Free The Other Child by Charlotte Link Page A

have to respect that.’
    Fiona muttered something to herself. Leslie leant forward. ‘And what about you, Fiona? You don’t look great. You look so pale. You’ve lost weight. Is everything all right?’
    â€˜Of course it is. What shouldn’t be? I’m an old woman. You can’t expect me to look fresher and more rosy-cheeked every day. I’m on the downward slope of life. Pity that it is.’
    â€˜It’s not like you to be pessimistic.’
    â€˜I’m not pessimistic, I’m just realistic. Autumn’s come. The days are often humid and cool. I feel it in my bones. It’s normal, Leslie. It’s just normal that I’m no longer the woman you once knew.’
    â€˜You’re sure that nothing’s troubling you?’
    â€˜Quite sure. Listen, Leslie, don’t you start worrying about me. You’ve got enough worries yourself. And now,’ she said, getting up, ‘let’s get to bed. It’s late. I’ll need my strength tomorrow if I’m going to survive the heady engagement party on the idyllic Beckett farm tomorrow – especially as I know it’s the start of a tragedy!’
    â€˜You are pretty pessimistic,’ said Leslie smiling, watching her grandmother as she left the room. She knew Fiona. She knew her better than anybody else in this world.
    She was sure that something was bothering her.

Saturday, 11th October
    1
    â€˜But you’ve already asked me about all of that,’ complained Linda Gardner. She sounded not so much irritated as exhausted. She had been just about to go shopping with her daughter when Detective Inspector Almond called and asked if she could pop by. The wiry little policewoman she had talked to for hours in July. The whole nightmare came back to her in an instant. Not that she could often free herself completely from it.
    â€˜I know,’ said Valerie Almond. She sat opposite Linda in her living room. She could see how difficult her appearing again in the flat was for the young woman. ‘I have to tell you, Mrs Gardner, that we’re completely in the dark about this terrible crime against Amy Mills. That’s why we’re working our way through everything we have – and that’s not much – one more time. In the hope that we’ve overlooked something. Or that one of the people we interview remembers something extra. Something they’d forgotten to say until now. Doing that’s given me real breakthroughs sometimes.’
    Linda looked out the window, as if there was something to see there, something to hold her attention. A brilliant blue sky, a golden October day. ‘It’s just that … I always blame myself for it,’ she said quietly. ‘If I hadn’t been so set on having a good time, if I hadn’t lost track of the time … maybe Amy would still be alive. Do you know, since my husband left, my day can be such a grind. As a single mum with a kid, I don’t have many opportunities. I often feel chained to the flat. And to my child. The evening French classes were something special for me. Men and women my age, whom I could go to the pub with afterwards, drink some wine, have a laugh, chat … and know that my little girl was in Amy’s good hands. I could afford a babysitter once a week. Those Wednesday evenings were … I looked forward to them all week.’
    â€˜You’re talking about them in the past,’ said Valerie. ‘Don’t you teach any more?’
    â€˜Oh yes. But I don’t go out afterwards with my class. I just couldn’t.’ Tears welled up in her eyes. She pursed her lips, trying to calm down.
    Valerie looked at her sympathetically. ‘Don’t be too hard on yourself. We don’t know that things would have been any different if you’d been back at the time you said.’
    â€˜But that … fiend was at the Esplanade Gardens just when Amy got there. If she’d have been