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Finally,finally, we finish. It’s been an interminable morning, and even Simon’s feet were tapping under the table by the end of it. At least he hasn’t planned anything for the afternoon. If I move fast I can be back at the hotel with Lisa in half an hour or so. I grab my bag from under the table and check my phone. There’s a missed call from a number I don’t know. Shit.
‘Do you want to grab some lunch?’ Simon asks. ‘Just to talk. Not work. All this stuff on the news, it’s …’
I hold up my hand to stop him as I hit the message button, gripping the phone to my ear. ‘Sorry, give me a minute,’ I say. The message kicks in. It’s her, Lisa. I listen, and find I’m pacing.
‘Oh my God, oh my God.’
‘What is it?’ Simon’s staring at me. ‘What’s happened?’
‘She knows who Katie is. Jodie’s mum. She knows. She knows where they are!’ I play the message over again. ‘Ava. She knows where Ava is.’ My breath is rapid. She’s being cautious in her messagewhere we were going to run away to,but she knows.
‘Who knows?’
‘Lisa.’
He stares at me, pink blotches appearing on his neck. ‘Lisa? That’s Lisa? You have to call the police.’
‘No, I can’t. It’s not so simple. Look, she found me. Last night. She—’
‘Jesus, Marilyn!’ He steps up close. ‘You’ve seen her?’
Neither of us notice Karen Walsh leaving the room as I start to talk, the events of the past twenty-four hours spilling out of me in a random mess of words. I’m vaguely aware of the door closing but I’m intent on telling him as quickly as possible. I can’t hold it in any longer and Ineedhim to believe us.
‘It wasn’t Lisa who killed Jon and took Ava. The police have got it all wrong. It was Katie Batten. Girl B. She faked her own death in order to find Lisa. They had a pact and Lisa broke it and now she wants some kind of crazy revenge or something …’ I’m breathless as I speak and his eyes get wider.
‘Slow down,’ he says. ‘Katie Batten?’
‘We need to find her.’ I don’t want to talk. I want to get to Lisa. She’s out there alone somewhere. She didn’t wait for me and I can’t blame her for that with her daughter missing, but anything could happen to her. I said I’d help her and I have to. I’m all she has.
‘And we will,’ he says. ‘But you need to explain. Who is Katie Batten?’
‘She was Lisa –Charlotte’s –best friend,’ I start. And then it’s all coming out of me and he listens, without saying a word, as I tell him about their childhood friendship, about how her life was as a child, even about little Daniel’s bruises found after his death and how they crushed Charlotte with the realisation that his short life had been as shit as hers.
I’m still talking when the door opens. We both look up and I see my surprise shining back from Simon’s face.
It’s the policewoman, Bray. Why is she here? Her anger is like a haze around her brisk efficient body as she and the two men with her sweep into the room. She takes my phone from me before I’ve had a chance to speak.
‘Bag it,’ she says, passing it back to a constable. ‘We need to talk to you at the station, and if you refuse, I’ll have no option but to arrest you—’
‘Arrest her? She hasn’t done anything wrong!’
‘Where shall I start?’ Bray snaps. ‘Accessory after the fact? Aiding and abetting?’ She turns to me. ‘Where is she, Marilyn? I can’t believe you’d put that girl’s life at risk. You told me you’d let me know if you heard from Lisa and I put my trust in you.’
How does she know all this? How does she know I’ve spoken to – and then I seeher, Karen Walsh, standing further back outside the open door. The bitch rang the police.
‘No, it’s not like that,’ I say. I see a flash of black plastic in Bray’s hands and realise in horror what she’s holding. Are they really going to handcuff me and lead me out of here like a common criminal? What do they think I’m going to do? ‘It’s not Lisa. She didn’t kill Jon. Jodie – from Ava’s swim club – her mother is Katie Batten! Lisa found out and she’s gone to find her.’
‘She’s conned you,’ Bray is almost growling at me, looking at me as if I’m the world’s biggest fool, the beaten woman once again duped by someone. ‘We’ve found Lisa’s hair and other DNA in both Jon’s flat and the cottage where his body was found. Even her fingerprints are there.’
‘How do you know it wasn’t planted?’ Simon stands alongside me.
‘Jesus Christ, this isn’t an episode ofMorse. Are you buying into this bullshit too?’ She glares at him. ‘We spoke to all of Ava’s friends and their parents when she went missing. There was nothing suspicious about any of them, and for the last time, Katie Batten is dead. Marilyn, you’re coming with us to the station. We’ve wasted enough time and I need to know everything. You could have placed two further people at risk with this craziness: Amelia and Jodie Cousins.’
I look at Simon, helpless.
‘I’ll send a lawyer down straight away. Don’t worry.’
I hug him, a sudden movement too fast for anyone to stop, and before he breaks away, I whisper in his ear, ‘Find Katie.’