No Longer Safe(103)

‘Weeks and months turned into years and then my release day finally came in May and I was out.’ She took a step towards me. ‘I’m not a bad person, Alice. I’ve just learnt new ways to defend myself. I’ve had to toughen up. Prison does that to you.’

‘I can’t imagine how you coped,’ I said with conviction. I held out my arm towards the boy. ‘But you’ve taken someone else’s child – he doesn’t belong to you. Remember how you felt when your baby was gone? Well – his mother is in agony now.’

‘Poetic justice,’ she said wryly.

I tapped my lip. I was thinking back to our first few days here. ‘When did you do the swap? You were at the cottage when the boy was seen being handed over.’

‘The night Brody was taken, a witness flagged up a car, that’s true – but it wasn’t mine – it was Charlie handing the baby over to a go-between couple. I never met them and they didn’t have the whole picture, but they looked after the child until the handover to me at the pick-up point, miles from here, the following night.

‘Mark didn’t take much persuading to head off to the pursuit centre with Jodie earlier that evening. I offered them a lift and took Mel, remember?’

I thought about it and nodded slowly.

‘I did the swap after I’d dropped them at the pub. It was just you I had to worry about, but it turned out really easy. I got back here in time to give you a nightcap, with Brody already fast asleep after a sedative.’

‘Why resort to this?’ I glanced over at him. ‘I know you couldn’t have another baby of your own, but why didn’t you adopt a child or set about fostering?’

She laughed. ‘With my criminal record? Think about it. I tried – of course I did ¬– but all my efforts were blocked, especially as my offence involved a child. But I made a friend in prison and she’s been amazing.’

She snatched a breath.

‘Pam got out before me, but we stayed in touch. She let me ‘borrow’ her daughter, Daisy. She was used to babysitters and she’s about the same age as Mel when she died. Pam knew from our time together in Holloway how much losing Mel had destroyed me – and she named her own baby Daisy Melanie as a way of remembering her. I paid for Pam to stay in Fort William while I rented this place.’

She was tripping over her words, getting it all out.

‘Daisy was just a stand-in until I picked up the baby I was going to keep. I needed witnesses to see her with me when the other child went missing.’

She slowed down, her eyes roaming around the room.

‘There were times when I almost felt she was mine. Like going back in time with my Melanie. I couldn’t wait to do it for real.’

I felt my head shake from side to side in disbelief as the pieces continued to slot into place.

‘The day before my birthday you said you’d gone to the hospital…’ I said.

‘I took Daisy back to Pam for a while, just to keep them both happy. I never set a foot inside the hospital.’

She was looking pleased with herself, even though her plan had gone completely off the rails.

‘Didn’t the police here want to see a birth certificate? Didn’t they know you lost your own baby? Weren’t they suspicious about the baby girl being yours?’

She smiled. ‘That’s where I need to give you the full picture.’ She stroked a knot in the wood on the open door. ‘As far as the police know, I’ve been looking after my friend’s child. They knew my history and I told them I was babysitting for Pam to give her a break. They checked up with Pam, of course, and everything was above board.’

‘So why the big pretence to all of us that the baby was yours?’

‘Because I was going back to London a mother, bringing home the baby girl who’s been ill for so long. That’s the story everyone around me was meant to know. Pam and I set this up months ago.’

‘But, the baby’s a boy...’

She rested her head against the doorframe and sighed. ‘Yeah – and I’m going to have to rethink everything. I might not go back. I might have to start again somewhere new.’

She stared over towards the window, no doubt dreaming up fresh schemes for her future.

I wanted to bring her back. ‘So, Mark’s not involved?’

‘No – he just provided some of the money.’

‘Won’t the police back home ask questions? About this new baby you have, out of the blue?’

‘Why? There’s nothing to link me with Brody’s disappearance. The police are looking for Charlie – your new friend, Nina, put them on to him. Pam’s child is back safe and sound. Why would anyone be snooping around after me?’