Read Online The Night Ferry by Michael Robotham - Free Book Online

doubts?”
    “For years his wife rejects his sperm and then suddenly she’s pregnant? Any man would have doubts.”
    “But if that’s the case—”
    “He wanted to believe, don’t you see? She convinced everyone.”
    Standing, he motions me to fol ow. His slippers flap gently against his heels as he climbs the stairs. The nursery door is open. The room is freshly painted and papered. The furniture new. A cot, a changing table, a comfortable chair with a Winnie the Pooh pil ow.
    Opening a drawer, he takes out a folder. There are receipts for the furniture and instructions for assembling the cot. He up-ends an envelope, shaking it gently. Two sheets of photographs, monochrome images, drop into his hand. Ultrasound pictures.
    Each photograph is only a few inches square. The background is black, the images white. For a moment it’s like looking at one of those Magic Eye pictures where a 3-D image emerges from within. In this case I see tiny arms and legs. A face, eyes, a nose…
    “They were taken at twenty-three weeks.”

    “How?”
    “Felix was supposed to be there but Cate messed up the days. She came home with the photographs.”
    The rest of the file contains testimony of an unborn baby’s existence. There are application forms to the hospital, appointment slips, medical reports, correspondence and receipts for the nursery furniture. An NHS pamphlet gives details of how to register the birth. Another lists the benefits of folic acid in early pregnancy.
    There are other documents in the drawer, including a bundle of private letters tucked in a corner, bank statements, a passport and health insurance certificates. A separate file contains details of Cate’s IVF treatments. There appear to have been five of them. Sohan Banerjee, a fertility specialist in Wimbledon, is mentioned several times.
    “Where was she planning to have the baby?”
    “Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.”
    I look at a brochure for prenatal classes. “What I can’t understand is how it was supposed to end. What was Cate going to do in four weeks?” Barnaby shrugs. “She was going to be exposed as a liar.”
    “No, think about it. That prosthetic was almost a work of art. She must have altered it two or three times over the months. She also had to forge medical letters and appointment slips.
    Where did she get the ultrasound pictures? She went to al that effort. Surely she had a plan.”
    “Like what?”
    “Maybe she organized a surrogacy or a private adoption.”
    “Why keep it a secret?”
    “Perhaps she couldn’t let anyone know. Commercial surrogacy is il egal. Women can’t accept money to have a baby. I know it sounds far-fetched but isn’t it worth considering?” He scoffs and smites at the air between us. “So a month from now my daughter was going to nip off somewhere, dump the padding and come back with a baby, custom-made, ready to order from the baby factory. Maybe Ikea does them nowadays.”
    “I’m just looking for reasons.”
    “I know the reason. She was obsessed. Desperate.”
    “Enough to explain these?” I point to the ultrasound pictures.
    Reaching down, he opens the second drawer and retrieves a different file. This one contains court transcripts, charge sheets and a judgment.
    “Eighteen months ago Cate was caught stealing baby clothes from Mothercare . She said it was a misunderstanding, but we knew it was a cry for help. The magistrates were very kind. They gave her a suspended sentence.
    “She had counseling for about six months, which seemed to help. She was her old self again. There were obvious places she had to avoid like parks and playgrounds, schools. But she couldn’t stop torturing herself. She peered into prams and struck up conversations with mothers. She got angry when she saw women with big families, who were pregnant again. It was unfair, she said. They were being greedy.
    “She and Felix looked into adopting a baby. They went for the interviews and were screened by social workers.