Sisters - Michelle Frances Page 0,64

She wore a navy pencil skirt with a discreet split up the thigh. Her elegant arms were caressed by a fluid silk shirt in a soft pink. At her tanned neck was a single, subtle diamond. Gabriella was in her early forties, but Susanna thought she looked much younger. Her glossy dark brown hair was lifted with copper highlights and her skin glowed. Oh, how Susanna envied her skin, her smooth face. Ashamed of her own, she’d insisted on having her back to the camera and under no circumstances was the cameraman to take any shots of her sunburned face.

Susanna felt insignificant sat in front of this Italian beauty, but reminded herself it wasn’t all painful. Gabriella had contacted her asking for an exclusive interview for their cable magazine show, a call that had caught Susanna unawares, and a producer had offered a fee. Something else that had surprised her. The producer had been quite persuasive, Susanna remembered, and she’d concluded that it couldn’t do any harm, especially as they’d promised not to broadcast any of the interview until Ellie had been found. They didn’t want to get in the way of the investigation and knew that Abby mustn’t find out that Susanna was alive in case it made her act rashly.

Susanna had trusted them and invited them in. Matteo had been told to keep out – it was her story, they were her daughters. And it helped to talk about it. She was so desperate for Ellie to be safe and well and she had no one else to confide in. She’d kept the secret of Ellie and Abby’s childhood for decades. Matteo was hard to talk to – he was struggling to believe his new wife was temperamental and volatile. It was understandable, but Susanna was losing patience.

‘Are you ready?’ asked Gabriella in her beautifully accented English.

Susanna nodded. ‘Just don’t . . .’ she began again, nervously.

‘It’s OK. Paolo will not show your face,’ reassured Gabriella. ‘Now remember, my introduction will be in Italian and then we will conduct the interview itself in English. OK?’

Susanna nodded.

Gabriella took a breath, then another, a well-practised act of composure. She nodded at Paolo, who’d set his camera up behind Susanna. Then, on his signal, she began to speak.

‘It was meant to be a special time, a family reunion between a mother and her two grown-up daughters. One of them lives here, on our beautiful island of Elba; the other has come to visit from London. These sisters have a history of being estranged, after a difficult and painful childhood. There has been a terrible rivalry, where Abby, the older sister, has resented her beautiful blonde baby sister, Ellie, since birth. Imagine the difficulty for Susanna, the poor mother caught between them, who is here with me today. Imagine her heartbreak when her eldest daughter, Abby, rejects the younger one, Ellie. Then imagine her horror when she discovers Abby tried to murder Ellie when they were children.’

Gabriella paused, her hand fluttering to her chest, then composed herself and continued.

‘Susanna managed to save Ellie’s life all those years ago – and we will be talking to Susanna more about that in a minute. But now we have a situation of grave and immediate danger. At this very moment, as we are speaking right now, Abby has kidnapped Ellie and gone on the run with her. They are currently missing, having eluded the Carabinieri for almost two days. We know they have left Italy and made it to France. We do not know where they are now. Meanwhile, their distraught mother, who cannot show you her face due to a terrible accident inflicted by her daughter before she left, is desperate for them to be found.’

Gabriella turned her gaze from down the lens of the camera to Susanna, where her features softened in empathy.

‘Susanna, there is much to talk about here but why don’t we start with the most important thing? How concerned are you for Ellie’s safety?’

Susanna swallowed; her voice had suddenly dried up. ‘I’m desperately worried,’ she said. ‘Abby has a history of being obsessive and ruthless. She will set her sights on a goal and nothing will distract her.’

‘And you think she may have a goal now?’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘And that goal is?’ prompted Gabriella.

Susanna felt her voice catch. She had to say it, however hard it was. ‘I think she wants her sister out of the way. Forever. She’s always been jealous of her – she still is. Only the other