Page 25

CHAPTER 25

MELANIE – D AY T HREE

Seven thirty a.m. and the message comes in that Carol will be at the station within half an hour.

Melanie’s already at her desk, checking through the latest updates from calls to the incident room and the various inquiries being made by her team. She’s set the next briefing with her team for nine thirty after she’s interviewed Carol.

Her eyes are glued to her screen, so she’s surprised when a hand appears to place a takeaway coffee cup on her desk. A good brand.

‘Cappuccino, boss? Went to the good place. Got them to pop in an extra shot.’

She turns her head to see Sam standing just behind her desk. ‘Thank you. You’re early.’

‘I’m hoping to hear from Adam Meadows’ solicitor first thing. See if he is in touch with Dawn’s solicitor who might have an address. He knows it’s urgent. I’m hoping to have the latest before your briefing.’

‘Excellent. Though I doubt the solicitor will be in before nine.’

‘Actually, the message from his secretary said he’s due in early. Prepping for a family court appearance. Hoping to ring me beforehand.’

‘Great.’ Melanie flips the small plastic insert on the coffee cup. She sips. ‘Crikey. Delicious. Perfect temperature.’

‘I did mention you were particular .’ He grins. She smiles back. They had talked on the drive about the best places for coffee. Getting the temperature just right. Not too hot to burn the flavour. Not too cold. For a moment Melanie thinks of all the conversations with Matthew over coffee and feels a strange little pull inside and suddenly feels just desperately sad. She sips again.

‘Right,’ she says. ‘As you’re here early – do you want to assist on the Carol interview? I’m going to go rogue and lead. But I’d like you there. I have met Carol, so I’m declaring that I know her. I don’t see it as compromising. I’ve only met her at a couple of social events. She’s not a friend. But to be sure we go by the book I’d like your input. And your take.’

‘Sure. I’ll chase the solicitor before she gets here.’

Forty minutes later Melanie is sitting alongside Sam with Carol, who looks incredibly tired, across the Formica table. Carol’s wearing jeans and a smart red jumper. Stylish. Her navy bag looks designer too. But the bags under her eyes say she didn’t sleep on the drive. Nerves? Or guilt?

‘Thank you so much for agreeing to this. Just a chat.’ Melanie has Carol’s record report in front of her and she clocks Carol trying to read the paperwork upside down. Melanie lifts up the cardboard folder, opens and reads some more, then puts it back on the desk, this time closed.

It summarises what she already knows. That Matthew had been hired by Sally and mutual friend, Beth, to trace their estranged friend Carol for a school reunion at their old boarding school. It was nearly a decade ago. The school was closing down and Sal and Beth saw it as a last chance to get their little besties’ trio back together. Matthew helped find Carol and at the last minute she turned up at the hotel with a baby in tow. Claimed an adoption had just gone through and she was on top of the world. It was in the middle of the night that Carol’s violent partner turned up and the horrible truth came out.

That there was no adoption. Carol had, in a moment of madness, snatched the baby from the airport ...

‘I expect you’ve guessed why we needed to speak to you.’ Melanie looks up from the file and watches Carol closely as she lets this sink in. She then waits. Her usual tactic.

Carol lets out a huff of air, looks away to the corner of the room, and finally back at the closed file on the desk.

‘It’s what happened all those years ago. When I was very poorly. Yes?’

‘Yes, Carol. I didn’t know anything about that. But you must see that with Amelie Hill missing, we have to ask everyone questions. And with this case on your files, the abduction of a child—’

‘Look. I was very unwell back then. Not myself at all. And I’ve regretted what I did every single day since. But I’m better now. I would never do anything like that again. I love Sally. And I love Amelie too. I’m in shock about her going missing. I just want to get home to Sally so I can support her.’

‘Yes. Of course. So tell me, where have you been the past few days? We just need to verify everything. Tick all the boxes, as I say.’

‘You want an alibi?’ Carol looks genuinely shocked. ‘But I was in France. That is my alibi.’

‘Sure. Sure. But I have to check the timeline. When did you leave for France?’

‘Three weeks back.’

‘OK. We’ll need the flight details. Your full schedule since, especially Tuesday when Amelie went missing. You understand, yes?’ Melanie pauses. ‘So were you with anyone who can vouch for you? Confirm you were in France. Your schedule?’

‘You don’t believe me?’

‘It’s not that. It’s just procedure. This is how it works, Carol. Every alibi has to be checked. So – can you tell us if you were with anyone?’

‘Yes. I was with a friend called Emily. She’s younger. I took her under my wing when she was a teenager and we’ve stayed good friends. Like an unofficial godparent, if you like. We’ve been sightseeing this past week. We did some museums together. I have tickets and pictures I can show you.’

‘Great. So if you could write down your schedule. What you were doing the time that Amelie went missing. Share Emily’s number. Show us your pictures and where you were staying. We can check all that very quickly and let you get back home to Sally. Tell you what. I’ll leave you to go through all that with my colleague here. I need to get ready for a briefing.’

‘Right. Good. I’ll do that.’

Melanie stands and turns. She stares at the door a moment then turns back deliberately. ‘So you don’t have children yourself? Am I remembering that right?’ She feels this question land on Carol like a slap. Feels momentarily bad for the hurt now showing on Carol’s face but only because this is Sally’s friend. Melanie needs to observe Carol’s reaction. She could be lying about France.

‘No. I can’t have children. It’s always been a source of sadness to me. It’s why I got ill. And made that terrible mistake over the baby. But I’ve had counselling. And a lot of time to come to terms with my life.’ She turns to look at the wall which has an empty corkboard attached. ‘I’m still sad about it. That I’ll never be a mother. But I have come to terms with it. I’m not ill anymore. And like I say, I would never do anything again to upset or hurt a family.’ She pauses again and turns back to look at Melanie directly. ‘I was ill when that happened all those years ago. A different person.’

‘Right. Yes. I understand. Thank you.’ Melanie forces a small smile. She announces that she’s leaving the room for the tape and tells Sam that she will leave him to finish up. Take the schedule of Carol’s movements and any tickets on her phone.

Back in the office, Alison, the DS from the incident room, is waiting by the door. ‘OK. Two biggies. I have a teenager downstairs who says he has information on the body in the trolley. And I have a message for Sam from a solicitor. He says it’s urgent. So shall I interrupt the interview or wait until he’s finished?’

‘No. Don’t interrupt. Share it with me. I’m across it.’

Alison hands over a note with a summary of the message. Melanie feels a rush of cold move through her. Then adrenaline.

‘And what about the teenager?’

Melanie can hardly think straight, eyes narrowing.

The message makes no sense.

‘You want me to talk to the teenager? It’s just he’s asking for you.’

‘No. No. I’ll go down and talk to him.’ Melanie is still scanning the note, her mind now working at a hundred miles an hour. The message from the solicitor says he’s handled all the Meadows’ business affairs for years. He’s confused. Wants an urgent phone call.

He says there was no divorce. There’s been no division of the business or personal equity.

As far as he’s aware Adam and Dawn Meadows are still very much married.