I circle my palm over my precious bump. ‘It’s my baby.’
The girl’s face screws up more rumpled than a brown paper bag. ‘A baby’s in there? Belinda swore that you order babies from the milkman and he leaves them on the doorstep with an extra pint.’
I laugh so hard I nearly fall backwards out of the chair. Don’t you just love kids? They just tell it as it is. It was something else that made me laugh too – having someone else to talk to. Don’t get me wrong, the other person still comes. But, well . . . I shrug my shoulders.
‘I knew that big-mouth Belinda was telling porkies,’ she grumbled. Her eyes were as wide as dinner plates watching my tummy. ‘What I don’t understand is how it got in there. Did you drink something like that wine that makes my mum fall down in the street?’
Poor kid. It makes me more determined than EVER that my baby is going to have the BEST. Even if Mummy and Daddy turn their back on us I’m still going to aim high. Because you’ve mucked it up once doesn’t mean you can’t try again. And again. You get me?
Listen to me go. My mojo is rocking back. The old fire bursting into life. YESSSS!!!!
‘I can’t stay long,’ the girl tells me.
The time the child spent with me that day was enough for us to get tight. After that, she would drop by for little visits when she could. You should’ve seen her face when she felt the baby move in my womb and how she got such a thrill outta trying on my fedora. That child will never know how much she lifted my spirits and helped me find my soul again.
I made double sure my other visitor never found out about the girl seeing me. Things between us aren’t what they used to be.
It was the girl who told me about the whispered stories of the disappearances of Veronica and Amina. I felt crushed all over again because that’s the same evil that happened to my friend.
CHAPTER 31
The first thing I see when I exit John Dixon’s police HQ is a large poster of Poppy Munro. Right there, not caring how many cops see me I pull out a black pen and write on it:
And Hope Scott, Amina Musa, Sheryl Wilson.
Any information about them too.
Maybe I’m going a bit mad to do this here. But isn’t this what Poppy Munro’s family are doing? The police and John Dixon on her behalf? Using any means, all the resources they have to find new information on her.
When I get inside my car I notice a text from Janice at work:
The lawyer is making mincemeat of Prickly Patrick.
I predict that Walsh will cave in soon.
This lawyer business again. I feel like throwing my hands in the air. Instead I call my manager.
‘Eva.’ She sounds pleased to hear from me. ‘How is everything going?’
‘I’m OK. I don’t have long so I’ll come to the point. Who is this lawyer you keep texting me about? I think you’ve got me mixed up with someone else.’
‘Oh.’ She’s deflated. ‘Give me a minute.’ I hear her riffling through papers. ‘Here we go.’ She tells gives me the lawyer’s name and the firm he represents.
‘I’ve never heard of him before.’
I feel her stiffen. ‘He knew your name and all about the case. I assumed you had engaged his services although I admit I did wonder where you would get that type of money needed to be a client of the firm he represents. Right, if this isn’t you, this has breached data confidentiality—’
‘Wait. Wait.’ I think I know exactly what this is. Who would have the money to do this. So I inform her, ‘I know what’s going on. Recently, I’ve connected with my birth father and I think he’s trying to help me out.’
Janice’s sombre response is, ‘How are you feeling about that?’
The question of the century. ‘He’s a good guy, amazing really. But it’s opened the largest can of worms in history.’
‘What do you want me to do about the lawyer?’
I think. I know Danny means well but I’m not sure I like him doing something without seeking my permission first. ‘I love my job, as you know, and if this lawyer is going to get me out of suspension hell it’s all right with me. I miss everyone. Miss working in the respiratory and asthma clinic and ward.’
‘Good.’ Janice sounds satisfied, which is why I’m surprised when she adds, ‘Your father I’m sure means well. There’s a fine line between helping someone and trying to control them.’
I think of Danny chilled by the river in his linen trousers. I know Janice means well but he’s the last person who would want to control me.