Chapter 39

THIRTY-NINE

Lottie could sense that something was wrong with the first step inside her front door.

‘Katie? Chloe? Sean? Where are you all?’

She burst into the kitchen. Her mother stood with her back to the counter, arms folded like a sergeant major. But the spark of mutiny that so often glinted in Rose’s eyes was missing.

‘What’s wrong? Where are the kids?’ Lottie threw her bag and jacket over the back of a chair and noticed the stack of clothes all ironed and neatly folded.

‘They’re upstairs.’

‘Why? What’s going on?’

‘They’ve eaten. There’s a plate of dinner in the microwave for you. Chloe and Sean are doing their homework, under protest, I may add, and Katie is putting Louis to bed.’

Lottie sighed with relief. ‘Oh. Thank God.’

She heard Rose move towards her. She eased past her and switched on the microwave, suddenly overcome with the need to eat.

‘We have to talk,’ Rose said, sitting down.

‘I have to eat.’

‘Don’t be so belligerent.’

‘I’m not. I’m hungry.’

She waited impatiently while the plate twirled around inside her sparkling new microwave. Hearing the ping, she took out the plate, got a knife and fork and sat down at the table opposite Rose. The steak looked appetising, and she knew the mashed potato would be full of butter and milk.

‘This is lovely. Thanks. I really appreciate it.’

‘Tell me about the coin you found in Louis’ clothes.’

‘Katie told you?’

‘Yes.’

‘It’s nothing.’

‘It’s a sign.’

‘Don’t go all superstitious.’ At least Rose didn’t know about the seeds, Lottie thought.

‘I have something to tell you,’ Rose said.

Lottie was starving and wanted nothing more than to dig into the food, but she laid down her fork. ‘Go on. Tell me.’ She looked at her mother, really looked, and saw that the lines were more deeply ingrained into her forehead and the crow’s feet seemed to have multiplied in the last year. So much had happened. So much had eaten its way into both of their hearts, and most of it had not been good. The only shining light in their lives was the birth of baby Louis just over a year ago. Her heart contracted tightly with a love tinged with fear.

Rose took a deep breath and exhaled. ‘Bernie Kelly called to my home last night.’

‘What?’ Lottie stared at her, her mouth hanging open. ‘Are you okay? Did she harm you?’ She could feel her blood beginning to bubble towards a hysterical boiling point.

‘I was just a little shaken. She didn’t threaten me, but she did frighten me.’

Trying to control her breathing, Lottie gasped, ‘What did she do?’

‘Nothing. It was her words.’

‘Go on. Tell me. I have to know what she’s up to. She’s a very dangerous individual.’

‘I know that,’ Rose snapped. ‘You knew she’d escaped?’

‘Yes. There’s a nationwide appeal out for sightings of her.’

‘And you didn’t warn me personally, or your children for that matter?’

‘I put plans in place to protect you all, but I’ve four murders to investigate.’ That was no excuse, and Lottie knew it. She waited for the onslaught.

‘Once again you’ve put your job before your family. When will you learn? We could’ve been killed by that woman while you were out there working.’

‘I didn’t put my job first. I never do.’ At least she didn’t think she did. Not intentionally. ‘I told Katie to stay in the house and I organised a taxi to bring Chloe and Sean to and from school. Anyway, Bernie has had ample opportunity to do something, but she hasn’t. I just need to find her.’

Rose wrung her hands together. ‘I saw the news report this morning.’

Oh shit, Lottie thought. ‘Cynthia Rhodes will be hearing from me just as soon as I get my head together.’

‘You never told your boss back then?’

‘About what?’

‘That Bernie is related to you.’

‘He wasn’t my boss then.’ She sighed loudly. ‘But he knows now, doesn’t he?’

‘Don’t be such a smart-mouth, Lottie. It doesn’t suit you.’

‘Sorry.’ As usual her mother had reduced her to her inner child. And that was never a good thing.

‘Everyone will think I was a baby-snatcher.’

The fuse blew. Lottie jumped up.

‘You! It’s always about you. What about me and my family? What my father did was inexcusable, but the fact that you never told me is even worse. You kept the secret from me all my life and I had to find out at the end of a knife held by the woman who claimed to be my sister. She might as well have stuck it into my heart, the hurt was so hard to bear. I’ve been through worse and come out the other side, but now my children will have to know. How do you propose I tell them?’

Rose shook her head wearily. ‘It’s a mess, and I have no idea how to fix my wrongs.’ She looked at Lottie, her eyes watery and older than their seventy-odd years. ‘Bernie gave me a message for you.’

‘She left a message for me last night too. A handful of seeds on my front step.’

‘How do you know it was her?’

‘Who else was obsessed with that kind of thing? Who else had a book on herbs and requested it for her cell? What did she want me to know?’

‘I didn’t want to tell you. I wasn’t going to, but then I saw the news this morning and I knew I had to.’

‘Go on.’ Lottie wasn’t at all sure she wanted to hear anything Bernie Kelly might have told her mother. She knew those words might be lethal.

‘She babbled a lot. Talked incoherently for a while. Then she said I had to tell you that she would not go back to being incarcerated. She’s going to disappear.’ Rose’s voice faltered. She coughed and continued. ‘But before she does, she’s going to kill each one of your children, and your grandson.’

Lottie felt bile rise from her stomach. ‘Over my dead body.’

‘What are you going to do?’ Rose’s voice quivered.

‘I’m going to kill her first.’