A Perfect Husband

by Hilary Boyd

  He gave a mirthless snort. ‘More hellish than my current existence? I doubt it.’

  She could see he was beginning to fidget, to jiggle his right leg up and down on the patio stones, to scratch his neck so hard that his fair skin turned bright red.

  ‘I’m not going to one of those fucking prison camps they call rehab. Those people don’t understand a fucking thing about drugs. They’re just making shedloads of money out of freaked-out middle-class parents like mine. It doesn’t work, Aunty Lily. I’ve tried, believe me. It’s a fucking joke.’

  His voice had risen a couple of octaves and he was clearly getting agitated. Lily just wanted him to leave.

  ‘I’ll talk to Helen,’ she said eventually, regretting the words as soon as they were out of her mouth.

  Kit burst out of his chair, flinging his arms wide, his head back. ‘That’s no fucking good! She won’t listen. She never listens. She hates me.’

  To her horror, Kit came over and threw himself down on the patio, wrapping his arms around her legs and laying his dirty head in her lap. ‘Please, please, Aunty Lily. You’re my last chance.’

  Recoiling, Lily pushed him gently away. Kit flopped back on his haunches, hands hanging loosely by his sides, his face dull with despair and, Lily thought, a burning resentment. He got slowly to his feet. ‘’Kay.’ He turned away but still didn’t leave.

  His shoulders, poking through his thin, grubby white T-shirt, made his skinny figure look especially vulnerable and Lily’s heart broke for him. She got to her feet, laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘Kit, you know I’ll help you in any way I can . . . But I can’t let you stay here without telling Helen and David.’

  He swung round, knocking her hand away. ‘I get it,’ he said, his eyes full of anger. ‘Can you lend me some cash then? As you can see, I’m fucking desperate.’ His voice was cold, withdrawn.

  For Christ’s sake, she thought. What do I do now? The prospect of having another strained argument with her nephew was too much for her. She just wanted him to go before he turned on her, let the resentment written so clearly on his face bubble over into something more frightening.

  ‘Wait here.’

  She couldn’t have been inside more than three minutes, but when she came back out into the bright sunlight, clutching three ten-pound notes, her computer and mobile had vanished, along with her nephew.

  Stung with disbelief, Lily ran out to the front of the house in her bare feet, painfully negotiating the gravel drive, shouting Kit’s name over and over. The street was empty. There was no sign of him anywhere. Just a quiet, hot midday silence, broken only by a silver Ford purring past, the lady from across the road emptying some bottles into her recycling bin, an orange cat prowling slowly along the brick wall that separated Helen and David’s garden from the pavement, his coat glinting in the sunlight.

  *

  She didn’t know whether to be angry with Kit or sad for him. But she was absolutely furious with herself. ‘Gullible idiot.’ She spoke out loud to the empty back garden, the empty table to which she’d returned, hoping somehow she’d made a mistake and he would still be there. How could she have been so stupid when she absolutely knew that he would take them if he could?

  It was a disaster on so many levels. First, she would have to spend money she didn’t have on a new laptop and phone – she wasn’t insured, having defaulted on the direct debit payments back in April. Second, she would have to explain to Seth Kramer that the confidential information contained in the files she’d been transcribing was now in the hands of a manipulative drug addict. He’d been so clear that the personal details should be guarded with her life – it had made her laugh at the time. Third, she would have to face Helen and tell her how she had been conned, giving her sister further proof of her gullibility, her general uselessness. And fourth, suppose Freddy were trying to call her and she didn’t have her phone?

  Not knowing what to do, she stood there, shivering, cold even in the heat, as if she had been assaulted. I’ve been mugged, she told herself, by my own nephew. Was the conversation just an elaborate ruse to get money off her again, or better, a laptop and mobile phone? Could he really be so manipulative? Had he planned the whole thing, knowing his aunt would be a total pushover?

  She snatched up her sunglasses and went inside, locking the garden door firmly, then slung her bag over her shoulder, pushed her feet into some canvas shoes and set off for Seth Kramer’s boat. She had to tell him about the files.

  *

  Seth raised his eyebrows as Lily, out of breath from the walk, red-faced and sweating, blurted out the sorry tale of the lost data.

  ‘Sit, please. I’ll get you some water.’

  Lily waited in trepidation for him to comment.

  He perched opposite her on the desk chair, handing her the glass. It was baking on the boat, the sun beating on the roof, the open portholes inadequate, even with the long doors pinned back at the entrance – she didn’t know how he stood it. Seth looked tired as he took off his tortoiseshell specs and gave both lenses a rub with the bottom of his faded navy polo shirt.

  ‘I don’t imagine the files will be seen as valuable. There’s nobody famous. And they weren’t actual therapy sessions, just interviews . . .’ He stopped, took a breath. ‘But I used their full names. I’ll have to inform them.’

  ‘I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Your nephew will probably just pawn the computer as quickly as he can, won’t he? It’s the cash he’s after.’ Seth looked away, didn’t speak for a while, considering the implications. ‘Have you told the police?’

  ‘No,’ she said quickly. ‘I can’t, he’s my nephew.’

  The doctor raised his eyebrows. ‘He’s stolen from you, Lily.’ He gave her a searching look. ‘What does your sister say?’

  ‘I haven’t spoken to her yet.’ She squirmed at the thought of Helen’s inevitable anger and the blame that would no doubt land square on Lily’s shoulders.

  ‘It won’t help anyone to turn a blind eye, you know. And if he’s arrested, he’ll be able to tell them where he fenced the computer. You might get it back.’

  Lily didn’t reply, the ramifications churning through her mind.

  ‘You’re just enabling him, Lily,’ Seth was saying. ‘Kit will expect you to do nothing. You’re his aunt, of course you won’t tell on him. So his actions have no consequences. And in a day, a week, however long it takes to shoot up the drugs he bought with the laptop cash, he’ll be back at the house, pestering you for more. Are you prepared for that?’

  She started to protest, but she knew Seth was right.

  ‘I don’t want him to be arrested.’

  Seth sighed. ‘I know. It seems harsh. And Kit is very vulnerable. But you can’t let him ride roughshod over you.’

  There was silence. Lily could feel a tickling trickle of sweat slide down her back beneath her T-shirt. ‘Do you think the whole thing about him staying at the house in order to get clean was a ruse to get me onside?’

  Seth shrugged. ‘I think it’s odd that he didn’t wait to drop in till after his parents had left. Then there might have been a legitimate reason for not telling them.’

  Lily thought about this. ‘Maybe he does want to quit. Maybe I should have said he could stay.’

  Seth cocked his head, gave her a disbelieving smile. ‘Where did you get such a soft heart, Lily?’

  *

  David shook his head. ‘I’m so sorry,’ he said.

  Lily was at the house when her brother-in-law came home, ahead of her sister, thank goodness. She had been waiting since returning from the boat, stomach in knots, head aching from the heat, for several hours now. She was no longer worried about the computer and phone – although she felt naked without her mobile: it was Helen’s reaction that terrified her.

  ‘It was my fault, David,’ she said, as they both sat down at the garden table in the
hot evening sun. ‘I should never have left him alone with my stuff. I knew it was a risk, but I didn’t want to embarrass us both. And, to be honest, I didn’t think he would do that to me.’

  David gave a long sigh. His frayed striped cotton shirt – one of his work shirts – was stained with sweat, his craggy face flushed, the usual wood dust dulling his unruly hair. Lily had made them both tea, and he had gulped half the contents of the mug almost before she had put it on the table.

  ‘You assume, because he’s family and clearly fond of you, that he’ll behave like the rest of us. But Kit is capable of anything when it comes to getting a fix.’

  ‘He asked if he could stay here when you and Helen are on holiday. He said he needed a safe place if he was ever to get off the drugs.’

  David nodded wearily. ‘That’s familiar.’

  ‘He’s said that to you too?’ Lily, shocked, felt betrayed all over again. ‘But why? If he doesn’t mean it, what does he have to gain?’

  Her brother-in-law looked at her askance. ‘What did he gain from you?’

  ‘So he played me till my guard was down?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know. Maybe as he says it he believes it. Don’t forget this is one smart boy. Even with the drugs he’s ahead of most of us in the IQ department.’

  They sat in silence.

  ‘What will Helen say about the police?’

  David considered her question. ‘Don’t know. She’ll be upset, of course, angry.’

  ‘With me, no doubt.’

  He looked surprised. ‘With you? Why? You haven’t done anything, Lily. You’re the victim here.’

  ‘I was gullible and now he’s got his hands on enough cash to kill himself.’ Putting words to her fear did not seem to help. But ever since Kit had vanished with her computer, the image of his dead body, white and still and so young, had haunted her.

  David did not reply, his gaze directed towards the rose bushes that grew along the fence. The creamy-gold blooms were thick and plentiful, glowing richly in the evening light.

  ‘David, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.’

  He gave her a sad smile. ‘Don’t apologize. You’re only saying what we all know, Lily. Kit’s life has hung in the balance for years now.’ He started to say something then stopped.

  Lily leaned forward. ‘Kit said his life was hell and he hated it, David. I know you’ll say I’m a fool, but I honestly believe he wants to quit.’

  ‘Well . . .’ David didn’t go on, and Lily realized he didn’t want to burst her bubble. Maybe he needed, just for a minute, to believe it again himself.

  ‘Hi, I’m home!’ They heard Helen calling from the house. Then she burst onto the patio, ripping off her grey suit jacket and waving it in the air. ‘Woo-hoo, I’ve finished! I’m free!’

  She threw herself onto a garden chair and beamed at Lily and David. ‘Such a great feeling. The whole summer ahead and not a single spotty student in sight.’ She laughed. ‘Not that they have as many spots as they used to, with all those smoothies.’

  Lily’s heart contracted as David grinned and reached over to give her hand a squeeze. But Helen had already sensed something was up. Her gaze shot from David to Lily and back again. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘It’s Kit,’ David said after a moment, and Lily watched her sister’s face fall.

  ‘He came here when Lily was working in the garden. She went inside for a minute and he ran off with her phone and computer.’

  Eyes on Lily, Helen frowned. ‘Tell me exactly what happened.’

  Lily obliged, watching her sister’s face darkening with every word. ‘I had to tell Seth Kramer,’ Lily finished, ‘because obviously there’s confidential data from his patient interviews on my computer.’ She took a breath. ‘He said I should inform the police.’

  Helen raised her eyebrows. ‘And did you?’

  ‘No, no, of course not.’

  ‘There’s no “of course not” about it, Lily. He stole from you. You should call the police.’

  Both she and David must have registered shock, because Helen went on, ‘Don’t look at me like that. He’s a thief. He should be punished.’

  ‘What good will that do, Helen?’ David asked after a moment. ‘They won’t pay any attention. He’s a known addict. It was only family he stole from.’

  Turning in her chair, Helen’s eyes were fierce. ‘“Only family”?’ She sighed with frustration. ‘Do I really have to repeat myself, David? Do you still not get it? After all this time?’ Her mouth twitched angrily before she added, her words deliberately slow and loud, as if her husband were hard of hearing, ‘Your mollycoddling is helping Kit take drugs. You’re keeping him addicted.’

  Before either of them had a chance to respond, Helen had turned her ire on Lily. ‘And you’re the same. Your ridiculous naïveté. After all I’ve said to you about addiction, about Kit’s behaviour, you still chose to believe him? It literally takes my breath away. And now you’re living here, he thinks he has carte blanche to pop in whenever he needs another sub.’ She dropped her head into her hands for a second, then raised it again. She had not finished. ‘What do I have to say to make you both understand?’ she shouted across the table in the still summer evening. ‘Until you start treating Kit like the addict he is, he will never, ever get off heroin.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Lily said softly.

  David said nothing.

  Tears in her eyes, Helen glared at her sister. ‘Ring the police. Report the theft. Stop meddling, Lily. And for God’s sake, stop pandering to our son.’

  Chapter 42

  Freddy had to pinch himself when he woke for the first time in the small two-bedroomed flat above a pub on the corner of Charlotte Street, near Tottenham Court Road. It was a recently acquired addition to Julie Blackstone’s extensive property portfolio. The flat had been renovated recently and still smelt of paint, plaster dust and rubber from the sisal carpet underlay in the bedroom.

  ‘You can have it for six months,’ Julie had said. ‘Then I’ll have to charge you rent. But until that building next door is finished I won’t be able to let it to anyone. You’re doing me a favour, keeping the place warmed up.’

  Freddy knew he wasn’t doing Julie a favour. The building work, admittedly, was a total gutting and reconstruction of a block of flats, but there were plenty of people out at work all day who wouldn’t have minded the racket and the dust for a reduced rent. The flat was gorgeous, beautifully finished and furnished with Julie’s usual rigour and good taste. He was a very lucky man.

  ‘I’m hoping Lily will be with me,’ he’d told Julie. He didn’t want her to think he was taking advantage of her generosity.

  She had frowned. ‘Max said you two had split up.’

  They were unpacking the new sofa, stripping off the plastic and cardboard wrapping from the slate-grey cushions, Freddy lying on the newly sanded floor to cut the twisted layers of tape strangling the wooden feet.

  ‘No,’ said Freddy. ‘We just had a bit of a break.’ He stood up and brushed dust from his jeans, then crumpled a handful of sticky brown tape and plastic and put it into the bulging black bin liner in the corner of the room.

  ‘So how is she? Where is she? I rang her a few times after it all kicked off with the studio, but she didn’t call back.’

  ‘I don’t know where she is.’ He felt suddenly ashamed to admit it.

  Julie looked puzzled. ‘So you’re not in touch.’

  ‘Not since April. I thought it was for the best until things settled down.’

  ‘And she’s twiddling her thumbs somewhere, waiting for you to ring? Really, Freddy?’ Her tone was cynical.

  Freddy shrugged. ‘I hope so.’

  ‘After months without even a phone call? And she agreed to this peculiar arrangement?’

  ‘Sort of.’

  Julie’s expression was sco
rnful. ‘I’d tell Max to go fuck himself if he did that to me.’

  Freddy thought Julie was overreacting. Always a cardcarrying feminist, his friend was quick to blame men for every perceived shortcoming, justified or not. ‘I treated her so badly, took all her money, I wanted—’

  ‘So what is she living on, if you took all her money?’ Julie interrupted, arms folded, clearly baffled by his admission.

  ‘I imagine she’s staying with Prem, her friend who owns the desk and chair shop in Marylebone. You’ve met her at various parties – Indian, very beautiful. Lily used to work there, so she’s probably got her old job back.’

  ‘Right. Oh, that’s okay then, leaving her to sponge off her friends. I’m sure Lily’s loving that.’

  ‘She . . .’ He stopped, irritated by the lecture. ‘Listen, I didn’t have any choice at the time. But I can make it up to her, now you and Max have given me another chance.’

  Shaking her head, Julie turned away and began settling the sofa cushions, plumping them and patting them smooth, pulling off the white safety tag on the bottom of the seat, until she was satisfied. ‘Well, good luck with that, Freddy. If I were Lily, I wouldn’t even have the conversation.’

  *

  For the two weeks since his arrival in London Freddy had jumped in with both feet, immersing himself in Max’s food-truck venture, keen to prove to his friend that his considerable investment would pay off. It was work, as Max had known, to which Freddy was perfectly suited. And without the heavy responsibility he’d shouldered while owning his business, Freddy found he was enjoying himself, networking to the hilt as he got in touch with all his old friends and acquaintances. He had something to peddle, a business, although small, that he wholeheartedly believed could work.

  He had been nervous of those first few days in the thick of it. He knew his reputation had taken a heavy blow that spring. But he realized, too, that every one of these people moved in a fickle, fly-by-night industry – here today, gone tomorrow – and were only too aware that it could just as easily have been them in Freddy’s shoes, spending their summer as a guest of the Official Receiver. They honestly didn’t care, as long as they weren’t the ones that Freddy owed money to. And they liked him, welcomed him back like a long-lost son. That is, those who noticed he’d gone in the first place.