Free Requiem by Celina Grace Page A

arms, rocking and crooning to her like a child.
    Olbeck gave them a couple of minutes. Then he asked the question again.
    “No, of course I didn’t know,” Mrs Duncan almost shouted. Mr Duncan sat beside her, shaking his head.
    “Mr Duncan? Did Elodie confide in you?”
    He flinched. “No. No, she didn’t. I had no idea, no idea about any of this.” There was some kind of undercurrent to his voice, and it took Kate a few moments to realise what it was—anger. “I had no idea what she was up to. She didn’t tell me anything.” He glanced at his wife. “She didn’t tell us anything.”
    “Who was it?” Mrs Duncan sat up, holding her arms across her body like a woman expecting a physical blow. Her voice was shaking so much it was hard for Kate to understand what she was saying.
    “What do you mean, Mrs Duncan?” asked Kate.
    “Who was the father?”
    “We don’t yet know, I’m afraid.”
    “Yet?” said Mr Duncan, his face grey. “You mean you will know?”
    “No, we can’t promise that, sir, I’m sorry. There’s a possibility that we’ll be able to run various tests that might give us a DNA profile , but it’s not certain. I wouldn’t want to give you false hope. Even if we do get a DNA sample, there’s no way to know anything more unless we have an equivalent record on file.”
    “I see,” said Mr Duncan. He put one shaking hand up to his forehead. “I don’t know how much more of this we can take.”
    “We’re very sorry,” said Olbeck. “We’ll keep you informed every step of the way.”

 
    Chapter Ten
     
    “Can you drop me back at my place?” Kate asked as they were on their way home. “In fact, why don’t you come in? We’ll pick up Jay and take him back to the station to do his statement.”
    Olbeck concurred. As they drew up outside Kate’s house, she realised someone else had parked in her driveway.
    “That’s not your car, is it?” asked Olbeck.
    “No, it’s not.” Kate got out of the car, puzzled. The car was a large estate car, old but well -kept. She didn’t recognise it. Halfway to the front door, it opened and out came someone she wasn’t expecting or prepared to see: her mother.
    “Kelly!”
    Her mum flung her arms around Kate. Taken by surprise, Kate could only manage a feeble “Hi, Mum. What are you doing here?” in response.
    Her mother didn’t seem to notice her lukewarm greeting. She released Kate and stood back, beaming. Kate almost goggled. Her mother looked …well, groomed was the only word for it: her hair done, make-up on her face, her clothes different to the usual stained and worn tracksuit that Kate was used to seeing her wear. She looked smart , a word hitherto never associated with Mary Redman.
    Kate pulled herself together.
    “What are you doing here, Mum?” she asked. “Did Jay let you in?”
    “Thought we’d see your new place, didn’t we? I said to Peter, ‘ We may as well go and see Kelly while we’re here,’ and so we all came over. Very nice too, Kelly, shame you didn’t invite us over before.”
    A man appeared in the doorway behind Mary. He was portly, middle-aged, with a neatly -trimmed beard. He was wearing brown cord trousers and a fisherman’s jumper.
    “Here he is,” exclaimed Mary. “Here she is, Peter. This is Kelly.”
    Kate forced a smile. She shook hands with Peter, debating whether to insist that he call her Kate. She realised Olbeck was standing behind her, and she introduced him to her mother and Peter. Thank God she’d already told Olbeck she’d changed her name in her teens. As it was, he was not above calling her Kelly when he wanted to annoy her.
    “Pleased to meet you,” said Peter. He had a kind of tweedy, avuncular air about him , which was quite appealing. What was he doing with her mother? Kate found herself shepherding them all back into the house where she had a second surprise: her two younger half-sisters Courtney and Jade were in the garden with Jay, smoking cigarettes.
    “It’s the