I smiled at him. ‘Hello.’
He was about to say something else, when there was a knock at the door. Ronnie went to answer it. There was a murmur of voices outside and, then, Ronnie’s, high-pitched and querulous. ‘Oh no – not again. This is too much.’
She stepped back, putting her hands up to Nat in a don’t blame me gesture.
A woman with red hair, flanked by a police officer, pushed past her into the room. They shut the door behind them, but it was pushed open again, almost at once. An elderly woman followed them in, her hand resting on the arm of a younger woman, blonde and beautiful. I had the feeling I recognised her, but couldn’t think why.
‘Greetings, Mr Fforbes,’ the red-haired woman said, smoothly. She had a smug air about her, almost as if she was revelling in the moment. She walked over to where Nat still stood, at his father’s side.
‘Who are you?’ barked Quinlan Fforbes. ‘What the devil are you doing in my house?’
‘They’re not after you.’ Nat sounded resigned and looked at me wearily before turning to the woman. ‘It’s me she’s after. She’s my own personal fan club.’
She gave a smirk and stared him in the eye. ‘Oh, yes, I am.’ She turned to Quinlan. ‘I’m DI Brown, Your Honour, and I seem to spend my whole life chasing your son around.’
Quinlan let loose another burst of wheezing laughter. DI Brown didn’t seem amused and turned to Nat. ‘I’m such a big fan of yours, I’ve come to collect you again. Personally. I’ve some more questions I’d like to ask you, concerning the disappearance of Aimee Maitland.’
Quinlan looked thunderstruck and shot a glance at Ronnie. There was a cough from near the door, and the elderly woman shuffled forward, helped along by the blonde woman.
I looked at Nat. He looked ill. His eyes were fixed and staring, his skin ashen.
‘I think I can help you there,’ said the blonde woman, coming forward.
‘And what’s it got to do with you?’ snapped DI Brown. ‘How can you help?’
‘Well, you see.’ The blonde woman looked at Nat. He’d sunk down onto one of the armchairs and didn’t return her gaze. ‘I’m the woman you want to question him about. I’m Aimee Maitland.’
All the heat drained out of me, then came flooding back in a wave of nausea that made the sweat stand out on my brow. No wonder Nat looked so shaken. No wonder I’d thought I recognised her – she was the girl in the photo on the mantelpiece in his quarters. The one for whom he’d said he did everything he did. The one who’d disappeared, presumed dead.
I turned to look at Nat, but he didn’t return my gaze. He was still just staring at nothing, his brow furrowed, his expression unreadable.
She seemed to realise she’d caused a stir because she gave an awkward laugh and went to put her hand out to him. He stood up and, pushing her hand aside, left the room, closely followed by Ronnie.
DI Brown looked almost as devastated as Nat. She threw Aimee an irritated glare, and then turned to follow Nat out of the room. I was left standing there, not knowing what to do or say.
‘Aimee,’ said Quinlan, breathlessly.
‘Yes,’ said the elderly woman – presumably Nat’s mother. ‘I told you all along, didn’t I?’
He turned to me. ‘Much as it’s been a delight to meet you,’ he said, as if the opposite were true. ‘I’d like a few moments alone with Aimee, if it’s all the same to you.’
I nodded, still speechless, and turned to leave the room.
‘Take her with you,’ he added, indicating the elderly woman. ‘I want to spend a few minutes with my long-lost foster daughter.’
I held out my arm to the woman and she took it, her hand light and dry against my skin. ‘I did tell them,’ she said, confidentially, as we made our way slowly out of the room. ‘I told Nathaniel, and he wouldn’t listen.’
Nat was standing in the entrance hall when we reached it, flanked on either side by DI Brown and the other officer.
‘He’s still going to have to come with us,’ DI Brown was saying, as we made our way over to them. ‘That woman in there? She could be anybody.’
Ronnie made an exasperated clucking sound. ‘It’s too ridiculous,’ she said. She looked almost as pale as Nat, and kept running her fingers through the curls at the front of her hair, until they flopped into wings, either side of her face. ‘That’s Aimee Maitland, as I live and breathe.’
DI Brown ignored her. ‘Go and get her,’ she said to the other officer. ‘Let’s get this freak show on the road.’
Ronnie gave a snort of disbelief and, for the first time, Nat spoke.
‘Leave it, Ronnie,’ he said. ‘She’s just doing her job. Nobody saw this one coming.’
Ronnie gave a shrug. ‘Fair enough,’ she said, but she still looked worried.
The officer returned in due course with the woman, Aimee. The last I saw of her or Nathaniel was the pair of them dipping down into the back of a police car, before it swept away up the long avenue of lime trees, leaving us standing on the gravel in front of the Castle.
Forty Three
Him
‘It seems she really is Aimee Maitland,’ said DI Brown, coming into the interview room, later that afternoon. ‘That makes two people you’ve written off this week, to my certain knowledge, only for them to pop up alive and kicking days later. I’m starting to wonder if the easiest thing wouldn’t be to have you committed.’
I gave her a sarcastic smile. ‘For the record, I never wrote Aimee off. I was the one trying to find her. It was years ago, anyway.’
‘Something feels off, though, to me.’ She leafed through a handful of papers. ‘Strange that she should appear, at such an opportune moment.’
I shrugged. ‘My mother’s been in touch with her for a while. I just didn’t believe her.’
‘Why not?’
‘If you must know,’ I said, reluctantly. ‘I thought she had a screw loose.’
DI Brown snorted. ‘Well, it does seem to run in the family. Off you pop, then. Same time, next week?’
‘I sincerely hope not.’ I stood up to go.
‘I’m counting on it,’ she said, as I left the room.
I waited outside. It was a cloudy afternoon – the first in weeks – and, for some reason, it felt like an omen. I wondered if she’d already gone or, if she’d been out first, if she’d have waited for me. It still hadn’t really registered. Aimee, my purpose in everything, alive and well and getting on just fine without me.
I turned to look up the road. The traffic was snarling up already – another fight through rush hour traffic to come, on top of everything else. I sighed and turned back, just in time to see her making off round the corner away from the police station.
‘Hey,’ I called, running up behind her. ‘Not so fast.’
She looked round at me, but didn’t stop walking. ‘Leave it, Nat,’ she said. ‘I’ve done my duty. I’ve saved your hide. Can’t you just let me go now?’
‘No.’ I took her arm and steered her in the direction of the river. ‘I think you owe me an explanation.’
She didn’t reply, but let me guide her down towards the river. As we neared the Embankment, I hesitated. Suddenly, it felt strange to be coming here with Aimee, almost as if I were betraying Grace.
‘What?’ she said, clearly sensing my unease.
‘Nothing,’ I said, unable to express the mix of emotions flowing through me. ‘It’s nothing.’
She shrugged. ‘It’s been a long time. It’s weird for me, too.’
‘It didn’t have to be.’ I pushed through the traffic, crossing onto the Embankment proper. ‘Where have you been, Aimee?’
‘The States.’ She gave a bitter laugh. ‘At least ten of them. I lost count in the end.’
‘The States?’ I could hardly believe what I was hearing. ‘But Giles had all flights checked, all everything checked. How?’
She gave another harsh laugh, but just shrugged again. ‘I had to get away, Nat.’ She turned to face me and, for the first time, I could sense regret in her eyes. She put her hand to my cheek. ‘It wasn’t you. I just…had to get away.’
I shook my head, not wanting to hear it. How could anything have been so bad she’d just walk away from me and not look back?