His eyes didn’t flinch as they met hers. ‘Neither can I. I’m not sure exactly how we’d go about it. It might mean going for shared custody of her, or at least giving me a legal right to have continued involvement in her upbringing. We’d need to speak to a solicitor about it and I’ve made an appointment with my friend for tomorrow, if you want to come along. It wouldn’t cut your ex out of the picture completely as obviously he’s still her father and would have his own legal rights, but if we both said that was what we wanted – what we felt was in Kate’s best interests – the court might just agree to keep me in the legal loop. We’d need to put up a solid front though and you’d need to be adamant that you wanted me to play an active part in Kate’s life.’
‘I’d want that anyway, Adam. I told you that.’
‘I know, but … you letting me see her isn’t the same as getting a legal Agreement giving me the right to be involved. Ben Short will put up a good fight for getting custody, and he can afford the best lawyers. But if you and I show a united front in our argument – that it’s what’s best for Katie, maybe the authorities will agree with us. I also happen to believe very strongly that that is the case. It would be terrible for her to lose Natasha, me, and her home all in one go.’
He broke off abruptly. His face reflected no emotion, but it was there, she could see, held in check beneath the surface. A father’s love for his child, even if she wasn’t his blood child. It left her awed that he should love Katie so much.
When she said nothing, he looked at her impatiently. ‘What do you think? For God’s sake say something.’
‘I think it’s a good plan,’ she said slowly. ‘I don’t know if it’ll work, but I’m willing to give anything a shot that will help me stop Ben from getting custody.’
As if by magic his face cleared. His eyes met hers and he reached for her hand where it lay on the table. ‘We’re going to win this Hannah. And whatever happens in our lives in the future, I promise you I’ll always be there for you and Kate.’
She believed him. Integrity shone from the depths of those warm, brown eyes. She wanted to tell him that there was no need for promises – she already trusted him.
‘I’d better be going,’ was all she said, carefully withdrawing her hand. ‘My appointment with the police is at two thirty.’
‘Mine’s at three.’
He smiled. ‘How about we start our united front approach by seeing them together? Sow a few seeds while we can.’
CHAPTER THIRTY
Murray looked surprised when he saw them sitting in the waiting room.
‘Hannah and I wondered if we could see you together, Inspector?’ Adam asked. ‘Seeing as the information you have affects us both?’
Murray’s eyes flicked from one to the other, his gaze narrowing. ‘I wasn’t aware that you two knew each other?’
‘Neither were we until we bumped into each other down here at the station the other day,’ Adam embellished smoothly.
‘I see.’ He turned to look questioningly at Hannah. ‘’Are you sure you want this, Miss Walker? There may be some personal stuff that comes out that you don’t necessarily want to share.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘I can’t think what. I’m fine with it.’
‘Okay, if you’re sure. Come through then.’
His face was serious as he sat facing them. Between his fingers he held two pieces of paper. Hannah twisted her hands nervously, glancing at Adam. Her insides felt so tight she was glad she hadn’t eaten lunch. It would have taken very little to bring it all back up again.
‘I have here the results of the DNA test on Katrina Campbell.’ Murray said fixing his gaze first on Adam and then on Hannah.
‘They confirm that you are her mother, Miss Walker.’
Hannah gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. Then she burst into tears. Murray offered her a box of tissues in the manner of a man well used to doing such things, before switching his gaze to Adam. He was sitting frozen in his chair, the twitching of a small muscle at the corner of his mouth the only tell-tale sign of the tension he was feeling.
Murray waited while Hannah wiped her eyes and blew her nose fiercely. ‘I’m sorry...’ she whispered shakily. ‘I just can’t believe it.’
‘Take your time.’
When she’d calmed herself, he faced them both again.
‘Now ... as I was saying ... Katie is your daughter. However …’ he held up the other piece of paper in his hand, his eyes penetrating as they bore into Hannah’s. ‘According to these results, it would appear that Ben Short is not her father.’
A pin could have been heard to drop in the shocked silence that followed his words. Hannah sat looking at him, stunned.
‘What … what do you mean he’s not her father? Of course he is.’
‘Not according to our results. And we’ve run a check. There’s no match to anyone on our database.’
‘But who else could it be?’
But she knew the answer to that even as she uttered the words – her brain spinning down a path she hadn’t let herself revisit in seven years.
‘I think you’re the only one who can tell us that.’
Her face suffused with colour as the memories rushed in. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Adam.
‘Oh God. I had no idea. I never thought for one moment…’
She broke off as the implications behind his revelation suddenly hit her. Ben wasn’t Katie’s father. That meant he had no claim on her at all.
Elation swept through her.
But it was short lived as she realised the Inspector was still waiting to hear what she had to say on the matter. Too late, she remembered his words. Information may come out that you don’t necessarily want to share.
‘It’s possible it’s true,’ she conceded in a low voice, keeping her gaze fixed firmly on Murray’s face. Anywhere other than on Adam. ‘Ben and I split up for a short while when we were going out and I … I met someone else extremely briefly.’
She dropped her eyes. She didn’t want to go back to that time. Although the memory was hazy and she’d been drunk, she remembered enough of the details to know it hadn’t been her finest hour.
It had been one of the parties she’d gone to after she and Ben had split up over the handcuff episode. The same night she’d argued with her mother about her father coming home. She and Jess had gate crashed some girl’s eighteenth birthday party, already merry from an evening in the pub.
But then the extra booze had made Hannah morose and she’d taken herself off to the large barn with a bottle of wine, climbed up into the hayloft and tried to drink herself into oblivion so that she no longer had to think about Ben, or what he’d done to her and the fact that she couldn’t get him out of her system despite it all.
But one of the guys she’d been dancing with had seen her go and followed her. He’d asked her if he could join her, said it wasn’t good to be alone when you were fed up, and she’d ended up confiding in him about Ben and their row. Not about the sex thing though – that was way too personal.
They’d carried on talking until the bottle was finished. He was easy and uncomplicated and he made her laugh a lot. And when suddenly he’d said he’d quite like to kiss her, she’d said straight out that she’d like that too. And she had liked it. He smelt of aftershave and tasted of wine and she’d enjoyed the feel of his hands roaming sensitively over her body. And when a little while later he’d said that he should probably take himself off for a walk, she’d whispered to him not to, kissing him back shyly, giggling when he appeared to be having trouble with her shirt buttons, gasping when she felt his hands on her breasts teasing her nipples into life.
After that, the memory was hazy, but she remembered his voice urgent in the dark asking her if she was sure. Her own voice, softly urging him on. And then the intense waves of pleasure as he took her, pulling out at the last minute.
Which was why she’d never considered the baby might not be Ben’s.
They’d falle
n asleep where they lay, and when Hannah woke-up a couple of hours later, stiff and cramped in the hayloft, she was alone. Embarrassment had swamped through her, mortifying her. She’d never done anything like that in her life.
It was two o’clock in the morning and she’d ended up walking the two miles to the cab service at the station, berating herself the whole way. How could she have done that? She didn’t even know who he was. She’d acted like a tart.
Yet through her undoubted mortification, a little bubble of satisfaction had dared to raise its head. Ben was wrong. She wasn’t some sort of sex freak after all. She’d just had bog standard normal sex and she’d loved it!
‘I’m sorry?’
She came back to the present with a start as she realised DCI Murray had just asked her a question. She still couldn’t bring herself to look at Adam but she could feel his eyes boring into her.
‘I asked if you’d like a glass of water? It’s obviously come as a shock to you.’
‘Yes, thank you.’
Murray nodded at Harry and he disappeared off to get one. Then his eyes returned to Hannah and he hesitated, his gaze switching briefly to Adam and back again. ‘Would you prefer to conduct the remainder of this interview in private?’
Yes, she would. But Hannah shook her head. Adam was no doubt shocked enough by these revelations and it didn’t take much working out to guess what she was probably about to say. He might as well hear the facts and know the truth.
‘No, it’s fine. There’s not much to say really. I’m afraid I can’t tell you who Katie’s real father is because the truth of the matter is I don’t know myself.’
She cleared her throat. ‘Ben and I had a brief period in the early days when we split up. I’m not proud of it but I ended up getting very drunk at a party and having a one-night stand with some boy I’d never met before. I never saw him again after that night. A couple of weeks later Ben and I got back together again, and a short while after that I suspected I was pregnant. It might have been naïve of me but… I thought we’d been careful. It never occurred to me that Ben might not be the father.’
‘So, your boyfriend never suspected he wasn’t Katie’s father?’
‘No. He’d have killed me if he’d known.’
Inspector Murray leaned back in his chair and smiled. ‘It’s going to come as a bit of a shock to him then, isn’t it? Do you want to tell him, or shall I?’
Hannah suppressed a shudder. ‘Definitely you, if you don’t mind?’
‘It will be my absolute pleasure.’
He scribbled something on his pad, then put his pen to one side and looked at them both for a long moment.
‘Well, I think that probably draws things to a conclusion as far as I’m concerned,’
He looked from one to the other of them. ‘There will still be arrangements to sort out over your little girl, but hopefully they’ll be simpler now. I’d suggest you sit down together and do some thinking about what you’d like to see happen, before the Children’s Services get involved. I don’t know much about the way they handle things, but at this stage, they’d probably take any mutually agreed suggestions on board if they feel they’re in your daughter’s best interests.’
He turned to Adam. ‘I’m sorry about your wife, Mr Campbell. It’s a difficult time for you I know, but her letter is self-explanatory and so is her diary. The post mortem’s confirmed death by suicide with no suggestion of suspicious circumstances. So, from our point of view, nothing more needs investigating.’ He reached down and pulled out a carrier bag. ‘These are her belongings. Everything’s there. Please accept my condolences. We’ll be releasing her body tomorrow if you want to go ahead and make funeral arrangements?’
Adam took the bag. ‘Thank you.’
Murray stood up and shook hands with them both. ‘Well, I’ll get straight onto telling Mr Short the good news,’ he said with a grim smile. ‘I don’t think we’ll be hearing too much from that quarter in the future, do you? Good luck with it all.’
Outside, Adam’s face was drawn as he looked at Hannah. ‘I know he’s right and we need to talk, but…’ he looked down at the bag of possessions in his hands. ‘I don’t think I’m up to it today, if you don’t mind?’
‘Of course not.’
She’d found her daughter.
‘Is it all right if I call you tomorrow?’
She nodded and taking out her pen, she scribbled her mobile number on the back of an old receipt. ‘In case I’m out and about.’
‘Thanks. I’ll call you.’
And he was gone, striding away from her with purposeful strides that somehow seemed at odds with the bleak expression on his face. She turned away with a sigh and headed back to her car. So much to think about. It was almost inconceivable that the episode she’d felt so much shame about all those years ago should turn out to be such a lifesaver now. She’d never have thought she’d be glad of that moment’s indiscretion.
That brought to mind her more recent act of indiscretion in Adam’s kitchen. The heat crept into her skin at the memory of it. She just hoped that after today’s revelations, he didn’t think she went around making a habit of doing that sort of thing.
But she couldn’t worry about that now. She had far more important things on her mind. She climbed into her car and headed for her mother’s. The nearer she got, the more her excitement grew. She’d found her daughter. What better news than that could she be sharing with her mum?
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Hannah looked at the clock.
Eight o’clock Adam had said – after he’d settled Katie down. It was nearly nine now. It looked like he wasn’t coming.
She’d been on tenterhooks all day thinking about this meeting. He might at least have phoned.
The doorbell rang just as she was about giving up and pouring herself a glass of wine. She took a quick nervous sip before moving to let him in.
‘Ben!’ She reeled back in shock.
‘Hello, Hannah.’
She could smell the drink on him as he shoved her aside and walked into her flat. She made no move to follow him but stood where she was by the open door.
‘What are you doing here? I told you I didn’t want to see you again.’
‘Why do you think I’m here? I’ve come to talk about our daughter. Only she’s not our daughter, is she?’
She eyed him warily. But she wasn’t a timid teenager any longer. Forcing her limbs into action she followed him into the living room making sure to leave the front door ajar behind her. An escape route should she need it.
‘You’ve spoken to Inspector Murray?’
‘Is that his name? The bastard. It was obvious he took great delight in telling me the news.’
Hannah hesitated. ‘I’m sorry, Ben. I didn’t know that Sophie wasn’t yours.’
‘Didn’t know?’ He swung around to face her viciously. ‘How can you not know you screwed another man when you were supposedly going out with me?’
Hannah took a deep breath and forced herself to stay calm. ‘It was when we had that break. I only did it the one time. I never thought for one minute…’
‘And is that supposed to make me feel better? That you only did it the one time? Look at the mess that one time’s got me into! I look a complete idiot now making all those broadcasts about how I was going to look after Sophie.’
Hannah’s expression hardened. ‘Well, I’m sorry but you’ve only got yourself to blame for that. If you hadn’t been so quick off the mark trying to discredit me…’
‘Don’t push me, Hannah.’ He took a menacing step towards her. ‘You always did know which buttons to press to trigger my temper.’
Hannah held her ground. ‘Your buttons press themselves, Ben. Please go. I’ve got nothing more to say to you.’
‘You bitch. You think you’ve got the better of me now, don’t you? You think you’re so fucking clever.’
Before she even realised his intention, he’d closed the distance between them and had grabb
ed hold of her. ‘I’m not going until you tell me who the bastard is that screwed you when you were supposed to be going out with me. Who the father of your baby is?’
‘I am,’ a loud voice said from behind them and the next thing she knew, Ben’s grip on her arms had slackened as Ben was hauled off her and thrown unceremoniously across the room. He landed with a crash over the coffee table and sprawled onto the floor.
‘What’s it got to do with you?’ Adam said. His face was white with fury.
Ben stared up at him in shock. ‘Wait a minute. I know who you are,’ he said, scrabbling quickly to his feet. ‘I’ve seen your picture in the papers.’
‘Good. Then there’s no need for introductions before I throw you out. Hannah and I have nothing to say to you, Mr Short. You’re irrelevant now, so you might as well get used to the idea. And if I catch you anywhere near Hannah again, I’ll beat you to a pulp. You’d better believe that. Now you heard Hannah, get out.’
He stood aside, leaving Ben a wide berth to pass. For a moment, Ben’s expression was so ugly that Hannah thought he was going to fly at Adam but he knew he was no match for the tough, broad shouldered man standing in front of him. His look hovered venomously from one to the other before he said, with a final mutter, ‘You haven't heard the last of this,’ and stormed past them out of the flat.
Adam shut the door firmly behind him and for a long moment there was silence.
‘Charming chap,’ he remarked, watching her carefully. ‘He’s no more appealing in real life than he was on the television.’
He moved slowly into the room, noting the pallor of her cheeks. ‘Are you okay?’
She nodded shakily. ‘I’m sorry you had to witness that. Thanks for intervening. I didn’t think you were coming.’
‘Kate was playing up. It’s affecting her, Natasha’s death. I didn’t want to leave her with my mother until I knew she was asleep.’
Hannah nodded again. It should be her comforting her little girl. But it wasn’t her place to do that. Not yet.
Cry From The Grave A Thrilling Psychological Crime Mystery (Harry Briscombe Book 1) Page 24