by Rona Halsall
‘I’m going round to see Dean,’ she said, clear now that this was the best way forward. ‘If I can show him the evidence and get him onside, he can help me stop the investigation. I’m sure of it.’
Frank put a hand on her arm. ‘Hold on, love. You’re not going on your own. I’m coming with you.’
She wondered for a moment if it was a good idea, the way Dean and Frank were around each other, but she also knew she’d feel stronger with Frank there beside her, backing her up. He’d seen the evidence. He believed her now.
She looked at the Tupperware box on the desk. ‘I’ll just take some photos, so I can show Dean, then we’ll leave that and the police can do whatever they need to do.’
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and snapped from different angles, still unable to believe her sister would do such a thing. The enormity of her betrayal hit her then, and a trembling started in her stomach, working its way through her body. She clung to the filing cabinet to stop herself from sinking to the floor.
‘I’ll drive,’ Frank said. ‘Come on, the sooner we go, the sooner this will be sorted.’
35
They arrived at Becca’s house to find all the lights off and the doors locked. There was no sign of Dean’s car on the drive or parked on the road outside.
‘That’s odd.’ Becca squinted at the property, searching for signs of life. ‘He didn’t say he was working away. In fact, I’m pretty sure he said he was taking a week off to be with Mia.’
‘Perhaps they’ve just popped out to the shops. Or gone to get something to eat.’ Frank shrugged.
Becca checked her watch and frowned. Almost eight o’clock. ‘Yeah, you’re right. He could be back soon.’ She thought for a moment, her heart sinking as she realised there was something else she could do. ‘I suppose I could check with Alice, just in case. She’ll know what his plans are.’ Alice was the last person she wanted to talk to, but she was the only person who could help so Becca pulled her phone out of her pocket and made the call.
‘Oh, hi, Becca. He’s… um… yeah, he has taken a week off and he did leave me a message to say he might be going away.’
Becca’s body went rigid. He’s taken Mia away? That definitely hadn’t been discussed. Her heart started to race, uneasy at this new development. What if he doesn’t come back?
Alice sounded cagey and Becca was sure there was something she wasn’t telling her.
‘Do you know where he’s gone? Did he say?’
‘No, sorry. I didn’t ask.’ She was getting a little snippy.
Becca thought for a moment. ‘Has he gone with someone, do you know?’
Alice sighed, impatient. ‘That’s his business. I’m sorry, Becca, I’m in the middle of something here, I’ve got to go.’
The line went dead. She’d clearly felt compromised, which suggested that Dean was doing something Becca wouldn’t be happy with. She felt empty, hollowed out by the knowledge she wouldn’t be seeing her daughter, a sense of panic growing inside her. Frank sat silent beside her, deep in thought.
She got her keys out of her pocket. ‘I can get some things while I’m here. I’ll only be a few minutes. Then I’ll try giving him a call, though he’s not been answering me the last few times. Straight to voicemail.’
‘I’ll come in with you,’ Frank said, getting out of the car. ‘You never know, he might have left something lying around that’ll give us a clue as to where he’s gone.’
Becca didn’t reply, thinking it was very unlikely. Everything was done online these days – no handy brochures or leaflets to signal a possible destination.
‘You know there’s apps you can get to find your phone if it’s missing,’ Frank said when they were inside. ‘There was a discussion on local radio recently. I remember thinking it was a good idea. Perhaps we can get one of those downloaded? Then we’d know exactly where he is. Stop us wasting time.’
‘Hmm. Not a bad idea, Dad. Not a bad idea at all.’ She flashed him a smile and gave him her phone. ‘You see if you can find one while I nip upstairs and grab some clothes.’
Dad is full of surprises these days, she thought as she hurriedly stuffed underwear and clean clothes into a small suitcase. It was easy to assume older people hadn’t a clue about technology, but he had time on his hands and was probably more up-to-date on some things than she was.
She went to the bedside cabinet to get her book. A glint of something caught her eye and she bent down to get a better look. There on the carpet lay an earring. Emerald green. Dangly. And definitely not hers.
She picked it up, held it in the palm of her hand, a symbol of her husband’s infidelity. Although she’d had her suspicions, in her heart she hadn’t wanted to believe he’d be unfaithful, but now she had the evidence and there was no denying it. Tears stung her eyes as she studied the earring. It was familiar, and she wracked her brains for an image, a match. Who wears jewellery like this? But she couldn’t quite grasp the fleeting image that came to mind, gone before she could properly focus.
She felt like an intruder in her own bedroom and knew she’d be in deeper trouble if she was found to have come here, and broken the rules set by the safeguarding team. I’ve got to get out quick. She slipped the earring into her pocket, zipped up her bag and was about to go downstairs when she stopped and turned, making her way to Mia’s room instead. It was like a magnet – the need to have something of her daughter’s too strong to resist. I’ll be quick, she told herself. Just a cuddly toy.
She stood in the doorway. It was in a state of disarray, the bed unmade, toys all over the floor, drawers opened and clothes strewn on top of the dresser. Panic packing, she thought, which was unlike Dean. He was meticulous when going on trips – always ready early rather than running late. She frowned as she stooped to pick up the unicorn, Mia’s latest ‘must have’ toy. It was a firm favourite now, and went everywhere with them. In fact, Mia wouldn’t go to bed without it. Dean knew that, which made her wonder if someone else had done the packing. Dean’s lover, possibly? Her hand tightened round the unicorn. Someone who didn’t know Mia very well.
Her mind took her back to her conversation with Alice. Could it be her? It was Dean who had persuaded Becca that Alice wasn’t interested in him and had mentioned a fiancé. But he could have been lying. And she’d been so uncomfortable talking to Becca on the phone. Guilty? Becca tried to remember if she’d ever seen Alice with a partner, and her mind was a blank. She’d never mentioned anyone, and Becca was certain she’d never seen her with a boyfriend.
Her hand brushed against the earring in her pocket, evidence that he’d moved on to someone else. No wonder he’d been so quick to instigate divorce proceedings, seizing the opportunity like a starving person tearing into fresh bread. In that respect, the whole situation with Mia had been an absolute blessing for him, really. Allowing him to make a move he’d perhaps been reluctant to make before. It had swept away any problems about custody of Mia, and who would live in the house. Such an easy solution. Too easy. Her heart skipped. Is Dean involved too?
She went to find Frank, who was sitting in the lounge, studying her phone. He looked up when he heard her come in.
‘He’s on the A55,’ he said before she could speak. ‘I’ve got this app working and it’s brilliant. I can watch him.’ He held up the screen to show her. ‘Look, he’s that little dot.’
Becca squinted at the screen, trying to work out what she was seeing ‘Whereabouts on the A55?’
Frank took the phone back to check. ‘Just coming up to Deeside.’
Becca pictured the route, calculated the distance. ‘He’s not been gone that long then. An hour at most, probably.’ She frowned. ‘I wonder where he’s going?’
Frank glanced up from the screen. ‘We can keep checking in and find out.’
Becca opened her hand and dangled the earring in front of Frank’s face. ‘Is this familiar?’
Frank stared at it. ‘I think…’ He scrunched up his nose. ‘You know me. I’m not good at
noticing things like that.’
Becca could see the blush creeping up his neck. He knows. And now she could make a good guess. ‘It’s Kate’s, isn’t it?’
He nodded. ‘I think… it might be.’
It was obvious, now. Of course Kate was the other woman. She was taking back everything she thought Becca had stolen from her all those years ago. Doing a life swap.
She sank on to the sofa next to Frank, dazed for a moment. Her husband and her sister. They were in this together. Rage burnt through her chest, firing up her resolve. They couldn’t take her daughter and ruin her life like this. She wouldn’t let them.
Her jaw tightened. ‘I know where they’re going,’ she said, everything slotting together in her mind. ‘They’re going to London. I think Kate’s with him.’
She stood and went out to the garage, opened the door, and there was Kate’s car. Dean was driving her sister to London.
Is he going to move there with her?
The thought sent waves of panic through her body and she had to lean against the wall while she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She slid to the ground. Dean held a lot of events in the south of England, and he could run his business from anywhere. Alice could deal with things locally. It would be an easy thing for him to relocate. And wouldn’t life be simpler if he made a new start far away from neurotic, mad Becca?
He was going to take her daughter away, make sure Becca couldn’t be part of her life. She hadn’t known he had such cruelty in him. But maybe he wasn’t the one making the decisions. Maybe that was Kate.
36
‘Becca, you all right, love?’ Frank crouched beside her, his face creased with concern. ‘Here, let’s get you up. We’re going home.’
Becca’s limbs felt like they belonged to someone else. She couldn’t move and Frank had to heave her to her feet and practically drag her to the car. Words wouldn’t come, her brain so shocked that Dean and Kate would do this to her.
Frank chattered all the way back to Bangor, talking to himself as much as to her, going over recent events in the light of their new knowledge, seeing how a fresh interpretation could be given to seemingly innocent things.
Finally, she found her voice. ‘That first weekend Mia was ill. Do you remember? Both Kate and Dean were away. He was supposed to be in Scotland. Said there was patchy reception. I think he switched his phone off. I bet he went to London with Kate instead.’
Frank grimaced. ‘You could be right, you know. I suppose he must have given Mia some sweets before he left. Told her not to tell you? Or Kate could have done. She was home, wasn’t she, when you called round?’
‘It makes so much sense now. Easier for the two of them to be working together on this. Although…’ She shook her head. ‘How could Dean allow his daughter to be harmed? He saw how ill she was, how distressed.’
‘Love is a strange thing,’ Frank said. ‘Makes people blind to their actions and the consequences. I suppose he knew it wouldn’t kill her, whatever they used. Just a temporary bout of sickness and diarrhoea that would pass. No long-term harm.’
‘I think he was pretty horrified, though, when she was ill that time he was home.’ Becca huffed. ‘Made sure he wasn’t around the next few times, though.’ Her hands clenched round the toy unicorn in her lap. ‘How could he? And then pin it on me. Not only has he taken my daughter away from me, he’s taken my career too. I’ll never get nursing work again. Then I’ve got to go through this psychiatric assessment, and I’ll have to do what they recommend, or they won’t give me access. He must know they won’t let me near Mia.’
‘Handy, that,’ Frank said as they turned into the drive of his house.
‘Oh, Dad. What are we going to do? I can’t be without Mia. I can’t. I’m her mum and she needs me.’ Becca burst into tears, clutching Mia’s unicorn to her chest, her heart breaking.
They sat in the car in silence, the engine ticking as it cooled, neither of them having an answer.
‘Let’s have a cup of tea,’ Frank said eventually as he opened the car door.
They’d talked round and round the problem for almost an hour when the phone rang. It was the landline, which lived on top of the cupboard, next to Frank’s chair. He leant over and picked up the receiver, Becca watching his face as it went from a frown to wide-eyed shock.
‘Just a minute,’ he said to the person on the phone. ‘I’m going to pass you to my daughter, if you wouldn’t mind giving her the details. I’m not… I can’t take it in.’
Becca grabbed the phone and introduced herself to the caller.
‘I’m afraid there’s been an accident,’ a woman said. ‘A collision on the M6. I’m calling from the hospital. Birmingham City Hospital. Just to inform you that Kate Pritchard is in our intensive care unit.’
Becca gulped.
‘The driver has minor injuries and is being treated for shock.’
‘My daughter! What about my daughter?’ Becca screeched. ‘She was in the car too.’
‘The little girl is fine, I believe.’
Becca gabbled her thanks, told the caller they were on their way and put the phone down. ‘Come on, Dad. Let’s go.’ The colour had drained from Frank’s face and he was shaking, but she bundled him into the hallway, collecting jackets on the way out of the door.
The thought of any of her family being injured was horrific, and for a moment, she forgot what Dean and Kate had done to her, forgot why they were on the motorway in the first place. All she could think about was Mia and the need to comfort her after what must have been the most terrifying incident of her short life.
‘We’ll take your car, Dad. It’s blocking mine in the drive and we haven’t time to shift them around. Anyway, yours is faster.’ He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out the keys, passing them to her.
‘Intensive care, that’s what they said, wasn’t it?’ Frank said, after a few minutes.
‘Let’s stay positive. She’s in good hands.’
Two and a half hours later, they arrived at the hospital and were directed to the ICU, where a nurse let them into the waiting room. It was bright and cheerful with Impressionist prints hung on the walls, the mood at odds with the doleful faces of the current occupants. Everyone was sitting quietly, staring at the floor or the walls, some nursing paper coffee cups, waiting for news of loved ones.
Becca had expected to see Dean and Mia, but they weren’t there. Adrenaline was still pumping round her body, after their dash from North Wales, her heart racing.
‘I’ll tell the doctor you’re here,’ the nurse said and left before Becca could ask where her family were.
Frank slumped into a chair, elbows on his knees, head hanging between his shoulders. Becca perched on the one next to him, her leg bouncing up and down. His hand found hers and she gripped tightly, impatient for the nurse to return. Unable to settle, she got up. ‘I’ll just see if I can talk to someone, find out where Dean and Mia are.’ But before she could do that, a doctor swept into the room.
‘Mr Pritchard?’
Frank nodded, Becca grabbed hold of his hand again and they followed the doctor down the corridor a short way to a small meeting room.
‘I’m afraid Ms Pritchard… your daughter has sustained serious head injuries. There was a side impact, which shunted the car across the carriageway and down an embankment. She also has chest injuries. Unfortunately, the airbag didn’t inflate properly.’
Becca stared at the doctor, open-mouthed. Frank didn’t say anything, and she wondered if he was in shock. She squeezed his hand, but he didn’t respond.
The doctor carried on. ‘We’ve had to sedate her to give the swelling on her brain time to subside. It’s very much a waiting game with this type of injury, I’m afraid.’
‘Will… will she fully recover?’ Frank said, his voice wavering as if he hardly dared ask.
‘It’s early days. I can’t promise anything, but rest assured we are doing everything we can to make sure the prognosis is positive.’
Becca clasped Frank’s hand a little tighter. ‘I think Dad might be in shock,’ she said to the doctor, who looked over at the nurse.
‘Let’s get you a cup of tea,’ the nurse said. ‘Lots of sugar. See if that helps.’ She led them out of the room and Becca thanked the doctor before following them back to the waiting room, where the nurse organised tea for them both, saying she’d be back to check on Frank.
There was still no sign of Dean and Mia.
‘I don’t suppose…’ Becca started, as the nurse was about to leave. She turned. ‘My sister was travelling with my husband and three-year-old daughter. I don’t know where they are.’
The nurse frowned. ‘Perhaps they’re still in A & E? I haven’t seen them, but I’ve just come on shift. Let me go and ask for you.’
‘Oh, thank you. I don’t want to be any trouble, but I just…’ Becca’s voice cracked. ‘I need to see my daughter. Make sure she’s okay.’
The nurse put a comforting hand on her shoulder. ‘Of course you do. Have a seat, keep an eye on your dad and I’ll go and see what I can find out.’
Frank sipped at his tea, obviously lost in his own thoughts. Becca fidgeted with the car keys, which were still in her hand. She stuffed them in her handbag, and when she could wait no longer, she got up and paced the corridor. It was better than sitting still.
Finally, the nurse reappeared. ‘Sorry I took so long. Got waylaid. Apparently, your husband is waiting for stitches in his hand. Still in A & E. Your daughter is just being checked over now. I’ve told them you’re here and will be coming down.’
‘Thank you so much.’ Becca’s heart was skipping with relief. ‘Where’s A & E?’
The nurse gave her directions and promised to monitor Frank while she ran down corridors, desperate to be with her daughter.