the mobile incubators to the hospital incubators, a person or persons deliberately swapped or removed the two paper tags, and thereafter continued to uphold the deception that each baby was in fact the other.
55.7 This being the case, we are adjourning our investigation and passing our evidence to the Metropolitan Police, for them to investigate the possible wrongful removal of a child without parental consent under the Child Abduction Act 1984.
55.8 Subject to the outcome of any criminal investigation, it may be necessary to further refer our findings to the NHS Counter Fraud Authority.
66
PETE
“CUI BONO,” JUSTIN WATTS said. “It means ‘who benefits?’ And in this case, unfortunately, they’ve decided it’s you.”
“But that’s crazy,” Maddie said desperately. “Crazy. Why on earth would we do such a thing?”
It was nine o’clock on Monday morning, and we were sitting in Justin Watts’s smart office. We’d tried to get him to see us on Saturday, but no-win no-fee lawyers like their weekends off, apparently. We’d spent the last two days climbing the walls with frustration.
“Well, they’re not speculating,” he said, glancing through the report again. “But no doubt the police will. And the most likely inference is that you ended up with a healthy, intellectually normal baby and the Lamberts didn’t.”
“But we couldn’t have known that was what would happen,” Maddie insisted. “At the time, all they told us was that our baby was very unwell and might have been starved of oxygen.” She looked across at me. “That was literally all we knew. Wasn’t it?”
“I spoke to the paramedics in the ambulance,” I said slowly. “I asked them what hypoxia meant. One of them explained—he was very honest. I didn’t tell you at the time, Mads. You were already suffering enough. Besides, he said nothing was certain. So I kept it from you. Everything except the bit about the next few days being crucial.”
“Oh Jesus.” Maddie stared at me. “So they think you knew. They think they can prove motive.”
“But not opportunity,” Justin Watts said mildly.
I shook my head. “There were times while the doctors were rushing about when I was alone with both incubators. I wish there hadn’t been, but if that’s all they need to prove…” I’m done for, I wanted to say, but I knew how melodramatic that would sound and swallowed my words. “It doesn’t look good.”
“Well, luckily that isn’t all they have to prove.” Justin Watts picked up the report again. “This is ninety percent insinuation and ten percent balance of probability, which is very different from the standard of proof required in the criminal court. You may be asked to go to a police station to be interviewed under caution, but that’s as far as I’d expect it to go.” He paused. “You’ll want to engage a specialist criminal law solicitor to go with you, but if it does come to an interview, my strong advice would be to answer ‘no comment’ to every question. Currently, they’ve got nothing, and if you give them nothing else to work on, they’ll almost certainly shelve the whole thing.”
“ ‘No comment’? Isn’t that what guilty people say?” Maddie said disbelievingly.
“It’s what people who want to avoid charges say. Believe me, if you can stop this from turning into a criminal trial, you should.”
Criminal trial. Jesus, had it come to this? Was I going to stand in a court, in the dock, accused of deliberately snatching Theo? I couldn’t get my head around it.
And all because Miles Lambert had walked into our lives. If he hadn’t persuaded me to sue the hospital, none of this would have happened.
“Of course,” Justin Watts was saying, “a cynic might be tempted to believe that NHS Resolution would prefer this to be a criminal matter, rather than negligence, because it gets them off the hook financially. But nevertheless, the police will have to investigate the allegation on its merits.”
“Hang on,” I said. “Do you mean that if the NHS succeeds in muddying the waters, they might not have to pay us anything?”
Justin Watts shrugged. “It will certainly put them in a stronger negotiating position. And as they point out in their final paragraph, if either you or the Lamberts were aware of the abduction, it follows that one of you is committing fraud.”
Maddie and I exchanged a startled glance.
“I’m afraid it also calls into question the basis of our relationship,” he added. “You’ll recall that the Conditional Fee Arrangement is tied to us having a reasonable likelihood of winning. If circumstances change, we have