managed to convince herself that the police weren’t coming. It had all been a mistake. There was a reason why Charlie had left both the car seat and the car behind. Perhaps he’d thought it was an extra trail that would lead the police to him. Perhaps he hadn’t wanted any reminders of what he was trying to leave behind. Perhaps … Since yesterday a million and one reasons had blossomed in her mind only to be discounted one by one.
When the knock finally came, she stayed in the lounge, hugging her knees to her chest. She didn’t even raise her head when the door creaked open. It took the sound of her name on Rhys’s lips to drag her out of the dark place she’d been hiding.
‘Hello Izzy. You might remember Amy Potter, our FLO?’
Raising her head, she looked straight into his eyes and knew immediately that it wasn’t going to be good news. His face was a bland mask but no amount of training could hide the fine lines and lengthening shadows pressed into his skin just as his calm demeanour couldn’t lift the pallor from his cheeks. She dropped her gaze to his highly polished shoes and back up over his grey suit and pale blue shirt, which looked as if it had been slept in. Even his conservative blue and black striped tie wasn’t tied with its usual precision. And, at the sight of that knot, she wanted to run. She wanted to flee the room, the house, the country. She didn’t want to know what they had to tell her. Hearing their words would make it true somehow and the one thing she couldn’t run from was the truth.
She was up on her feet before she even had time to think. She didn’t want them here but, heaving a sigh, she decided to stay all the same. What had started all those years ago needed to end – it needed to end now. After all, she knew the news. There was nothing to be gained by them drawing it out.
‘Go on.’
His expression said it all. She was being abrupt, rude even, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was getting the next five minutes over with.
‘Izzy—?’
‘Rhys. Please don’t do this to me. I can’t—’ She swallowed hard, her gaze flicking to Amy. Pleading, imploring, begging.
Amy placed a hand on his arm. ‘Just tell her. She needs to know.’
He sat down abruptly, gesturing for Amy and Izzy to follow his lead. Izzy remained standing; her gaze riveted to his face.
‘There’s no easy way to say this but I can confirm that the car contained the remains of a man and a baby.’
She closed her eyes, swaying back into the chair. She’d been hoping … She’d even been praying, to whatever God might be listening. But her prayers had gone unanswered. Curling her fingers, she dug her nails into her palms, not caring if she drew blood and, staring down at the red wheals marking her flesh, in a funny sort of a way, the pain helped. Now she knew. Now she could move on. She opened her eyes wide, remembering.
Charlie. The person she’d blamed for stealing her baby. She’d stamped out all memory of him. Charlie, the man she’d loved and then hated, dead all those years: dead and forgotten.
She sat up, her nails finding a greater purchase, her eyes turned to Rhys. ‘Can I see them?’ she said, her voice barely a whisper.
She watched Rhys shoot Amy a look before meeting her gaze. ‘No. No, I’m afraid that’s not possible. They’re … they’re still being … they’re still across at the—’
‘What he’s trying to say is that the team is still examining them,’ Amy said. ‘They’re still part of an active investigation, you see, and there may be clues as to what happened.’
‘Clues? What sort of clues?’
‘We need to find out why it happened and if there was anyone else involved,’ Rhys said, dragging his hand through his hair.
‘So, what you’re trying to say is that they could have been murdered?’
He paused, his gaze shifting from her face to his feet. ‘We can’t rule that out. We can’t rule anything out at this stage.’
Izzy stretched her arms out in front of her. An hour had passed, or was it two? Ten hours? It didn’t matter how long it had been since the door closed on their backs but, by the feel of her muscles, a very long time. But didn’t she have all the