Jess laughs cynically. ‘What? You thought you were the one holding all the cards?’
Kate feels as if her lungs might burst as she holds her breath.
‘I . . .’ he starts. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Well, then maybe you’re not quite the intrepid journalist you think you are,’ says Jess.
‘Whatever this is, you need to stop,’ he warns.
Jess laughs and grips hold of Jude even tighter. ‘It hurts, doesn’t it? Not knowing what someone would do to a defenceless baby.’
Kate remembers the room in Jess’s flat, perfectly prepared for the arrival of a little one, with its baby clothes and nappies. Had this been what it was all about from the beginning? Was Jess looking to get an eye for an eye? One baby’s sacrifice for another’s?
‘Okay, listen to me,’ says Kate, forcing herself to stay calm amid Lauren’s desperate cries. ‘No good can ever come of this. Whatever it is you want, we need to sit down and talk it through.’
‘I want the truth!’ Jess screams, her ice-cold facade momentarily giving way to a show of raw emotion.
‘And we can find it,’ offers Kate. ‘But not like this.’
Jess’s shoulders slump and Kate gets ready to snatch Jude from the arms of defeat, but then Jess shakes her head and any chance of a truce crumbles.
‘This,’ she says, pointing the knife at Jude, ‘is the only way I’m going to find out what really happened, because that’s the way you seem to do things around here. You think babies are collateral damage. That they can be sacrificed if it means you get what you want.’
Lauren lets out a heart-wrenching sob from somewhere behind Kate. ‘We can find the truth together,’ says Kate, her voice trembling. ‘Whatever it is you need to know, we’ll help you find it.’
Jess scoffs. ‘Funny how you’re all so interested now, isn’t it? Now you’ve got something to lose.’
‘Let us help you,’ says Kate.
‘Help me?’ Jess snorts. ‘You’ve done nothing but hinder me since the day I arrived.’
Kate knows she can’t argue with that. She’s going to have to try a different tack. ‘I understand that,’ she says, edging slowly forwards again, hoping Jess won’t notice. ‘But we now have unequivocal proof that you’re our father’s child and I will do everything I can to help you find whatever it is you’re looking for.’
‘I gave you that opportunity three months ago,’ sneers Jess.
Kate shakes her head, unable to make sense of what she means. It had only been a month since Jess had turned up at her parents’ front door.
‘I came to your offices and spoke to you about a story I had,’ said Jess, smiling wryly.
Kate’s head feels as if it’s about to explode.
‘Don’t you remember?’ Jess goes on. ‘I told you that my mother had been murdered and I’d been abandoned.’
Kate delves into the depths of her mind, desperately searching for something of any relevance.
‘So, you’ve known all along who your mother is?’ asks Lauren incredulously.
‘Was,’ sneers Jess correcting her. ‘I know who my mother was, because she’s dead now isn’t she?’ A flash of pain crosses Jess’s features, but she quickly pulls herself together.
‘Wh-when did you find out?’ Kate stutters, unable to think straight.
‘When I was eighteen and able to get a copy of my birth certificate,’ says Jess. ‘I only needed to do some basic research to find out what had happened to her.’
Lauren looks at her, open-mouthed.
Jess turns to Kate. ‘I asked you to help me find my mother’s murderer – that there was a good news angle to it – but you dismissed me out of hand. You said you had people turning up every day of the week, claiming to have the next front page up their sleeve.’
Kate can hear herself saying it.
‘I gave you the chance to narrate your own story, but you weren’t interested, so I had to find a way of doing it myself.’
‘So you lied your way onto Matt’s paper?’ says Kate, unable to keep the contempt from her voice. ‘To get back at me?’
‘Partly,’ says Jess. ‘But it wasn’t only about you. I needed to find a way to get my story out there.’
‘Why didn’t you just go to the police?’ asks Matt.
‘I did,’ says Jess. ‘As soon as I found out who my mother was, but they weren’t interested. It was a cold case, they said. They had reduced resources . . . they