A spokesperson for Isla-Mae Gomez has said the actress is distressed by the situation, however, made it clear that she and her husband were in London at the time of the incident.
The story was on the front page of every newspaper and had been running as one of the lead stories on the television news. I was staying in a seedy bed and breakfast in the outskirts of Glasgow. I’d gone out early to collect the papers, scared when I saw my face peering from the front pages, a photograph from my days grooming for Hilary.
It was clear that they were both alive and, as far as I could tell, had told the police in extreme detail who I was and what I had done.
What the hell could I do? This was a disaster. There should have been nothing left, no evidence, just a pile of ash and a suicide note. I couldn’t even sell the saddles and bridles which were in the boot of my car. I had better do nothing more than hide in this scruffy room if I didn’t want to be caught.
I stared at the four walls of the tiny room. How could it have gone so wrong?
* * *
“Mr Bishop?”
I looked up; the doctor gestured for me to join him. We stepped outside of the private room where Kate was sleeping.
“Sir, were you aware your wife was pregnant?”
I nodded.
“Mr Bishop, your wife went through an extraordinary ordeal, the lack of food and water, she was beaten…”
I could see the doctor was struggling. “Are you telling me Kate has lost the baby?” I sighed, looking down. I’d prepared myself for this since being told she had gone into early labour; I’d been warned that this may be the case and that I should be ready for the inevitable news. With what she had been through, there would have been no chance.
“No…”
I looked up in shock. “What?”
“No, it was a very premature birth and your daughter’s weight is very low. She is in pediatric intensive care and… Look, I have to tell you that there is a strong possibility she will not survive the night. I am so sorry.”
Daughter? I stumbled, gripping hold of the wall.
“May I see her?”
The doctor had been telling the truth when he said she was tiny. Her body could have fitted into the palm of my hand, that is, if she wasn’t in an incubator, attached to tubes and drips to keep her alive surrounded by nurses who held my hand as I looked down at her tiny body. She had to survive, and, in my heart, I knew being Kate’s daughter, she would be a fighter, but was this a fight she had any chance of winning?
* * *
The police did their best to be quiet, but I had been unable to sleep and heard the arrival of several cars outside of the window of my room, the hushed talking and the footsteps through the corridor which stopped outside the bedroom door.
Looking out of the window, I could see they had opened my car and were looking through the boot and countless officers were waiting along with photographers ready to capture the moment for the masses. The bedroom door was smashed open, the police yelling. I complied, kneeling before being pushed onto my front, my face shoved into the filthy pile of the carpet, my wrists cuffed. I was dragged to my feet and taken roughly down the stairs. I ignored the flashes of cameras as they forced me into the back of a police van. It was over.
I was so very glad.
* * *
“Kate?”
“Adam… I’m sorry.” Her eyes remained closed, she sighed, lying on her back, otherwise still.
“Kate there is nothing to be sorry about.”
“Adam I went down to Devon asking questions. I allowed myself to be caught by that girl… Damn it, I was so stupid… Oh, God, if I had never told you to go to work at Hilary’s this would never have happened in the first place.”
“You are being very hard on yourself.” I took her in my arms, her body felt frail. I spoke softly. “Kate, you encouraged me to do something which would help my career. What happened… Look, what happened, happened. It was terrible, but it was not caused by you or what you did. When you went to Devon it was because you wanted to do the best for me, it was because you were so clever, you saw through Sally when even the police didn’t… You put yourself at risk to help me, trying, selflessly to prove my innocence. You always look after me. Kate, you are everything to me. Without you and what you did, I would still be in prison. Everybody else thought that I had killed that poor girl.”
“But, without what I did we would have a baby…”
“We do…” I whispered in her ear.
Her eyes opened suddenly, confusion on her face. “No… It was awful, I lost… I…”
I shook my head. “She’s tiny, but, she’s like her mum, she’s a fighter. They didn’t think she would survive the night, but she did. While you’ve been sedated, she has been getting stronger. She’s not out of the woods, but our daughter has a chance.”
“Our daughter?”
Kate had been hysterical and weak, the stress of her kidnap, the lack of food, the poor hygiene and the premature birth had taken their toll on her body. For almost a week she had lain nearly unresponsive, under deep sedation to allow her body to recover.
During that week, our beautiful daughter had stabilised, she was still tiny, vulnerable and in an incubator, but the nurses were starting to feel more confident. I had been there, every day willing her to become stronger,
