Underneath

by Andie M. Long

  ‘Come on, or we’ll be late,’ I yell.

  ‘I’ve just been saying goodbye to my son and mother, Lauren. How do I know I’ll even be back?’

  ‘Because we aren’t going to let anything happen to each other,’ I look her directly in the eyes.’ We’re in this together, whatever the reason, remember?’

  We arrive at the given address and knock. Monique looks out of the door and quickly up and down the street, as if expecting armed policemen to be surrounding her house.

  ‘We didn’t ring the police, Monique. Where’s Joe?’

  She looks completely unruffled and unfazed. ‘He’s inside, all packed and ready to go. He’s fine, Lauren, I wouldn’t have hurt him.’

  My eyes narrow. ‘No, kidnapping won’t have done him any harm at all.’

  ‘He’s got no idea I took him, he thinks it was a special trip with Auntie Mon, and if you’ve any sense you’ll keep it that way.’ She smiles. ‘We’ve had a good time.’

  I have to hold my own hands tightly as I want to punch her, but I want Joe more.

  ‘Okay,’ she says, ‘so here’s what we do. You come inside and you can take Joe, and then you leave. ‘She’, she points at Bettina, ‘stays. I need to speak to her.’

  ‘I have another idea,’ I say. ‘I want to know why you’ve done this and why I was involved, so let Joe come out and walk down the road to Niall’s car.’

  Monique’s eyes shoot down the street and she attempts to slam the door, but I’m too fast and hold it open. ‘There are no police, it’s just Niall. Let him take Joe home and let me and Bettina in.’

  She considers this for a minute. ‘Suit yourself. Just don’t try anything funny.’ She flashes a kitchen knife from within her pocket at me, and opens the door.

  ‘Muuuuuuum,’ Joe runs up to me with the biggest hug. I will never moan about hearing him repeat this familiar word over and over ever again. It’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard next to his first cry as he entered the world and my life. ‘I have had the best time. Auntie Mon has spoilt me to death.’

  The word death makes me gasp; it could so easily have been that tragic.

  ‘Well, your dad’s waiting for you down the road,’ I say, ‘so get your stuff together cos he can’t wait to see you.’

  ‘Oki-doki. Look at this Lego mum, its Loki and Iron Man and -’

  ‘Joe, I promise I’ll spend as long as you want going through your toys later, but right now you need a cuddle with your dad and to have a bath.’

  He runs off to get his stuff and we stand and wait for him in perfect silence. He’s back within a couple of minutes with a heaving duffle bag and a carrier bag full of stuff. He throws himself at Monique, arms outstretched. ‘Thanks Auntie Mon, that was brilliant. Can we do it again sometime?’

  She reaches down to him and looks at me with a smirk whilst she strokes her hand down my son’s hair. ‘Well that’ll be up to your mum now, won’t it? But I’d absolutely love to.’

  He comes and gets hold of my hand, something he doesn’t do very often now he’s nine, and definitely not in public. ‘Right, I’m ready mum.’

  ‘Okay darling, well I’ll be home really soon, but me and Bettina just need to stay with Monique a little while.’

  ‘Oh, is that cos of Auntie Mon’s mummy? You were wrong. She said she’s fine now, so you don’t need to worry.’

  ‘No it’s something else. Your dad’s brought his car. I’ll show you where he’s parked.’ I walk to the door. ‘I won’t be long and then I’m going to read you so many bedtime stories when I get back you’ll be begging me to stop and let you sleep.’

  ‘That won’t ever happen, Mum. I can stay up til midnight. Are you having a bit of girly time? Dad says you talk about shoes non-stop, I thought it was boring, but I guess it’s just like me liking Lego.’

  ‘It is, and yes that’s what we’re going to do, just for a little while, cos we’ve missed Monique.’

  I open the door and I needn’t have worried about him getting to Niall, he’s outside the door. He grabs Joe in a hug. I give him a warning look and Niall bets him to a race to see who can reach the car first. I reach into my pocket and press the send button on the text I typed in earlier.

  Give me one hour after you get home and then call the police.

  ‘Well, this is very civilised, but I don’t like being left two against one, so for now, Bettina, I’d be very grateful if you’d go in there.’ Monique opens a door to our right. It opens into a large closet. ‘There’s no window, so you won’t be able to contact anyone, but there’s a light and a single bed in there to sit on.’

  I nod at Bettina and she goes in.

  Monique slides a hook and eye across the door closing.

  ‘This way Lo,’ she says indicating a lounge, which is small and basically furnished. There’s a feature wall painted light blue, and navy cord carpet with pink floral curtains. ‘Oh Lauren, you’re dying to know what’s happening, aren’t you? This,’ she sweeps her hand around to indicate the room, ‘is one of my rentals. My dad left me some money when he died and I invested it in property. It’s recently become vacant, though it’s rented again from next month.’ She smiles. ‘Where did you think my money comes from? I only work three days a week.’

  I had honestly never given it a thought.

  ‘I wish you could see your face,’ she laughs. ‘You’ve been provided for, and for so long, that you’ve no idea what the cost of living is. Well I’ll give you a little tip, Lo, when you leave here, try and stand on your own two feet, because the pathetic, hard done by, bored housewife thing is so last year.’

  ‘So you were never genuinely my friend?’ I ask.

  ‘Oh no, that’s where you’re wrong,’ she says. ‘Take a seat. Let’s have our usual coffee shall we? I always enjoy them.’ She gets up to head into the kitchen and turns back seeing me eyeing the door keeping Bettina in. ‘Make any moves towards that door and I’ll walk in there and stab her. Or maybe,’ she gets the knife from her pocket and looks at it, ‘I’ll do you, and then there’ll be no bedtime stories for Joe after all.’

  I sink into the chair and wait for her to return.

  She places the coffee in front of me. I have no intention of drinking it, but take pretend sips. I don’t trust her; it could have anything in it. She looks at me, smiling.

  ‘If I was going to do something to you, I could think of better things than spiking your coffee, maybe cutting your car brakes or something. That would have been interesting.’

  I look at her in horror and she cackles with laughter.

  ‘I’m joking, Lauren. Oh dear, I fear our friendship is forever ruined. Oh well.’

  The woman is sick in the head. I don’t know why I came for an explanation. We should have tried to overpower her while we had the chance.

  ‘Why do you want to talk to Bettina?’

  ‘I want Tyler.’

  I shake my head. ‘You are joking?’

  She crosses her legs. ‘That child is the one thing that’s kept myself and Danny apart all these years. I get Tyler. I get Danny.’

  ‘I can see you now, "Mum of the Year".’

  ‘I don’t need to be a fantastic mother. He can afford nannies. I just need the child to be ours.’

  ‘You’re insane.’

  I’m not prepared as she punches me in the nose. I feel a burning sensation and feel a trickle run from my nostril.

  ‘Let’s not forget where we are, and who is calling the shots Lauren. Now, I suggest you sit there and be quiet, or I’ll kick you out and start on your friend.’

  I nod. My nose is throbbing.

  She looks at her hand as if I might have ruined her manicure with my nose. ‘I’ve followed Leeds United since I was young, you know. My dad got me into it. After Toby left I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I started going to games again. I met Danny in the local bar the team went to after matches. He was an amazing player, and so sexy. He told me what a
bitch his wife was and that he was only staying with her because of their kid. He said she’d got pregnant to trap him, and that they’d been together since school. He tried to dump her, but he was stuck with her because of the kid. I told him I never wanted children and he thought that was fantastic. We fell in love.’

  I want to laugh, to ask her if she’s heard herself. She sounds like a fourteen year old with a crush, not a grown woman, but I keep my mouth shut and continue to listen.

  ‘We saw each other for months. I asked him to leave her and move in with me. He’d still see the kid on the weekends but he’d be child free the rest of the time. He told me I must be joking. He didn’t want to be a part-time dad, the football took him away often enough. So I suggested he try to get custody of Tyler and I’d help him. He told me all about her fixation with you, he was going to exploit that and make her seem crazy. I thought then we’d be together.’ She puts her drink down on the mat hard. ‘But he told me he didn’t need another wife, he could have his needs met by any number of bimbos hanging around the club, so he finished with me.’ She smiles to herself. ‘I decided I would play the long game. I knew the marriage wouldn’t last, and in the meantime, I wanted to be friends with the girl who had never fallen for Bettina’s charm. The one person who’d got into his wife’s mind and messed with her head.’

  ‘Me?’ I state.

  ‘It didn’t take long to track you down. A bit of Googling and Facebook and I soon had your details. You really should tighten up your security settings, Lo.’

  I did – after friending Seb.

  ‘So that was that. I met you at yoga and surprisingly, I genuinely clicked with you. I really was your best friend.’

  She looks at me. Does she expect me to thank her?

  ‘But then of course Bettina came back and you made friends with her. The one person I expected to tell her to take a running jump, and you fucking befriended her. ’ Then the stupid bitch asks to come to the cinema with me. You were my friend, not hers.’ She wrings her hands. ‘YOU RUINED EVERYTHING,’ she roars.

  ‘W-why the fake pregnancy and miscarriage?’

  ‘To get you to spend some time with me; away from Niall and Joe, and Bettina, and from whatever the fuck was going on with Seb. I was losing you, Lauren. You hurt me.’

  ‘Why did you take Joe? You know what he means to me. How could you do that?’

  ‘I panicked. I knew you’d seen the photos and jewellery, so I got Matt to help me to get Joe. God that man’s gullible – great lay though. I figured if I had Joe you’d hold off the police, but you didn’t, did you? So now I’m left in this situation. Anyway, I figured we could come to some arrangement, so here you are. You can say I was innocent and we’ll get Bettina to confess to the crimes.’

  Monique’s eyes glitter. ‘If she wants to keep Tyler safe, she’ll do it. I’ll take Tyler to visit his dad in prison. Once he’s released, which of course, he will be, we can live together somewhere.’

  Her speech becomes rapid. ‘He could get a transfer to Real Madrid, maybe even Barcelona.’ She looks at me, a pitying smile on her face. ‘Me and Danny have a connection. That’s how I always knew Niall wasn’t the one for you. You don’t get each other like we do. He’s the only man I’ve ever really loved, and once I have Tyler we can all be together.’

  She gets up and reaches for my coffee cup. ‘What a waste of good coffee,’ she says. I snatch my alarm out from my waistband and blast it into her ear. She wobbles backward, dropping the coffee and I upend the coffee table, knocking her to the floor. I fly out of the room, past the spare room door and flip the latch. Bettina hurtles through the door and we race outside to my car. I’m fumbling with the key fob to get the car open and just manage it as Monique races out of the house shouting, ‘I should never have let Joe go, you traitorous bitch.’

  ‘Get in the car,’ I yell at Bettina. She hesitates. ‘Do it,’ I shout.

  I judge that I might not make it round to the driver’s side so I run to the back of the car and flip the boot open. Inside is the carved mask I bought in the coffee shop. As Monique rushes towards me, waving the kitchen knife, I swing the mask with all my strength. It hits her head and I watch her drop to the floor. Then aware that she might yet get up again, I run and dive into the driver’s seat. ‘Hold on,’ I yell at Bettina. I check my mirrors. There is no-one around. One more look behind me and I see Monique beginning to get up, clutching her head. I put the gear stick in reverse and start to accelerate. I take off the handbrake, let up the clutch and shoot backwards.

  There’s a large thump. We’re lucky not to have hurt ourselves with the whiplash as the car jerks. I sit behind the wheel, my heartbeat thudding in my chest. I turn to Bettina. ‘That was an accident.’

  Her face has drained of colour and she looks like she’s going to be sick, but she nods her head. ‘Absolutely.’

  She reaches for my hand. I squeeze hers tightly.

  I hear sirens in the distance and in a few minutes police cars and an ambulance begin to appear. Niall came through and called them. We get out of the car and they take us to the ambulance, where our shoulders are covered with blankets. A number of policemen gather around the back of the car. Monique is covered in a blanket as well, only hers stretches the whole way over her body.

  Epilogue

  Things moved quickly after that. The police concluded that Monique’s death was an accident, caused by us trying to get away from the house with her in pursuit holding a weapon. I sold the car soon after. I couldn’t bear to see it again.

  Joe and Tyler had the last two weeks off school due to the publicity surrounding the case. I sat with Joe and told him about Monique. I skirted around the main issues and just said that she had mental health problems and her death was a tragic accident. I’ve kept newspapers out of his way, but I know he’ll find out the truth one day. Being nine years old, Joe accepted what I told him. He and Tyler seemed more bothered that they got eight weeks off school instead of six. They spent the last two weeks of term at each other’s house, playing Lego. It must be good to be nine and able to deal with things so easily.

  We put our house up for sale, and while we await a buyer we are living with Niall’s mum and dad. Niall got a transfer to a post in Stafford Hospital. His employers were really helpful with his transfer, possibly because his infamy was stopping a lot of people from getting on with their work. I am enjoying having the security of family around me. We are being spoilt rotten as Rebecca cooks most of the meals, and insists that we have at least one ‘date night’ a week. This means that Niall and myself are enjoying some alone time, though we desperately miss Joe, even if it’s just for one evening. We can’t help it. I think we’ll always be a bit overprotective now.

  I spend loads of time with Joe though. He started his new school a few weeks ago and has made a few friends already, though he says he misses Tyler. I make sure I’m there to take him and collect him every day. I realise it’s not practical and hopefully sometime soon I’ll be able to trust Glen or Rebecca to pick him up occasionally, but for now it has to be me. That’s just the way it is and they understand.

  Niall and I are getting there slowly. Like I’ve said, relationships take work and they’re not always on an up, but the time we’re getting together is helping us heal. We’re seeing a marriage counsellor and he knows how close I came to cheating on him with Seb. We’re both accepting some responsibility. I’m positive about our future.

  Mrs Sullivan told me that Seb moved to Australia as planned and was settling in well. She wrote me a lovely reference to take with me to Stafford and I’m volunteering as a Teaching Assistant at the local school (the one Joe goes to, but I don’t look after his class, that would be sooo embarrassing). I’m hoping that eventually it will lead to paid work, but for now I’m just enjoying the interaction with the children. I look out for the quiet ones who are singled out by others; I try and help raise their confidence. I realise that being in touch with Mrs Sullivan means that I have
a link to Seb. I hope one day I’ll hear that he’s met someone and settled down. She’ll be a lucky woman, and I’ll always be slightly jealous.

  I left the eBay account closed. I no longer find the need to search and scour for bargains, but look closer to home for any comfort I need. I gave my jewellery away to charity as I felt it was tainted after being in Monique’s hands.

  Niall was cleared of being responsible for the car accident and Matt Bailey’s insurers paid out. His job as a doctor is under review, but we know how hard it is to lose your license to practice in a medical establishment; maybe his forthcoming court case will be more productive.

  The insurance paid out on the damage to my belongings. I’ve put most of it in the bank. Maybe we’ll have a holiday, though being in Staffordshire so far, with the countryside, fresh air and animals feels like a permanent one anyway.

  Once we left for Stafford, Bettina and I agreed to no longer stay in touch. It was felt that we knew far too much about each other’s lives; it was an unhealthy relationship and would be difficult to maintain over a distance anyway. She can now have the fresh start she needs, now the fuss is dying down. We looked at each other in mutual understanding as we said goodbye for the last time; some things were never to be spoken about.

  Danny remains on remand for manslaughter. He’s expected to be sentenced and remain behind bars for a number of years.

  I told Niall I deliberately reversed over Monique, for we have no secrets now. He was shocked, but said if the circumstances had arisen and he was behind the wheel he’s sure he would have done the same. Niall, Bettina and I therefore hold this secret between us. I’m sorry but I can’t even regret it.

  Monique’s family were notified of her death. We didn’t attend the funeral and I don’t know which family turned out to say goodbye. I wonder what her own family history was, whether it had an effect on who she was as a person? I no longer feel defined by my own. I’m a strong individual now, as well as whole within my family unit.