Chapters (81)
- Cover
- About the Author
- Dedication
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- Forty-six
- Forty-seven
- Forty-eight
- Forty-nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-one
- Fifty-two
- Fifty-three
- Fifty-four
- Fifty-five
- Fifty-six
- Fifty-seven
- Fifty-eight
- Fifty-nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-one
- Sixty-two
- Sixty-three
- Sixty-four
- Sixty-five
- Sixty-six
- Sixty-seven
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Read More
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Follow Merilyn online
- Dedication
‘Yes, but why she didn’t allow it to die like its mother, we never understood. And how did she rescue it between leaving the beach and hiding in the bin? We timelined the hell out of it and couldn’t make it work.’
‘What about that young man?’ Carla asked. ‘The one you said was unbecoming in his involvement. Could he have helped get rid of the child?’
‘We wondered that too, but then why would he? There was nothing to suggest he’d ever met Mary before that evening, so how could we believe he got rid of a child for her before calling for help? And if he did, there was only a maximum of twelve minutes before backup arrived, so where could he have taken it? We checked every hospital, charity and care home in a five-mile radius. Nothing.’
‘Are you sure he didn’t know Mary before that night?’ Carla asked. It seemed impossible to her that a man would help steal a child with someone he’d only just met. But then people did all sorts of unpredictable things, often for unfathomable reasons.
‘We checked it all out and there was nothing to link the two.’
‘Did you ask him if he saw a child?’ Bremer asked.
‘Of course we asked him. We weren’t completely incompetent! But he maintained he’d met Mary as she ran off the beach, saw the man he assumed was attacking her, and told her to hide in a bin while he radioed for help.’
‘And you believed him?’
‘I had no reason to disbelieve him.’
‘Why?’
‘Because he was one of our finest young officers.’
Fifty-one
Then
I sit with Aoife’s baby in my arms and cry. It’s so amazing to hold her and see how solid she is, how alive, but it reminds me Aoife has gone and that I’m alone.
‘Can’t we keep her?’ I look up and see him sadly shake his head.
‘How can we do that? Someone will notice her, put two and two together and we’ll be arrested.’
He’s right, but I still wish we could. Aoife was right, babies love you no matter what you are, so why can’t I have that love? In Aoife’s place.
‘We haven’t got long; the home will check on you soon.’
I lift her up and smell her soft pink skin. I hold her close and shut my eyes, imagining the warmth of her body is Aoife’s. ‘What shall we call her?’
‘What?’
‘While we have her,’ I open my eyes to look at him, ‘she has to have a name.’
He looks frustrated, but I know he’ll relent. I’ve learned that about him in the last week since Aoife died. He is kind and gentle and when I see him I get a lot of little butterflies dancing in my stomach.
‘What would you like to call her?’ he asks.