Don't Let Me Go (29 page)

Realising they must deal with frantic prisoners every day of the week and would see her as no different to the rest, she forced herself to let go of the bars and turned to the stone bunk behind her. She was still shaking badly and her head was spinning, but what mattered most in that moment was the fact that Gabby had come. She’d been in court. She wasn’t turning her back . . .

‘OK, Miss Popular, your lawyer’s waiting,’ the guard announced, coming to unlock her door.

Unsteadied by relief, Charlotte swayed as she rose to her feet.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked roughly.

‘Yes, yes I’m fine,’ she assured him, and quickly followed him back to the room she’d been in earlier.

Kim was there – and so was Gabby.

‘Alex!’ Gabby cried, running to her. ‘Are you all right? This is terrible, awful, I don’t think I can bear it.’

Hugging her hard, Charlotte said, ‘It’ll be OK. I promise. Oh God, I’m so glad you’re here.’

Pulling back to look at her, Gabby searched her face with teary red eyes. She was taller than Charlotte, with lustrous raven hair and a beautiful smile, though right now her lips were trembling with emotion. ‘I wanted to come before,’ she said brokenly. ‘As soon as I heard you were back, but I was so afraid they’d arrest me too. Do you think they will? I couldn’t bear it if they did. I’m not like you, I can’t stand up for myself, and what about the children?’

Taking her by the shoulders Charlotte said, ‘There’s no reason for anyone to arrest you. You haven’t done anything . . .’

‘But I knew you were taking her . . .’

‘No you didn’t,’ Charlotte cried.

‘Yes I did. As soon as I noticed Phoebe’s passport had gone I realised . . .’

‘Gabby, listen to me,’ Charlotte urged. ‘You had no idea about anything, OK? You didn’t notice Phoebe’s passport was missing until I sent it back. And the day you came to say goodbye you only gave me a cheque. Nothing else was said. You had no idea Chloe was in the car . . .’

‘Chloe?’

‘Ottilie. You didn’t know she was there. Did you?’

Gabby shook her head uncertainly.

‘Of course you didn’t. Now please tell me you haven’t told anyone else you guessed what was happening.’

‘Only Martin and Aunt Sheila,’ Gabby confessed warily. ‘They said I could be in trouble for being an accomplice and that I shouldn’t come here today, but I had to. I kept thinking of you being all on your own, and I couldn’t let that happen. You’re my sister and I love you, and I know you’d never have done anything to hurt that little girl.’

‘Of course I wouldn’t. Why? Is someone saying I did?’ She turned to Kim. ‘Is that what the press . . . ?’

‘One or two insinuated,’ Kim told her, ‘you know what they’re like, but they don’t have any proof . . .’

‘How could they when it didn’t happen?’ Charlotte demanded, horrified to think she was being accused of harming Chloe, when it couldn’t have been further from the truth.

‘I told them you’re a good person,’ Gabby assured her.

‘You’ve spoken to them?’ Charlotte cried, appalled.

Gabby almost shrank back. ‘Only when I was on my way in here,’ she insisted. ‘That was all I said, that you’re a good person, because you are and if they knew you they’d know it too.’

Realising how hard this was for Gabby who, in spite of her beauty, had never been brimming with self-confidence, Charlotte said, ‘I need you to promise me two things, first that you won’t give any interviews to the press . . .’

‘I swear I won’t. Martin wouldn’t let me anyway. He thinks they’ll just twist everything I say to suit what they want . . .’

‘They’ll stop hounding you now, anyway,’ Kim told her.

‘And the second promise I need from you,’ Charlotte continued, ‘is that you’ll
never
under any circumstances tell anyone that you guessed I was taking Chloe and didn’t report it.’

Gabby glanced uneasily at Kim.

‘You don’t need to worry about my lawyer,’ Charlotte assured her. ‘She’s on our side.’

Gabby’s anxious eyes came back to Charlotte. ‘I feel so terrible about this,’ she wailed. ‘If I’d spoken up at the time you might not be where you are now.’

‘Yes I would, because I’d already had her for over a month by the time you realised. Anyway, we can’t turn back the clock. We can only deal with what’s happening now, and I need to know that you aren’t going to implicate yourself, because none of it’s your fault. Do you hear me? I’m the only one to blame, so I’m the only one who should take responsibility.’

Gabby swallowed hard and looked down at the torn tissue in her hands. ‘Are they taking you to prison?’ she asked miserably. ‘I can’t bear to think of you being locked up. I won’t be able to sleep or eat or do anything.’

Used to Gabby making everything about herself, and actually loving her for it, Charlotte said, ‘Please don’t worry about me. All you have to do is take care of yourself and the children and maybe come to see me if I do end up . . .’ She turned to Kim. ‘Will I be allowed visitors before the trial?’ she asked.

Kim nodded. ‘Of course, but we’ll put in another bail application when we go to the Crown Court next Wednesday. It looked like you were going to get it today. I don’t know what made him suddenly rush his decision at the end. Even the prosecutor was shocked when he ruled.’

Fighting back the fear that was building again, Charlotte said to Gabby, ‘What really matters about today is that you came. I was so afraid you wouldn’t . . .’

‘I told you.’ Gabby was trying not to cry. ‘I couldn’t let you be here on your own.’

‘Thank you,’ Charlotte said, hugging her. ‘You don’t know what a difference it’s made.’

‘Tommy was here too,’ Gabby told her, ‘and lots of our old friends from the village. They’re all rooting for you.’

‘Please thank them for me,’ Charlotte said shakily. ‘I’m not sure I deserve their support . . .’

‘Of course you do. Even Jason came today, which is really saying something when you’re no longer together. I think he regrets going back to his wife . . .’

‘If he does then I’m sorry,’ Charlotte came in gently. ‘He did it for the children and it would be awful if he ended up leaving them again.’

‘Yes, it would, but if you two . . .’

‘We won’t,’ Charlotte assured her. ‘Our relationship is in the past and that’s where it has to stay.’

Gabby’s lips started to tremble as she nodded. ‘I wish you had someone,’ she said. ‘It would be . . .’

‘I’ve got you,’ Charlotte reminded her, ‘and my mother and Bob.’

‘But they’re not here.’

‘Because they can’t be, and anyway, there’s nothing anyone can do with the way things are. I have to get myself through this, with Kim’s help, obviously, and knowing that I have some friends out there, especially you, is already helping a lot.’

Grasping her hands, Gabby said, ‘I’ll always be there for you, you know that, and I’m sure your mother will be too. She rang me, but I haven’t rung her back yet. I will now I’ve seen you.’

‘I’m sure she’ll appreciate that, but maybe you should leave it till tomorrow morning, it’ll be the middle of the night there now.’

‘Of course.’ Gabby glanced at Kim as someone knocked on the far door.

‘It’s time for us to go,’ Kim told her. To Charlotte she said, ‘I’m so sorry about today. I truly thought it was going our way . . .’

‘It’s OK,’ Charlotte replied, even though it wasn’t. ‘We always knew I was an obvious flight risk.’

‘Don’t give up. I’ll be talking to Jolyon as soon as I leave here and . . .’ She broke off as the door swung open.

‘Van’s here,’ the guard announced brusquely.

Charlotte’s limbs turned weak. She felt nauseous, gripped by fear and panic, weighted by dread.

‘Oh my God,’ Gabby sobbed.

As she went towards Charlotte Kim took her by the arm, but she shook herself free. ‘I know you’re scared,’ she whispered as she hugged Charlotte hard, ‘but you’ll get through this, I know you will.’

‘Of course I will,’ Charlotte responded, trying to smile. ‘We all will,’ and to Kim, ‘I know there’s a lot for you to do now, but if you can, please try to get me some news of Chloe.’

‘I’ll do my best,’ Kim promised, and taking Gabby’s arm again she held it firmly as Charlotte turned to follow the guard out to the waiting prison van.

‘Now, to bring us up to date on the Ottilie Wade case over there in England,’ the New Zealand news anchor was saying, ‘we’re going to our Foreign Affairs correspondent Hamilton Terry who’s outside the women’s prison in Dean Valley. Ham? What have you got for us?’

‘Well, Marc, Charlotte Nicholls arrived here a few minutes ago, having been remanded in custody following the bail hearing earlier. I have to say, it was a bit of a surprise to those of us who were in court, because for a while there it was looking as though she might be going home today. Anyway, it didn’t happen, and now we’re being told that she’s likely to seek the protection of Rule Forty-Three when she checks into the prison, which is when a prisoner chooses to be segregated for their own safety. In general it’s those who’ve committed crimes against children who opt to go on the rule, as it’s known here . . .’

‘So are you saying she fears for her own safety?’

‘If she does choose to go on the rule, then yes, we can assume she’s worried about how other prisoners will respond to her. You have to remember that before the alleged abduction she was a social worker in this area, so she’ll have been involved in the removal of children from their homes – official removal, that is. It could be that the mothers of some of those children are in this prison serving time for various offences and could be holding a grudge . . .’

‘Oh God, oh God, oh God,’ Anna murmured, bunching a hand to her mouth. ‘I never thought of that. She’ll be a sitting target for those women . . .’

‘Not if she seeks the protection they’re talking about,’ Bob reminded her. He was looking almost as strained and tired as she did, and was no more ready to go to bed. ‘And Kim’s assured us they’ll apply for another bail hearing at the Crown Court, so she could be out by Wednesday.’

‘But in the meantime she’s going to be cooped up in a cell . . .’

‘If that’s where it’s safest for her to be, then maybe we should be thankful that there are these systems in place.’

‘Ssh, ssh,’ Rick broke in, ‘they’re talking about Chloe.’

‘. . . there hasn’t been any official confirmation that the child is back in Dean Valley,’ Hamilton Terry was saying, ‘and I don’t expect we’ll get one, but it’s widely assumed that she must be by now. Unless, of course, she’s been transferred to the protection of another authority, which is always possible. Whatever, we know she has no family, or none that she can be returned to, so . . .’

‘She has us,’ Anna cried. ‘We’re her family.’

‘. . . she will almost certainly be placed into foster care and no doubt kept under very close supervision.’

Grabbing the remote control, Anna turned the TV off and stormed out of the room.

There was a moment of solemn quiet before Bob said to Rick, ‘Have you checked the end of the drive this evening? Are the press still there?’

‘No sign of them,’ Rick replied. ‘Like Don Thackeray said, it should start to go quiet now she’s been charged.’

‘Thank God for that. Not that I wanted her to be charged, but the last thing she needs is the whole thing playing itself out in the court of public opinion.’

‘With the Internet that’s going to be difficult to avoid,’ Rick pointed out, ‘but we don’t have to involve ourselves in it. Probably best that we don’t.’

‘Do either of you want one?’ Anna asked, coming back into the sitting room with a decanter of brandy and three glasses.

Bob stood up to do the honours, then sat thinking. ‘I’m worried that we don’t have the best lawyer on the case. I thought we were going to get the top man. I’m sure that’s what Don Thackeray expected too. I’ll have a chat with him tomorrow. Everything all right?’ he asked as Rick checked his mobile phone.

Rick glanced up. ‘Yes, it’s fine. Just Hamish replying to a text I sent earlier.’

Bob nodded. Then after an awkward moment, ‘I guess Hamish . . . is the one?’

‘Yes, he is,’ Rick replied.

Barely noticing the exchange, Anna said, ‘When you talk to Don will you ask if there’s any way I can go over there yet?’

‘Of course,’ Bob replied. ‘Rick, you don’t have to be here, son. We can cope with this.’

‘I want to be here,’ Rick told him. ‘As the person who’s responsible for what’s happening, I need to try . . .’

Frowning, Anna said, ‘What are you talking about? How on earth can you be responsible?’

Glancing at his father, Rick said, ‘It’s because I wasn’t honest with Katie that she started digging around about Charlotte.’

‘Yes, you’ve told me all that, but it doesn’t make it your fault. You didn’t set out to make it happen, no one did, with the possible exception of Katie, and God knows she’s suffering for it now. No, if anyone’s to blame it’s me. Why I ever thought we could get away with this I’ll never know. I must have been out of my mind.’ Anna sighed deeply.

‘Perhaps we all were,’ Bob said grimly, ‘but I’m afraid it’s too late for regrets now, and let’s not forget the fact that none of us had a single bad intention towards Chloe. All we ever wanted was to bring her into our family and make her feel one of us, and there’s no doubt we succeeded in that. At least you did, you too, Rick. She was happy here, and all we really want now is to see her back again.’

Rick’s face was taut. ‘Do you think we ever will?’ he asked, sounding as though he didn’t.

Bob looked at Anna, but she turned away. ‘It’s still very early days,’ he said in the end, ‘so there’s no telling what might happen yet, to either of them.’

Chapter Fifteen

TRACY BARRALL KNEW
what it was like to grow up in foster care. From the age of five, when social services had come to collect her from school to take her to her dying mother’s bedside, she’d been a ward of the state. Her mother had been beaten to death by her current boyfriend, who wasn’t Tracy’s father; Tracy hadn’t even known, and had never been able to find out who her real father was. It seemed nobody knew, but she’d had a few substitutes along the way, a couple of whom she’d actually liked, before the time had come to move on. There had been some good temporary mothers too, and brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, you name it, she’d had them all. What she’d never had while growing up was a family to call her own.