‘You mean . . .’
‘We had a feeling that she might do something to harm you. That’s why we were watching from the back.’
‘You were in the burned down shed?’ Lucy says.
He nods. ‘With a police officer. Many other police officers stationed along the back, in cars at the front. There’s been a lot happening in the last few weeks. Marie was back in prison, briefly, though we managed to get her released on bail pending appeal given the circumstances. Turns out the wheels of justice can turn fast when they want to. And when the Ministry of Justice takes an interest. Anyway, three eyewitnesses to Rachel’s attempt to poison you. Your glass has been taken off for analysis. We’ve got her now.’
Marie knows what Rachel will be going through now, adjusting to being in custody for the first time in her life. She shakes her head. ‘I guess she’ll get what she deserves.’
Lucy says, ‘What’s happened to the baby?’
Marie swallows. ‘That’s the other thing. With Edgar’s sister right now. But the police are pretty sure the baby wasn’t theirs.’
61
Just one more night. Then it finishes. The time Anna’s had to serve on recall of her licence will be over. She was worried she might end up in the same jail as Rachel, but so far they haven’t crossed paths. Maybe there’s a note somewhere in the system warning that they should be kept apart.
This time, it’s going to be different. When she gets out in the morning, there’ll be people waiting for her. Her new family, Lucy and Marie, the women who’ve visited her throughout this stretch, who’ve found accommodation for her, a volunteer position in the same law centre where Marie is employed now that her murder conviction has been quashed. It’s a start.
She talks to Kelly’s sister sometimes, too. Fern is less aggressive the more Anna explains. She’ll visit the grave when she gets out, even if she’s no closer to understanding what happened to Kelly. The inquest’s due to take place in a couple of months – they’re hoping it might give them some answers. Even though she didn’t find out what Kelly wanted her to discover, she did her best. At least she helped to resolve the awful situation with Rachel, Marie and Lucy. She’s started to prove she may have some worth.
And best of all, she has her old family. Lucy made contact with Marc, talked him round; she even managed to get hold of Sally, persuaded her to start speaking to her sister. It helps that Toby is recovering. He came off life support eventually, and with time and effort, he is learning to walk again on his own.
Her sister and Marc haven’t forgiven her yet, not fully. But they know how sorry she is. They haven’t visited her in prison, but they’ve asked her round to lunch, in the house that they’re now sharing again. She’ll see Toby. Her heart bursts at the thought.
One day, she’ll learn how to forgive herself.
The shouts, the smells: it’s all so familiar. But this is it. The last time.
When she steps out of the gate tomorrow morning, she’s never setting foot back inside again. This part of her life is over. Even the patch of eczema on her arm has healed. It’s time for a new chapter to begin.
And there they are, Marie and Lucy, standing outside the gate. This time, no one tries to run her down. It turned out it had just been a random joyrider, nothing to do with who Anna was or what she might know. The driver was nicked the next time he tried it, targeting another woman as she waited at the bus shelter on her release.
The two women take the bus with her, the train. They take her to the flat she’s going to share with Marie. They make her tea, sit her down and tell her everything, all the details it’s been so hard to describe in the noise of prison visits.
She tells them everything, too, all the details she kept quiet before. No more secrets.
‘Let me see the phone,’ Lucy says. ‘I can’t believe that poor woman smuggled it in inside herself.’
‘Don’t be so squeamish,’ Marie says. ‘You’d be amazed what you can pack in a prison pocket.’
Anna pulls a face of mock-disgust, goes to her bag to find the phone that’s been stashed there since she was put back inside. It still has some charge. She switches it on, hands it to Lucy.
‘You could fit that up you,’ she says. ‘No problem.’
‘Charming,’ Lucy says. She flicks through the buttons on the phone. ‘That’s odd,’ she murmurs. ‘Why are there so many calls from Rachel?’ She flicks through more. ‘In fact, why is Rachel’s the only number in the call log?’
‘There aren’t any calls from Rachel. I called her once, that last night. That’s it, though. She never called this phone.’
‘She clearly did,’ Lucy says. ‘This is her number. And there are loads of calls. They go back months. It’s definitely hers – I’m sure of it. I memorised it that awful night while I was waiting for her to collect me. Why?’
Anna stares at her. ‘I have no idea. But we’re going to tell the police. And we’re bloody well going to find out.’
EPILOGUE
There’s nothing left for Kelly. She’s fucked everything up. But it’s not all her fault – she knows that now. She’s been stitched up completely. She should never have trusted that woman, never should have believed her when she said she was Kelly’s friend. Her baby’s been stolen from her, simple as that.
Who’s going to believe her, though? It’s between a smack-addict shoplifter and a professor’s wife. No one’s going to take her side. If she reports it to the authorities, the baby will be taken straight into care. Who’d let Kelly be a mum?
