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been Kay, but her daughter: Amber. After a second read she fell back in the
chair and tried to organise her thoughts. Kay’s contact so soon after Liam had asked
her to be involved in Travis’s case was surely no coincidence, but how could they
be connected?
    There was another problem; Declan wouldn’t want her seeing Kay because of the connection
with Amber, the case he had told her she was over-involved in. If Kay still lived
several hours drive away, perhaps this was a once-off.
    Kay arrived early, in faded blue trousers and a white blouse, sensible shoes and
a fawn coat with a mended pocket. Her mousy hair was tied back in a ponytail: practicality
rather than fashion. The weight loss that had been steady in the early weeks of Amber’s
incarceration had plateaued, but the lines had continued to form and she looked closer
to sixty than the mid-forties she had to be; she had been sixteen when she became
pregnant with Amber. Despite the hasty wedding, and a son, Cameron, born shortly
after Amber, the marriage had endured.
    ‘Kay.’ Natalie extended her hand and Kay hesitated before taking it. Her nervous
smile broadened in response to the warmth in Natalie’s greeting.
    ‘Dr King…thank you so much for seeing me at such short notice.’
    Natalie led her into the consulting room and they sat opposite each other in the
armchairs near the window. Natalie, referral in hand, spoke as soon as the older
woman was settled. ‘I’m so sorry about Glen. When…?’ Amber’s father, the stoic farmer,
hadn’t ever said much, but had been steadfast in his support.
    ‘He never recovered from Amber being charged. Heart attack. He made it to hospital
but…’ She shrugged.
    ‘It’s been a tough year for you.’
    ‘Yes, but not much choice but to keep going is there? Glen’s mother, and Cam and
his wife help with the farm. Amber will be out soon. She’ll need me.’
    ‘You’ve been anxious? Depressed?’
    ‘Wasn’t sleeping for a long time. But the Zoloft seems to have solved that, more
or less.’
    Natalie frowned, and glanced at the referral. Kay caught the look.
    ‘Actually, I think that’s all fine.’ She paused. ‘You heard about Travis’s second
baby?’
    Natalie nodded slowly, alarm bells starting to ring.
    ‘Are you seeing Tiphanie?’ The words came out in a rush.
    ‘You know I can’t tell you that Kay, I’m sorry.’
    ‘Of course.’ Kay quickly pulled herself together. ‘It doesn’t matter anyway. You
can’t tell anyone about what I tell you either, can you?’
    Which meant this was about Travis.
    ‘I need to tell you something.’
    ‘I’m not involved in this case, Kay. If you know something, go to the police.’
    ‘I can’t.’ Her tone had a steeliness that Amber’s had never had. ‘They won’t believe
me. I don’t have proof.’
    ‘What do you expect me to do with it then?’
    ‘He did it.’ Her hands were holding each other as if to stop herself hitting out.
    ‘Did what?’ Natalie cursed herself silently. Even if Amber was no longer her patient,
this was dangerous territory. A lesson in why therapists shouldn’t see members of
the same family.
    ‘Killed Bella-Kaye.’
    ‘He might have failed to support her,’ said Natalie carefully, ‘but Amber confessed.’
    ‘He told Glen.’
    Natalie stared at her, trying to work out how to get out of the interview pretending
it had never happened.
    ‘However much of a shit Travis is,’ Kay continued, ‘he didn’t want Glen dying thinking
his daughter killed little Bella.’ There were tears in her eyes. ‘He came to see
Glen in hospital, soon as he heard. Glen told me…but then he died and…what could
I do?’
    ‘And now?’
    ‘Now,’ said Kay, ‘there’s another child gone. If you do see Tiphanie, if you are
involved in any way, I want you to remember what I’ve told you.’
    The doorbell rang as Natalie was returning to the kitchen from the external staircase
that led to her bedroom. She had been planning an early night.