“Please, please, I’m coming,” she says. “Don’t go anywhere. Where will you be?”
“There’s a painting I love. It’s in the Special Exhibitions Gallery.”
At that moment I hear a voice behind me and I end the call.
“Hello, Aggy.”
I turn slowly, reaching into my pocket for the gun.
“What are you doing here?”
Nerves are sparking in Hayden’s eyes. He’s dressed in jeans, a leather jacket, and a baseball cap with the price tag still attached. Unshaven and red-eyed, he looks as though he hasn’t slept. Glancing down, he sees the top of Rory’s head, just visible behind the folds of my coat.
“How is he?”
“Getting better.”
“That’s good.”
“Why are you here?”
“Can we go for a walk?” he asks.
“Why? I don’t understand.”
“Please, Aggy, I’ll explain outside. You go first.”
Doing as he asks, I retrace my steps up the stairs and out the main doors, and turn left along the asphalt path. Glancing over my shoulder, I see him walking twenty yards behind me, his hands deep in his pockets and collar turned up.
I wait for him under a canopy of bare branches. Hayden steps closer and cups my head in his hands. I flinch, thinking he might be angry, but he leans closer and kisses me gently, holding his lips on mine until I breathe in his sigh. His arms slip around me and I press my head against his chest.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to help.”
Stepping back, he unbuttons my coat, reaching inside until he brushes his thumb over Rory’s cheek. His fingers are cold. Rory’s eyes open momentarily and close again.
“I’m going to miss him,” says Hayden, his voice thick with emotion.
“Are the police going to charge you?”
He shrugs.
“I’ll tell them it wasn’t your fault.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Please tell your parents that I’m sorry.”
“You gave them a grandchild. You gave me a son.”
“And now I’m giving him back.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“I don’t understand.”
He looks nervously over his shoulder, studying the entrance to the park and the surrounding streets. “We don’t have much time. I sent the police to the wrong museum, but it won’t take them long to realize.”
He slides his hands behind my neck and loosens the knot on the sling.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m taking Rory.”
“Why would you do that?”
“So you can run.”
“Run where?”
“You can get away.” He pulls a bundle of cash out of his pocket. “This is five thousand pounds. It’s all I have.” He holds out the money, wanting me to take it.
“I can’t run. My face will be on every TV screen and newspaper. They’ll be watching the ports and airports.”
“I have a navy mate who’s on the same ship as me but won’t be home until mid-January. I have the keys to his flat in Portsmouth. You can hide there for a few weeks. I can bring you food.”
“A few weeks isn’t long enough.”
“It’ll give us time to think of another plan.”
“They’ll find me eventually.”
Hayden’s face twists. “I’m trying to help you, Aggy. I know what you did was wrong—but you’re giving Rory back. He’s fine. You don’t deserve to be punished for this.”
“But I do.”
“No, no. You were hurting. Lonely. The police told me about your teenage pregnancy and the adoption. That wasn’t your fault.”
“I’ve done other things.”
Hayden raises his face to the rain and groans, as though wanting to scream in frustration.
“I took another woman’s baby,” I whisper. “You weren’t to blame. I tricked you. I’m sorry. Now I’m giving him back.”
“OK, but let me do it for you,” he says, pleading with me.
“This is not your mistake.”
“I love you, Aggy. I didn’t want to fall in love, but I couldn’t help myself. I know you think it was just because of Rory and becoming a father, but that’s only part of it. I fell in love with you.”
I try to say something, but he doesn’t give me the chance.
“Why do you think I kept quiet about your mother not being at the birth when the police asked? When I couldn’t contact the midwife, I knew what you’d done. I knew that Rory wasn’t ours, but I didn’t want to give him up. I wish you’d told me earlier, but then he got sick and we didn’t have a choice. When you ran off from the surgery, I tried to stop Dr. Schur calling the police. I vouched for you. I said that I’d seen you breast-feeding . . . and that we had a proper birth certificate. I lied for you. I lied for us. But I couldn’t stop him.”
His voice cracks. “They’re going to send you to prison, Aggy. You don’t deserve that. Take the money. Run. Go to my mate’s place. In a few weeks, I’ll find somewhere else for you to go.”
“I can’t run,” I whisper.
“Of course you can. People run all the time. They disappear. I can keep you hidden. We’re going to lose your little boy, Aggy, but we don’t have to lose each other.”
Hayden pauses, searching for the right words. Reaching for them. Coming up empty. He tries again. “This doesn’t have to be the end. We’ll give the baby back. You can plead guilty; tell the jury you were obsessed, mad with desire for a baby. The judge will show mercy. At most you’ll serve two, maybe three years, and then you’ll be free. We’re still young. We can get married and have our own baby.”
I reach out and brush his unshaven cheek, calling him a silly boy. “I can’t have children.”
“Right. OK. But we could adopt a baby. I don’t mind. Rory isn’t mine, but I still love him.”
“Nobody will ever let me adopt a baby—not after what I’ve done.”
Hayden rocks from side to side, pulling at his ears, desperately searching for answers. I’m the cause of his pain.
“Go home, my love. They’ll be here soon.”
“But nobody knows where you are.”
“I told them.”
“What?”
“I called Meg. I told her they were at the wrong place.”
Hayden looks over his shoulder again, with more urgency now.
“Quick! Give me Rory. We can still do this.”
“No.”
Ignoring me, he takes his right arm from the sleeve of his jacket and holds Rory against his chest before refastening the buttons, concealing the baby completely.
“They’ll think you were involved,” I say, trying to stop him. “The police will lay charges. You’ll lose your commission. Your career . . . I’ve hurt you enough already.”
“I don’t care. I’m leaving the navy. None of it matters.”
“Yes, it does.”
Hayden’s eyes are swimming. “Please, Aggy, why won’t you run?”
“This is my mistake, not yours. I won’t let you risk everything for me.”
He isn’t listening. He doesn’t understand what I’ve done—what happened to the other babies, or what I did to Nicky. The lives I’ve ruined. I grab his arm, clasping the empty leather sleeve of his jacket. He flicks me away. I reach out again, calling Rory’s name.
“Give him back!” I yell.
“Let me help you.”
“Nobody can help me.”
The creature uncoils.
Stupid, stupid, stupid girl! He’s stealing him.
He’d never do that.
He wants Rory for himself.
He loves me.