‘It’s Ellen Devlin,’ I say, my left hand going protectively over the blanket. ‘With Mia, just like you wanted.’
There is no answer. I keep walking, up the three steps onto the stage where long black curtains fall from ceiling to floor.
‘Where’s Noah?’ I say. I’m desperate to see him, to be sure he’s still OK. ‘Where is he?’
No answer, and then—
Light. In a split second the room is flooded with a hundred blinding lights, filling every corner with dazzling brilliance, a hundred bulbs at once, a thousand, filling the room with brightness that forces me to screw my eyes shut and cover my face with a hand. As my eyes slowly adjust, white flashes still dancing across my pupils, I make out a high ceiling filled with metal tracks and gantries for stage lighting, all of it trained on the stage. I squint, and a figure emerges from the dazzling glare on the other side of the studio.
A shape, an outline. A man.
‘Hello Ellen,’ he says. ‘Good to see you again.’
66
Kathryn Clifton
- BEFORE -
The woman’s name was Ellen.
She looked kind. Capable. Like she knew what she was doing, where she was going in life. Kathryn studied her across the little train table, this tall woman in the seat opposite, gazing down at Mia as if she was the most amazing thing in the world. Which she was, of course. Her niece, the miracle baby, all she had left of her big sister, like Zoe had been reborn and given another chance.
Kathryn’s phone buzzed with another text.
He must be tracking you, following in a car
She looked at Mia again and felt another lurch of panic, shivery and cold right down to her feet. She knew the stakes: if he caught Mia, he would kill her and her body would never be found. That was why Kathryn had taken her, why she had run.If he’s tracking me, she thought,maybe I need to give him a trail to follow. A trail that leads him away from Mia.
She couldn’t leave Mia with just anyone. But maybe she could leave her with this woman. Ellen. She looked smart, sensible,normal, as if she would do the right thing. Mia would be safe with her, just for a little while. Not even half an hour. It was either that or get caught – both of them – and that was not going to happen. Kathryn could not allow it to happen. She would be a decoy instead.
Time was running out.
Stay on the train or get off.
Stay on or get off.
On or off.
Now or never.
Kathryn could feel her heart tear a little at the thought of what she was about to do. She made her decision and fired off another text, the replies dropping in seconds later.
Do it
I should get to Marylebone in time to intercept
Be careful
Kathryn found a biro in her bag and a sheet of paper, a delivery note. She turned it over and began to write, watched her hand forming the letters.
Please protect Mia
Don’t trust the police
Don’t trust anyone
She folded the paper once, wrote Ellen’s name on the front and tucked it back into her rucksack.
