‘How do you know you can trust this Sven?’ Maureen asked after Andee had finished telling her about one of the most gruelling hours she’d experienced in a very long time.
‘I don’t, I suppose,’ Andee replied, gazing at the fountain in front of her where the water was gushing and loud, but seemed oddly far away. She was sitting on a bench in the Karlaplan, an impressive and picturesque setting for yet more luxury apartment blocks that overlooked a circle of soaring oaks and this giant water feature, and where a market, or art exhibition, was currently being set up on the boundary. On leaving Sven’s home she’d insisted on walking back to her hotel, needing the time to clear her head, to assimilate what she’d been told and what she needed to do next.
‘Do you feel inclined to trust him?’ her mother prompted.
Maureen seemed to be dealing with this much better than Andee was; however, Andee had been careful not to mention John Victor, or the unthinkable suspicion that Penny might have been in some way involved in the death of Ana Sylvander.
Kate Trask had used poison on Faye.
How had Ana died?
‘Are you still there?’ Maureen asked.
‘Yes, I’m here, and yes I feel inclined to trust him,’ Andee told her. ‘Most of what he said makes sense, even if it wasn’t the entire picture. I don’t think he lied as much as omitted things.’
‘If the baby is Jonathan’s,’ Maureen said, ‘that makes it my great-grandchild, and your great-nephew, so we have to do something.’
Almost smiling at her mother’s ready loyalty, Andee said, ‘We’ll talk about it some more when I’m back. For now, if you see him again, tell him …’
What should she tell him?
The question went from her mind as a message arrived and she saw it was from Penny. ‘I’ll call you back,’ she said to her mother, and going through to the text she turned cold to her core as she saw what it was.
Pretty girl.
The picture was of Alayna’s beautiful, smiling young face gazing cheekily, provocatively into the lens.
Starting to shake, Andee texted back, What the hell are you playing at?
Who’s playing? Enjoy Stockholm, but try not to believe everything Sven tells you.
By the time Andee returned to her hotel she’d already been in touch with Alayna.
‘In a casting,’ Alayna had whispered down the line. ‘Up next. Will call later.’
So it seemed her daughter was where she was supposed to be, and now that Andee was calmer she realised that the photograph Penny had sent was from Alayna’s Facebook profile. So it was quite probable that she hadn’t actually been near Alayna. Nevertheless, there was a warning in the text that Andee knew she’d be a fool to ignore. Penny would know by now, if she hadn’t before, that Alayna was at Bristol Uni, and there was no telling what she might do with that information.
Determined to stop spooking herself, she went downstairs to the bar and ordered a beer. Not her usual drink of choice, but since it was in keeping with where she was she decided to give it a go.
A few minutes later, to her immense relief, as her tension was mounting again, Graeme rang.
‘Do you have time to talk?’ she asked as soon as she answered. ‘I mean a lot of time?’
‘If you need it,’ he replied. ‘What’s up?’
Taking the phone and her drink out to the pretty courtyard, she chose a discreet table beneath a cherry tree, and spent the next half an hour bringing him up to speed with everything that was happening.
‘Wow,’ he murmured when she’d finished. ‘I’ve sure been out of the loop.’
‘But you’re in it now and I desperately need to know what to do.’
‘Well, as I see it, I’m not sure you can do anything until they put you in touch with your nephew. Any thoughts on when that might be?’
‘No, but given the imminent birth it’ll presumably be soon.’
‘And you’re still in Stockholm? Do you know where he is?’
‘Probably England somewhere. I’m flying back tomorrow …’
‘Oh hell, I don’t believe this,’ Graeme groaned angrily. ‘Nadia’s just turned up.’
‘And you can’t make a phone call when she’s around?’ Andee snapped.
‘Please. This is difficult enough …’
‘Forget it,’ Andee cut in, and before he could say any more she rang off.
Minutes later she was regretting the overreaction, so after texting an apology, she decided to check her emails.
Finding one from Alayna that had apparently arrived while she was with Sven she immediately clicked on.
Boys
Interesting, but weird. The ones I checked out are mainly living in London or Paris, but they seem to travel quite a bit, and there’s a kind of competition going on between some of them. They post things like: Bingo! Got it in one! Beat that. Or, Second attempt, wish me luck. Never needed more, unlike some. I’ve included a screen shot of some posts about ‘Harry’ who they seem worried about.
I’m going to say that at least half of them are gay judging by the photographs on their pages, but I don’t know that for certain. No one seems to be ‘in a relationship’.
How are things in Stockholm?
Love you Axxx
Andee was about to send a reply when her phone rang. ‘Selma,’ she said as she answered.
‘Andee. I hope you are OK. I think this morning was probably quite difficult for you.’
‘I’m surviving,’ Andee assured her. ‘How’s Sven?’
‘Sleeping. He was very tired by the time you left. I think it was too much for him, but as you saw, he can be very determined. Have you received details for your flight back tomorrow?’
‘Yes, they’ve come through, thank you.’
‘The driver will pick you up at eight. At the same time he will give you a mobile telephone with a number to call. I realise this must seem a little espionage-like, but Jonathan is insisting we do it this way. He wants you to call him, but he has it fixed in his head that his mother is able to monitor your calls.’
‘Does this mean you’ve spoken to him?’
‘A few minutes ago. He tells me Juliette is with him, but he won’t give me an address. Hopefully he will give it to you when you call him, or at least arrange to meet you. Please tell me you are still willing to help?’
‘If I can, I will,’ Andee promised, ‘but it’s hard to know what I can do.’
‘I am sure he has something worked out. He is a very smart, but impulsive young man, who is often too kind and too romantic for his own good.’ She added gently, ‘He means a great deal to Sven; to all of us.’
Remembering the child’s drawing on the door to the den, and feeling for the boy – after all, he was her nephew – Andee said, ‘Would you like me to be in touch once I’ve spoken to him?’
‘We would appreciate that very much, thank you. And please let us know if there is anything we can do. Sven wants me to tell you that we are at your disposal in any way we can be.’
After ringing off Andee sat thinking about the call for a long time. She couldn’t say why she was having so many trust issues, especially when helping the boy seemed to have no downside – or none that she could figure. Maybe it was Sven’s description of Penny’s career, his attempt to make it seem like some kind of charity … For sure, helping childless couples to achieve their dreams was a good thing, provided it was happening legally, which according to him it was. However, the fact that Penny was dealing with some of the most corrupt and dangerous individuals on God’s earth in order to groom and exploit vulnerable young people wasn’t sitting well with Andee at all.
‘But if the girls are willing,’ Graeme pointed out when they spoke again later, ‘then it can’t, as you seem to think, be forced prostitution. And if we’re going to believe what Sven told you, then she’s actually saving these kids from a far worse fate.’
‘I realise that,’ Andee replied, putting down her fork and knowing she’d never try smoked herring again in her life, ‘but it doesn’t stop there. What I want to know is what happens to these girls – and boys – after they’ve served their purpose?’
‘I’m guessing your nephew can answer that.’
Certain he could, Andee said, ‘This must have happened before, a girl not wanting to give up the baby. What I’m asking myself is how does Penny deal with it? And is it the reason her son won’t go near her? He must know better than most the kind of lengths she’ll go to to make sure things happen her way.’ She was thinking about little Michelle Cross, John Victor, Ana Sylvander …
Graeme said, ‘You know what’s bothering me quite a lot? It’s that the deeper into this you go, the more she’s going to view you as a threat, and that’s not feeling good. In fact, it’s feeling a very long way from good.’
As arranged a chauffeur came to collect Andee the following morning to take her to Arlanda airport. Although she hadn’t slept well she was feeling more apprehensive than tired, not sure what to expect when she returned to England, nor satisfied that she had completed her business in Stockholm. There was so much more she’d like to ask Sven, or Selma, but neither of them had been in touch since Selma had called to tell her about the chauffeur and mobile phone. As promised, when she’d got into the car she’d been given a small package which contained a phone with pre-paid credit and a folded sheet of paper with a number that was definitely British.
‘Yes, I rang it about half an hour ago,’ Selma had told her, ‘but there was no reply. My belief is that he will only answer when he feels sure that it is you at the end of the line. I have texted him details of the pre-paid phone which he asked me to do.’
Though that sounded reasonable, it wasn’t quite enough. ‘I don’t understand why he’d trust you to get a pre-paid phone for him, and yet he won’t speak to you.’
‘He is just being extra cautious. Are you having second thoughts about helping him?’
‘No, but that could change once I’ve met him.’
She’d needed to say that, even though she wasn’t sure she meant it. She simply didn’t want Sven or Selma to think she was some sort of pawn they could use in a game she hadn’t yet fathomed.
Thanks to the change in the hour it was still late morning by the time Andee boarded a train for Kesterly – and she wasn’t far into the journey when the pre-paid mobile rang.
Digging it out of her bag she saw the caller’s number was blocked, but clicked on anyway.
‘Hello?’ the voice at the other end said hesitantly. ‘Is that Andee Lawrence?’
‘Yes. Who’s this?’
‘It’s Jonathan Sylvander. I’ve been waiting for you to call.’ Before she could respond, he said, ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. I’m just very eager to see you.’
‘Where are you?’
‘You spoke to Sven.’
‘Yes.’
‘So will you help us? Me and Juliette?’
‘In so far as I can, but I’m not sure what you want me to do.’
‘Juliette needs to give birth safely. Please can you help us to arrange that?’
‘She has to go to a hospital …’
‘Yes, but …’ His voice dropped out as they went through a tunnel. ‘… is having you followed,’ he was saying as the line came back again.
‘I lost you for a moment,’ she told him.
‘Do you know if my mother is having you followed?’ he asked. ‘I’m sure that she is, because she is hoping you will lead her to Juliette so she can take the baby. Or to me in the hope of finding Juliette. Is someone following you now?’
Andee glanced around the carriage. ‘It’s hard to say,’ she replied. ‘I haven’t been looking out for anyone.’ Until now she hadn’t felt concerned about anyone knowing where she was; if anything, she was happy to make herself an easy target.
‘Do you think you can meet me without her spies knowing where you are?’ he asked.
‘Probably. When and where are you suggesting?’
‘Is today too soon? I can text you our address.’
‘I’m on a train still two hours from Kesterly. Where exactly are you?’
‘About an hour south of Kesterly, by car. I’m not sure how you get here by rail.’
‘Send me the address and I’ll try to be there sometime late this afternoon.’
Since her car was in the driveway at Bourne Hollow, Andee took a taxi from the station and stayed at home long enough to unpack her bag and make a few discreet viewings of the green outside to see if there was anyone trying not to be noticed. There didn’t appear to be, but maybe this one was smarter than the rest. It didn’t matter, she had nothing to hide, and after leaving a note for her mother, who was at the library, she drove to Kesterly police station.
‘Let me get this straight,’ Gould said after she’d explained why she was there. ‘You want to leave your car on the Quadrant outside and take mine to wherever you’re going? And I would agree to this because?’
‘Because you want to help me be sure I’m not followed.’
‘Am I allowed to ask where you’re going, and when I might get it back?’
‘I’m going to meet my nephew and I’m hoping to be back before eight.’
‘This evening, or tomorrow morning?’
‘This evening.’
‘And if I need my car before that?’
‘You are welcome to use mine.’
He didn’t look impressed. ‘OK. So where is your nephew? What happened in Stockholm? And do we need to start making this official?’
‘Please, bear with me for the rest of today at least,’ Andee urged, holding up the mobile so he could see the address of where she was going. ‘As soon as I’ve seen my nephew I’ll come straight back here with your car and tell you everything I know.’
Sighing, he reached into his drawer and pulled out the car keys. ‘It’s in the DCI’s space,’ he told her.
She blinked.
‘I won it for a week at poker,’ he admitted.
‘You boys and the things you get up to,’ she chided, handing him her own keys.
Minutes later she was driving his BMW out of the underground car park, exiting at the back of the station into a one-way street, and after taking a zigzag route through to the main road she headed for the moor, certain no one was following her.
It was close to three thirty by the time Andee drove into the caravan park the satnav had brought her to. It was garishly resplendent in its colourful spread across its few acres of the West Devon coast, and seemed to have everything a holidaymaker could want, from fish and chip shops, to Costcutter supermarkets, to a heated indoor swimming pool, to a choice of bingo halls and a loudly musical amusement arcade. There was probably much more to entertain the tourists who were swarming about all over the place, but her focus was on searching out number 68 Seaview Way.
It turned out to be one of half a dozen or so rather smart log cabins – chalets she guessed they were called – at the far end of the park, with a small wooded area separating them from a sandy beach and the sea.
As she pulled up outside a face appeared briefly at a window, and a moment later a tall, muscular young man with dark blond hair came out on to the veranda to greet her. He reminded her of Luke, not in appearance for her son was much darker, but his demeanour, his age and slight awkwardness were similar. Could that be why she felt instinctively that she cared about this person she didn’t actually know?
‘Andee?’ he said tentatively.
‘And you’re Jonathan,’ she responded, going to shake his hand. How like his father he was, the same almost Slavic features and arresting blue eyes.
‘Thanks for coming,’ he said. He spoke with an accent that was slightly American and slightly Swedish. ‘I realise I shouldn’t be trying to put this burden on you, but I didn’t know who else to turn to. Pappa – Sven – is very sick. I don’t want this to make him worse.’
‘Jonathan,’ a female voice called from inside.
‘Coming,’ he replied, and standing aside he gestured for Andee to go in first.
It was a surprisingly spacious cabin, with an overwhelming scent of pine filling the air. A large picture window looked on to the woods and sea beyond, a kitchenette took up one corner, a staircase led to a mezzanine floor, and large sloppy armchairs and a sofa were grouped around an empty wood-burner. Standing in front of the burner was a slight, nervous-looking girl with dark curly hair and violet eyes; she was so heavily pregnant that Andee had an alarming vision of playing midwife in the next few minutes.
‘I am Juliette,’ she said, coming forward to shake Andee’s hand. She seemed so delicate, too petite to be carrying with any sort of ease. ‘I am Italian. My English is not so good, but Jonathan teach me every day.’ She looked at him so adoringly that Andee couldn’t help feeling moved. ‘Thank you for coming,’ she went on. ‘I hope we are not a problem for you, but we want keep our baby very much. Please will you help us?’
Slipping an arm around her, Jonathan pressed a kiss to her forehead and settled her gently into an armchair. ‘Can I get you something to drink?’ he offered Andee. ‘We don’t have anything alcoholic I’m afraid, but I can make tea …’
‘Water will be fine,’ Andee assured him, dropping her bag on the arm of a chair and sitting down next to it. In fact, now she came to think of it she was ravenous, having not eaten since breakfast, and how odd it felt to realise that meal had been in Sweden. Now here she was on the edge of Devon in a remote wooden chalet, with the sound of waves wafting in through the open window and the distant screams of playing children seeming slightly surreal.
‘How long have you been here?’ she asked as Jonathan brought her a glass of mineral water.
‘Almost a week,’ he replied. ‘We are moving around and changing cars. It feels safer that way.’
Andee frowned in concern, and slight scepticism. ‘Do you really have so much to fear from your mother?’ she asked. ‘Surely if you explain …’
He was shaking his head. ‘Forgive me, I know she is your sister, but you don’t understand what she’s like. She doesn’t listen to explanations, only to what she wants to hear, and with us all she wants is for us to give up our baby. If she finds us she will make Juliette go to the States …’
‘She can’t force her,’ Andee protested. ‘And no airline will take her at this stage of pregnancy.’
‘Kate would hire a private jet and people who would make Juliette do as she wants. As far as she is concerned Juliette must give birth in the States. That way we will have no control over what happens to our baby. The law in Texas says that it already belongs to the people who entered into the contract with my mother.’
‘Which you and Juliette also signed?’
He nodded dismally.
Andee swallowed more water to give herself some time. She had no idea how the law in England would view a surrogacy agreement that had been drawn up in America, and Juliette wasn’t British … However, she was European, which for the time being might protect her, if anything could. ‘I’ll have to speak to a lawyer to get some advice,’ she told them, ‘but one thing I do know,’ she said directly to Juliette, ‘is that Penny – Kate – will absolutely not be able to force you to go anywhere while you’re in this condition.’
Glancing at Juliette, Jonathan said, ‘Some of the people who work for her are not … They are not good people.’
Realising he was alluding to the violence that could be involved, that could extend to the kind of scenes Andee would prefer not to imagine, she became aware of her protective instincts rising. ‘So what exactly are you hoping I can do?’ she asked him.
‘I want you to help me to keep Juliette safe while she gives birth. I know she must go to a hospital, but someone must be with her and the baby at all times to make sure that no one can steal the baby away. We’re afraid that the hospital won’t allow this, so we want you to use your influence to persuade them that they must.’
Knowing she could probably do that, particularly if it was known that the baby was at risk, Andee said, ‘And after the baby comes and it’s time to leave the hospital?’
‘The baby will be British,’ he reminded her.
‘But will your mother pay any attention to that?’
‘She will have to.’
Moved by his resolve, Andee said, ‘We need to speak to her …’
‘No, she will not listen. I have tried, but she is determined to honour the agreement she has made. She always is. You don’t know what happens to those who go against her.’
Remembering the Facebook pages Alayna had found that had talked about people disappearing, Andee’s eyes flicked to Juliette. The girl’s face had turned worryingly pale. ‘Tell me what happens to them,’ Andee said quietly.
Clasping Juliette’s hand, he replied, ‘The babies are taken anyway, and the mothers … We don’t see them again. No one does.’
Andee’s throat tightened. ‘What are you saying?’
‘I am saying that people who cross my mother always live to regret it.’
‘Be more specific.’
‘OK. She sells them back to the traffickers, or to pimps and gangsters willing to pay. This is what she does with those who do not want to carry on working for her.’
Since Andee knew as well as any detective just how rife this sort of crime was throughout the sink estates and run-down areas of Britain, indeed the whole of Europe, areas that many people only heard about on the news one day, and forgot about the next, she said, ‘And those who do carry on?’
‘You can do this by being a surrogate again, or by becoming an escort, as she calls it. Of course it is prostitution, but not the same as for those who go to the Serbian or Latvian gangs. Those she has no more to do with. She will not take them back, even if they beg. The ones who choose to stay she takes care of. They live in nice apartments in Ostermalm and Belgravia, she selects their clients for them – men and women – and she keeps videos and dossiers of the most powerful ones to use if she needs to.’
‘You mean for blackmail?’
He shrugged. ‘I suppose so, but I have never known her to do this. I think it is a kind of insurance.’
Kate Trask’s modus operandi almost to the letter. Although somewhat reassured that Penny’s surrogacy project meant she hadn’t followed her morbid fascination with Trask in every respect, Andee’s head was starting to spin.
After a while she said, ‘Do all the young people come through traffickers?’
He shook his head. ‘No. Some of them are from poor families in remote regions who are recruited directly by her outreach workers – this is what she calls her scouts. Deals are done with the parents or guardians and they are taken away to live the kind of life they are promised, but only on her terms. Some are students, Juliette was one, looking to make enough money to pay their fees. My mother has a very large network of scouts looking out for vulnerable young people with beautiful faces and good health.’
‘How many people are we talking about?’
‘Twenty, maybe up to fifty a year.’
‘Are they all used for surrogacy?’
‘Most, but if they turn out not to be fertile they are given the choice of becoming an escort or going back to their families.’
‘And do any of them make it back to their families?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe some.’
Andee looked at Juliette again and wondered how much of the English she understood. Presumably she knew the story, which was why she was so afraid.
‘We have thought,’ Jonathan told her, ‘of letting this baby go and having another, but we made it together and we already love it, and we will always know that it is out there somewhere. Giving away a child that’s yours is just not possible – unless of course you are my mother.’
The bitterness dug into Andee’s heart, along with sadness and a desire to embrace him. He wouldn’t welcome it, and it would embarrass them both, so she didn’t attempt it, she simply said, ‘I’m sorry.’
He looked away, clearly wishing he hadn’t shown his feelings.
‘Tell me,’ she said, ‘until you knew the truth, who did you think Kate was?’
He shrugged. ‘Just someone who worked with Pappa and who also lived with us.’
‘You had no particular relationship with her?’
‘No, because she didn’t want one with me. She doesn’t like children, and she never pretended to.’
‘So you thought Ana was your mother?’
He nodded.
Sensing how devastating it had been for him when he’d found out the truth, she said, ‘How old were you when Ana died?’
‘Eleven.’
Her heart ached with pity. ‘But your father didn’t tell you until many years later who your real mother was?’
‘He told me when he became ill. By then I had already finished university and I was working with Kate, not recruiting, but I knew most of what was going on. At first I thought it was all a good thing, but then I realised what was really happening and I told Pappa I wanted out. This was at the time he was informed by the doctors that his cancer was terminal. He felt then that he must tell me everything he knew about my other family, how my mother had disappeared from your lives when she was in her teens, how she had given us to him after he’d paid her … Ana never knew that he was our real father. I don’t know why he didn’t tell her … I think because he didn’t want her to know that he was involved in supplying surrogate mothers for childless people.’
‘So he started the business?’ Andee asked, having already guessed as much.
Jonathan nodded. ‘He helped Kate to, and she is the one who has turned it into what it is now with a specialised travel company, the clinics, the apartments mostly in London where the young people stay before and after they have done their duty.’
Andee was thinking of the terrible grief he had suffered in his short life, to lose his twin brother when he was only four, then the woman he’d always believed was his mother seven years later. Now here he was, faced with the fear of losing his child. ‘I’m glad Sven told you about me,’ she said softly.
His eyes became desperate. ‘Does that mean you’ll help us?’ he asked. ‘We’ll do anything to keep our baby, and we’re afraid that if we turn to the police … We can’t turn to them. There is a contract to say this baby belongs to somebody else, and my mother’s lawyers …’
‘I’ll do my best,’ Andee promised, not at all sure what her best might be.
It was as she was leaving and they were outside on the veranda that she asked, gently, ‘How did Ana die?’
‘She had a fall,’ he replied. ‘It happened at our home in Djursholm.’
‘I thought she couldn’t walk.’
‘She couldn’t. She was in a wheelchair. There is a lift at the house. One day she reversed herself into it, but it wasn’t there so she fell and …’
Andee’s eyes closed as her heart tightened. She wanted to ask if Kate had been around at the time, but she wasn’t sure she was willing to hear the answer.
As Andee made the drive back to Kesterly she called Gould to assure him she’d be there within the hour, then her mother to let her know she’d be home soon.
Why on earth, she was asking herself, as she started across the wilds of Exmoor, had Penny tried to make her believe that Jonathan was the child of incest? What sort of twisted mind did she have even to suggest such a thing? The sort of mind, Andee had to accept, that could accuse her own father of abuse that had never happened.
Thinking of all she’d learned about Penny in the past few weeks, Andee decided her sister must be full of hatred or revenge for sins only she could perceive. Aside from those emotions, Penny was empty – devoid of basic human kindness, understanding and compassion that came naturally to most. Her conscience clearly didn’t react the way other consciences did. Hers was unreachable, had no power over her thoughts or actions.
It wasn’t hard to see why some had dubbed her a narcissist or a sociopath, for she exhibited all the signs, which meant that trying to reason with her would be like trying to reason with someone who didn’t speak the same language. It wasn’t possible to stir a heart that had no feeling, any more than it was possible to turn back time and hope to start again.
Andee wasn’t aware of the tears on her cheeks as she took a turn towards the Burlingford estate, she only knew that there was a horrible ache in her heart as it tried to hold on to how she had felt about Penny during the years she was missing. She desperately didn’t want her sister to be the person she was showing herself to be, nor did she want her mother to go through the pain of losing her daughter all over again. But it would happen; it had to, because Penny didn’t want them in her life any more now than she ever had. She’d only come back because of Jonathan’s attempts to turn to Andee in his time of need. If it weren’t for the baby that she probably didn’t even view as her own flesh and blood, she’d never have come back at all.
Quietly devastated, as much for Jonathan as for her mother, Andee returned Gould’s car and drove her own back to Bourne Hollow. She’d talk to Gould in the morning; now she needed to be with her mother so they could decide together what they were going to do next.