Hope to Die

On the call, DCT. Hansen

TH: Thanks for agreeing to talk to me, Ms Toms. I know it’s a long time ago now, but it’s about the Camilla Rowan case.

AT: Well, I’ll do all I can to help but I’m not sure what use I can be – as you say, it’s a very long time ago and I only spoke to her once.

TH: Yes, I have the notes here, it says you saw her with the baby, that they seemed to be ‘bonding well’, and she ‘expressed no interest in having the baby adopted’. So you left it at that?

AT: I had enough on my plate with other cases, as I’m sure you can imagine. All her health indicators were normal, the baby was healthy. I had no reason to think there was any sort of problem. And the medical staff agreed with me.

TH: Of course, no one’s questioning that. It’s something else we wanted to ask you about. You just said you had a lot of other cases on at the time – were those all potential adoptions?

AT: Ah, no – I didn’t mean to confuse you. My job covered much more than that – basically any issue that arose at the hospital. Women with injuries that could have been the result of domestic abuse, for example, or children who might have been mistreated.

TH: I see. So do you happen to remember if you were handling many other adoptions at that time? Sorry – I should explain: one angle that might not have been fully investigated at the time was the possibility that Camilla had her baby adopted informally. Without the internet she’d have found that quite difficult, but we were wondering whether she might have met someone at the hospital?

AT: A baby-broker, you mean? That seems unlikely – people like that don’t tend to hang round maternity wards.

TH: And you weren’t aware of much activity like that at the time – in general, I mean?

AT: No, not at all. To be honest, it was barely on the radar.

TH: Yes, that’s what we thought. But that being the case, is it possible that another mother in the same position could have given Rowan a contact? Another young girl, say, who didn’t feel able to bring up a child on her own?

AT: Ah, I see. Yes, that would make more sense, but I don’t recall I was talking to anyone else about adoption at that time. And Camilla Rowan was only in the hospital for a few hours, remember – that’s not long to make that sort of connection.

TH: We think that she researched the hospital during the pregnancy – she went straight there when she went into labour as if she’d already planned where she was going to go. So she might have been hanging around in the weeks leading up to the birth and met someone that way?

AT: Right, OK. Well, I can look back over my notes for that period, if it would help? See if there were any other adoptions under discussion at the time?

TH: That would be great, thank you. You have my number?

AT: Yes, it’s come up on my phone.

TH: Thank you very much, Ms Toms, you’ve been really helpful.

* * *

Carter gets back to St Aldate’s wet, cold, tired and pissed off. He had to stand most of the way back because the train only had two carriages, so the sight of Chloe Sargent, dry, warm and sitting comfortably, does nothing to improve his mood.

She looks up at him and smiles. The mouth-closed smile of someone who wants to appear friendly but definitely doesn’t want to be too encouraging. ‘Any luck?’

‘No, just a load of bloody CCTV I’ll now go square-eyed staring at.’

‘Don’t knock it – there might be something there. We just got a lead that the vic may have been living abroad.’

His eyes widen. ‘So I could have been right about him being at a hotel?’

And now she’s wishing she hadn’t said anything.

Carter dumps his coat and starts to unwind his scarf, which (as Sargent isn’t alone in noticing) he’s taken to wearing in the same loop knot as Quinn. ‘How about you?’ he says.

She turns back to her screen. ‘Oh, not much. I spent some time with DC Baxter earlier looking at the birth records South Mercia put together back in 2002.’

Carter grimaces. ‘I bet that was fun. Not exactly the life and soul, is he.’

‘He’s OK,’ she says, perhaps a little too firmly. ‘He knows what he’s doing.’

Carter shrugs. ‘If you say so.’

He watches her for a moment then wanders over. ‘What are you on now?’

She looks up and flushes, quickly changing her screen. ‘Nothing, just arranging that interview with the doctor who delivered the first baby, Adrian Morrison.’

‘He’s not likely to know much about the second kid, though, is he?’

She flashes him an irritated look. ‘It still has to be done. Who knows, he might have remembered something since then that could be relevant.’

Carter gives her a ‘Yeah, right’ look. ‘I’m calling Penny Curtis this afternoon. The midwife who helped blow the lid on the whole thing.’

This time, she doesn’t look up. ‘Good for you, Carter.’

‘I might ask DS Gislingham if I can sit in on the Steve McIlvanney one too. Bet that’ll be interesting –’

He stops; there’s a phone ringing. Sargent reaches quickly to answer it; anything to shut Carter up.

‘Hello, CID?’ A pause. ‘OK, I’ll come down straight away.’