Deadly Lies by Ann Girdharry (read me a book .TXT) 📕

‘And is your husband working?’ Grant asked.

‘Sanjay’s in banking,’ Natalie said.

Grant nodded. ‘Could you tell me a little more about the relationship between you and Jack? Is it purely platonic?’

Natalie glanced at Tom and she flicked back her hair. ‘I suppose your sergeant told you he caught me and Jack…’

‘In a compromising position?’ Grant suggested.

‘It’s complicated.’

‘Is it. And does Mrs Glover know about this?’

‘I don’t know if Alice suspects or not, look, it wasn’t something I wanted to happen. You can’t decide who you fall for and Jack and I are madly in love.’

Natalie studied her manicured nails and gave the inspector a challenging look.

‘And what about your husband?’

‘Sanjay and I are finished. If you must know we’ve been seeing a marriage guidance counsellor, only it made it worse and a few months ago Sanjay told me he wanted out. We’ve been under a lot of stress the last few years because we desperately wanted to have children and it kept not happening. I got tested. Sanjay got tested. We’ve tried IVF treatments and they haven’t worked. You name it we’ve tried it, and it’s exhausting and depressing.’

Tom wondered what it must have been like to see Alice give birth to Emily and Lisa. Had Natalie struggled seeing her friend with new babies?

‘It’s been horrible and now we’re at the end of a difficult road and Sanjay has filed for divorce. He kept telling me I was ruining everything. He called my desire for children an obsession. Sanjay believes I destroyed our marriage.’

Natalie took a deep breath and sighed. ‘Sanjay never understood why I couldn’t be content. I can’t explain and I can’t control it. Every waking moment I yearn to have a baby. I don’t think any man can ever understand.’

‘Right.’ Grant took out his phone and swiped at the screen. ‘Can you tell me if you recognise this?’

He handed it across and Tom watched Natalie’s face as she stared at the camisole.

‘It’s lingerie,’ she said.

‘I’m trying to find out who it belongs to,’ Grant said.

‘It’s not mine if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s too small and I don’t like red, I prefer hot pink.’

Tom ignored the flirtatious look she shot his way. Was Natalie in the frame? Natalie wanted a baby, but wanting a baby was different from wanting someone else’s children. She was entangled with Jack and her marriage had failed but did it give her motive or means?

Grant was frowning. ‘Do you have an alibi for the night of the children’s abduction?’

Natalie tossed her head and she was about to answer when Tom heard rapid footsteps along the front path. Out the window, one of the constables came running. His mind shot back to the pyjama leg and Alice in pieces. Oh no, what now?

He and Grant ran to the door.

‘What’s happened?’ Grant asked.

‘DCI Grant, sir,’ the constable said, ‘the abductor has made contact.’

They sprinted over to the Glover’s house. Alice was standing at the back of the lounge by the technicians, clutching at her phone like she might break the plastic. Tom thought she looked terribly vulnerable and Grant guided her to a chair.

Jack was standing so close to the technicians, Tom marvelled at how the techs still worked calmly. Jack looked stricken.

‘Someone fill me in,’ Grant said crisply.

Ruby was sitting by her laptop. Neither Ruby, the uniformed officers, nor the technicians answered, because Grant had first given each of them a look which made it clear he wanted them to keep quiet. He wanted to hear it from the family. Joan Hardman was the first to pull herself together.

‘It was Emily. She called to speak to her mother and she was reading a message. We have to get half a million pounds ready to exchange for the children. It’s good news, isn’t it? It means the children are still…’ Joan started crying, ‘…still alive.’

‘You recorded the call?’ Grant asked the technicians. ‘I need to hear it.’

Joan pulled her daughter into a hug. Jack hadn’t moved from a few inches behind the technicians.

‘Are you all right, sir?’ Tom asked.

One of the technicians tapped at a keyboard and then Emily’s voice was coming through the speaker.

Mummy, it’s Emily. You’re not allowed to interrupt you have to listen. Here are the demands – you have to have half a million pounds in cash ready. The Child Alert must be called off. If you don’t comply I will kill both your children. I’ll phone again with some in… instructions for the exchange. Then came Alice’s voice. Emily, darling, are you al– Then the line went dead.

‘She was trying to be brave,’ Alice said. ‘I can hear it in her voice. Oh Jack.’

‘We’ve got the money, Inspector,’ Joan said. ‘I’ll ask my bank manager to get it prepared straight away.’

The call was much too short to be of any use in tracing it and the abductor had been clever to not allow their own voice to be recorded so they would not be able to use voice recognition software to help with identification.

‘He wants to do an exchange. That’s a positive thing, isn’t it, DCI Grant?’ Jack said. His voice had a pleading edge to it.

‘The abductor making contact is a good sign,’ Grant said, ‘and we must do all we can to keep communication going. The next time contact is made, I want you to ask for proof of life for Lisa and Emily. You must say you want a video.’

‘Wh-what? You mean this might have been a recording? I hadn’t thought of that.’ Jack gulped and Alice tugged at her hair.

‘We don’t know if it’s a recording or not,’ Grant said firmly. ‘Like I told you before, you have to keep positive. Do not give in to despair. For the next time, I’ll write down what I’d like you to say so you can be prepared.’

When Jack made to speak for his wife, Alice quickly cut in.

‘Grant was talking to me, not you. Yes, I’ll do whatever you