Alex Barclay - Harm's Reach

Did you discover any darker secrets than a military history, Robert Prince?

And could Laura Flynn have stumbled across them?

Ren got off the phone and filled the others in on her conversation with Barbara Hynes.

‘I can get in touch with the ME in Butte about the journalist OD,’ said Cliff.

‘Thanks,’ said Ren.

‘Anything on the secret baby front?’ said Cliff.

‘Not so far,’ said Ren. ‘Let me look into the surrogacy more. I’m not really sure how it all works.’ She began Googling. ‘OK — it seems the average surrogate gets paid about fifty thousand dollars and their medical expenses are covered. Everyone seems to have a different kind of relationship with their surrogate. Some parents keep a kind of distance, others are right there in the delivery room. Couples can go through an agency or they can choose their own private surrogate, which is obviously what the Princes did. I’ll call Janine — I think we need to pay them a visit. I guess we can wait until Mr Prince gets back to Golden...’

It was Friday before Robert Prince came back to Golden. He welcomed Ren and Janine into the living room and stood awkwardly by the fireplace. He was dressed in navy pleat-front pants and a green short-sleeved golf shirt that was tight on his muscular arms, and clung to his small, incongruous stomach. He looked like a man who was more comfortable in a suit, who felt in some way vulnerable dressed down. He seemed lost in the vast showhouse rental. Ingrid came in from the kitchen and gestured for him to sit down. He nodded. Ingrid sat beside him, taking his hand.

Ren didn’t wait to get to the point.

‘Mr and Mrs Prince, I have to ask you, was Laura Flynn acting as your surrogate?’

The Princes looked at each other. Robert gave a small nod to his wife.

‘Yes,’ said Ingrid. ‘She was. How did you know?’

Ren glanced at Robert Prince, but decided to say nothing about his conversation with Tolman.

‘I... I’m sorry I lied,’ said Ingrid. ‘It was such a personal thing. We had tried for a baby for a long time and nothing had happened. It was not an easy decision, but we desperately wanted to have children. When we decided on surrogacy, we wanted the mother to be someone meaningful in our lives, not a stranger. We approached Laura. She agreed and...’ Her eyes filled with tears. ‘We could never have imagined it would end like this. None of this is something you ever think could happen. I... just... didn’t know what to say when you called to the door. I was shocked. Robert wasn’t here to talk to. I didn’t want any public scrutiny. It’s selfish, I know. It’s so horribly selfish. But I was devastated. We lost our baby, we lost Laura. It was all so terrible. Then I was imagining headlines about us, about being fakes and trying to fool everyone. We’ve just had to put an article on hold that was going to formally announce the pregnancy.’

Robert Prince put his arm around his wife and pulled her close. ‘It’s OK, sweetheart. It’s OK.’

It is not OK to lie to us, though. It’s not.

‘And when the baby was born, you would say that it had arrived prematurely,’ said Ren.

‘Yes,’ said Ingrid. ‘That way, it’s before any media attention around the due date, so the paparazzi aren’t hanging around, waiting. It gives us breathing space.’

‘So,’ said Janine, ‘can you tell us about your arrangement with Laura?’

Ingrid straightened herself. ‘She was our gestational surrogate...’ She paused. ‘It was my egg and Robert’s sperm.’

Ren nodded. ‘I’d like to get a DNA sample from both of you, if that’s OK.’

‘Why would you need that?’ said Robert.

‘Just for confirmation,’ said Ren.

‘We’re confirming it now,’ said Robert. ‘We were trying to keep the surrogacy private for no reason other than we’re private people and it was a private decision. We didn’t want our children knowing that they were born to a surrogate. Ingrid didn’t want to be constantly fielding questions about surrogacy every time she was interviewed and nor did I. We would have been included in every pregnancy, surrogacy, adoption, older-fathers article in every newspaper and magazine...’

‘And it’s not what defines us,’ said Ingrid. ‘I want to be known for my charity work, we both do, and Robert for his business interests...’

‘I’d rather not be known at all,’ said Robert.

‘I understand where you’re coming from,’ said Ren, ‘but we still need to run the DNA tests. Laura Flynn and the baby she was carrying — your baby — were murdered. We need to know why. I’m sure you do too.’

‘But that doesn’t have anything to do with Ingrid or me,’ said Robert.

‘We don’t know that yet,’ said Ren. ‘We have to look at every possibility.’

‘What do you need us to do?’ said Ingrid.

‘It’s just a buccal swab — a swab of the inside of your cheek,’ said Ren. ‘I have everything here. I can do it before I go.’

Ingrid glanced toward Robert. He nodded.

‘In terms of payment for the surrogacy...’ said Ren.

‘We cover her medical expenses,’ said Robert, ‘obviously, we cover her accommodation and living expenses, as we always have. And she was to receive a hundred thousand dollars when the baby was born. I insisted on giving her twenty-five thousand beforehand to reassure her. She was not happy about that — she trusted us, of course — but I just felt it was the right thing to do.’

I don’t remember hearing about her bank account having twenty-five thousand dollars in it.

‘Mrs Prince, you spoke to us about Laura having an ex-boyfriend,’ said Janine.

‘Yes,’ said Ingrid.

‘How long ago did they break up?’

Ingrid shrugged. ‘Last year, I think.’

‘So, if he saw his ex-girlfriend was pregnant shortly after they broke up, and he still had feelings for her, his first assumption is not going to be that she is acting as a surrogate, is it?’

Ingrid nodded. ‘No. I understand.’

‘It is important for us to know as much as we can,’ said Ren. ‘There are angles you may not have considered — anything could be relevant.’

‘We’ll do everything we can to help,’ said Robert.

‘Will you be staying in the area?’ said Ren.

‘Yes,’ said Robert. ‘I’ve taken some time out of work.’

‘Is there anything else you can think of that might impact on the investigation?’ said Janine.

‘No,’ said Robert.

Ingrid shook her head. ‘Not that I can think of right now.’

‘Well, thank you for your time,’ said Ren. ‘And I’m so sorry for your loss.’

She couldn’t help glancing at Ingrid’s belly, hidden behind a loose-fitting top. She realized then that Ingrid Prince would be forced to announce a miscarriage in the coming weeks.

The evidence vault at the Sheriff’s Office was a giant gray windowless warehouse with cinderblock walls. Ren and Janine went down to hand over the Princes’ swabs to be processed by the JeffCo criminalist at the CBI lab. Janine made the most of a Colorado Bureau of Investigation grant, which allowed overtime to be paid to criminalists to test any evidence likely to have DNA. If Janine pitched a case to her sergeant, and it was approved for testing, and DNA evidence was discovered, she could have thirty hours’ overtime for investigative work on the case. Janine’s first sergeant had been right — she ferreted resources out of everywhere she could.

‘I get it, I really do get the privacy thing,’ said Ren, as they walked back up the stairs, ‘but, Jesus, this is their babymama’s murder we’re talking about. Their baby’s murder.’