Playing Nice

He looked at me, considering. “But are you really that person, Pete? I mean, you appear to be. You love playing the part, that’s for sure. Doting dad, decent bloke. Unselfish. Principled. Loving. But how genuine is all that, I wonder? Could you really be as self-sacrificing as that mother in the Bible? You should thank me, Pete. I’m giving you a chance to prove you could.”

“You’re mad,” I said disbelievingly. “Completely mad, if you think I’d ever agree to that.”

Miles folded his arms. “Give him up voluntarily, or he dies. Don’t doubt me, Pete. Don’t think I couldn’t do it.”

“Oh, I know what you’re capable of,” I said harshly. “I spoke to Murdo McAllister.”

For a moment a frown touched Miles’s eyes, then cleared again. “Well, then. You know I mean it. After all, look at this from my perspective. What do I have to lose?”

“I’m going straight to the police.”

“Yes? To tell them what—that you abandoned your child in a supermarket? It was a good thing I was there, frankly, or anything might have happened. Luckily, Theo saw a familiar adult face and made contact to say he was lost.”

I stared at him. He was completely serious, I saw. He really thought this crazy plan of his was going to work. “And David? What about him?”

“David…” Miles considered. “The runt dies, too. Not on the same day, obviously, or in exactly the same way. But if you force me to kill my son, I’ll kill yours, too, for good measure. Oh, and so you don’t delay any longer than necessary, I’ll make him suffer in the meantime. Every twenty-four hours until you decide, Pete, I’ll make sure David has a little episode.” He turned, and his voice changed. “Theo, my man. What did you decide, in the end? It’s a tough decision, after all. Magnum or Solero?”

Behind him, Theo was approaching, an ice lolly in each hand. “Twisters,” he said happily. “I chose Twisters. Green for you and yellow for me.” He looked at me curiously. “Why’s Daddy in the water?”

“He went to get your rugby ball back,” Miles said, taking the lolly Theo offered him. “Silly Pete couldn’t catch it, and now he’s all covered in slime. That’s going to make your car a bit stinky on the way home, isn’t it?”

106

PETE

“WHAT ARE WE GOING to do?” Maddie whispered.

We were lying in the darkness. Theo was asleep. We hadn’t been able to talk about it before, not properly—I’d had to tell her everything Miles had said piecemeal, in frantic whispered conversations between tea and bath and story, so Theo wouldn’t overhear.

“Our only option is the police,” I said. “Tell them what he’s threatened to do.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “But do you think they’ll take it seriously? Our word against his? In the wake of a custody battle, too?”

“We can get a restraining order.”

“We’d have to get the police to prosecute him first. Besides, do we really think Miles Lambert would stick to the terms of a restraining order? By the time the law catches up with him, it could be too late.”

“What, then?”

Maddie said slowly, “I suppose the first question is, do we think he’s bluffing?”

In my mind I could picture Miles reaching down to take the lolly from Theo, the coldness in his eyes when he spoke to me. I exhaled. “No, I think he really means it. I think he’s prepared to kill Theo if he can’t have him.” At the thought of that tiny breathing body just ten feet away suddenly being extinguished, my throat caught. “Theo. Oh God. What are we going to do?”

“Pete…” she began, and I knew that what she was about to say was serious. “Perhaps the time for playing by the rules is over. Perhaps we need to fight dirty. The way Miles has always fought.”

“If we only had some evidence,” I said doggedly. “Something we could show the police that would prove he’s killed before.”

“We’ve already looked for that,” she said gently. “We talked to everyone we could. And no one had a smoking gun, did they? No one ever realized what Miles was like until it was too late.”

“Yes. And for whatever reason, even his wife seems incapable of seeing him for what he really is.” I shuddered in the darkness. “When I saw her today, she was on crutches. And when I happened to clench my fists, she flinched.”

“That’s what happens, though, isn’t it? Annette said women like that simply lose the confidence to leave their abuser.” Suddenly Maddie gasped. “Oh my God. I’ve just realized something.”

“What is it?”

“I think we need to talk to Lucy,” she said slowly. “I think there’s something we’ve been missing in all this.”

107

Case no. 12675/PU78B65, Exhibit 54: Messenger communication (a) from Madelyn Wilson to Tania Lefebvre, and (b) from Tania Lefebvre to Madelyn Wilson.

Tania, it’s Maddie Wilson again. I just want to thank you for sending that video to the CAFCASS adviser—it made a huge difference. Can we talk on the phone?

I’m sorry Maddie, what video? And who is CAFCASS? We can speak if you like but I don’t think I can help you.

108

MADDIE

IT’S SURPRISINGLY HARD TO get Lucy on her own. Speaking to her at her house is out of the question, of course—there’s one camera that we know of, but I’m fairly sure there’ll be others.

Because they’re not really for checking on the nanny, I’ve realized. Or not only that.

They’re for checking on her.

To make sure she’s carrying out his instructions. Coaching Theo, for example—that almost certainly came from Miles. But even when he hasn’t given her a specific task to do, just knowing he might be watching—storing up his criticisms for his return each evening—would be enough to undermine anyone’s self-confidence.

He’s been controlling her from the day they married. I’m sure of it. And now it’s time to see if I’m right.

So we wait for Lucy to leave the house, and eventually she does. She’s still on crutches, but she manages to get to the newsagent around the corner, and that’s where I tap her on the shoulder.

Despite the crutches, she jumps.

“Oh! Maddie,” she says, recovering. “And Pete, too. How nice to see you. Is Theo with you?”

I shake my head. “With a friend. Can we get a coffee?”

“A coffee?” she repeats anxiously. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Not just at the moment. Miles…” Her voice trails off.

“Miles won’t know. And we need to talk,” I say firmly. “There’s a café right next door.” I look her in the eye. “You see, we know it was you who sent that footage to the CAFCASS adviser.”

* * *

—

SHE DOESN’T ADMIT IT. But she does allow herself to be taken to the café, where we find an empty table among all the young mummies with their buggies and lattes.

“I contacted Tania,” I tell her. “At first I thought it must have been her who sent it. So this morning I messaged her. She told me she’d had nothing to do with it. I’d already had my suspicions, but that’s when everything fell into place.”

“But why would it be me?” Lucy’s hand has gone to her collar to tug out her pearls. “Of course I wouldn’t do a thing like that. That day was horrible for me, absolutely horrible. Miles said I was lucky not to be charged with contempt of court.”

“But that was a risk you were prepared to take, wasn’t it?” I reach across the table for her free hand, but she flinches away at the movement. “As for why you did it, that’s simple. You did it to protect Theo. You did it because you wanted to lose.”

* * *

—

THERE’S A LONG SILENCE. Lucy sits absolutely still, her eyes wide. “You can’t prove that,” she whispers.

“I don’t need to,” I say gently. “Don’t you see—I’m not accusing you of anything except loving your son. And wanting him to grow up in the best place possible. With the best father.” I indicate Pete, sitting quietly beside us. “Not Miles. Everyone at this table knows what Miles is, Lucy. You wanted Theo brought up by Pete and me. So he’d be safe.”

Her silence tells me I’m right.

“After all,” I add, “it’s not the first time, is it? You’ve done it before. You did it two years ago, when you swapped them in the hospital.”

109

MADDIE

SHE CRIES THEN. BUT it seems to me they’re tears of relief, at least partly. Relief she has someone to share the secret with at last.

“You must think I’m so stupid,” she says, drying her eyes on a paper napkin from the jam jar on the table. “Not to have realized before I married him that he has a…that he can be quite demanding. But it was all so quick, you see, and I was head-over-heels in love.”