Page 29 of The Vow
Chapter Sixteen
It’s early, the trees silvery in the mist. After a sleepless night, I watch from an upstairs window as the police car pulls up and PC Page gets out. This morning she’s in uniform, her shoulder-length hair clipped back. Then I notice she isn’t alone – she’s with an older uniformed officer I haven’t seen before. My heart lurches as I try to imagine why they’ve come here, dreading the worst kind of news.
I must have been right about her call last night. She was setting the scene, preparing the ground for whatever it is they’ve come here to tell me. By the time I reach the bottom of the stairs, there’s a knock at the front door. I’m shaking as I open it, filled with dread.
‘Amy. This is DI Lacey.’ PC Page holds my gaze. As she introduces her colleague, her air of formality disconcerts me. I’ve shared so much with this woman, her brusqueness takes me aback.
‘May we come in?’
Standing back, I let them in, a hollow feeling churning inside me as I close the door behind them – my nerves on edge, myinstincts sharp. Whatever the reason they’ve come here, I sense it isn’t good. Even before I turn around, I feel their eyes on me.
Looking from one to the other, I falter. ‘It’s Matt, isn’t it?’ My voice is husky. ‘Oh my God. You’ve found him.’ I’m lightheaded, my legs weak, as I turn towards the kitchen, my heart hammering in my chest. But before they can answer, I hear another car pull up out on the road. Glancing behind me, through the window beside the front door, I catch sight of several officers getting out of a police van. I turn to PC Page, suddenly cold. ‘What’s going on?’
The gate through to the garden clicks open, distracting me, and I walk towards the kitchen. Pulling back the curtains, through the glass doors the garden is clearly visible, the early sun cutting through the mist, as several figures slowly make their way across the garden. In what seems like a nightmare, I watch as one of them tramples across a bed of herbs. ‘NO …’ My hands cover my mouth, the words out before I can stop them. My plants are my livelihood. It’s too much to watch an ignorant stranger trampling them. Hearing footsteps come up behind me, I spin around. ‘They’re killing my plants. You have to stop them.’
But my cries go unheard. As DI Lacey goes outside to join them, PC Page’s silent. Then she says, ‘What really happened that night, Amy? When Matt came back late and told you he was leaving you?’
My eyes widen as I gasp in shock. ‘I’ve told you. He didn’t come back that night. The last time I saw him was before he went to work.’
Her eyes don’t leave mine. ‘I think he did come back and you had an argument. One that escalated when your temper got the better of you. You couldn’t bear that your dreamwedding wasn’t going to happen, that he was leaving you for someone else. You lost control and then you attacked him.’ She glances through the window towards the police officers walking across the garden. ‘They’re looking for the murder weapon. They have metal detectors – they know what they’re doing. But you could save us all from wasting our time and tell us where it’s hidden.’
As she speaks, I’m dizzy. She doesn’t believe me. She doesn’t believe a single word I’ve said to her. ‘I could never have hurt Matt. I’m not that kind of person. I’m a healer, you know I am. I’m not a killer …’ My voice desperate, urgent, willing her to think again.
‘What about the messages you bombarded Matt with? They were all there, on his phone. You couldn’t have imagined we wouldn’t find them. They make for some reading. You’d obviously found out he was leaving you. It’s all there – you begging him to stay, threatening him that if he left you’d come and find him.’
My mouth falls open. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t send him messages. I called him several times and asked him to text me when he could, but nothing like you’ve just said.’ I break off, incredulous, because they’re not my messages. ‘Are you sure it’s Matt’s phone?’
‘It’s pointless you denying it.’ PC Page’s voice is abrupt. ‘Your number is listed against your photo.’
‘But I didn’t send them. I really didn’t.’ I stare at her, unable to believe the way the police are speaking to me, desperate for her to believe me. ‘Someone must have set it up to look like it was me. But it wasn’t.’
‘So where’s your phone?’
I glance around for my iphone, cursing that I’ve never bothered to lock it. ‘I don’t know. I need to find it. You’llsee there aren’t any texts on it. I don’t know how this has happened, but someone’s setting me up.’ But my heart sinks, because I know what she’ll say, that it was me who could have sent the texts and deleted them afterwards; how she won’t believe me when I tell her I didn’t write them in the first place. When she doesn’t reply, I follow her gaze across the garden. His hands in his pockets, the DI is walking back towards the house.
Suddenly I’m terrified. ‘If they find anything, it’s because someone’s planted it.’
Her voice is sharp. ‘Who would do that?’
I stare at her aghast. Any sympathy she’s shown in the past has vanished. Instead, she’s brusque, forthright. What’s changed? Wretchedly I shake my head. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know why any of this is happening. I don’t know where the flowers came from, or the blood, but someone’s trying to get at me. Please. You have to believe that.’
As DI Lacey comes back in, he nods towards PC Page. Her eyes flicker briefly away from me, as his fix on mine. ‘Amy Reid, I’m arresting you in connection with the disappearance of Matthew Roche. You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’
His words are lost as blood rushes in my ears. Dazed, I shake my head, trying to take this all in. ‘This is wrong.’ I stare at them, imagining some kind of sick joke. ‘I haven’t done anything to Matt.’
‘Please, Amy …’ PC Page’s voice is firm. ‘Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.’
‘No.’ This is insanity. When she doesn’t respond, I repeat it,louder this time, my voice panic stricken. ‘PC Page, no. This is a mistake. You know it is.’
But DI Lacey’s voice is firm. ‘Ms Reid, you need to come with us.’
PART TWO
Fiona
Chapter Seventeen
In the weeks since Matt disappeared, my life has been on hold. One day he was moving in, the next there was no trace of him. Instead, I find myself waiting, aware that the more time passes, the more unlikely it is that he’ll be found alive.
