The Attic Room: A psychological thriller by Linda Huber Page A

man’s house, using his towels,
drinking his coffee. And she’d stood beside him in his coffin and felt pity,
shit, she’d admired him for being brave… and all the time he’d been the worst
kind of low-life possible.
    ‘Christ. What can I tell Naomi?’ she whispered.
    David Mallony leaned towards her. ‘You’ll have to think
about that. We don’t know yet if he simply kept the images for his own
gratification, or whether he was involved in distributing them – or making
them.’
    Nina’s head reeled. This was getting worse and worse. What
if -
    ‘Oh God – does that mean the blackmailer was telling the
truth?’
    But the answer to that must be ‘yes’… dear God… Her relation
had been the absolute worst kind of pervert, for nothing could be worse than
abusing children. And oh, fuck… had it only been other children? Or had she
been abused too? Had she ‘screamed her poor little head off’?
    Her gut spasmed as she stared in horror at David Mallony,
seeing the sympathy in his eyes. The only thing that would make her feel a tiny
bit better was if John Moore was no relation to her at all. And that seemed so
very unlikely now.
    ‘Have you found out his relationship to me?’ Her voice came
out a mere whisper, and continued silently in her head. Please let him be a ten
millionth cousin a billion times removed, please…
    His voice was heavy. ‘Bad news again, I’m afraid. There’s a
marriage registered between him and Claire Lily Donaldson. One child, Nina
Claire Moore. And there was no divorce.’
    Nina thudded her fist on the table. What the shit had Claire
been thinking? This would be why she left Bedford with Nina, and she must have
had her reasons for keeping the paedophilia a secret, but it had still been
wrong. It was all very well holding something like that back from a child, but
Nina should have been told as soon as she’d grown up.
    David Mallony nodded approvingly. ‘That’s right. Be angry.
Don’t get into the victim role. All this is nothing to do with you, and you’ll
cope best if you think like that. The DNA test will confirm the relationship.
In the meantime we’re going to have to search this house, and we’ll bug your
landline in case the blackmailer calls again. And if he does I think you should
move out of here.’
    ‘Oh God – I don’t know what to do for the best.’ Nina rubbed
her face with both hands. ‘Is there any reason we can’t go home straightaway?’
    But if they did that, she would only have to return at some
point to finish the business with the house. How very much better it would be
to get it all organised first and then never darken John Moore’s door again.
    ‘It’s up to you,’ said David.
    Nina bit her lip. She might as well get the job finished. It
wouldn’t take long, a planning session with Sam and then she could sign
anything necessary, clear the house and then be off… and they would manage it
quicker living here than in a hotel.
    ‘Okay. I’ll stay in town another day or two but if anything
more happens we’ll go to a hotel. That was why you sent the policewoman
upstairs with Naomi, wasn’t it – in case there are boxes of nasty photos up
there.’
    ‘Yes. But don’t worry. If there’s anything to be found we’ll
get it out of here,’ he said. ‘Now, tell me what this caller said, as exactly
as you can remember.’
    When the two officers left Nina checked the time. Shit, it
was twelve already. What a stomach-turning way to spend a morning. She turned
to Naomi, who was standing in the hallway, her face one big question mark.
    ‘Right, Miss,’ said Nina briskly. ‘Information. First of
all, the police have found out that John Moore was involved in some sort of –
of illegal business. That’s why he was being blackmailed. So he was wrong and
the blackmailer was wrong too. Secondly, and I don’t understand this myself
yet, but there’s a possibility that John Moore was my father. The test results
will tell us that and they