She’s watching every move I make, I note, as I plonk myself in the armchair. ‘He convinced everyone I was, though, claiming I was unstable, an unfit mother. Suicidal. I’m not! I might have made a feeble attempt to take my own life in my teens, but it was a cry for help. I was depressed, yes, but being abused by my mother’s disgusting partner, wasn’t I bound to have been? I was never struggling with mental health issues in the way Jack tried to convince people I was. It’s alllies.’
She shakes her head in bemusement. ‘Butwhywould he have gone to such lengths? It doesn’t make sense.’
‘Because he wanted custody of Evie.’ I look atherin bemusement. ‘In his mind, he thought he could keep her safe, but hecan’t, don’t you see?’
I note the deep furrow forming in her brow and I realise she doesn’t see anything. ‘He’s not who you think he is,’ I try again. ‘He’s the one with mental health issues. He’s exploitative, psychologically coercive. No one would believe it because he can charm the birds from the bloody trees, but heis.’
Seeing her sceptical expression, I go on forcefully, ‘Everything you think you know about him is a lie. You might not believe me now, but you will. Just ask yourself why your relationship moved so fast. Was it his idea to live together, or yours?’
‘Mine.’ She immediately defends him.
‘Are you sure about that?’ I ask. I can see by the flash of uncertainty in her eyes that she isn’t. ‘I wanted to get away because I was on to him and he knew it. He knew he would no longer have access to the money I’d inherited, that I would take Evie away, so he got rid of me, or thought he had. And then he choseyou.’
She looks away. ‘We need to check on Lina,’ she says.
Good God, can she not just muster up a little hatred forsomeone? ‘I’ve told you, she’s sleeping!’ I snap. ‘The only time she’s tolerable is when she’s quiet.’
Kara falls silent and I curse myself. I have to stop losing my temper around her. It’s not helping convince her I’m perfectly stable.
‘What do you mean, he chose me?’ she asks after a moment, her confused gaze coming back to me.
I sigh despairingly. ‘He doesn’t want a relationship with you, Kara. He doesn’tloveyou. It’s your house he wants. Yourmoney.’ I spell it out. ‘What do you think will happen to you once he thinks he’s secured his future?’
She doesn’t answer, but I can tell by the tears sliding down her cheeks that she’s beginning to see the light.
‘If you have that baby, if he allows you to because he’s decidedhewants the child, you’ll be diagnosed with postnatal depression before you’ve left the hospital.’ I force it home. ‘Trust me, I know. He will gather any ammunition he can use against you, and hewilluse it.’
She glances away again. ‘How canIknow any of this is the truth?’ she asks, looking back at me. ‘That it’s not you who’s the liar? That you’re not doing all of this out of revenge?’
I concede her point with a thoughtful nod. It’s true enough that I do want revenge. What person who’d had their child taken from them, their life stolen, wouldn’t? She needs something more than my accusations to persuade her, naturally. I would. ‘Ask Jemma,’ I suggest.
She knits her brow in confusion.
I sigh inwardly. She can’t be that naïve, surely? ‘You thought you could trust her, didn’t you?’ I ask, eyeing her interestedly. ‘So did I, but she’s just as bad as he is.’
Now she looks like a startled little bird.
‘Your precious friend was having an affair with your beloved husband and you didn’t even know about it,’ I inform her. ‘So if you want to learn the truth about Jack, ask Jemma. She knows everything.’
FIFTY-FOUR
JACK
‘Did you know your wife was alive, Mr Conley?’ DI Blake asked.
A knot of dread tightening like a hard fist inside him, Jack shook his head hard. ‘No,’ he stated categorically.
He tried to process. Couldn’t. He felt as if he’d been hit by a sledgehammer. How was this possible? There’d been no sightings of Natalia. No hint she was alive. Nothing. What the fuck was she doing here? His thoughts flew to Evie.
Blake looked him over, clearly unconvinced. ‘Kara’s well-off, isn’t she?’ she asked.
Jack blinked at her in incomprehension. ‘What thehellhas that got to do with anything?’ he responded angrily.
‘I was just thinking…’ she paused to shuffle through the paperwork in front of her, annoyingly, ‘it was fortunate that you met someone so quickly.’
He stared at her in disbelief. ‘You have to be joking.’ The knot of tension in his stomach twisted itself tighter as he realised where this was leading. ‘You think that my becoming involved with Kara wasplanned?’
Blake fixed him with a long, cold stare. ‘Why was your wife there in the car park when Imogen fell, do you think?’ she asked.
