Page 152 of Her Last Walk Home

‘He’s Charlie’s stepbrother.’

‘Really?’ Lottie wondered what that dynamic had been like. ‘He’s not talking. The armed response team were a little too forceful when they broke through the front door. He’s in an induced coma.’

‘And Charlie?’

‘In custody. Talking very little, though Detective McKeown and Superintendent Farrell are doing their best with the interviews.’

‘Such a fucked-up family.’

‘Aneta was registered as Magenta McCabe on her original birth cert. The mother’s name was falsified, but why wasn’t Gordon Collins named? He claims he was Aneta’s father.’

‘My head hurts thinking about it.’ Diana put the cup on the tray and pushed it away. ‘Who knows how that woman thinks. Charlie claimed Gordon raped her when she was sixteen. Said he treated her like a prostitute. I don’t believe that was true. She twisted facts all the time. Twisted people into knots with her warped mind. He believed her when she said she was pregnant by him. He said it happened once. He was vulnerable backthen, as was I. He was in Cuan rehab for addiction issues and I was his girlfriend at the time. I hated him after everything that happened. Maybe Aneta wasn’t Gordon’s at all.’

‘Could Thomas have been Aneta’s father?’

‘No, he was only ten years old then. I don’t believe Charlie was that warped.’

‘A DNA test will confirm it one way or the other.’

‘Inspector, how did Charlie come to have such a big house out in the countryside?’

‘I’ve to talk to Gordon Collins about that.’

‘She used everyone she came in contact with.’

Lottie sighed. ‘The more I learn about her, the more I’m convinced she was a dab hand at exploitation. We’ll talk again, Diana. Take care.’

After a torturous walk along the corridor and up in the lift, Lottie reached the ward where Shannon was recuperating. Davy was sitting on her knee, with George standing by the foot of the bed. The days of incarceration had not been kind to her.

George took his son in his arms. ‘We’ll go get juice, Davy.’ He mouthed thanks to Lottie and left her alone with Shannon.

‘How are you feeling?’

‘Worse than rehab.’ The young woman attempted a laugh. ‘I owe you a huge thank you.’

‘Doing my job.’

‘She would have killed us all. She told him she’d take us with them, but I know she was too self-consumed to take baggage while she made her escape. I can’t get my head around how she hated her own daughters, both Aneta and Maggie.’

‘I believe Charlie is a classic sociopath. I have to get more information to understand her relationship with Aneta. Fromwhat I’ve learned so far, she was forming Maggie in her own image.’

‘I get that she was moulding the child to be like her. Magenta… Maggie had found her knife in a scabbard. I truly believe she was about to kill me until Charlie tasered us both. Where is the girl now?’

‘Child services.’

‘What’ll happen to her?’

‘She’ll need psychological rehabilitation. After that, who knows?’

‘Who cares?’ Shannon pursed her lips glumly. ‘No, that’s wrong. It’s bringing me down to their level.’

Lottie took her hand and squeezed it. ‘You’ll need therapy after everything you’ve been through.’

‘I’ve had my fill of therapists.’

‘At least confide in family or friends. Talk to Jess, if you feel George is a step too far.’

‘Jess is a star.’

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