“Will you give me your word you won’t hurt her?” Mrs Carr pleaded pitifully.
“Of course. All we want to do is find her and make sure the child is all right. You go, we’ll be in touch soon. Do you have your keys and some money?”
Mrs Carr ran into the kitchen and returned carrying her handbag. She slipped on her coat and smiled at Katy. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here to assist us. Thank you.”
“Glad to be of help.” Katy smiled at the woman. “Now go, we’ll lock up for you.”
“Thank you again.” She walked out to the ambulances and decided to get in the second one holding Daniel.
Katy watched the woman get in the ambulance and groaned. “God, I feel so guilty now. If we hadn’t—”
“Don’t even go there, Katy. All we did was carry out our job. We couldn’t have foreseen any of this happening. I’m sure both of them will be okay. We need to take stock and get back to the station, right?”
Katy patted Charlie on the forearm. “Too right. Let’s lock up, you drive and I’ll try and call in a few favours with the media.”
Thirty minutes later, Katy had managed to get the all-clear to hold an emergency press conference. In attendance were journalists from both the written and TV media. She ran through the urgency behind trying to find Megan, stating that two of her family members were in hospital and that her aunt was desperately seeking her help in caring for them. She purposefully omitted mentioning anything about the crimes Megan had committed. Although she did add that Megan was likely to be with an eight-year-old boy.
It was a tough one to call, and she felt the wrath of Ethan Romero when the conference aired. “How dare you make out that our son is with this woman and is out on some kind of jolly with her?”
“I’m sorry, it was the only thing I could think of to get Megan to respond. If I had told the public that she’d kidnapped Matthew, there’s no telling how Megan would have reacted. This way, I know I’m taking a gamble, but I’m hoping it’ll pay off. Family is everything to her, it’s unfortunate that her uncle and her brother have ended up in hospital, but I think that will work in our favour. All I’m asking is that you trust me on this one. There are many ways to skin a rabbit.”
“It’s cat,” he snapped back.
“I know, but I never like to think of a cat being skinned so I adapted the saying.”
Ethan grunted. “Whatever. If you screw this up, I’m warning you, you’ll be personally hearing from my solicitor, got that?”
“I’m doing my very best to ensure that doesn’t happen, sir. Was there anything else?”
“No. Keep me informed, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course I will. Have faith in my methods. I’m not guilty of doing things willy-nilly, I promise you.”
He responded by slamming the phone down in her ear. “Bloody charming!”
Charlie leaned against the doorframe of her office. “What a dickhead. If it’s any consolation, I think you’ve made the right call.”
The phone rang again and Katy answered it. “DI Foster, how may I help?”
“How are they?”
Katy shot a glance at Charlie and ordered her to take a seat, then she put the phone on speaker. “Megan, is that you?”
“Yes,” a timid voice responded. “How are they?” she repeated.
“I haven’t checked since they were taken to hospital. Do you want to see them?”
“Yes, but I can’t. You’ll arrest me if I show up there.”
“We won’t, I promise. Come and see them, I’ll meet you there. Your aunt could do with the support. She’ll be torn in two down there, not knowing who to sit with for the best.”
“Poor Auntie Gail. I never meant for them to get hurt.” Her voice trailed off.
“Who? The men or your family?”
“My family. We’ve all been through a hellish existence since the accident. Daniel appears to be getting worse, at least that was my perception over the last few months. I needed to right the wrongs that had been committed.”
“I totally understand the anguish you must have been carrying all these years, Megan. What about Matthew, where is he?”
“I haven’t hurt him, if that’s what you’re thinking. I wanted to see that man suffer, the way my family has suffered over the years.”
“The men were sent to prison, Megan. That was their punishment in the eyes of the law.”
Megan grunted. “A few measly years behind bars and you think that wipes out the memories of seeing my parents lying in the car, dead? And also living each day with the consequences of the crash that my brother has to endure? It doesn’t, nothing can make up for that, not even killing those bastards. I thought I’d feel better, but I don’t. All it’s done is compound my misery. My life is hell, but it’s nothing to what my brother has to contend with day in, day out. No one cares about him, except for my aunt, uncle and myself.”
“It might seem like that, but I assure you there are people out there who care about what matters to Daniel, I’m one of them. I was at the house, speaking with your aunt and uncle when they both fell ill.” Katy noticed Charlie had closed her eyes and was shaking her head slightly. Katy realised then what a mistake it had been to inform Megan of that fact. She braced herself for a tongue lashing.
“What? You were there? Were you harassing them? You caused them to take a turn for the worst.”
“No, it wasn’t like that at all, I promise you. Your relatives asked why we are looking for you, the truth had to come out. Once they heard what you were guilty of, it knocked your uncle for six.” Katy did her best to turn the tables on Megan, praying the guilt would make her drop her guard and
