The Language Of Spells Part 39

'So, you say you were here last night,' Harry said. 'Did you see anyone at all? Speak to anyone on the telephone?'

'No, I don't think so.'

'Can you remember the last time you saw Katie?'

'At the hospital.'

'And before that?'

'I'm not sure. A few days ago.' Gwen closed her eyes to force her brain into proper activity. 'She came round after school on Monday. We made cakes.'

Harry nodded. PC Albion wrote something down in his notebook.

Gwen waited.

'And how would you characterise your relationship?'

'She's my niece,' Gwen said.

'Do you get on well?' Harry said.

'I think so. Yes.'

'How would you characterise her mood?'

'In general?' Gwen said.

'The last time you saw her.'

'On Monday?'

He nodded.

'She was fine,' Gwen said. 'A bit wound up from school, I suppose, but fine.'

'Has she seemed depressed lately?'

'No.'

'Angry?'

Gwen shrugged. 'She's fourteen.'

Harry gave a small smile. 'I'm trying to ascertain her state of mind last night.'

'Why not ask her?' Too late, Gwen realised that he couldn't. She felt her throat close up.

'Once Katie's awake, I'm sure we'll be able to clear all of this up,' Harry said, 'but, in the meantime, I've got to write a report.'

'I don't know why you're asking about her state of mind. Why does it matter?'

'What do you mean?' Harry said.

'She went missing. That's not like her. She's a really good kid. And she was found unconscious. Clearly something happened to her.'

'Clearly.' Harry paused. 'What we don't know is how she got to the folly and what she was doing there.'

'What if she was taken there? She could've been abducted.' Gwen shook her head in frustration. 'Why are you asking me? Isn't it your job to figure out what happened?'

'Oh, we will, Ms Harper,' PC Albion said and Harry shot him a filthy look.

'The thing is,' Harry said, 'there's some question as to how you found Katie. If you weren't involved with her, um, mishap, how did you know where to look?'

Gwen felt sick.

'And you do have a history. Of this kind of thing, I mean. The Stephen Knight case.' Harry looked uncomfortable.

Gwen felt the room swoop to the left. 'I had nothing to do with his accident. Or suicide. Whichever you people decided it was.' Gwen's hands were curled into fists and she dug her nails into her palms.

'Gwen has a supernatural ability to find things that are lost,' Cam said calmly and Gwen almost fell off her chair.

PC Albion's head shot up, while Harry just gazed steadily at Cam.

'I don't understand it,' Cam said. 'I don't know whether it's a special kind of intuition or what, but Gwen can find things. That's how she knew where Katie was.'

'You want that on record?' Harry said.

'I am willing to swear to it in court,' Cam said. 'However, this interview is at an end. If you want to charge Gwen, charge her. Otherwise you're going to have to leave.'

'It would be best if she cooperated. Certain allegations have been made, and we have to investigate those allegations fully.'

'I'll cooperate. I want to help,' Gwen said, standing up. Harry shot her such a look of sweet exasperation that she felt her knees buckle. She sat down again.

Cam didn't turn around. 'Harry is doing his job, but he wants you to listen to me. Can you do that? Please?'

'Okay,' Gwen said, giving up on understanding what the h.e.l.l was going on.

Cam followed Harry and PC Albion to the door. When he came back into the living room, his expression was grim. 'They're coming back with a warrant. Apparently they received some kind of tip-off.'

'But I haven't done anything.'

'I know. But we need to prepare.'

Gwen stood up. 'But-'

'Trust me.' Cam tried to smile. 'I'm your lawyer.'

'Lily Thomas,' Gwen said. 'She wants me out of here, she wants to get into the house and steal Iris's journals. I bet she's the one who's made allegations. I think she left me that rabbit.' Gwen swallowed. 'I know you think I'm crazy-'

'I don't,' Cam said. 'Didn't you hear what I said?' He shook his head. 'I don't understand it, but I believe you. This unusual ability is real and it probably saved Katie's life today. I'm not going to be the one to argue with that.'

'What about Lily?' Gwen was half out of her chair again. G.o.d knew what else that woman had planned, what she'd planted in the house before calling the police. Taking advantage of her opportunity. Gwen felt a bitter taste in her mouth and forced herself to swallow before she threw up.

'Sit down,' Cam said. 'Breathe. I'm going to call Harry. And Elaine.'

Gwen launched upright, the blood rushing to her head and making her giddy. 'Your mother?'

Cam looked uncomfortable. 'She came to see me yesterday. Said that Lily had come to her for advice on contesting Iris's will. She said that Lily had some idea of getting you out of the house permanently.'

'What?'

'I was going to tell you, but when Katie went missing it got pushed out of my head.'

'What else did she say?'

'Just that the t.i.tle deeds for the house were in the safe in my grandfather's office. I don't know why I didn't look there before. I'm sorry.'

'You've had a lot on your plate,' Gwen said faintly, trying to process the information.

'If we have evidence that Lily has been executing a campaign of hara.s.sment, that'll weaken any case she's trying to make against you.'

'Right.' Gwen's legs went liquid and she sat down.

'Go to bed,' Cam said. 'Get some rest, I'll be up in a little while.'

Upstairs, underneath the covers in her bra.s.s bed, Gwen listened to the sound of Cam pacing downstairs, the rumble of his voice as he made call after call. There was something to be said for not being alone, she thought. Cat curled up next to her stomach, a giant furry hot water bottle and, without intending to, Gwen slipped into sleep.

Chapter 27.

The next day, Gwen expected Cam to go into work, but he didn't. He drove to the hospital and sat outside in the corridor while Gwen sat with Katie. Ruby was hollow-eyed and exhausted.

'Have you slept?' Gwen said.

'I don't feel like it, but I must've dozed off at some point. I dreamed that Katie woke up.' Ruby's voice broke and Gwen reached out to take her hand.

Katie was pale and too still for Gwen to kid herself that she was just sleeping. 'Do they know anything else? Have they said-'

Ruby shook her head. 'David's gone home to get some stuff for Katie. No one will tell me how long she'll be like this. They say we've got to wait and see.'

Wait and see. Gwen squeezed Ruby's hand. 'She's going to be okay. She's going to wake up.'

'They said there might be brain damage. From the hypothermia. They won't know until she wakes up.'

'Oh Christ.'

Tears squeezed out from under Ruby's eyelids. 'I keep thinking I'll stop crying soon. That there won't be anything left. I keep waiting to go numb. I thought people went numb in situations like this. But I don't.'

'What can I do?' Gwen said.

'You found her,' Ruby said. She looked away from Katie, then straight into Gwen's eyes. 'I'll never forget that.'

Later, when Harry called Gwen and asked her to come down to the station to make an official statement, Cam insisted on coming with her. 'Don't you have to go to the office today?'

'Sod the office,' Cam said.

Walking back into Pendleford police station, Gwen was expecting to be hit by bad memories of Stephen Knight, but her system was overloaded by worry for Katie. Plus, this time she wasn't eighteen years old and it wasn't an unknown policeman but Harry on the other side of the desk. He kept apologising. 'Just got to follow the routine,' he said. 'Got to make sure I do my job. It's to protect you.'

Cam still looked like he wanted to punch something, but Gwen was glad he was there. He was infinitely gentle and calm with her. Fetching bottled water and putting his hand comfortingly on the middle of her back while she wrote her statement.

When PC Albion came in and asked whether Cam should be in the room, he said, 'I'm her lawyer.'

At the same time Harry said, 'Back off.'

She rang David and heard the report on Katie. No change. 'She should've woken up by now,' he said. 'The doctor doesn't know why she hasn't. He said there's no medical reason, but that sometimes people's bodies just react this way after a shock. They shut down for a while. Her system is just rebooting itself or something.'

David sounded determinedly calm and confident. Gwen knew he was rea.s.suring himself with the words and she was quick to agree with him.

Hanging up in the empty house, Cat winding around her ankles, Gwen felt the false confidence evaporate.

The next day, Gwen woke up as Cam slipped out of bed. He was moving quietly, trying not to wake her, and Gwen kept her eyes shut. She wasn't ready to face the day. Not a day that included Katie being ill. The pain knifed through her and she curled around it. Another day in which Katie was lying in a hospital bed and people thought, actually believed, that she could've had something to do with it. Gwen squeezed her eyes shut.

'There's someone at the door,' Cam whispered. 'I'll get rid of them. You go back to sleep.'

He closed the door and Gwen sat up, imagining Ryan or some other journalist. Just like last time. She sat straighter, holding herself very still for a few moments before realising that she was trying to listen, that she couldn't just sit up here in the dark, wondering. She put on a dressing-gown and crept to the top of the stairs. Harry's voice floated up from the hallway and her shoulders went down a notch. At least the papers didn't have the story yet.

'There's good news and bad news,' Harry was saying, and Gwen went down a couple of steps to hear better.

'Are you going to arrest Gwen?' Cam said, his voice cold as stone and twice as unfriendly.

'No.'

'You may come inside then,' Cam said.

There was the sound of the front door closing and m.u.f.fled shoes on tile. Gwen caught Cam saying, 'Give me the good news.'

'Gwen is no longer a suspect.'

She felt the tension in her body drain out and she sagged against the bannister.

'She shouldn't have been in the first place,' Cam said.