‘Well, who else is likely to be responsible?’ asked Jack.
‘Perhaps she didn’t know he was in there?’ Muriel countered.
‘Oh, come on. How could she not know?’
‘Do you check the boot every time you enter your car?’
‘No, but I like to think I’d know if there was a body in it.’
‘Jack, you’re very quick to turn your back on someone you once supported,’ said Matthew.
‘I back winners, and Miss Arden stands less chance of winning this competition than I do of successfully resuscitating the first three dead Passengers.’
‘Or your career,’ added Libby.
‘So are you giving her your vote, Muriel?’ asked Fiona. ‘Unfortunately supporting her baby alone isn’t an option.’
‘I have to, yes.’
‘If there’s anyone else for Claire, could you please raise your hand?’ Fiona turned to each juror in turn and each shook their heads, including Jack.
‘Then that’s one vote for Claire Arden.’ She typed the name into her tablet.
‘Do you think once we’ve made our decision, the Hacker will tell us the truth about what happened to her husband?’ Muriel asked.
‘I wouldn’t count on it,’ said Fiona. ‘I don’t think we’ll ever learn the truth about any of them.’
Chapter 43
CLAIRE ARDEN
Claire’s eyes were sore to the touch, like someone had kicked sand into them and then rubbed it in. She willed herself to cry in the hope that it might offer them some relief. But she was drained; there were no more tears left inside her.
She remained trapped and helpless in her hijacked car, listening to a group of strangers debate the value of her life. In keeping the truth about Ben from them, she had cheated her baby out of a future. Her one job as a mother was to protect Tate and she had failed.
Claire knew as soon as the world had seen images of her husband’s dead body that her chance of surviving the ordeal was over. If she had been a juror or at home, glued to her TV screen watching someone else tangled up in her mess, she too would have sided with the evidence presented. But it wasn’t the truth. It wasn’t even close to the truth. If only she had been given just a minute longer to explain why Ben’s body was in the boot of her car, she and Tate might have stood a chance. But that wasn’t what the Hacker wanted. He wanted to send them to their deaths. The end was coming for Claire and there was nothing left for her to do to stop it.
Outside, her car was flanked by armoured army vehicles and marked police cars, preventing any interference from the hundreds of onlookers patiently waiting on the pavements to catch a glimpse of Claire travelling her own green mile.
She turned away from the window and gazed down longingly at her bump. ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,’ she whispered, her hands working their way around it carefully like a potter at the wheel. ‘It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. Your dad and I had everything planned out for you. The three of us were going to have this incredible life together, full of exciting adventures. And eventually you were going to fly the nest and have amazing experiences all of your own while your daddy and I grew old together. But then he ruined it all. And as well as losing him, now I’m going to lose you too.’
Claire thought back six months and to the day when her world fell from its axis. She recalled with clarityquietly closing the front door to their home and letting her handbag drop to the floor. The plastic bottles inside it rattled. She watched as Ben made his way up the stairs, pulling himself up using both bannisters until he turned a corner and disappeared into their bedroom. Then she clasped her hands across her mouth and sobbed in silence. She needed a moment to herself to let it all out before concentrating on her husband.
Claire patted her stomach, then just a barely protruding bump that had only just begun to reveal itself. She wanted to reassure her baby that by the time it emerged into the world, everything was going to be alright. She didn’t want to begin their relationship with a lie, but she had little choice. Everything now was about protecting her child at all costs.
By the time she reached the bedroom, she paused under the doorway to take Ben in. He was sitting on the edge of the mattress, his head buried in his hands. This was not the strong, unyielding man Claire had fallen in love with. She no longer saw him as the strapping six-foot-three-inch tall, broad-chested athlete who excelled at sports and who she’d cheered on from the sidelines when he competed in triathlons. Before her was a frightened, vulnerable boy trapped inside a man’s broken body and who desperately needed her reassurance. But she couldn’t give him what he craved.
Instead, she positioned herself by Ben’s side and draped her arm around his shoulder. He placed her other hand in his and drew it to her mouth to kiss. His lips and fingers were icy cold so she entwined them around hers.
From where she was sitting, Claire could see into the spare bedroom that was to eventually become the nursery. Only neither of them had the courage to even think about clearing it of old books, CDs and gym equipment let alone decorate it. They had made that mistake before. A day after assembling a cot, Claire had begun to bleeduntil their dreams were taken away from them. Now, without either wanting to admit it to one another, they were waiting for this baby to be snatched like all the others had before it. Each day it remained inside her was a miracle.
‘We will be okay,’ Claire soothed and tilted her head to rest her temple against Ben’s. ‘You and me, we will get through this together.’
‘You can’t say that with certainty though, can you?’
‘Nothing is certain; you and I know that more than most. But despite everything we’ve been through, we’ve never lost each other, have we? What makes you think I’m going to let that happen now? You’re my DNA Match, remember? We were made for one another.’
‘I wish I could believe you, but you heard the diagnosis. It’s inevitable.’
