Page 103 of Deep Blue Lies

I’m silent again.

“I don’t suppose there’s any point asking you for it? I expect you’ll have made copies?”

I nod.

She purses her lips, thinking.

“Why are we here, Ava? What isthisabout?” She waves a hand around, indicating that “this” means here.

“I wanted to give you the opportunity to explain. I want to know where I fit into all this.”

She’s quiet a moment, thinking, and I go on.

“Imogen really did have a baby, didn’t she?” I say, then watch her carefully, lowering my voice.

“I kept the clothes I was wearing when Imogen was attacked on the beach. They were soaked with her blood. I’ve sent a sample off for DNA testing. If I’m her daughter, I’ll know. In two days the results come back, and I’ll know.” I fix my eyes on her, willing myself not to look away, for her to see my fury. And I see it, this time a flicker of real panic. A major shifting inside her mind this time. She wasn’t expecting this. Not at all. She gives herself a moment, but not more than a few seconds. Then a smile.

“Yes. Damnit.” She shakes her head again, runs a hand through her hair. “Do you know I never suspected a thing. I worked with her, I slept in the same room as that stupid girl, who obviously was too stupid to even operate a condom. Oh, I realised there wassomething, she complained a little more than usual, maybe she’d filled out a bit, but nothing that I really noticed – and believe me I was a hawk about her weight. The way she looked in a swimsuit actually reflected on me…”

“Oh, I believe you. On that I believe you.”

She pauses, then smiles sarcastically. But then she softens it.

“But I never thought for a second she might be pregnant. I didn’t even know she was having sex.”

We’re both silent for a while, then she begins again. “You know, I’ve noticed over the years since, how you see stories about this from time to time. Girls who find themselves with a baby without ever knowing they were pregnant. It’s surprising how often it happens. And it rarely ends well.”

“And that was me? I was Imogen’s child?”

Her tongue comes out again to wet her lip, but her mouth must be dry. She holds up a finger to tell me to wait and reaches into her shoulder bag, pulling out a bottle of water. Carefully she breaks the seal and takes a sip, then a longer swig. When she’s done she offers the bottle to me.

“No. Thank you.”

She puts the bottle down on the bar between us, next to where she put my phone. She glances at it now, the screen black. Then she taps the home button again, checking it’s definitely switched off.

“OK, Ava. I suppose I owe you the truth.”

EIGHTY-NINE

“I think you owe me more than that,” I say. And Mum nods, thinking.

“Some of it’s true,” she says in the end. I wait, but she doesn’t go on.

“What parts?”

“The police, are they really coming?” she asks, but I don’t reply. “How long have I got?”

“Long enough for the truth.”

She swallows now. Her face is changed, the almost sneering confidence she projected earlier is gone, she’s trying for something else.

“We did lose the baby overboard.” She looks down as she says the words, then glances up at me, testing how they land. I don’t reply at once. I’ve heard this story several times now, but I never quite believed it. But coming from her like this, I know it’s real.

“Oh my God, Mum…” For a second I’m a girl again, this is my mother telling me this.

“It wasn’t our fault! It wasn’t my fault…” Her eyes narrow, flick left and right. “With any boat or ship, the person in charge is responsible. But Simon was…irresponsible. I had no idea about theweather, he told me it would be fine to leave the baby where she was, it was too hot down below, we put a sunshade on her…”

“But you were responsible for the baby?”