Chapter 60
FAYE
Once the doctor leaves, I’m not alone for long before Nathan pokes his head into the room.
“Up for visitors?” he asks.
“Sure.”
“You look like total shit,” he says. “Did you really get pushed out of a moving car?”
“Yes. I think Magnus drugged me and then pushed me out of the car while I was unconscious.”
“Jesus.” He sits down next to me and looks at me with what looks like tears in his eyes. He was worried about me. I take his hand and he rubs his eyes with the other. “Well, the doctor seems to think you’ll survive.”
I allow myself a small smile.
“Now,” he says. “I don’t want to worry you, but I can’t get hold of Penny.”
The smile falls from my face. I think fast. “Oh. She probably decided to stay at the spa for an extra couple of days. You know what Penny’s like, always off gallivanting!” The words stick in my throat. If only Nathan knew the truth.
“Well, it’s bloody irresponsible. I hope you’ll tell her when she resurfaces. She can’t just swan off like this.”
I gulp back the tears. I want to tell him, but the urge to share the truth is overridden by my need to keep him safe. Magnus didn’t just threaten my daughter’s life, he said he’d kill Nathan and his family too. I have no choice, I have to keep him in the dark.
“I’ll tell her.”
We talk a little longer until we are interrupted by DS Oliver.
“Is now a good time, Mrs Mathis? I hope you can appreciate that time is critical in locating Mr Blackburn and I’m sure you’ll have some key information that can help.”
“Yes, of course.”
Nathan excuses himself and I lie back in the bed, trying to keep calm.
As DS Oliver questions me, I stick to the truth as much as possible.
I tell the detective every detail I can remember: the address I was taken to, the car Magnus was driving, the two duffel bags on the back seat.
I just leave out one very fundamental fact – that this is a hostage situation.
His expression remains deadpan as he listens to my story.
“So, Mr Blackburn has an accomplice? Dina Lacey.”
“Yes. She’s my – and Claire’s – estranged sister.”
His eyebrows lift as he processes the complicated nature of my fucked-up family.
He takes more information and then asks for my permission to take some forensic samples. “We’ll take the clothes you were wearing and fingernail clippings, swabs and the like, and send it to the lab for testing.”
“But why? You know who is responsible for all this. Shouldn’t you be out there, hunting them down?” I gesture wildly with my arm. I am exhausted and losing my patience. I need to be out of here, I need to be looking for Penny.
“We’re building a case,” DS Oliver replies. “When we catch Magnus Blackburn and Dina Lacey, we want them to go to prison.” His steely glare fixes on me. “Don’t we?”
“Yes,” I agree.
DS Oliver is right. And I’m doing nothing to help bring them to justice.
I’m withholding important information from the police.
What is my endgame here? What can I actually do on my own?
I could forget Magnus’s threats and tell DS Oliver everything right now.
I could beg them to keep it out of the press.
But would they listen? I imagine Magnus and Dina watching the news, seeing the police out there searching for Penny.
I imagine him disposing of her, stalking Nathan, watching Kiri from the nursery gates.
I lean back as a swab pokes the skin in my cheek. I hate this. But I hate Magnus and Dina more than I hate anything in the world. There is only one other person who understands. Claire.
I can’t give up on Penny. I can’t. And the first step to finding my daughter might just start with my twin.