‘Yes.’ He turned back. ‘It does.’
Chapter 29
‘Her legend is going to have to be watertight,’ Bowie said to Robbo, who had joined Carter in Chief Inspector Bowie’s office. ‘Can you do it this fast? The training alone for a UC would be two weeks normally.’
‘We don’t have two weeks.’
‘Ebony has a ready-made legend,’ Robbo said. ‘She would be difficult to trace even if she used her own name.’
‘Whose name will you give her? We can no longer use the names of dead infants.’
‘Ebony’s legend will closely follow her own life. We keep her Christian name so that anyone who might know her and see her in the street won’t blow her cover.’
Carter shook his head. ‘To be honest you don’t have to worry about that; Ebony lives a very sheltered life: she works and then she goes home. She doesn’t have any social media accounts, she doesn’t even have a credit card.’
‘We’ll change her surname to Wilson,’ continued Robbo. ‘Doctor her birth records, issue a new passport and driver’s licence. We’ll keep her childhood in children’s homes – it suits our purposes very well – but we have her come out of them at the age of twelve and move to Jamaica to live with her grandparents, returning six months ago. She returned to get Archie into school here and because this is her home. She’s been on benefits. She’s obviously bright but a bit unsettled in her life – big potential but finds herself a bit out of her depth at the moment. Life’s changing, new prospects, going solo.’
‘When will you have everything ready?’ asked Bowie.
‘Pretty much ready to go, Sir. I asked the guys in the technical unit to design some special equipment for her and I’ve been told it’s ready so I’ll collect that now and we’ll put the package together and get her familiar with it.’
‘Okay. Carter, you’ll have to keep the appearance of still being the SIO on this case, but I want you to hand it over to me and you concentrate on Ebony.’
‘I think I can manage the two roles, Sir. It will look less suspicious to the rest of the team.’
Bowie shook his head, his face strained. ‘We’ll share the role. I want nothing to stand in our way. Make sure you put her to the test before you send her out. I want her fluent in her legend.’
‘Yeah, I’ve contacted the UC course instructors and they’ll pick her up when she’s least expecting it, make sure she’s a hundred per cent ready.’
‘Can we talk in private?’ Jeanie came to find Carter. They went to the canteen to get a coffee and sat well away from listening ears.
‘I want to talk about Ebony. To start with – the UC work?’ Jeanie said.
‘Robbo’s creating a profile for her at the moment. Can you fix her up with an image?’
Jeanie nodded. ‘Yeah, but I’m not sure she’s the right choice. Not Ebony. She’s too vulnerable. She is only tough out of necessity. She has a lot to learn in life. She has the nice things to learn – she knows all about the horrible things.’
‘She’s had it tough; just like our victims. It makes sense.’
‘Yes, but they had the love of their child, of their families, someone else on this earth to care about them when they were tricked into trusting this man. Ebony is yet to find that kind of trust and affection. She’s never been loved like that.’
Carter looked across at Jeanie and shook his head. ‘You’re wrong. Lots of people care deeply for Ebony.’
‘We all care deeply for her but love? Real love? Ebony has never known it. That’s her Achilles’ heel. She could make a mistake one day. The one thing Ebony has never had is affection. Every boyfriend she’s ever had has only lasted a few months. It seems they reach a point when they’re just not getting what they want from her. And I think that’s because she doesn’t know how to trust and give affection. She has massive abandonment issues. She’s not a whole person – not yet. She has a long way to go. She doesn’t know the game or how to play it.’
‘I gave her the option of backing out. I even pushed her to do it, but she’s determined to carry this through. We need to support her in her choice.’ Carter wanted to reach out and fleetingly touch Jeanie’s hand as it rested on the tabletop but he didn’t, partly because it had a wedding ring on it.
Jeanie nodded.
‘Okay. I’m not happy but I’m part of a team and I’ll stand by Ebony every step of the way. She saved my life once and if I can, I’ll do anything to save hers.’
‘Thank you. I mean it. I can see how much you care and I can tell you I feel the same.’
‘Okay, well to business then,’ said Jeanie. ‘We are a team after all. I’ll take Ebony off to the shops to get a new image as soon as we’ve finished here.’
Jeanie left Carter and went to find Ebony at her desk. They drove to Emily Styles’ house to pick up some things of Emily’s that would give them a better idea of what she was like. The Styles had been warned and had a box waiting for them. Then they drove towards Brent Cross Shopping Centre.
‘We’ll go and get you some clothes, Ebb, and then I must get to Tracy and see how she is. What are you looking at there?’
Ebony turned the photo album to show Jeanie the page.
‘That’s on a caravan holiday with Elaine and Trevor. They told me about it. It was an important time to forge new bonds with Emily. I get the feeling they were just beginning to know her properly as an adult after all the years of her rebelling as a teenager. Sky must have brought them all together. Babies do that, you know, Ebb… broaden your view – start making you think about the big family picture. I’ve even had to make an effort to get along with Pete’s mother and I wouldn’t if I didn’t have Christa. Quite frankly if I didn’t have Christa I’d hire a hit man to take care of her.’ Jeanie giggled.
Ebony smiled. She was listening but choosing not to comment. She knew Jeanie well enough to know that Jeanie didn’t expect non-stop chatter from her. Ebony was someone who thought about what she would say. Jeanie was the opposite. She tended to open her mouth, start talking and then roll with it. Ebony often went around to Jeanie’s to babysit Christa. As soon as she’d got her settled Ebony could enjoy the luxury of a warm house, a family home with food in the fridge and Jeanie’s stash of chocolates. She’d settle down to read a book or watch telly. Sometimes she stayed over and Jeanie cooked her breakfast. Often she stayed the whole day then. Pete was a lovely guy: quiet and geeky and so in love with Jeanie. Ebony hoped she could find someone like Pete. But that would involve effort and maybe a bit of therapy to build her self-esteem when it came to relationships. Ebony preferred men as friends.
Jeanie glanced across at her. ‘Christa mentioned you the other day.’
‘What did she say?’
‘She said Ebony likes chocolate a lot.’
‘Damn – she must have caught me. Kids are so sneaky.’
‘Yeah, I’ve been told off at the nursery for Christa’s swearing. She says shit when something goes wrong. You forget they suddenly become little mimics. She’s very fond of you, Ebb.’
Ebony didn’t answer – she knew what Jeanie was doing. Jeanie wanted Ebony to get on with finding a boyfriend. After the boyfriend would come the child. Jeanie was a bit of a surrogate mother to Ebony.
Ebony doubted that she would ever have kids. Her own fractured childhood was not a good template. If she did have them they would definitely never be meeting their grandmother. Ebony’s mother was in a secure mental hospital after being convicted of murder. All Ebony’s childhood had been spent watching her back, watching her mother’s moods. Ebony’s happiest times had been when she went to stay with foster parents. Even the children’s homes were better than staying with her mum. But that brought a crushing guilt – not to love your own mother seemed to be a terrible crime.