An Early Grave (33 page)

‘Callum,’ Tara cried out. She regained her feet and ran to the river.

‘Callum!’

The police sprang to action, but when they reached the river bank, there was nothing to see. Seconds passed. Something, fifteen yards downstream broke the surface. The head and shoulders of Georgina. A gasp for air to feed her scream. She fought, splashing wildly to stay on the surface, but something more than the flowing waters of the Isis finally claimed her.

Tara dropped to her knees and wept.

‘Callum! Please! Don’t leave me, Callum.’

There was nothing to see in the blackness of the night. He was gone from her life. Broken hearted in Oxford for a second time.

Epilogue

Ripples of nerves fluttered across her tummy. Her hand trembled as she sat on the edge of the bath holding the plastic stick in front of her, her eyes fixed on its digital display. One minute from now she would know the answer. Her best friends sat in her kitchen drinking coffee, munching biscuits. They would be the first to know. And why not? They were her best friends. They’d been together since first form. Everything, fun, laughter and occasional tears, shared between them. Her rising joy was tempered with trepidation at what the next few months might bring. Her life changed for ever. It was only the briefest of moments, but she closed her eyes and drew a long slow breath before letting go. Then she saw the display and smiled contentedly before tears rolled down her cheeks. Hurrying from the bathroom, she raced along the hall into the kitchen.

‘Well?’ said Aisling.

‘I’m pregnant!’ Kate sang, hoisting the little stick in the air as if it were a trophy.

Tara, Aisling and Kate rushed together for a group hug.

‘Congratulations, luv,’ said Tara. ‘You’d better call Adam and let him know he’s going to be a Dad.’

‘Sure his part is over,’ said Aisling.

‘Don’t you even think it,’ Kate snapped, reaching for her phone on the worktop. She left the room to share her news with her partner, and Aisling went to use the bathroom.

*

Tara sat alone in the kitchen, feeling pleased for Kate, but so easily these days her mind didn’t have far to stray in order to see Callum. He was there in everything. Her waking, driving, working, and when at times he slipped from her consciousness, she would meet him in her dreams and awaken to feel the reminders in the pit of her stomach.

She’d spoken the story a dozen times or more. Each new occasion as painful as the last. She’d told it to the police in Oxford, to DI Iain Barclay in Canterbury, to Superintendent Tweedy and to Assistant Chief Muetzel in Lucerne. She spent those first few painful weeks on the road explaining how each murder fitted with the story of Georgina Maitland striving to conceal her terrible secret that late at night, beneath a tree, she had killed her son within seconds of his birth. That Justin Kingsley, as he was about to fetch help, saw Georgina cover her son’s mouth and nose with her hand, denying him all but those first few breaths. He’d looked on in horror as Georgina callously scraped away the earth beneath the tree and laid the child in a grave six inches deep. Beside him she placed the afterbirth, covered the hole with soil and scattered crisp leaves over the grave. Afterwards, they’d told Tilly that the baby was still-born. Georgina swore her to secrecy as Tilly nursed her back to health.

Justin Kingsley, recovering slowly in hospital from his wounds, related the events of that night to Tara, a night that irreversibly altered the lives of so many people. Trying to avoid bringing scandal to his family, Justin could no longer share his life with someone capable of murdering their new born child. At his first opportunity he’d walked away from everything. It was only the need for money, at first, and later his greed that brought him to blackmail Georgina. He had a girlfriend and two children to support in Greece. It wasn’t right that Georgina should live a life of riches and glamour without having to pay, at least to him, some penalty for what she’d done. The trouble was he’d done too good a job in convincing her that all of the alumni friends knew her secret and were prepared to report her to the police if she didn’t give in to Justin’s demands.

Tara’s long held suspicion that Anthony Egerton-Hyde had murdered Zhou Jian proved unfounded when Muetzel confirmed that Georgina Maitland, though not a delegate at the food safety conference, had accompanied her husband on that particular trip, presumably after discovering that Zhou Jian was to give a presentation. By then, Justin had realised, Georgina was out of control and was intent on removing anyone who might be aware of her ghastly secret.

Without a murderer in custody to bring charges against and to put away for life, it wasn’t the most satisfactory conclusion to a murder inquiry for any of the police forces involved.

It was when she travelled to Lucerne to meet with Assistant Chief Muetzel that Tara had begun to feel unwell. She passed it off as a tummy bug, hurried through her meetings as best she could and jumped on a plane for home. It was never the conclusion that she had envisaged. She took time to visit Tim and Jenny Reason to help bring some closure to the death of their daughter, grandchild and now their son-in-law. They buried Callum next to Tilly and Emily.

Kate and Aisling re-entered the kitchen together. Tears and smiles all round.

‘How did Adam take the news?’ Tara asked.

‘I think he was in tears,’ Kate replied before breaking down again.

‘Hey, come on, Kate,’ said Aisling, her arm around her friend. ‘This is supposed to be a happy time.’

‘I am happy. That’s why I’m crying.’ Aisling looked at Tara and rolled her eyes. Tara braved a smile despite feeling inside a deep loneliness and a longing for different circumstances. She would cope. She had coped so far. She had her parents, and she had Kate and Aisling.

‘And what am
I
supposed to do now?’ said Aisling.

‘You need to find a man,’ Kate replied. ‘And then…’

‘I know what to do after that, thank you very much.’

The quip brought laughter to Tara’s face. She loved her friends dearly. And Callum would never leave her. She would always have him around, wherever she was, wherever she looked. She moved a hand to her swollen stomach and stroked it gently. Her baby kicked again.

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An Early Grave
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