29

Sophie looked as if she hadn’t slept. She bit her thumb, picked at her sleeve, and jiggled her foot. When she picked up her coffee, her hand trembled as she brought it to her mouth.

“Are you sure you should be here, Soph? I can manage on my own. I mean, it’s always better with you, but—”

“If I’m left alone, I just think about… it.” She shook her head. “Let’s solve this case.”

This morning, after Sophie had insisted that she was coming to work, Paige had picked her up from home and brought her into the office. At the end of the day she intended on driving her home and depositing her directly into her bedroom. Sophie had refused Paige’s offer to stay with her and Tim—the familiarity and security of her bedroom was the only thing giving her comfort right now. Paige had only agreed because both Myra and the normally self-involved Victoria had promised to make sure they’d call both Paige and Roman at the first sign of anything strange. Josh was in jail but the situation with Hannah was not clear. Had she been involved or not? And even if she wasn’t, there was obviously some malicious intent. Roman had no idea where Hannah was now. It was entirely possible she’d left Auckland before the drama with Josh even began, but it was also possible she was still here, hiding out.

“Okay, so, to recap. Cecilia was right about the manuscript being stolen on December tenth which means that it’s almost definitely one of the people we’ve already identified. But that doesn’t help much because seven people were at her house that day, plus Martin.”

“And we still haven’t figured out how they did it.”

Paige nodded and tapped the HOW on the whiteboard. “I think that’s the only way we’re going to crack it. We need to ask her again whether she can recall not having the key for a period of time. Or anything funny happening with the key. Or whether it was possible the lock was picked.”

“She’s here,” Sophie said. “I saw her walk past just before.”

“Come on, then.”

They crossed the landing to Cecilia’s office. The door was closed but there was a light on inside. Sophie knocked. “Hello?” she said. “Cecilia? Is now a good time?” she added.

They waited but there was no reply.

“Cecilia?” Paige said, a little louder. Still, nothing. Paige tried the handle. “We should go in,” she said. “What if something’s wrong?”

Sophie nodded. Cautiously, they opened the door. Inside, they found Cecilia ensconced in the armchair in the corner, sucking on a pen as she read intently, her brow furrowed.

“Cecilia?” Sophie said. Still, her head stayed down.

Paige clapped her hands. “CECILIA,” she roared.

Cecilia jerked upright. “Goodness. You gave me a fright. Was that really necessary?”

“Yes, it was,” Paige said. “We said your name about ten times.”

“Hardly.”

“Cecilia,” Sophie said. “You set up this office so it’s like your one at home, because you have a process, right?”

“Yes. I write at my desk, but I like to sit in a comfortable chair such as this one to edit hard copies of my drafts. Is that why you interrupted me? To ask me that?”

“No,” Paige said. “We were going to ask whether you were completely sure you hadn’t ever misplaced your key for long enough for someone to copy it.”

“Of course not.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.” Cecilia lifted an indignant chin.

“And is it possible the lock on the door was picked?”

Cecilia looked uncertain. “How would I know that?”

Paige flicked her eyes to Sophie who lifted her shoulders just a little. “We may need to bring a locksmith around to your house to do, ah, an analysis.”

“If you must.” Cecilia shook her head. “By the way, Sally called,” she said. “Apparently Annie ambushed her and Peyton at his house the other day. She wanted representation for a special project.”

“Really,” Paige said. “What’s the project?”

“She wouldn’t tell them, she insisted they sign non-disclosure agreements first.” Cecilia rolled her eyes. “There’s no way Sally is doing that. It’s all completely ridiculous but it could be something.”

“We’ll look into it,” Paige said, moving to leave.

“Clock’s ticking,” Cecilia called out.

Sophie tried to turn back but Paige gently propelled her out into the hall.

“What clock?” Sophie said.

“Er… there’s something I need to tell you,” Paige said with a grimace.

Leo approached Jane’s motel room with a lot less enthusiasm than previous visits. When he reached her room, he raised his hand to knock, but before he could, the door opened.

“Leo,” her eyes were bright and full of tears. “We figured it out.”

He nodded. “Yeah, Zelda told me.”

She held out her hand. “Hi. My name is Emily.”

With a small smile, he took it. “Hey, Emily. Nice to meet you. I’m Leo.”

Suddenly she lurched forward and wrapped her arms around Leo’s neck. “Thank you so much. I couldn’t have done this without you.” She pulled back and opened the door wider. “Come in and I’ll tell you what I remembered.”

“Your memory is completely back?”

“It’s a bit hazy around the accident, but I remember most of it.”

They started to move farther inside the room, but Leo abruptly pulled back. Suddenly, he couldn’t be in that small, confined space with her, the woman he’d come to know as Jane, but now realised he didn’t know at all.

“Can we go outside? Sit by the pool or walk somewhere?”

“Of course.”

They strolled around the perimeter of the pool, doing pointless laps as Emily explained what had happened.

“My mother, Helen, had always been cagey about my past. We didn’t look alike, and Mum’s explanation had always been that I took after my father.”

“Who did she say that was?”

“She alluded to a one-night stand, but never said it outright. I eventually realised that maybe I was better off not knowing.” She made an angry sound.

“And then you found out she wasn’t your mother after your accident at home.”

“She told me everything. She had taken me from the hospital, found the name of a three-year-old who’d…” Emily shook her head, “and got a birth certificate, then a passport. She managed to smuggle me out of New Zealand and move to Australia without any difficulty.” Emily wrapped her arms around herself. “As you can imagine, finding that out was a lot to deal with, and I… I had to get away. I got a cheap flight here, booked an Airbnb and everything. I even remember the address—it’s in Mt Albert—but I don’t remember whether I actually stayed there or not. I don’t have a memory of that, so maybe not. Anyway, at some point I took a cab and it was involved in a car accident. So my most recent injuries were from that, the cut and bump on my head. But I think it kind of exacerbated the trauma from the earlier accident and finding out about my past. I think my brain just couldn’t deal so it shut down for a while. I guess the cab driver was worried about insurance or something, so they just took off.”

“Wow.”

“I know.”

“So you haven’t spoken to your mother about your, ah, abduction?”

She shook her head.

“Will you?”

“I think so. I mean, it’s a lot and it’s awful, but I also think what she did came from a good place, you know? She knew both my parents were dead. And she wanted a child so badly. And I’ve had a lovely life, really. She’s been a good mother to me.”

“But will she be arrested for what she did?”

“I have no idea. It was a long time ago. I have to figure out how I feel about everything first.”

They fell silent for a moment, continuing their slow walk around the pool.

“What about that random guy the lady in the organics shop mentioned?”

Emily lifted her shoulders. “I guess he was just some guy. Either worried about me too, or… possibly dodgy.”

They lapsed into quiet again.

“So all your stuff is sitting in an Airbnb somewhere around here?”

“Hopefully. I’m going to go there next and find out.”

“Do you want me to—”

“Em!” someone called. They both stopped and turned at the sound of the voice.

A guy in his late twenties, with dark hair and glasses and all up looking a lot like Leo, jogged over, a huge smile on his face. “Oh, thank god, it is you.” He scooped her up in his arms and spun her around. She melted into him, burying her face into his neck.

“Ray, oh Ray… it’s so good to see you.”

Leo, watching the reunion between Emily and her fiancée, took a step backward. As an unpleasant swirl gathered momentum in his stomach, he took another step, then another, until he had completely left the motel, and the little bubble he’d shared with Jane/Katrina/Emily collapsed into nothing.