The End of Cuthbert Close

by Cassie Hamer

  ‘So you didn’t actually see who did it?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘All right, Talia, you should probably go home now.’

  ‘I think I’ll go check on Poppy. Make sure she’s okay.’ The girl slipped out Alex’s front door and into the arms of her mother waiting outside, grim-faced. Talia gestured in the direction of Cara’s house. Charlie shook her head.

  Alex’s stomach heaved. What must Cara think of her? The twins? She turned to the boys, who sat still and stony-faced.

  ‘Noah, Jasper.’ Her voice was steely. ‘I’m going to give you one chance and one chance only to tell me the truth. Which one of you cut Poppy’s hair?’

  The boys looked at each other and spoke in unison. ‘I did.’

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  Cara sat and stroked her daughter’s hair, the little that was left of it. She buried her head in the soft curls as tears bit at her eyes.

  ‘Mummy, please don’t be sad.’ She felt her daughter’s sweet breath on her neck. ‘Please, it’s only hair. It will grow back.’

  ‘Pops, I don’t understand. How can you not have seen who did it?’

  Her daughter stiffened. ‘I didn’t see. I promise, Mummy.’ Now her lip was trembling. ‘It was one of the boys, but I didn’t see which one, honest.’

  Cara looked at her daughter. Her strong, brave, sensible child. She cleared her throat to get rid of the tears. ‘You’re not in trouble, sweetheart. I’m sorry … I just can’t help feeling a bit sad. It was such lovely hair. You had that hair since you were a baby.’

  ‘I still have some hair and think how much easier it will be to brush in the mornings.’

  Using her little thumbs, Poppy pressed Cara’s cheek. ‘Really, Mummy, I don’t mind. I think this hair actually suits me.’ She flicked her head back and forth the way a hair model would in a television commercial.

  Cara couldn’t help but laugh and Poppy kissed her on the lips. ‘Please don’t be cross.’

  ‘I’m not cross with you. I’m cross with whoever did this to you!’ She drew her in tightly. She hated Poppy seeing her cry. She’d never seen her own parents cry. Ever. They were strong, and resilient, and that’s what had made Cara strong and resilient too. If Pete’s death had taught her anything, it was that she was far more adept at giving comfort than receiving it.

  She checked her watch. ‘Sweetie, it’s time for PJs, so how about you go inside? I’ve got a couple of things to clear up in the shed.’ Gently, she stood and pointed her daughter’s shoulders in the direction of the house. ‘I’ll be there in a few minutes.’

  At the door, Poppy stopped and waved. Cara grinned, but as the little girl disappeared inside, she let her face, and the tears, fall. She started stumbling towards the shed where she’d be able to cry in peace.

  ‘Um … Hello? Cara?’ It was Talia.

  Cara stopped, and wiped her face hurriedly. ‘Sorry, Talia … hi.’

  Talia stopped. No doubt she’d seen Cara’s reddened face and knew what it meant. She stood in the garden, shame-faced, with one hand jammed in her pocket and the other clutching a plastic bag. ‘I just wanted to bring these over for Poppy.’ Nervously, she held up the bag. ‘It’s just some hairclips and bands. My dad got them overseas and I’ve never worn them.’ She made a face. ‘He still thinks I’m into pink. But I thought Poppy might like them … for her new hairstyle?’ Talia stepped tentatively into the garden.

  ‘That’s very kind.’ Cara blinked quickly.

  ‘I’m so sorry about what happened.’ The teenager let the words out in a rush, shifting her weight uncomfortably. ‘Really sorry. I can’t believe I didn’t see what happened.’

  Cara swallowed the stone in her throat and waved her hand. At fourteen, Talia was only a child herself. Maybe Charlie had been right – three children was a lot to handle. Too much. Cara felt a wave of guilt sweep over her. How could she have let herself get so busy with work that she forgot the one person who she was supposedly doing it all for – her daughter.

  Now she really felt like howling. ‘It’s not your fault, Talia.’ She gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile. ‘Poppy’s gone inside. Why don’t you take those things in to her. I just want to lock up out here.’

  ‘Okay.’ Talia turned for the house and Cara headed to the shed.

  At the door, she stopped. It was a mess. Drawers pulled out. Half-eaten packs of biscuits on the benchtop. Plastic containers strewn about the floor. Even the curtain on the window had been pulled skew-whiff. What had gone on here? The kids must have arrived home and decided to trash the place. Those twins were completely out of control! Cara felt anger rising in her belly, overtaking the shock and the guilt. She would have to say something to Alex. It was unacceptable. At a stretch, she could maybe, maybe understand the chopping-off of Poppy’s ponytail as play-gone-wrong, but trashing the shed? It was just wilful and wanton destruction that made her think the ‘accident’ wasn’t as accidental as she’d wanted to believe. Maybe those little terrors had set out to deliberately hurt Poppy?

  A vision popped into her head of Talia, holding the ponytail.

  Cara shivered. She would never forget that image. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing for the O’Rourke family to move on, after all. Alex had been a good friend, yes, but those boys were clearly beyond her.

  Picking up the baby monitor, Cara wiped a red splodge of what looked like tomato sauce off the volume control. The speaker crackled, and before she could turn it off again, a voice came through.

  ‘How about we try this blue one? Look, it matches your eyes.’ That was Talia. Sweetly cajoling.

  ‘No.’ The voice was firm. Almost rude.

  Cara startled. That wasn’t like Poppy.

  ‘C’mon, Poppy. Please. Just try?’

  Cara held her breath.

  ‘No. I don’t want to.’

  Cara flinched. Her daughter was being straight-out obnoxious. This wasn’t how she’d raised her.

  ‘Well, I don’t think your mum would be too happy if she heard how rude you were being right now.’

  The cloth dropped from Cara’s hands. It was as if Talia could read her mind.

  ‘Please don’t talk to her.’ Now Poppy’s voice was fearful. ‘You don’t have to tell her anything.’

  Right, that was it. This was all too odd. Her daughter was acting like a stranger. She strode to the door and nearly ran straight into Alex, coming in the other direction.

  Cara raised her hand. ‘If you’re coming here to apologise again, please don’t. I don’t have the—’

  ‘Actually, that wasn’t what I came to talk to you about.’ Alex held up her phone. ‘I just got off from speaking with the council inspector. The complaint’s been withdrawn.’ She gave a grim smile. ‘Nourish is back in business.’

  Cara startled. It wasn’t what she’d expected Alex to say. ‘Straight away?’

  ‘They’ll come back to check next week that you’ve addressed the issues highlighted in the assessment. But yes, you can start up again.’

  ‘So it must have been Charlie Devine who made the original complaint.’

  ‘Seems that way.’

  Cara frowned. ‘But she was so adamant it wasn’t her.’

  The day couldn’t get any stranger.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Beth stopped at her bedroom window. It looked as if Alex and Cara were making their peace, given the quiet conversation happening between them outside the shed.

  Good. She couldn’t bear the idea of their friendship being torn apart by something silly the boys had done.

  Poppy’s hair had been delightful long, but somehow the short do accentuated the lovely elfin features of her face. No real harm done.

  She leant against the window frame and allowed her muscles to slacken with fatigue, not surprising given the emotional roller-coaster of the day.

  She needed a bath. Yes, a bath would soothe her nerves. Everything looked better after a soak in Epsom salts. She headed into the bathroom and open
ed the drawer where she kept her toiletries.

  But when she extended her hand into the far reaches, something else fluttered out along with the salts. She picked it up off the ground. A piece of paper. The piece of paper. The one threatening to tell Beth about Max’s affair. Or was it threatening to tell Max about Beth’s kiss with Adam?

  She coloured as she scanned the words again. She’d managed to put that night out of her head. The brain was good at doing that, blocking out shameful events, and given everything else that had happened since, the kiss had simply folded into the recesses of her mind. Actually, it seemed almost inconsequential now. She studied the paper. Blue, with pink lines.

  Blue, with pink lines. She knew that paper.

  Beth turned off the tap.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  ‘It’s the exact same paper I saw in the Devines’ house. It must have been Charlie who sent the note, who was spying on me, involving herself in my marriage. She’s always acted a little strange around Max and this explains it.’ Beth sat at the table in Cara’s shed, folding and unfolding the piece of paper before her.

  ‘From the moment she crashed our street party, I think Charlie Devine has been hell-bent on sabotaging all of us. Your marriage.’ Alex looked at Beth. ‘And your business.’ She looked at Cara.

  ‘And what about you? What of yours has she ruined?’ asked Cara.

  ‘I’m still working that out,’ muttered Alex.

  ‘I still don’t really understand why she would hate us so much. We’ve really done nothing to her,’ said Cara.

  ‘Who knows why people do anything?’ Alex shrugged. ‘The question is, what do we do about it?’

  The women stood in silence. The normal sounds of Cuthbert Close filtered through the open door of the shed: the wind whispering through the trees. A whip of birds taking flight. The woody music of a bamboo wind chime. A leaf blower squealing in the distance. The muted beep of a truck reversing, several streets away.

  A car door being banged shut.

  Slammed. Too firmly.

  Beth flinched. ‘Who’s that, I wonder?’

  In a neighbourhood like theirs, there was a distinct difference between a car door being shut, and one being shut in anger. There was a pitch to it that made you stop and listen for what would come next.

  This one was heavy and angry.

  Cara, Alex and Beth were still. Next came hurried footsteps, raised voices, and not happy raised voices. Frightened ones. Panicked.

  ‘What the hell’s going on now?’ groaned Alex. ‘Haven’t we had enough trouble for one day? This is Cuthbert Close. Nothing ever happens here!’

  ‘I think we’d better go investigate,’ said Cara grimly, leading the way out of her garden and into the street.

  The first thing that hit Beth was the stricken look on Charlie Devine’s face, and, in contrast, the sheer joy on her daughter’s as she hugged a man Beth had never seen before.

  ‘Looks like Daddy’s home,’ said Alex, under her breath.

  ‘That’s the Primal Guy,’ said Beth in disbelief.

  After all the newsletters, and everything Cara and Alex had told her about the man, Beth anticipated a Chris Hemsworth-style man-mountain, not this slightly dishevelled and puffy-looking fellow, with his shirt half untucked and nothing more than thongs on his feet.

  ‘I’ve missed you so much, Daddy.’ Talia clung to him tightly.

  ‘Me too, baby girl. Me too.’ He kissed her head and they rocked together in the middle of the Devines’ front garden.

  ‘Ryan, you know the deal. You need to leave now.’ Charlie Devine stood with her arms folded, her lips set in a line. ‘I’m serious. You need to go.’

  ‘Mum, no!’ cried Talia. ‘He’s only just arrived.’

  ‘Talia, we’ve been through this.’ Charlie’s voice was steely.

  ‘Why can’t you give him a second chance? Why do you have to be such a bitch?’

  Beth’s hand flew to her mouth.

  ‘Talia,’ said Charlie. ‘Come inside. Ryan, I’m going to call the rehab centre to let them know you’re here. But you have to go back. You know that.’

  ‘No need, baby-cakes. Look at me. Perfectly fine.’ Ryan spread his arms and started to put one foot in front of other. Two feet from his wife, he stumbled and fell towards her. Instinctively, Charlie’s hands rushed to shield her face.

  ‘Look, mate.’ Alex strode over the grass. ‘I think you better leave, or I’m going to have to call the police.’

  ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who are you?’ slurred Ryan. Up close, Alex could see his pupils were like pinpricks, his eyes riven with angry red veins.

  ‘My name is Alexandra O’Rourke and I’ve spent more time in a courtroom than you have in a gym. If this woman is asking you to leave her property, then you must, or you’ll be charged with trespass.’ She held out her phone and made a show of starting to dial.

  ‘Please, Alex. Don’t. I want my dad to stay. I need him.’ Talia clung to her father.

  ‘Talia, I’m sorry but your mother has asked him to leave and I think she knows best,’ said Alex.

  ‘She has no idea,’ spat Talia. ‘I hate her.’

  Cara stepped closer to the teenager and was about to speak when she felt a tug on her arm.

  ‘Mummy, stay away from her.’ It was Poppy. Where had she come from? She must have followed Talia onto the street when she heard the commotion.

  ‘Darling, it’s fine. Just go back inside.’

  ‘Don’t go near her,’ Poppy whispered.

  ‘Who? Charlie?’ Cara took her daughter’s hand.

  ‘No. Her.’ Poppy pointed and Cara followed the direction of her finger … straight to Talia, who was now speaking quietly and urgently with Charlie and Ryan.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  But Poppy’s lips were clammed shut.

  Suddenly, it clicked. It was shocking and almost incomprehensible but it somehow made sense.

  Cara knelt down. ‘Did Talia cut your hair? Did she threaten you?’ She clasped her daughter’s hands. ‘Don’t look at her. She won’t hurt you. Look at me.’

  Poppy’s eyes were troubled. ‘She told us that she’d made her cat kill Henny and that if we told anyone what happened, she’d get her cat to kill all the pets in the street.’ The little girl’s voice wobbled.

  Cara felt winded. There was a pressure in her chest. Her mind was a storm of thoughts and feelings. How? How could Talia do such a thing? And why?

  Cara squeezed her daughter’s hand and rose to her full height.

  ‘Talia,’ she called, and the teenager turned to face her, releasing her grip on her father’s arm. ‘I think there’s something you need to tell us about Poppy’s hair, about what happened earlier.’

  Talia’s eyes narrowed. ‘I told you what happened. I didn’t see anything.’

  ‘I heard you on the monitor. Poppy didn’t want you to touch her. She was scared.’

  ‘Talia.’ There was a tone of warning in Charlie’s voice, but also something else … fear. ‘Talia, what happened to Poppy’s hair? You need to tell the truth.’

  ‘The truth?’ Talia turned on her mother and the look on her face was one of pure loathing. ‘You know the truth.’

  Charlie inhaled and took a step back. ‘Oh, Talia, you didn’t, did you?’

  ‘I’ve always thought I’d make a good hairdresser, and I think little Poppy agrees with me. Short hair suits her, doesn’t it.’ Talia folded her arms, triumphantly.

  ‘But you let the boys take the blame,’ said Alex. ‘That’s just horrible.’

  Talia wheeled around. ‘What would you care?’ she burst out. ‘You’re never around for them anyway. Why did you even become a mother? That poor little Noah. I feel sorry for that kid. Even when he’s telling the truth, no one believes him. I mean, think about it, what would a kid want with a diamond ring? Did you even stop to think about that for one minute?’

  ‘Talia, stop,’ said Charlie.

  ‘That was you,’ said Beth. ‘You too
k my engagement ring and planted it in Noah’s bedroom?’

  ‘Well, let’s face it, Beth. It’s not like you’ll be needing it for much longer. I saw you kiss that young guy. It’s disgusting. You’re old enough to be his mother,’ she hissed.

  ‘And that’s why you sent the note …’ said Beth.

  So it wasn’t about Max after all. It was about me.

  ‘I sure did.’ Talia nodded with satisfaction. ‘I mean, how could you do that to your family? To your kids? Your poor family, having to eat those disgusting quiches every night. I loved putting that thing in the bin.’ She turned to Ryan. ‘Seriously, Dad, you would have puked.’

  Beth recoiled. ‘I don’t understand, Talia. Why would you take it if you didn’t want it?’

  ‘Because I knew it would make you feel good. I had to get you to like me so that you would hate her. And you fell for it, hook, line and sinker. My dad’s the Primal Guy! Of course I wasn’t going to eat the stupid quiche.’ She shook her head at Beth. ‘You did it for you! Seriously, all you women think only about yourselves. You don’t give your kids a second thought, do you.’ She whipped around to face Charlie. ‘Do you, Mum. You really don’t give a shit about me.’

  ‘That’s absolutely not true,’ said Charlie, her voice breaking. ‘I moved here for you. For us. To give us a fresh start. To get away from all the chaos …’

  ‘That’s such bullshit,’ Talia exploded. ‘You never even stopped to think twice about me.’

  ‘That’s totally unfair,’ Charlie cried. ‘The way we were living was so toxic. It was a complete lie. Your dad was out of control, and I had to get you out of there, away from him … You were getting caught up in it too.’

  ‘But he’s my dad.’ Talia flung herself into her father’s arms and sobbed into his shoulder, causing him to stumble backwards. ‘Daddy, I want to come with you. I’ve been working so hard to make you proud of me. I did it all for you.’