Free (2011) The Gift of Death by Sam Ripley Page B

around –‘
     
    ‘ Are you sure?’
     
    ‘ Of course, I’m sure. I did a test as soon as I suspected and then had Dr Cruger at the clinic confirm it.’
     
    ‘ When did you find out?’
     
    ‘ I did the test that morning. Soon after I found the baby.’
     
    ‘ What ?’
     
    He stood up and walked around the loft, a creature confined in a cage.
     
    ‘ I know, I know, and I’m sorry, but –‘
     
    She watched him as he tried to process the information.
     
    ‘ I just don’t get it,’ he said, his face reddening.
     
    She braced herself for his angry words, his accusations. After all, didn’t he have just the same right to know as her?
     
    ‘ Gleason,’ he spat out, punching the table with his fist. ‘It’s the only thing that connects you and Cassie Veringer together.’
     
    ‘ I see,’ said Kate, shocked and disappointed that his anger was not directed towards her. Did he really feel so little for her?
     
    ‘ But you said Gleason was dead.’
     
    ‘ He is.’
     
    ‘ It could be just some freak, some weirdo, who has read about the Gleason case.’
     
    ‘ Could be, but there could be some link that has been passed over. Or something that’s now acting as a catalyst. That newspaper piece or -. Jesus, Kate. Fuck. If we’d only known about your condition earlier on. We might at least have been able to warn Cassie. Taken her to a safe house or something.’
     
    Kate felt shame spreading through her. And her baby – his baby – was nothing more than a ‘condition’ now.
     
    ‘ But she’s fine, right?’
     
    ‘ Yeah, but that’s not the issue.’
     
    ‘ So what happens now?’
     
    ‘ I think we have to assume the worst. That there is some psychopath out there – maybe an ex-con who met Gleason in prison - trying to act out some sick game. Did Gleason have any close relatives who are still alive?’
     
    Kate thought for a moment. ‘As far as I can remember, he had two kids, but only one is still alive - Roberta, a nurse at Cedars-Sinai. The son, his first child, died three or four years ago.’
     
    ‘ And what about his wife?’
     
    ‘ Mary died giving birth to Roberta in the Seventies, I think.’
     
    ‘ And Gleason called her after himself. Hmm, nice touch.’
     
    ‘ So what’s the next step?’
     
    ‘ We set up protection for you and Cassie and, in the meantime, see if we can find anything that links any of the fuckers out there with Gleason.’
     
    ‘ Okay.’
     
    ‘ Fine. I’ll ring Peterson now. We may need you to give another statement in the light of – of the new information.’
     
    She felt his formal words and the cold tone of his voice eating into her heart. She couldn’t bear it a moment longer. She was near to tears, but just as she felt one begin to form she turned her back on him and grabbed her bag.
     
    ‘ Okay,’ she said again, unable to say anything else.
     
    ‘ You’d better wait here until a car arrives.’
     
    He walked away and left her sitting here. She was not going to cry, she told herself. She wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction. If this is how he wanted to play it, that was fine by her. She wouldn’t want a child of hers to know a man such as him. It was his loss, not hers. As she waited she called her mom and told her not to worry but that a squad car would be following her home. Just a precaution, she said. Nothing serious.
     
    Josh returned twenty minutes later to tell her that a car was ready and waiting outside. Peterson knew all about the situation and had arranged for a couple of men to follow Cassie as well.
     
    ‘ So everything is under control,’ he said.
     
    Apart from the obvious, thought Kate. She swallowed the dangerous mix of emotions that threatened to overwhelm her.
     
    ‘ We’ll be in touch,’ he said, looking down at the floor. ‘Also, best if you don’t say anything about what has happened. We don’t want it to leak out. Okay?’
     
    Kate nodded and turned away from him without