Page 195 of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
Amanda Bailey
Who do you believe is the father of the baby?
Oliver Menzies
Gabriel or Jonah. Doesn’t matter. Biological determination is irrelevant. Simply building blocks that give the Antichrist physical form on earth.
Amanda Bailey
The baby’s father is Don Makepeace, the chief inspector who sent Gabriel to prison in the late 1980s. The baby’s mother is his wife, Julia. It was a simple case of kidnap and ransom. Emailing you something now.
Meeting with Connor Makepeace, the Alperton Angels ‘Baby’, 5 September 2021. Transcribed by Amanda Bailey.
AB:And you had no idea until yesterday?
CM:No. Dad said someone had found out so he had to tell me before they did. Do you know who that would be?
AB:No.
CM:He’s, like, really angry. They were waiting for the right time to tell me. Not when I’m just about to start uni, right? Never seen him like that before.
AB:Is there ever a good time to discover something so … traumatic?
CM:True. I mean, it’s cool. But a shock.
AB:What did your mum and dad tell you?
CM:That when I was just a few months old, Mum took me to the library. She had another appointment and was in a hurry but I was crying. A young woman approached her and offered to keep me occupied while Mum popped in to return her books. The girl mentioned helping her mother with her sister so was experienced with babies. She wore a uniform from a local private school Mum knew from her teaching work. She was plausible, Mum was desperate and even though she didn’t like leaving me with a stranger, she reasoned it wouldn’t be for long and, like, what’s the worst that can happen? Funny, right?
AB:Yep.
CM:Dad said the girl was with a gang. He’d put one of them away years before when he was a beat copper, so they targeted him, planned it for months. He said they must’ve followed Mum from the house, but because this girl was so well dressed and spoken, she didn’t suspect a thing. Until she came out and saw I was gone.
AB:That must’ve been terrible.
CM:They said it was, yeah. You know this whole story, right? That’s why you were asking me about it.
AB:I know bits and pieces.
CM:For days Dad got calls from the kidnappers and had to look in the local paper for where to drop the ransom. Dad told them he’d pay the money. When he went to drop it off he found all the gang had killed themselves and me safe and well with the girl. She rescued me, along with her boyfriend, so … I guess they let her off.
AB:How do you feel about it now?
CM:Fine. You know. I don’t remember it. It’s cool.
AB:Have you read about it, or seen anything on TV? They call it the case of the Alperton Angels.
CM:Like, I think so. But Dad said it’s not really what happened. People say they thought I was the devil, but it’s just what the gang told the teenagers. They were crims after cash, that’s all.
AB:You know the angels, the crims, all died except one?
CM:Yeah. Dad said that was a mistake.
Amanda Bailey
Holly steals the baby. She and Jonah care for it while the angels conduct their communications with Don and organise the exchange of ransom money. But Gabriel didn’t count on Don’s network of friends.
Oliver Menzies
