Lauren looks at her, open-mouthed.
Jess turns to Kate. ‘I asked you to help me find my mother’s murderer – that there was a good news angle to it – but you dismissed me out of hand. You said you had people turning up every day of the week, claiming to have the next front page up their sleeve.’
Kate can hear herself saying it.
‘I gave you the chance to narrate your own story, but you weren’t interested, so I had to find a way of doing it myself.’
‘So you lied your way onto Matt’s paper?’ says Kate, unable to keep the contempt from her voice. ‘To get back at me?’
‘Partly,’ says Jess. ‘But it wasn’t only about you. I needed to find a way to get my story out there.’
‘Why didn’t you just go to the police?’ asks Matt.
‘I did,’ says Jess. ‘As soon as I found out who my mother was, but they weren’t interested. It was a cold case, they said. They had reduced resources . . . they didn’t have the manpower . . . it wasn’t in the public’s interest . . .’ She laughs. ‘Well it looks like it is now.’
Kate feels Matt shift beside her as they both realize that they’ve fallen head first into Jess’s trap.
‘So have you even spoken to the police today?’ asks Kate. ‘Since the article came out?’
‘They’ve called me and asked me to go in.’ She looks at Matt. ‘I assume you’ve spoken to them too?’
‘They’ve bought us up to speed,’ he says, and Kate prays that he leaves it there. This is Jess’s stage – let her do the performing.
‘If only you’d listened,’ says Jess threateningly. ‘None of this would have happened.’
‘I’m sorry,’ says Kate. ‘We’re sorry. But we’re listening now.’
‘But it’s not my turn to talk,’ says Jess, ‘is it, Rose?’
Rose holds Noah and Emmy closer to her. ‘I don’t know what you want me to say,’ she says shakily.
‘Well, you must have something to offer,’ says Jess. ‘You knew your husband was having an affair, knew he’d had a baby . . .’
‘No,’ says Rose, shaking her head manically. ‘No, I didn’t.’
‘Sure you did,’ says Jess, gripping Jude tighter and making him cry. His distress makes Kate’s chest feel as if it’s being ripped open.
‘Lauren told you she’d seen Harry with me and my mum, didn’t you, Lauren?’
Kate looks at her sister wide-eyed, not knowing what answer she wants her to give.
‘Y-yes,’ stutters Lauren, her voice sounding as if she’s gargling blood.
‘Okay, I had my suspicions that he was having an affair,’ Rose blurts out, ‘but I swear I didn’t know about you.’
‘You sure about that?’ questions Jess, making Jude cry even louder.
‘Tell her!’ barks Kate, unable to listen to her nephew’s pitiful sobs any longer. ‘Tell her about the hospital tag.’
Rose looks at her, dumbstruck. ‘I don’t know what . . .’ she starts.
‘I saw it!’ exclaims Kate, wanting to scream, but mindful of not frightening the children any more than they already are. ‘It has Jess’s date of birth on it. Just tell her what you know.’
Rose’s head drops and her chest heaves. ‘I’m sorry,’ she cries.
‘You knew Jess’s mum wasn’t Helen Wilmington, didn’t you?’ says Kate tightly, as the truth begins to dawn on her.
Rose makes a strange noise in the back of her throat.
‘You gave us that name, hoping that it would be enough to throw us off the scent. Thinking that we’d run with it, find out she’d died and that would be the end of it.’
Rose looks at her imploringly, silently begging her to understand why.
‘So you knew all along that Jess’s mum was Julia Woods? That Dad’s lover had been murdered?’
A sob catches in Rose’s chest. ‘Yes. I just didn’t want you to find out, and start asking questions that I couldn’t answer.’
‘So what do you know about my mum?’ asks Jess.
‘Not much,’ Rose whimpers. ‘Nothing at all in fact, apart from what happened to her.’
‘And how did you find out about that?’ presses Jess.
‘From the paper, like everyone else,’ offers Rose.
‘So you and Harry never discussed what happened?’
Rose shakes her head emphatically. ‘No, never. I knew that her husband had gone on the run and I assumed he’d taken the baby with him.’
‘So even though you knew your husband was having an affair with a woman who’d been murdered, and thought his child had disappeared with someone other than its father, you never gave it another thought?’
‘Well . . . I . . . . I . . . thought it was over,’ stutters Rose.
‘So you didn’t know that my mother’s husband was cleared of any involvement?’
Rose’s eyes widen. ‘N-no, I didn’t.’
‘It didn’t occur to you to read the newspaper to keep up to date over the years?’ asks Jess sardonically. ‘It’s all there on the internet, Rose.’
Rose remains tight-lipped.
‘And now the police have a new lead, me, and they’re going to be sniffing around you and your family until they find out what really went on.’
Rose looks between Jess, Lauren and Kate, her eyes flitting wildly. ‘I only did it to protect you.’
‘We don’t need protecting,’ cries Lauren. ‘We need the truth. Because the sooner you tell it, the sooner I’ll get my babies back.’ It sounds as if Lauren’s insides are being ripped out. ‘Please, Mum.’
Rose closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. ‘Your dad wasn’t always the person you thought he was.’
Kate looks at her mother contemptuously.
‘He wasn’t always the man that you saw on the outside,’ Rose goes on. ‘He could be manipulative and controlling – that’s what made him so good at his job, but sometimes he’d bring it home with him.’
Kate shakes her head. She can’t remember a single time, not one, when her father wasn’t the most loving, caring person she could possibly imagine.
‘He was never that person,’ she says. ‘He loved us unconditionally.’
‘If everything was going his way,’ says Rose. ‘You only have to ask Lauren what he was capable of when it wasn’t. She knows how he could be.’
Kate looks to Lauren with raised eyebrows. She wonders if her sister is going to be brave
