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
Nell nodded. Babies didn’t get taken to the mortuary, sensitivities rightly ensuring they were treated with more consideration than that, but even babies couldn’t escape Eve’s clinical eye. As the pathologist leaned down to put the blanket in an evidence bag, Nell felt the headache move above her left eye.
‘The dad then?’
‘No comment. Yet.’
‘But deliberate?’
‘Oh yes.’
Nell waited for more but Eve continued to slowly bag the contents of the cot.
Irritated, Nell turned to Paul. ‘Let’s go see the parents.’
He nodded, giving a quick glance at the cot before exiting the room, his relief obvious. Nell hesitated.
‘Something worrying you, Sergeant?’
Nell looked over at the baby, just visible through the bars. She’d thought after eight years and the amount of shit she’d seen, with the very base of human nature coming at her day after day, she could take this in her stride. Turned out you never got used to this, however hard you tried. She looked over at Eve, who was studying her.
‘Do you think it was in a fit of anger?’
Eve’s look told her she knew what Nell was really asking. Nell didn’t want a protracted abuse case. Not just due to the fact it would be a boatload of work for no positive outcome, but because she wanted the baby to have died quickly, loved for the brief time she’d spent on earth, not filled with fear and pain.
Eve was holding a stuffed bear, pink and almost brand new.
‘All I’m saying is this child didn’t die of her own accord. And anyway,’ she placed the bear in the bag and sealed it, ‘isn’t motive your side of things? I’m just here to put the meat on the bones, as it were.’
They both knew Eve was there to do a lot more than that, but Nell wasn’t in the mood to argue. Taking one more look at the baby, she made a move to go.
‘Georgie,’ Eve said.
Nell turned back.
‘What?’
‘The baby – her name is Georgie. I just thought I’d mention it.’
Nell watched Eve go back to work, an uneasy sense of guilt at her realisation that she hadn’t thought to ask.
Shutting the door quietly, Nell walked down the narrow corridor, turning the name over in her mind. Georgie – a name you give a girl you wished was a boy? She walked past the kitchen and paused. Small and cream, it contained a tiny table, neatly laid for breakfast, at the far end under a window; freshly washed dishes on the draining board; a baby bottle filled with powdered milk just waiting for the water.