She says nothing, but simply stares at me, her expression growing mutinous, and I realise I’m going to have to up the threat. Clearly she thinks she can outsmart me – someone who’s survived on wit alone since her husband’s attempt to murder her. I don’t think so. Does she not appreciate all I went throughto achieve what I knew I had to? At first, I’d hoped they would charge him with killing me, even without a body as evidence. Then I’d agonised whether to come forward and tell the police what the bastard had done. I soon dissuaded myself, knowing they would never believe me. Jack would have convinced them otherwise. He’s far too clever with his sob stories and his lies. He would have convinced them I had tried to commit suicide, that I was unhinged, and where would that have got me? Alienated from my own daughter.
It wasn’t going to happen again. This time,Iwould win. I would outsmart this ridiculously naïve woman. I would outsmarthim.
‘Stay there,’ I instruct, spinning around to head for the kitchen. ‘It was me, by the way, who left the locket for you to find,’ I call back as I select the largest carving knife from the rack. ‘It was a nice little memento of me, don’t you think?’
She doesn’t answer.
‘I wanted to shake things up a bit. Give you cause to wonder whether you might have been a little bit hasty getting involved with him. I wanted Jack shaken up too, obviously. It worked, I think. I also left the video of your son playing – such a beautiful little boy,’ I add with a sorrowful sigh as I walk back. ‘I thought that would be enough to remind you what a complete failureyouare as a mother. Because that’s what you are, aren’t you?’
Her pretty green eyes are frozen wide with terror as I press the tip of the knife to her throat. ‘Aren’tyou?’
She nods. Not the best idea. I wince as the sharp point pierces her delicate skin. I draw it away. ‘Turn around,’ I tell her.
Petrified, clearly, she doesn’t budge. ‘I need to untie you,’ I explain, giving her a short smile. ‘And then when your two-faced slutty friend, who claimed to bemyfriend, arrives, you do everything I tell you, no more, no less. Understand?’
She nods more vigorously as I take a tissue from my pocket and press it to her neck.
FIFTY-SEVEN
JACK
Desperate to get hold of Jemma in the hope she would go and see if there was any sign of Kara or Evie back at the house, Jack tried her number again. ‘Shit.’ He banged the heel of his hand against the steering wheel when her phone went straight to voicemail.
Realising he was driving erratically, he pulled over to try Evie and Kara again. Still nothing.Jesus.What should he do? He swiped a hand over his face and took several slow breaths, trying to oust the nagging voice in his head that told him they were both lying dead. Setting off again, he gripped the steering wheel tight as he detoured towards the crash site, parking a few yards away from the police cordon.
An officer stopped him as he approached. ‘Sorry, sir,’ she said, ‘there’s been a major road traffic accident up ahead. We’re asking people to take an alternative route.’
‘I know. My partner, she…’ He faltered, feeling disconnected from himself suddenly, as if he were viewing this living nightmare from the outside. He wished he was. That it was all a bad dream and someone would wake him up.
‘Sir?’ The officer snapped him back to himself. ‘Are you okay?’ she asked. ‘You seem unwell.’
‘Yes,’ Jack said quickly. ‘I’m okay. Stressed, that’s all. My partner was driving the vehicle involved in the accident. Is there any more information?’ he asked.
‘She’s still missing, I’m afraid.’ The woman looked apologetic. ‘If you give your details to the officer in charge, he’ll make sure someone contacts you as soon as we have any news.’ She indicated a man standing talking to another officer.
‘You have my details at the station,’ Jack answered. ‘I should go.’ There was no point staying, he realised. No way they would allow him down there, trampling over any evidence they might find.
Staring down at the bottom of the ravine, his gut turned over. He knew the Land Rover had smashed through the guard rail. Surely no one could have survived that drop. But then Natalia had survived against the odds. There was a chance, wasn’t there?
Kara was out there somewhere. Hehadto find her. He had to find his daughter.
Walking away, he tried Evie’s phone again. Cold fear settled in the pit of his stomach as it went straight to voicemail without ringing, indicating that the phone was switched off. He tried Kara’s phone, which did exactly the same. Why would they both be turned off?Natalia.This had to be something to do with her. She’d haunted him since the day the sea had sucked her under, seeming to swallow her whole. He’d stood on that clifftop for as long as he dared before deciding he had to get his daughter out of there. He’d expected Evie to be hysterical. She wasn’t. Sitting on the grass, her knees drawn to her chest and rocking silently to and fro, she hadn’t said a word. He’d been scared for her.
Going across to her, he’d crouched down and placed a hand on her shoulder to still her. ‘Evie, we have to go,’ he said softly.
‘What happened?’ she asked, her voice a terrified whisper, her eyes filled with bewildered incomprehension. That was when he knew: She didn’t remember. She’d blocked it out, as if hermind was trying to protect her. As time went on, he’d lived in fear of her remembering. That, triggered by something, it would all come back to her and she would recall the whole devastating incident.
It hadn’t yet. He’d prayed with every fibre of his being that it never would. He’d thought that Natalia had gone, that there was no way she could rise from the dead to point her finger. Yet she had.How?How was she here? What did she want? An icy dagger of foreboding pierced his heart as he realised that he knew. She wanted him to suffer a fate worse than death. She wanted to destroy everything in his life that mattered to him. The certainty of that settled like a cold stone inside him. Kara had been running from him, but this crash was no accident, he was beginning to grow sure of it.
WherewasNatalia? She’d obviously been watching Evie, keeping a low profile; the fact that she’d been seen near Imogen was proof of that. Had she been in touch with Evie? His gut turned over as he imagined what she might have told her. Natalia reminding her of what had happened on that fateful day in Antigua would be disastrous. Evie would never be able to deal with it. Never be free of it.
Racing back to his car, he threw himself behind the wheel, started the engine and rammed his foot down. If Evie was at the house, then Natalia had to be in the vicinity. She was here for one reason and one reason only: Evie. She couldn’t have her. She washisdaughter.
FIFTY-EIGHT
NATALIA
‘Did you kill Imogen?’ Kara asks as we wait for Jemma, who’s taking her own sweet time. You’d think with her dirty little secret in danger of coming out she would hurry herself up a bit.
