, Gerry.’
When he doesn’t reply, I say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and leave.
It doesn’t take much to get into the house and as I walk around Joanne Fowler’s home I wonder what Aoife would have made of her daughter’s neat and ordered rooms. I walk in silence, studying every bit of proof she is alive: her pictures, the baby she lost, the husband she loves. I study the baby – can I see her grandmother in her? I believe I can, but I know it’s probably because I hope to.
A little further into the house I find her baby’s room, left untouched. I run my hands over the baby blanket, carefully laid over the edge of the cot, and turn the mobile above until it chimes. Love mixes with loss of hope in this room and the weight of it forces me to leave.
I wander back to the front room and sit on a sofa, the softness of which pulls me in. I lie back and close my eyes, succumbing to it. Could I have had this life, if Alf hadn’t owned me? What would it have looked like? Roast dinner on Sundays, holidays in France and walks in the mountains with dogs we had rescued? There’s no point in dreaming, I decide. The life I was given is the one I’ve lived – regardless of my origins. And I haven’t done too badly, except for the babies, and I deserved to have them taken. No woman deserves a baby when they’ve taken one from another, I know that now.
I hear a key in the door and panic. I grab my bag. I’m not ready for her yet. I look around for somewhere to hide and find a corner by the curtain I can just about fit into. I stay there, barely brea
thing, as I hear Joanne walk to the kitchen. She seems to be speaking to someone yet I sense she is alone; is she on the phone?
‘They’ve kept him in – can you do anything?’ Silence as she listens, which makes me think I’m right about the phone.
‘But what about Mary? When can I meet her? Surely it’s time?’
I know who she’s speaking to now and I feel a stab of anger. Gerry. He’s become attached to Joanne, as I’d feared he would. I think about texting him from my hideaway, but what would that achieve? I must wait for Aoife. That’s the plan; that’s what I must do.
While I wait, I listen as Joanne clatters in the kitchen, all the while speaking to Gerry. She’s starting to sound scared.
‘But what if she comes here first? What if she’s angry like you said she might be?’
I almost snort my disgust. Judas. When Aoife finds out what he’s said, she’ll make him pay. I hear a click as Joanne pushes the kettle button down.
‘Mary.’
‘Aoife?’ I whisper.
‘Shhhh.’
I exhale my relief she’s here.
‘What’s Joanne doing?’ she asks.
‘Talking to Gerry.’
‘Always weak, that man.’
I feel a stab of something – protection? It was Gerry, after all, who saved me.
‘He’s on our side, though,’ I say.
‘I’ve told you, never trust a man. It’s only the two of us we can trust.’
‘Yes,’ I say, before hearing Joanne move into the living room. I freeze.
‘Not long now,’ Aoife says. ‘Be strong. We can do it – together we can do anything.’
I listen. Joanne is on the sofa now. There is silence.
‘Have you got the knife?’ Aoife asks. I look at the knife in the waistband of my skirt, just like it was all those years ago.
‘Yes,’ I whisper back.
‘Good. Then it’s time.’
‘Who’s there?’
I can almost see Joanne now, upright on the sofa, scanning the room for the origin of the sound.
‘Come on.’ Aoife’s tone is urgent and she’s right; we’re only going to get one shot at this.
‘Let’s go,’ she says. ‘Let’s eliminate the proof once and for all.’
When I Lost You Page 22