Uncaged. Lucy Gordon

      “Whatever his father and I do is in the child’s best interests. Kindly try to understand that, and don’t keep pestering us.” The phone went dead.

      Megan had always disliked her self-righteous mother-in-law, but in the past she’d had the emotional stamina to cope with her. Now, with her nerves in shreds, she had no stamina left. She slammed down the receiver and thumped her fists helplessly against the wall again and again.

      “Hey, come on.” Daniel reached out and touched her shoulder. Megan swung away, staring at him. “That doesn’t help,” he said gently.

      “Nothing helps,” she said frantically. “But it relieves my feelings, until the next time.”

      “Was that your husband you were talking to?”

      “His mother. She won’t let me talk to Tommy.”

      “Let’s have a cup of tea,” he suggested, leading the way to the kitchen. She followed him and watched while he put the kettle on. “It’s good to see you up and looking better,” he said.

      “I don’t remember much about what happened. I ran away into the park...didn’t I?”

      “That’s right. I followed you there and brought you here. You were soaked. I haven’t tried to get your things back from the boarding house in case the press is still sniffing around and it leads them here.”

      “There was nothing I cared about,” she said with a shrug. “Just the things they give prisoners when they’re discharged.” She looked down at his robe and nightwear. “What happened to my nightgown?”

      “I sent it to the laundry. It isn’t back yet.”

      “There was no need to take that trouble,” she said, glancing at the washing machine. “Just throw it in.”

      He was embarrassed. Having stripped the soaking nightgown off her without a second thought, he’d discovered that an unsuspected sense of propriety had made him avoid washing it himself, even in a machine. But he flinched from explaining this, anticipating her derision. “I was afraid you’d be really ill,” he said, concentrating on the kettle, “so I called in my doctor—a woman doctor. She looked after you. Here, the tea’s ready.”

      She accepted the mug and sipped it. “I don’t like depending on you,” she said. “I’ll call my lawyer, and she’ll help me.”

      They looked at each other warily. “I’d rather help you myself,” Daniel said.

      “Look, I’m grateful to you for nursing me, but basically nothing’s changed. I just want to move out.”

      “But not today. I need to talk to you first. We have...a lot to talk about.”

      She regarded him ironically. “Didn’t we talk enough three years ago?”

      “We talked a lot, but maybe not to any good purpose. I’ve been through those interviews, and there are things I’m uneasy about.”

      “You’re...?” She regarded him in cynical hilarity. “You’re uneasy. Now I’ve heard everything. There were one or two things I was uneasy about, too, in particular, the way you deliberately distorted the truth and wrecked my life. Don’t ever imagine that pouring a few aspirin down my throat makes up for it.”

      “I wouldn’t expect it to, if I really had deliberately hidden the truth,” he said edgily. His anger was rising as he discovered how difficult it was to make any impression on her. He was used to being arrogant, dominant, as a policeman had to be. Eating humble pie came very hard to him. “But I didn’t.”

      “Oh, come on,” she said wearily. “We’ve passed that point, surely?”

      “Megan, I didn’t suppress that statement,” he said emphatically. “I simply didn’t remember it.”

      She raised an eyebrow at him. “You can do better than that.”

      “No, I can’t, because it’s true. I didn’t remember anything about the witness. My mind just...blanked him out.” In despair he could hear how unconvincing it sounded, and her look of derision confirmed it. Perhaps if he told her everything about his mental and emotional agony at that time, and what had caused it, she might understand. But something deep within him shied away from exposing his wounds. He’d never begged for mercy. It wasn’t his way. “I had...a lot of cases on my plate” was the best he could manage.

      “Funny, that. You always seemed to have time to interrogate me,” she observed. “I’ve never heard such a feeble excuse. What are you? Some kind of incompetent who needs your hand held? At least suppressing evidence is decisive. Losing it because you’re muddled is the action of a wimp.”

      His temper rose. “You make very glib judgments,” he snapped.

       “So did you.”

      “The evidence against you was very strong. Without that witness it was a rock-solid case.”

      “And of course you made absolutely sure it was ‘without that witness.’”

      “Will you listen to me?” he demanded hoarsely.

      “Will listening to you make any difference?” she flung back at him. “Will it give me back my reputation, three years of my life—my son? How would you know what it’s like to lose your child and think about him every moment of every day, becoming obsessed with him because they had no right to take him but he’s gone anyway?” She took a deep, shuddering breath and forced herself to calm down. “There’s no point in going through it again. You know what you did, even if you won’t admit it. There must be a way to undo the damage you did. I just...just don’t know what it is.”

      He could have given her the answer. There was only one way to clear her completely, and that was to find the real murderer. But he didn’t say so because he still wasn’t totally convinced. After the days spent studying the interviews, he had serious doubts, but that wasn’t enough. He caught her looking at him, and had an uncomfortable feeling that she’d read his thoughts.

      “I’m going to call my lawyer,” she said. “The sooner I’m away from here, the better.” She went back to the alcove and dialed.

      “Newton and Baines,” the receptionist at the other end said.

      “I’d like to speak to Janice,” Megan said urgently.

      “I’m afraid Mrs. Baines isn’t here. Her son has measles and she’s quarantined at home with him.”

      Megan ground her nails into her palm. “Mr. Newton, then.”

      “One moment.”

      She was reluctant to talk to Newton, a curt man who seemed devoid of all human sympathy, but she was desperate. When he came on the line a moment later her worst fears were realized. He listened in frozen silence as she described her predicament, then said, “I must say I think you were extremely unwise to leave your lodging.”

      “I was driven out. I can’t go back there.”

      “But you appear to have found somewhere else, so I don’t see the problem.”

      Megan tried to keep her temper. “I am temporarily in the home of Detective Inspector Keller, the man who put me away, and that is the problem.”

      “I don’t understand. What are you doing there?”

      “He rescued me from the press and brought me here. But I’ve been here nearly a week, and I don’t want to stay.”

      “Hmm.” Newton sounded bored. “Well, frankly, Mrs. Anderson, I find your point of view hard to comprehend. Having managed to get this man on your side, your sensible course would surely be to make use of him. He has, er, resources denied the rest of us. Give me the address and I’ll arrange for some money to be sent to you, but I’m afraid it won’t be much.”

      As