‘I just knew he was.’ A shadow of regret scudded across her face. ‘I was going to be able to leave here because of him. I’d live with Max in the city, then one day my son would inherit this place.’

‘Did you hold your baby?’

‘Ava gave me such a heavy dose of sedative so I wouldn’t scream that it knocked me out. When I woke up he was gone. Mum said the baby hadn’t made it, and Ava had already taken it away.’

He took a deep breath. ‘Evelyn’—he took her gently by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him—‘listen to me. It wasn’t a boy. It was a girl. And she didn’t die.’

‘What?’ her voice cracked. ‘But, but … What? Do you mean he … she … lived?’ Her eyes widened. ‘They were here all along?’

Jake inclined his head slightly.

Evelyn’s eyes widened. ‘Oh God, is Amelia my baby?’

He shook his head. ‘Not Amelia.’

‘But it can’t have been Charlotte, she’s too young.’

‘No, someone else.’

‘Can I … can I see her? Talk to her?’

A piercing gaze of one blue eye and one brown drifted through Jake’s mind. He doubted Evelyn’s daughter would ever want to meet her, but he would give Lilith the option. ‘I can ask. You have to be prepared for her to say no.’

‘But … he, I mean she, she is alive? And okay? And healthy? And she was here the whole time. Oh …’ Evelyn began to sag. ‘You only found one other girl, didn’t you?’

Jake reached out to ease her gently to the ground as realisation of who was buried beneath the desiccated vines dawned on Evelyn.

She stared at the members of the CSI team scouring the vineyard with ground-penetrating radar, searching for pockets of disturbed earth that might indicate a burial.

‘Which means … I had a grandson.’ She sounded very far away. Then, ‘No, no, no!’, her voice rising with each protest.

He placed a hand on one of her shoulders. ‘I’m so sorry.’

Evelyn Kelly began to keen—deep, soul-wrenching wails that drew shivers along Jake’s spine. Her fingers dug through the decaying leaves beneath her into the soil below.

Some distance away, an officer cleared her throat. ‘Phone call, sir. It’s for you. Headquarters.’

Epilogue

Epilogue

Jake eased into the harness, double-checked his clips and rope and stood back to admire the slick stone wall he was about to ascend. He had more than earnt this climb.