‘Kate,’ Blake gave the woman a smile, ‘could you pull up the custody image we were looking at?’
Custody image?Jack felt his throat run dry. What the fuck was this all about?
‘No probs,’ Kate said, tapping at the keyboard.
A second later, an image of Natalia filled the screen, her sharp grey eyes seeming to peer accusingly out at him, and Jack felt as if someone had just walked over his grave.
‘The photographs I found of her in historical newspaper articles rang a bell,’ DI Blake said. ‘I checked the Police National Computer and this came up. She was arrested for shoplifting, according to the report, approximately four years ago.’
Jack swallowed and nodded. ‘She wasn’t well,’ he said, his blood pumping with confusion and fear as he wondered where this was leading. ‘She had some mental health issues. She?—’
‘We gathered,’ DI Blake cut him short. ‘Could we switch to the CCTV images, Kate?’ she asked.
Jack felt sweat break out on his body.
‘This is the footage from the car park I mentioned,’ Blake went on, nodding towards the screen. Jack followed her gaze. ‘See there.’ Leaning towards the computer, she pointed with her pen.
Jack squinted. He couldn’t see much. A grainy image of someone wearing a dark hoodie and jeans exiting the car park area to the stairs was all. He wasn’t sure what comment he was supposed to make.
‘Judging by the height and gait, we’ve established that the person is a female,’ she continued. ‘It isn’t much to go on, but… Can we take a look at the footage from the ground-floor car park exit, Kate?’
The woman obliged.
‘We have more images, as you can see,’ Blake went on. ‘And here,’ she paused to point again, ‘she glances over her shoulder, presumably to see if anyone might have spotted her. Could you get a little closer, Kate?’
Her colleague played the frames back and zoomed right in, freezing the image of the woman turning towards the camera, and Jack’s blood froze in his veins.
Natalia.He felt the breath leave his body.How?
FIFTY-THREE
NATALIA
‘He thought I’d plummeted to certain death,’ I chat on to Kara as I come back from her plush kitchen with a cup of tea for her. ‘But I didn’t die, as you can see.’
Sitting down next to her on the sofa, I give her a smile. She doesn’t smile back. I suppose I can forgive her that, given her circumstances. ‘I imagine he’ll be furious when he realises he didn’t manage to kill me, although God knows he tried with his manipulation and his lies. Do you realise what that can do to a person?’ I survey her interestedly. Her pretty eyes are so wide I’m sure they’re going to pop right out of her head. ‘But of course you do. Or at least I think you might finally be beginning to.’
Shaking my head sympathetically, I sigh and cradle the mug to her lips, her hands being somewhat restricted. ‘It’s cool enough to drink,’ I assure her, as she flinches. ‘I tested it.’
As I try again to encourage her to take as sip, she jerks away. ‘I don’twantthe fucking tea!’ she screams, causing me to jolt.
‘Oh dear.’ I glance down at the tea that’s spilled on my jeans, then back to her. ‘Feisty, aren’t we?’
Her expression is apprehensive as I rise from the sofa and place the cup on the coffee table, my actions measured, despitemy anger. ‘You do realise he’s a liar?’ I ask her. ‘That everything about him is fake?’
She looks at me, utterly clueless.
‘He told you I had mental health issues, right?’ I ask.
She nods, her forehead creased into a scowl as she looks up at me, her hands fiddling with the wire behind her back. No matter. It’s tied tightly. She’s probably experiencing some pain in her wrist, which I suspect is sprained rather than broken, but I’ve made sure her circulation won’t be restricted. I’m not completely heartless, despite Jack’s best attempts to smash my heart to smithereens.
‘I struggled with depression, I admit that much, but I don’t have mental health issues,’ I assure her. ‘Has it struck you how many people around you he claims do?’
‘Lina,’ she murmurs, a flicker of comprehension in her eyes.
‘Precisely.’ I nod, check the clock on the wall, then go to the window. ‘Where’s he got to anyway?’ I ask, as if she’s going to know. ‘You’d think he’d be here, given that youcould be dead. Honestly, he’s unbelievable.’
I sigh and turn around. ‘The times I stood looking out of my window when we were married.’ I sigh expansively.‘You still are,’ I remind myself. ‘Oh, right, I forgot,’ I answer, then, ‘What?’ I ask, noting her nervous expression as I head back towards her. ‘I talk to myself. Don’t you? It doesn’t make me mad.’
