Page 82 of Final Betrayal

‘I was just a little shaken. She didn’t threaten me, but she did frighten me.’

Trying to control her breathing, Lottie gasped, ‘What did she do?’

‘Nothing. It was her words.’

‘Go on. Tell me. I have to know what she’s up to. She’s a very dangerous individual.’

‘I know that,’ Rose snapped. ‘You knew she’d escaped?’

‘Yes. There’s a nationwide appeal out for sightings of her.’

‘And you didn’t warn me personally, or your children for that matter?’

‘I put plans in place to protect you all, but I’ve four murders to investigate.’ That was no excuse, and Lottie knew it. She waited for the onslaught.

‘Once again you’ve put your job before your family. When will you learn? We could’ve been killed by that woman while you were out there working.’

‘I didn’t put my job first. I never do.’ At least she didn’t think she did. Not intentionally. ‘I told Katie to stay in the house and I organised a taxi to bring Chloe and Sean to and from school. Anyway, Bernie has had ample opportunity to do something, but she hasn’t. I just need to find her.’

Rose wrung her hands together. ‘I saw the news report this morning.’

Oh shit, Lottie thought. ‘Cynthia Rhodes will be hearing from me just as soon as I get my head together.’

‘You never told your boss back then?’

‘About what?’

‘That Bernie is related to you.’

‘He wasn’t my boss then.’ She sighed loudly. ‘But he knows now, doesn’t he?’

‘Don’t be such a smart-mouth, Lottie. It doesn’t suit you.’

‘Sorry.’ As usual her mother had reduced her to her inner child. And that was never a good thing.

‘Everyone will think I was a baby-snatcher.’

The fuse blew. Lottie jumped up.

‘You! It’s always about you. What about me and my family? What my father did was inexcusable, but the fact that you never told me is even worse. You kept the secret from me all my life and I had to find out at the end of a knife held by the woman who claimed to be my sister. She might as well have stuck it into my heart, the hurt was so hard to bear. I’ve been through worse and come out the other side, but now my children will have to know. How do you propose I tell them?’

Rose shook her head wearily. ‘It’s a mess, and I have no idea how to fix my wrongs.’ She looked at Lottie, her eyes watery and older than their seventy-odd years. ‘Bernie gave me a message for you.’

‘She left a message for me last night too. A handful of seeds on my front step.’

‘How do you know it was her?’

‘Who else was obsessed with that kind of thing? Who else had a book on herbs and requested it for her cell? What did she want me to know?’

‘I didn’t want to tell you. I wasn’t going to, but then I saw the news this morning and I knew I had to.’

‘Go on.’ Lottie wasn’t at all sure she wanted to hear anything Bernie Kelly might have told her mother. She knew those words might be lethal.

‘She babbled a lot. Talked incoherently for a while. Then she said I had to tell you that she would not go back to being incarcerated. She’s going to disappear.’ Rose’s voice faltered. She coughed and continued. ‘But before she does, she’s going to kill each one of your children, and your grandson.’

Lottie felt bile rise from her stomach. ‘Over my dead body.’

‘What are you going to do?’ Rose’s voice quivered.

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