‘I had a drink with the doctor the following night. I was sure I’d only had one, but next thing I knew it was morning. Thea was sitting by my bed. She told me I’d run off the night before – packed and left. The doctor had gone after me because I’d had too much to drink and he was worried. He’d found my car in a ditch just down the road. I was slumped over the wheel. He managed to get me out, drove me home and then walked back for my car.’

Hannah could see tears running down Rosa’s face. Maybe she shouldn’t ask any more questions, but she was scared of the silence. Without the sound of Rosa’s voice, she would be lost to her own thoughts. She was about to ask a question when Rosa started to speak again.

‘That morning they learned on the radio that someone – a woman – had been knocked down close to where he’d found me. She was dead, and I had been drinking. The doctor hadn’t seen the body, but he was implicated because he’d helped me. They said they would hide me until it all blew over. And they brought me down here.’

Hannah propped herself up on one elbow, the nausea abating a little. ‘And you remember nothing?’

Rosa was sobbing now, her thin shoulders shaking. She wiped away the tears with the edge of the blanket.

‘No, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I can’t live like this any more, Hannah. I’ve been ready to die for weeks now. The doctor was going to help me. I didn’t think I had anything left to live for. Do you know how tragic that feels?’

Hannah knew exactly how Rosa felt. ‘Maybe the drugs make us do terrible things. Maybe that’s why I abducted little Albie.’

Rosa shook her head.

‘Maybe. But there’s something not right about what Thea told you. She said she’d left the baby outside a hospital, didn’t she?’

Hannah nodded, puzzled by why that was bothering Rosa.

‘That must be a lie. She would have been caught on CCTV if she was anywhere near a hospital. The police would have traced her.’

‘I don’t understand what you’re saying.’ Hannah’s heart was pumping and the nausea came rushing back. ‘Tell me, Rosa.’

‘I’m saying that Thea lied to you. Whether you abducted that child or not, she didn’t return him the way she said she did.’

Hannah pushed herself upright and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She was going to be sick. What had Thea done with Albie?

CHAPTER 56

56

‘I don’t remember anyone called that,’ Nathan said as he read the name Jack was pointing at on the screen.

By now they were all crowding around the laptop, looking at the list Jack had summoned from somewhere.