The Surrogate

She looked towards Clayton as she spoke. There was no mistaking the message in her eyes. The doctor had arrived with the test results.

‘Right.’ A

A

Clayton felt his cheeks warming up. ‘Yeah. I’ll just . . .’ He rose, scraped his chair back along the floor. Made his way reluctantly to the door and out. He glanced at Sophie before he left, but she wasn’t looking at him. She was staring straight ahead, her face unreadable.

Once outside the room, Clayton looked quickly round, then made his way as fast as he could to Ben Fenwick’s office. There was a CCTV relay in there and he could watch the interview on it. He ran up the stairs, stood outside, getting his breath back, knocked. No reply. He tried the handle. Open. He went inside, set the TV monitor up. Started watching.

‘Sophie Gale,’ A

‘Yes.’ Sophie’s voice was dry and cracked.

A

‘It’s . . .’ Sophie looked towards where Clayton had been sitting. She seemed to have guessed which way this was going to go and, now that he was no longer there, suddenly needed an ally.

‘It’s not your real name,’ said A

Sophie nodded.

‘Gail Johnson. That’s the name under which you first came to our attention. When you were a prostitute.’

‘Yes.’

A tight smile from A

Something hardened in Sophie. ‘You know they weren’t. And you know why.’

‘Yes. I know why. Just found out today.’ A

Clayton jumped back. Was she looking at him? Did she know he was watching?

She continued. ‘You were an informant. You were protected. ’

Sophie nodded.

A

Sophie shrugged. Clayton could tell she was thawing. He knew A

‘Having to go with men you didn’t want to was bad enough. But then having to come and tell us about it . . . bad men, dangerous men . . . that’s real bravery. I mean it.’ And she sounded like she did. She smiled.

‘Thank you.’ Sophie returned the smile.

‘How long did you do that for?’

Sophie thought. ‘Oh . . . feels like for ever. But it also feels like it happened years ago. To someone else.’

‘So how long?’

‘About five years.’

A

‘Felt like it.’

A

‘Absolutely. New life, new everything.’ Sophie gave a tentative smile. Even on CCTV, Clayton could see that her guard was starting to drop. He knew exactly what A

‘So.’ A

‘Yes.’

Back to the file. ‘And you were there all night. Watching DVDs. Eating takeaway food.’

Sophie nodded.

A

Sophie was taken aback by the words.

The test results were back, thought Clayton. And they were positive.

46

‘But let’s put that to one side,’ said A

Sophie, shaken from A

There was silence while she consulted the file once more. Clayton watched the monitor helplessly. There was nothing he could do. A

‘Did you know Susie Evans, Sophie?’

Sophie seemed to be deciding on what her answer should be. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘But not very well.’

‘You got pulled in with her. On a raid.’ A

Sophie nodded, but said nothing.

‘Did Ryan, your boyfriend, know Susie Evans?’

Clayton saw the fear and desperation in Sophie’s eyes as she stared at A

‘Which one is it?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You don’t know.’

‘If he did, he never mentioned it.’

‘Right.’ A

Sophie again looked round, trying to find help and support from some corner of the room, fear now rampant in her eyes. Clayton, in the office, looked at A

‘Yes. When you and she were picked up a few times, he was picked up too. Never charged, which was why it took me so long to find the information, but his name was taken. Don’t you think that’s a strange coincidence?’

Sophie looked at the table. ‘Yes. It’s a coincidence.’

‘A coincidence. Right. So it’s a coincidence that you knew Susie Evans. Worked with her. And that Ryan Brotherton knew Susie Evans. And that Ryan is now your boyfriend. And Susie Evans is dead. Murdered. And Ryan’s ex-girlfriend, Claire Fielding, is also dead. And Ryan, your boyfriend, the one you were eating takeaway food with and watching DVDs with the other night, has a history of violence towards women. A problem with women, in fact. A very serious problem.’ She sat back, her eyes locked on to Sophie like laser beams. ‘Quite a coincidence.’

Sophie looked frantically at A

A

Sophie’s head dropped into her hands. ‘No . . . He’ll kill me . . .’

‘Yes,’ said A

She nodded.

‘Truth this time.’

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘The truth.’

Phil walked back into the interview room holding a document file. On the file was Ryan Brotherton’s name. He set it on the table, resumed his seat. Brotherton looked expectantly at him. Phil opened the file, glanced at the contents. Raised his eyebrows.

‘Oh, Ryan . . .’

‘What?’ Brotherton craned his neck forward, trying to see what was written there. Phil moved it further away from him.

‘Jesus, you have been a naughty boy . . .’ He held his gaze on the pages for a few more seconds, just long enough for Brotherton’s anxiety levels to increase, then flipped the cover of the file closed and looked levelly at him. This was a different Phil from the one who had left the room. He had appeared to be Brotherton’s friend, someone on his side. This new Phil was something different. A professional. A heat-seeking missile zeroing in on his target. And he wasn’t going to miss.

‘Where were you on the night of Wednesday the seventeenth of November?’ he asked.

Brotherton looked startled at Phil’s abrupt tone.