Page 114 of The Half Sister

‘Thereissomething you can do to help me,’ says Lauren now.

Rose tilts her head, raising her eyebrows expectantly.

‘Can you watch the children?’

Rose’s shoulders visibly relax. ‘Of course, darling. Are you going to see Simon? You mustn’t let all these years go to waste. He’s a good man.’

Lauren smiles and shakes her head. ‘You’re not a very good judge of character, are you?’

‘What do you mean?’ asks Rose, clearly affronted.

‘You backed the wrong horse,’ says Lauren, getting up and walking out.

‘Wait! Where are you going?’

‘I’m going to see Justin,’ says Lauren. ‘The man Ishouldhave been with for all these years. The manyoutook away from me.’

45

Kate

‘Kate, it’s me,’ says Matt. His voice is heavy down the phone.

‘Hey,’ she says, wearily.

It has been an exhausting few days and she feels like she could sleep standing up, yet oddly when sleephasbeen available, she’s not been able to take it, her mind keeping her awake as it frantically searched for an excuse for her father. But now, it seems that he doesn’t need one. He’d been the man Lauren had accused him of all along. She coughs to clear the overwhelming hurt that is stuck in her throat.

‘Have you got a minute?’ asks Matt.

‘Yeah, sure, fire away.’

‘No, I mean, can you come down here? To my office.’

Kate pulls herself up, immediately on the defence. ‘Why?’ she asks.

‘It’s about Jess’s story,’ says Matt. ‘There’s somebody here I think you need to talk to. I’ll explain when you get here.’

‘Okay, I’m on my way,’ she says, grabbing her handbag and heading for the door.

In the two minutes it takes for her to walk to Matt’s offices, she runs through who it might be. She groans at the thought of it being a ne’er-do-well, who fancies having a go at passing themselves off as Jess’s mum. They’d probably spent half the morning concocting an elaborate backstory in the hope that it would make them sound plausible. But Matt had seen enough fame-hungry story chasers to know one when he saw one. She can’t imagine he’d drag her down here for that.

She sees him, with his back to her in the lobby, talking to a man and a woman. She stops dead in her tracks for a moment as she quickly deduces that they look like police officers. The man, slightly smaller than Matt, and dressed in navy chinos and a white shirt, looks up, prompting her to carry on walking. She’s just a few feet away when his female companion sees her, and looks her up and down.

‘Er, Kate, this is Detective Sergeant Connolly,’ says Matt awkwardly. Kate leans across to shake the woman’s hand.

‘Detective Constable Stephens,’ says the man, extending his.

‘Pleased to meet you,’ she says, shaking it.

Her mouth has instantaneously dried up, her lips sticking to her gums. She throws Matt a cautious look, silently asking what they’re doing here and what it’s got to do with Jess. DS Connolly is the one to answer.

‘We read the piece by Jessica Linley in today’sEcho,’ she says.

Kate nods, not trusting herself to speak.

‘It’s a very moving story.’

‘Mmm,’ manages Kate.

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