Page 84 of Deep Blue Lies

EIGHTY-THREE

I already know. I don’t want to know, but I do. And I can see that Duncan knows I know. He can see it in my eyes. But he doesn’t spare me.

“Both women were left in an almost impossible position. Imogen’s family situation was difficult, her parents – I’m not sure if you’re aware, but they were from the Mormon faith.

They hadn’t approved of her prolonged stay in Greece, but the idea of her returning with a baby?

Unthinkable. Impossible. She would have been disowned, cut off.

And as for Karen, she’d just murdered Mandy and Jason’s baby. She was facing years in jail.”

I don’t know if Sophia doesn’t see it yet, or if she’s just braver than me.

“What did they do?” she asks, her face white.

He eyes her a moment, then he fixes his gaze on me. “I suppose there was a certain elegance to the idea,” he scoffs suddenly. “Perhaps in fiction at least.” At once he’s serious again.

“I told you that Mandy was simple. What I didn’t say was that Jason was so busy, he had barely had time to spend five minutes with their child.” He pauses. “Either way, it was Karen’s idea.”

“What was the idea?”

“They wanted to swap the babies,” I say .

Surprised by the interruption, Duncan nods at me.

“Yes. Exactly.”

“But that would never have worked?” I see the objections at once. “There’s no way a woman wouldn’t recognise her own child? Would accept a newborn child instead of a four-week-old, that’s insane…”

“Obviously. But you have to appreciate the stress both women were under. Karen, presumably still with a significant amount of drugs running through her veins. Imogen who had just given birth, quite unexpectedly, and without any kind of pain medication I should add. The sense of pressure, the disorientation of it all…” He shakes his head. “It would have been immense.”

I don’t answer.

“So what happened?”

“As I understand it, Karen was the one who tried to return the baby. She waited until Mandy had returned to her room, and then she attempted to ‘return’ Mandy’s baby, but really gave her Imogen’s child.”

“Oh my God. What happened?”

“It went badly. As you foresaw, Mandy realised at once that the child wasn’t hers, and she became hysterical.

You can perhaps understand her reasoning.

And this panicked Karen. There was only one thing she could do at this point.

There was a lamp in the room, heavy, it was made from the local rock… ”

I shake my head, not believing that he’s including this detail, but knowing now exactly where this is going.

“She took the lamp, and she hit Mandy over the head with it. I accept she only meant to render her unconscious, but as I say, it was a heavy lamp. She killed her. Karen struck Mandy too hard and killed her outright.”