Stephen Booth - Scared to Live

‘And you believed her, Mr Lowther?’

‘Certainly — especially after I met her for the first time. Rose Shepherd was very plausible, you know. She gave the impression of being completely nice and harmless, but a bit secretive, like a sort of maiden aunt. And it helped a lot that she seemed so… well, British. We were reassured by the fact that she was very like us — but she was Bulgarian, too. She was familiar with the ways of the country, so she knew how to deal with officials. She could play the system, if you like. Well, the upshot was that Miss Shepherd promised us an end to our frustration. She offered to provide exactly what we weren’t achieving through the official channels.’

‘And did she happen to mention that what she was offering was illegal?’

‘No, certainly not. It was never hinted at. She led us to believe that it was entirely above board. She described herself as an international adoption agent.’

‘Oh well, a bit of fancy language makes all the difference, doesn’t it?’ said Fry.

Lowther pulled a face and looked at her accusingly, as if disappointed rather than offended by her sarcasm.

‘She seemed like a godsend at the time, you know. Particularly for Lindsay. Bear in mind that she’d already met Zlatka several times and they’d bonded like mother and daughter. Lindsay had already made a place in her heart for that child. The official process had demanded it, almost. It’s very cruel to make a woman go through that experience and then tear the child away from her again. Don’t you think so?’

‘It’s not my place to pass judgement on another country’s legal system,’ said Fry.

Mrs Lowther smiled sadly. ‘You don’t have any children yourself, I imagine.’

Fry stiffened. ‘Are you really telling me that neither of you, nor any member of your family, ever suspected that what Miss Shepherd was proposing would be against the law?’

Lowther sighed. ‘I think the only person who had any doubts was Brian. But he only wanted whatever would make Lindsay happy, you know. So he went along with it, despite his reservations.’

‘And who paid the fees?’

‘I did. And I was happy to do it. Miss Shepherd knew Bulgarian, and she was able to arrange things that we couldn’t do for ourselves. She knew the system.’

‘Was it difficult getting Zlatka out of Bulgaria?’

‘Not so far as I know.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘It was Miss Shepherd who brought the child out of the country. The arrangement was that we would travel to Promahonas, just over the border in Greece, and she would deliver Zlatka to us there. So that’s what we did. We stayed at the Hotel Olympic in Sidirokastro, about fifteen kilometres from the border.’

Lowther fiddled with the leaves of one of the pot plants, releasing a few drops of water that scattered on the oak floor. Fry waited for him to continue, recognizing it was best not to interrupt.

‘From the balcony of the hotel, we could see a hill with a white church on top,’ he said. ‘Or it might have been a mosque, I’m not sure. But I remember it very well. The night we arrived, we spent some time on the balcony looking at it, because we didn’t know what else to do with ourselves. I could see Lindsay didn’t want to talk about the meeting — she was too anxious about it.’

‘Was she worried that Miss Shepherd wouldn’t keep her part of the arrangement?’

He shook his head. ‘I think we both trusted her. Partly because she was British, like us. But also she seemed a very genuine person when we met her. No, it wasn’t Rose Shepherd we had any doubts about. But we didn’t know what problems might crop up, what could go wrong along the way. I’m sure Lindsay was imagining the worst — imagining that she would never see the child again.’

‘So you were due to meet up the next day …’ prompted Fry.

‘Yes. In the afternoon, to give Miss Shepherd time to drive down from Pleven. That meant we had some time to kill. So the morning was even more difficult. But Miss Shepherd was as good as her word. She came down the E79 from Sofia to Promahonas, and the exchange took place in the back of our hire car. She handed over Zlatka, and the documents we needed. Everything seemed in order. Perfect, in fact. We were delighted.’

‘And the money?’

‘I paid for everything. I always wanted to help Lindsay as much as I could, financially. For example, I helped buy some of the things for their house.’

‘A Smeg dual-fuel cooker, for example?’

‘Yes, that was something Lindsay particularly wanted. Brian would never have been able to afford it himself. But for some reason, he seemed to resent accepting my help. It was very shortsighted of him. I only ever wanted to do the best for my little girl.’

‘So how did the arrangement with Rose Shepherd work?’

‘I paid half of her fee up front, and the remainder when she delivered the child. That was the agreement. It seemed very businesslike, and it was one more reason to trust her. I paid in pounds sterling, which was what Miss Shepherd had specified. I suppose they must have done it before.’

‘In fact, they had quite a business going.’

Lowther looked dejected. ‘They told us it would be all right. They said that no one really bothered about what happened to children like Zlatka. You know the sort of children I’m talking about — ’

‘Roma children,’ said Fry.

‘That’s it. They said Bulgarian couples didn’t want them. Well, it didn’t matter to us that she was Roma. She’s a beautiful baby. You’ve seen her, haven’t you?’

‘Yes, sir. Can you tell me who the person was you spoke to at the orphanage?’

‘Her name was Piya. Piya Yotova. I hope she doesn’t get into trouble over this. She was only trying to help.’

‘Piya Yotova is dead.’

The Lowthers gaped at her in amazement.

‘We didn’t know that.’

‘She was shot, along with a colleague, Dimitar Iliev.’

Fry took advantage of the shock clear on the Lowthers’ faces at the news.

‘Mr Lowther, now that we’ve got the truth about the so-called adoption, would you like to tell me again how you came to meet up with Rose Shepherd last Saturday.’

‘I told you, Lindsay wanted to say thank you. She wanted Miss Shepherd to know Luanne was happy and doing well, that it had all been worthwhile. There was nothing wrong with that, was there? No matter how Miss Shepherd might have bent the rules in Bulgaria, she was a caring person. You could see that she genuinely wanted the best for the child.’

‘And you got in touch with her by using the email address she’d given you in Bulgaria?’

‘Yes, that’s what I said,’ agreed Lowther cautiously.

‘Yet you’ve told me you had no way of getting in touch with her while you were there — that you always had to wait for her to phone you at the hotel.’

He hesitated, and Fry knew she was on the right track. There was more to be squeezed out of him yet.

‘Actually, that’s right,’ he said. ‘She gave me that email address when we saw her in Matlock Bath.’

‘I see. And did she happen to give you her phone number at the same time?’

‘Well, yes. So we could keep in touch in the future, you know.’

Fry could tell by the frozen expression in his eyes that Henry Lowther had no idea now whether he was saying the safe thing or not. If he denied having Rose Shepherd’s phone number, would the police be able to prove he was lying? Poor Mr Lowther. He hadn’t been as clever as he thought. He hadn’t planned his story in enough detail.

‘So the question remains, sir, how did you manage to get in contact with her before that meeting?’

‘It was the other way round,’ said Lowther. ‘It was Miss Shepherd who got in touch with us. Perhaps you’ve worked that out.’