The Child(48)

Oh God, it’s bad news. It’s someone else’s baby. She wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t bad news, she told herself, resting her forehead against the window as she watched the reporter walk up the path and waited for Kate to notice her. When she did, Angela saw her face transform. The reporter smiled and waved.

Angela shouted through the window: “Is it Alice? Is it her?” But the double-glazed unit stopped her voice dead. She ran to the door and swung it open.

“Is it Alice? Is it her?” she shrieked and Kate guided her back into the hall.

“Angela, come and sit down,” she said. She looked nervous but not sad. What did it mean? Angela tried to read her face but couldn’t focus on it properly. She noticed there were other people in her hall—the young lad and the nice photographer from Howard Street. He was shaking her hand and saying something, but Angela couldn’t hear him. He and Kate led her into the sitting room and settled her on the sofa. It all seemed to take so long before Kate sat beside her and took her hand.

It’s going to be bad news, she thought.

“Angela,” Kate said quietly. “We’ve got some news. I wanted to come and tell you face-to-face.”

Angela waited. She could no longer speak but her brain was screaming Just tell me!

Kate moved slightly back from her as she realized Mick was taking pictures of Angela from across the room.

“The police have got the results from the DNA tests, Angela. I haven’t had it officially, but I’ve been told they are a match.”

“Alice.” Angela breathed in the name. “It’s Alice.”

She didn’t hear anything else Kate said. Her head was full of her child. I’ve found her.

She could feel Kate trembling when she took her hand again.

“I’m so pleased for you, Angela,” she said, and the two women sat looking at each other, eyes locked together.

Angela felt she could have sat like that all day, but Mick said: “Can you look at me, love?” and she turned her face to his camera, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Kate stood up to let him get his pictures and went to perch on the arm of an armchair. Joe was standing near the door. He kept looking at Angela and away, as if he couldn’t bear to see.

When Mick put his camera down, Kate went back to the sofa.

“You need to ring the officer on the case, Angela,” she told her. “He said the results would be back today, didn’t he? So you can ring him and ask. He must tell you.”

Kate sounded worried and Angela wondered if she was being told the whole story.

“Is there a problem?” she asked.

Kate looked down at her hands.

“The thing is, Angela, I’ve been told very much off the record that there is a match, so I need to get it officially before I can write the story. Do you see?”

Angela nodded. She wasn’t really sure she did see, but she wanted to help the reporter. She’d found Alice.

“What do you want me to say to DI Sinclair?” she asked.

Kate wrote down the questions to ask and said Angela should insist if the officer wouldn’t give her answers.

“You have a right to know, Angela. You are Alice’s mother and you have waited long enough,” she said.

Angela picked up the phone and dialed the direct line she’d been given.

The detective answered straightaway and Angela tried to play her part.

“Hello, DI Sinclair, it’s Angela Irving.”

“Mrs. Irving, how can I help you?” he said, all business.

“I’m sorry to bother you, but you said you would have the results today and I am going out of my mind waiting.”

“I know it must be very difficult for you,” DI Sinclair said, his voice softening. “But I’m just waiting for the results to be typed up.”

“But when will that be?”

“Tomorrow, I hope,” he said.

“I don’t think I can wait until tomorrow, DI Sinclair. It is making me ill, the wait,” she said. “I’ve waited too long already.”

Kate pointed to the next question she’d written down for Angela.

“Do you know what the results show?” she asked obediently, and DI Sinclair hesitated.

“Yes, Mrs. Irving. I’ve had a verbal report from the technicians, but I like to have all the paperwork in front of me before I release the information. And I’d planned to discuss it with you and your husband, face-to-face. I’m sure you understand my caution.”

“Please tell me what you know, DI Sinclair. I’m begging you.”

There was a silence. Angela looked at Kate and held her breath.

“It’s a match, Mrs. Irving,” he said finally.

“A match,” she said out loud for Kate’s benefit, and the reporter punched the air like a tennis player at Wimbledon.

“Yes. The DNA sample we took from you matches the DNA from the remains. The baby’s skeleton, I mean.”

“So it is Alice,” Angela said and started to cry.

“As I said, Mrs. Irving, I haven’t had it in writing, but yes, it does appear so. I’d still like to come and see you and your husband tomorrow to discuss the results and how we will take the case forward. I’d like to bring a Family Liaison Officer as well. So that you always have a point of contact. Is that okay?”