Authors: Samantha Hayes
Until You're Mine (43 page)
CMB:
After I’d got her baby out, I was going to call an ambulance. I wanted her to be OK. But she put up a fight and made the operation harder. She caused her own death.
DI Fisher:
You believe that it was Sally-Ann’s fault she died?
CMB:
Yes.
DI Fisher:
How do you feel about their deaths?
DI Scott:
For the benefit of the tape, Mrs Morgan-Brown has just shrugged.
CMB:
It made things harder. I was running out of time.
Inaudible due to someone exhaling.
DI Scott:
What do you mean by that?
CMB:
A fake pregnancy can’t last for ever. I needed a baby by my due date. When it didn’t go to plan, I panicked and just left them.
DI Fisher:
Will you tell us why you . . . you wanted to take Sally-Ann’s baby?
Long pause.
CMB:
Because all of mine died. Sally-Ann didn’t want hers. I wouldn’t have done it otherwise. I saw her in the department store. She went crazy, yelling out she didn’t want her baby. I’m a social worker, Detective. I know a good mother from a bad one.
Another pause.
DI Scott:
For the tape, the accused is nodding.
CMB:
Look, I tried to help her. She was smashing up the shop and I calmed her down. Afterwards, I followed her home. I was sick with worry about her baby and I felt it my duty to check up on her. Over the next few months, I tracked her to college, to the shops, to her hospital appointments. It was easy to work in around my job. I’m always visiting unfit mothers. I was overjoyed when I saw her growing in size. She’d taken my advice.
DI Fisher:
For the tape, Claudia Morgan-Brown is drinking water. She is standing up.
DI Scott:
Sit down and continue, please.
CMB:
Sally-Ann never knew I was watching her, although I spoke to her in passing a couple of times. Once, when I touched her tummy in the college canteen, she told me she was having a little girl. She didn’t recognise me.
DI Fisher coughs.
DI Scott:
How did you fake your own pregnancy?
DI Fisher:
For the tape, the accused is grinning and shaking her head.
CMB:
I’d never have believed it possible. And that’s the truth. She told me that unless they see you totally naked, no one will ever know.
DI Scott:
Who told you?
CMB:
The woman from the internet who makes the suits. She was right, too. With my medical history, James wasn’t allowed to touch me, so that was easy. He works away most of the time.
DI Fisher:
Describe the suit, please.
CMB:
It was made especially for me. It fitted like a glove. I had to go and get measured. She told me she sells quite a few, that some women like to feel pregnant all the time. They enjoy the fuss made of them. But for me, it was actually real. I was finally pregnant and I wasn’t going to miscarry. As time went on, I pumped it up with gel like the instructions said. There were weights inside that moved when I did. When the kicks came, they were realistic. You’d never think it, would you?
DI Fisher:
No.
DI Scott:
Did you wear the suit when you murdered Sally-Ann?
CMB:
No. It was cumbersome. I didn’t murder her. She died in the operation.
DI Fisher:
Please describe the . . . the operation. Tell us how you did it.
CMB:
I went to Sally-Ann’s flat. She seemed rather nervous at first but I talked her into letting me inside. We chatted about babies and stuff. She eventually relaxed.
DI Scott:
Will you remain seated, please? For the benefit of the tape, Mrs Morgan-Brown keeps standing up.
CMB:
Sorry.
Inaudible
. It was funny. She told me she was going to have a Caesarean in a few days’ time. I’d been lucky.
A pause.
I told her that I could do the operation for her now. I locked the door to her flat and took the key. I said it would save her having to go to hospital. She thought I was joking at first. It would be easier, I told her, if she got in the bath, but she didn’t want to. She told me to leave. I got a kitchen knife from the drawer. I did my best to make it easy for her but all she did was scream. Should I carry on?
DI Scott:
Yes.
CMB:
The thing is, she wouldn’t keep still. I was way stronger than her, but not strong enough to hold her down as well as do the procedure. And I didn’t want to hurt the baby. She was going to be mine. I had no choice but to knock Sally-Ann out. It was no worse than an anaesthetic.
DI Fisher:
And how did you knock her out?
CMB:
I found a hammer in the cupboard under the sink. She tried to escape again. She was making it really hard.
DI Scott:
What did you do with the hammer?
CMB:
I hit her on the head with it.
DI Scott:
Where were you when you hit her with the hammer?
CMB:
In the bathroom. I’d dragged her in there.
DI Scott:
Do you think she was being unreasonable by not wanting you to cut her baby out of her?
A long pause.
CMB:
Yes.
DI Scott:
What happened after you hit her?
CMB:
She fell down. It took two blows.
DI Fisher:
Did you think she was unconscious or dead?
CMB:
Unconscious. I could see her breathing. I had to consider my baby.
DI Scott:
Describe what happened next.
CMB:
May I have more water please?
DI Fisher:
For the tape, DC Ainsley is pouring water. Continue.
CMB:
I got her into the bath. It was hard. She was heavy. I cut her clothes off. Then I cut into her. Have you ever cut human flesh, Detective?
DI Scott:
We’ll ask the questions. Please continue.
DI Fisher coughs and clears her throat.
CMB:
It’s surprisingly easy. And I had to be mindful of my baby inside. I sang a lullaby, in case she could hear me. I made an incision. Going this way.
DI Fisher:
For the tape, Mrs Morgan-Brown is indicating a vertical line from her chest to her lower abdomen.
CMB:
I know it’s not technically correct but it was going to make for the biggest opening. Then something awful happened.
A pause.
She woke up. She was staring at me, half out of it, and then she saw what I was doing. She suddenly went mad and was screaming and thrashing about.
DI Scott:
Did she say anything?
CMB:
She begged me to stop. It was hard to understand her. Then she just made heaving noises. Her womb went into a sort of spasm.
DI Scott:
Could you see the baby?
CMB:
Yes, just about.
DI Scott:
What happened then?
CMB:
I hit her and she passed out again. Then I half pulled out the baby. I tried to cut the cord but it was difficult. Most of it was still inside, deep and buried, and her muscles were really tight . . . as if she didn’t want to let go.
DI Fisher:
Was the baby alive?
CMB:
Yes. I felt it moving in my hands. Its legs and bottom came out first. And then I saw it. It was an awful shock.
DI Scott:
Saw what?
A long pause.
CMB:
That it was a fucking boy. I was having a girl.
DI Scott:
We’ll take a short break. Pause the tape.
The tape is stopped for eighteen minutes. PC McMAHON enters the room and DC AINSLEY remains. DIs SCOTT and FISHER exit the room.
DI Scott:
The interview with Claudia Morgan-Brown is resuming at ten fifty-eight a.m. The same persons as before are present.
Mrs Morgan-Brown, did you attack Carla Davis with the purpose of removing her baby from her womb?
CMB:
Yes I did.
DI Fisher:
Why?
CMB:
Because she didn’t want her baby either.
DI Scott:
Did you also knock her out?
CMB:
No. She didn’t struggle.
DI Fisher:
Why not, if she knew you were going to harm her?
CMB:
Because I gave her drugs.
DI Fisher:
What kind of drugs?
CMB:
Ketamine. A large dose. It was easy to get. I deal with people who take drugs all the time, and Carla was always after something. She took it of her own free will.
DI Scott:
Then what happened?
CMB:
She was on the sofa. I made her comfortable while the drugs worked. I’d brought a knife with me. This time I would get my baby and I would call an ambulance and Carla would be fine after the operation. But . . .
A long pause.
DI Scott:
For the tape, the suspect has just banged her face on the table three times. She now has blood on her lip.
CMB:
I’d known Carla a long time. I should have realised.
DI Fisher:
What do you mean by that?
CMB:
She’d obviously had lots of boyfriends, not just the one I’d seen hanging around. I never thought . . . when I cut into Carla and first saw the baby girl, my heart sank. She was beautiful and sweet and I wanted nothing more than to have her as my daughter.
A pause.
But James could never have been her father. The baby wasn’t white. I felt utterly despondent and ready to give up.
DI Fisher:
But you didn’t give up, did you?
CMB:
No. No, I didn’t.
DI Scott:
Was it your intention to remove Pip Pearce’s baby from her womb yesterday?
CMB:
Not until she called me. She asked for my help, Detective. What was I supposed to do?
A pause. DIs Scott and Fisher confer inaudibly.
DI Scott:
So to recap, you’re confessing to the murders of Sally-Ann Frith and her unborn baby, the attempted murder of Carla Davis and the murder of her unborn baby, and you were intending to inflict serious bodily harm on Pip Pearce?
A pause.
CMB:
Yes.
DI Scott:
Have you anything further to add?
CMB sighs heavily.
CMB:
Would you like me to tell you about the others?
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Epub ISBN: 9781448164615
Version 1.0
Published by Century 2013
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Copyright © Samantha Hayes 2013
Samantha Hayes has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work
This is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
First published in Great Britain in 2013 by
Century
Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London SW1V 2SA
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9781780891484 (HB)
ISBN 9781780891491 (TPB)