‘How are you enjoying Clacton?’ Sally-Ann threaded her arm through Amy’s as they strolled along the seafront.
‘I’ve not had much of a chance to see it yet,’ Amy mumbled. ‘Every spare minute has been taken up with work so far.’
‘Yeah, is it true that those seaside suicides are murders? What are you going to call it, the candyfloss killer?’
‘Grim, Sally-Ann. Real grim.’ But Amy smiled just the same. It was good that they had reached a point where they could laugh about it. Death was all around them. Some gallows humour was a welcome relief. ‘Is Lillian behaving herself?’ Her serial killer mother had recently been released from prison, much to her frustration. She had been surprised to discover that her sister Mandy had taken Lillian in – particularly given Mandy’s children slept under the same roof.
‘If you can call sneaking some bloke back to Mandy’s flat for a bunk-up behaving herself . . .’ Sally-Ann replied. The crowds of holidaymakers had thinned, the sun a burnt orange as it lowered in the sky. But it pained Amy to be outside when there was so much to do. She reached into her breast pocket and slipped her sunglasses on, more to protect her identity than anything else. ‘Lillian has a boyfriend. Are you serious?’
‘He was a neighbour.’ Sally-Ann snorted a laugh. ‘Some geriatric Jamaican.’
‘Mandy must have blown her top.’ Amy could imagine Mandy’s reaction. The air must have turned blue with expletives.
‘That’s an understatement, she found them in her bed! Can you imagine it? She was lucky Mandy’s old man was at the bookies. He would have lost his head!’
So far, Mandy’s husband had been placated, as Lillian’s rental income funded his trips to the betting shop. But her contributions would soon be thin on the ground when journalists got bored of her. When the money ran out, so would Mandy’s patience. Lillian would be on her own.
‘You didn’t come here to see Paddy, did you?’ Amy asked. Since discovering that Sally-Ann had had a secret baby when she was young, she had been waiting for her to open up.
Sally-Ann sighed. ‘For years, I’ve been trying to track down my son, but I had nothing to go on – until now.’ She threw Amy a regretful glance. Amy knew that the information Sally-Ann sought had come at a high price. Her testimony had been instrumental in Lillian’s appeal.
‘Lillian emotionally blackmailed you. She knew exactly which buttons to press.’
‘I know. But it feels like more than a coincidence that my son ended up here.’
Amy arched an eyebrow. ‘Here? As in Clacton?’
Sally-Ann nodded. ‘According to Lillian.’
‘And you believe her?’
‘I’ve no reason not to. She still needs to keep in my good books.’
It was true. Sally-Ann was the matriarch of their strange family. Lillian needed them more than they needed her.
‘So you want me to help you find him?’ Amy said, pre-empting her request.
Sally-Ann turned to stare out to sea, resting her hands on the metal safety fence. ‘You can access information that I can’t.’
Amy shook her head tightly. ‘Uh uh, no can do. I promised Donovan, I’m on the straight and narrow now.’ A dog barked in the distance as it splashed at the water’s edge.
‘According to Paddy, that’s not how you played it when you dealt with your last case.’
‘And it almost ended my career. You’ve got a short memory, sis. It’s not that long ago I asked for your support in keeping Lillian behind bars. You lying to the court was like a slap in the face.’ They stood, watching the ebb and flow of the sea. A few children remained on the beach, watched closely by their parents as the tide came in.
Sally-Ann turned to her sister. ‘Surely you can see what lengths a mother would go to for their child?’
‘We’re not talking about a child though, are we? He must easily be in his thirties. If he had wanted to find you, he would have done so by now.’
‘He doesn’t know who I am.’ Sally-Ann’s expression was pained. ‘And even if he did, we’re hardly a family anyone would want any part of.’
‘Exactly. So why gatecrash their lives now?’ Amy thought back to her own recent revelation. Discovering her true parentage had knocked her for six.
‘You’re angry with me, that’s what it is. Paddy told me not to ask.’
‘Will you stop second-guessing me?’ Amy glared at her sister. ‘Look. I’ll be straight with you. I’m done with breaking the rules. I’ve got something special with Donovan, and I can’t jeopardise the team. But give me what you’ve got, and I’ll look into it. I can’t guarantee I’ll find anything, but it’s worth a shot.’ Amy’s concern grew as she wondered what her sister was getting herself into.
‘What’s wrong?’ Sally-Ann caught her eye.
‘This isn’t a kitten from the rescue centre,’ Amy replied. ‘It’s a grown man. What if he looks like Jack? Are you ready for that?’
A shadow crossed Sally-Ann’s face. ‘I know what you’re thinking. Jack wasn’t the dad.’
‘I wasn’t going to ask,’ Amy murmured, but the possibility of incest had crossed her mind. ‘You’ll tell me who the father is when you’re ready.’
‘That’ll be ten minutes past never then,’ Sally-Ann replied. But there was no malice in her words.
‘What have you got?’ Amy checked her watch. She was used to working to schedule, but now everything was on its head.
Sally-Ann rifled in her tote bag before pulling out a small notebook. ‘Everything’s in here. A record of every conversation I’ve had with Lillian about the baby. Every scrap of information I can remember about his birth. I wish I was handing over folders instead of a notebook.’ She paused, her gaze thoughtful. ‘Don’t you regret not having kids, Amy? Being part of something bigger than yourself?’
But that was a conversation Amy did not want to have. ‘What have you got?’ she repeated, returning the focus to
