‘Jess!’ cries out Kate, unable to comprehend the scene that is playing out in front of her. Rose is sitting on the floor, backed up in the corner of the room, with Noah on her lap. Emmy is sat with them, looking up at Jess with fascination.
‘Mummy!’ squeaks Noah through his tears.
‘Stay here!’ says Rose abruptly, gripping his arm tightly.
‘But I want Mummy,’ he cries, trying to pull away from her.
‘Don’t come any closer,’ says Jess, as Lauren instinctively moves towards her son’s open arms.
‘What?’ manages Lauren, sounding as if someone has their hands around her throat. ‘Wh-what are you doing? Give me my baby.’
‘Stay where you are,’ says Jess, holding Jude tighter to her.
‘Jess, please!’ shrieks Lauren.
‘I mean it,’ says Jess.
Kate edges forwards, out of Matt’s cautionary grasp, with her arms aloft.
‘Jess, what’s going on?’ she says. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I thought I’d pay your mother a visit,’ says Jess acerbically.
‘But I thought you were going to the police station?’ says Kate, choosing her words carefully. ‘I thought you were going to give a DNA sample.’
‘What, to find out if I’m my mother’s daughter?’ Jess lets out a hollow laugh that ricochets around Kate’s whole being. ‘I don’t need a DNA test to prove who I am.’
‘I-I don’t understand,’ stutters Lauren.
Kate has no idea what’s going on, but she needs to get control before this all becomes so much worse than it already is. ‘Jess, just give Jude to me,’ she says, forcing herself to sound conciliatory when all she wants to do is scream. She inches ever closer towards her precious nephew who’s gurgling away contentedly, thankfully oblivious to the hostility surrounding him.
‘I’m warning you,’ says Jess. ‘Stay where you are.’
Kate weighs up what’s the worst Jess can do if she just makes a lunge for Jude and snatches him out of her grasp. They might grapple for a few seconds and he could get pushed and pulled, but it wouldn’t take much to overwhelm Jess’s slight frame.
She leaps forward, flinching in anticipation of the resistance she’s going to come up against. Jess raises her right hand and Kate stops dead in her tracks, so close to Jess that she can feel her breath on her face. It feels like it’s all happening in slow motion as the metal blade catches the sunlight filtering through the net curtains. In that moment, Kate finds herself wondering how on earth this can be going on behind the doors of such an ordinary house.
‘Kate!’ barks Matt, bringing her out of her momentary trance.
‘Ah, Matt!’ exclaims Jess.
Kate can’t compute what’s going on.
‘So, you know exactly who I am?’ he asks.
Jess laughs cynically. ‘What? You thought you were the one holding all the cards?’
Kate feels as if her lungs might burst as she holds her breath.
‘I . . .’ he starts. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Well, then maybe you’re not quite the intrepid journalist you think you are,’ says Jess.
‘Whatever this is, you need to stop,’ he warns.
Jess laughs and grips hold of Jude even tighter. ‘It hurts, doesn’t it? Not knowing what someone would do to a defenceless baby.’
Kate remembers the room in Jess’s flat, perfectly prepared for the arrival of a little one, with its baby clothes and nappies. Had this been what it was all about from the beginning? Was Jess looking to get an eye for an eye? One baby’s sacrifice for another’s?
‘Okay, listen to me,’ says Kate, forcing herself to stay calm amid Lauren’s desperate cries. ‘No good can ever come of this. Whatever it is you want, we need to sit down and talk it through.’
‘I want the truth!’ Jess screams, her ice-cold facade momentarily giving way to a show of raw emotion.
‘And we can find it,’ offers Kate. ‘But not like this.’
Jess’s shoulders slump and Kate gets ready to snatch Jude from the arms of defeat, but then Jess shakes her head and any chance of a truce crumbles.
‘This,’ she says, pointing the knife at Jude, ‘is the only way I’m going to find out what really happened, because that’s the way you seem to do things around here. You think babies are collateral damage. That they can be sacrificed if it means you get what you want.’
Lauren lets out a heart-wrenching sob from somewhere behind Kate. ‘We can find the truth together,’ says Kate, her voice trembling. ‘Whatever it is you need to know, we’ll help you find it.’
Jess scoffs. ‘Funny how you’re all so interested now, isn’t it? Now you’ve got something to lose.’
‘Let us help you,’ says Kate.
‘Help me?’ Jess snorts. ‘You’ve done nothing but hinder me since the day I arrived.’
Kate knows she can’t argue with that. She’s going to have to try a different tack. ‘I understand that,’ she says, edging slowly forwards again, hoping Jess won’t notice. ‘But we now have unequivocal proof that you’re our father’s child and I will do everything I can to help you find whatever it is you’re looking for.’
‘I gave you that opportunity three months ago,’ sneers Jess.
Kate shakes her head, unable to make sense of what she means. It had only been a month since Jess had turned up at her parents’ front door.
‘I came to your offices and spoke to you about a story I had,’ said Jess, smiling wryly.
Kate’s head feels as if it’s about to explode.
‘Don’t you remember?’ Jess goes on. ‘I told you that my mother had been murdered and I’d been abandoned.’
Kate delves into the depths of her mind, desperately searching for something of any relevance.
‘So, you’ve known all along who your mother is?’ asks Lauren incredulously.
‘Was,’ sneers Jess correcting her. ‘I know who my mother was, because she’s dead now isn’t she?’ A flash of pain crosses Jess’s features, but she quickly pulls herself together.
‘Wh-when did you find out?’ Kate stutters, unable to think straight.
‘When I was eighteen and able to get a copy of my birth certificate,’ says Jess. ‘I
