‘Fancy a drink?’ he said abruptly.
‘Hell, yes!’
We laughed at my keenness, and went to The Malt Shovel rather than The Poacher, not because there was slightly less risk of us being seen together there, but because I needed a drink. Needed it immediately – and frankly didn’t give a toss who saw me.
After a double vodka, things felt calmer. More focused. Glenn bought me another.
‘For medicinal purposes.’ He shrugged, smiling gently. ‘You’ve been through so much.’
I nodded. Took a warming gulp of my drink.
‘Better now?’
‘Much. Thank you.’
A moment passed. Glenn checked his watch, then put his head on one side as if something had just occurred to him.
‘What I don’t understand is why Chloe didn’t mention any of this business with Beth and James Harvey. I mean, surely at some point Beth confided in her? They’re best friends, right? Maybe you should ask her. Have it out with her. Now that Harvey’s been arrested, there’s no point in her keeping quiet, is there? Maybe she’ll finally tell the truth now.’
He was right. The more I thought about it, the more annoyed I grew. I didn’t like this talk, though. It made me wonder what other secrets you had, Beth.
‘Chloe’s a kid, really,’ I justified.
‘Old enough to know the difference between right and wrong. Sorry, I’m getting all overprotective of you. But if she’d been a bit more honest, then maybe James could have been caught earlier. Not that it makes any real difference, does it?’
No, no difference at all. But I found myself swallowing down my drink quickly as I noticed what time it was.
‘I’m, er, going to get off now.’
‘Oh, right. Want a lift?’
I asked him to drop me off on the other side of the village from my house. He thought it was to avoid us being seen together. In reality I needed to be somewhere.
His words danced around, taunting as I pulled my hood up against the wind and walked towards a bus stop.
Forty-Three
The bus pulled up and I stepped aside to make room for the sole person getting off.
‘Hello, Chloe. I’d like a word with you, if you don’t mind.’
She looked confused, but nodded. ‘Sure thing, Mrs Oak. Is Beth, er, is Beth getting any better?’
I closed my eyes for a second, fighting the urge to snap that she could go and visit you if she were that curious about your health. That would have been unfair of me; Chloe was fourteen, only four months older than you, Beth.
Old enough to know better. The words in my head taunted me.
‘I wanted to ask you about James Harvey—’ I began.
‘Everyone’s talking about his arrest!’
‘You’ve heard already?’ Word always spread fast around here, but this was impressive even by the village’s usual standards.
‘My mum’s cousin saw him being led away in handcuffs from his flat in Wapentake, and she texted Mum. So Mum texted me at school, and my mate Sonya’s best friend’s auntie says we’re not to tell anyone but that it is definitely true. She’s a cleaner at the police station,’ she added. ‘Yes. It was a shock—’
‘Was it?’ The words shot out. ‘Surely you must have known something was going on between them. Why didn’t you say anything?’
It sounded like an accusation, but it was too late to take the words back.
‘Mrs Oak, it didn’t seem that big a deal…’
‘It didn’t… ? I’m flabbergasted. A man of twenty-four with a girl ten years his junior? Part of you must have known you should have told someone about what was going on.’
She seemed to be thinking.
‘Chloe…’
Reached a decision. ‘Mrs Oak, you’re so right. I should have been honest. But Beth kept a lot of it secret from me too.’
Suddenly she started to cry. ‘I’m sorry,’ she sniffed, still looking me square in the eye as the tears poured down her face. ‘I didn’t know what to do, had no idea things had gone so far. Like, I mean, if the rumours are true that they slept together… well, Beth definitely didn’t tell me that. And I… I’d have done anything, anything to stop what happened to her.’
She gave a huge sob. I wrapped her in my arms, consumed with guilt.
‘It’s not your responsibility to look after her. It’s mine. I’m so sorry, I should never have spoken to you like this,’ I apologised.
Chloe is taller than you, Beth – where you are as slim and lithe as a willow switch, she’s sturdier, has a more womanly figure. But holding her reminded me so much of hugging my daughter that I was overwhelmed by loss. I missed you, Beth. Sitting by your seemingly lifeless form was torturous.
When will I hug you again and feel you hug me back?
We stood in the lane, a teenager and a grieving mum comforting each other, for several minutes. Finally, each sniffing, we broke apart.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she repeated.
‘No, no, I should be apologising to you. Anyway, you’d better get home or you’ll be late. I don’t want your mum worrying.’ I knew the horror of that worry all too well, and wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
I watched her walk up the lane towards the lilac house, and didn’t move until I saw her go up the garden path and let herself in. I would not let history repeat itself.
She waved before she closed the door.
Forty-Four
BETH
WEDNESDAY 20 JANUARY
They stood side by side, waiting for the bus to pull away so that they could cross the road. Beth had never stood so close to Aleksy before. Wow, he was tall, she realised; she only came up to his chest.
The silence between them was awkward.
Aleksy, Chloe and she had been talking about music on the fifteen-minute bus journey home from school in Wapentake, but now it was just the two of them, it felt too intimate somehow to continue the conversation. Beth didn’t want to give him the wrong impression. Sometimes his look was so intense it made her shiver. From the corner of her eye she saw him pulling nervously at his rucksack straps, hooking his thumbs beneath them.
A belch of black smoke and the bus lurched forward. Beth only had time to lift one foot to move before Aleksy spoke.
‘Are you definitely going on Friday night, then? I’ll see you there?’
‘Um, yeah.’ The reply was a squeak as Beth hurried off.
The next day at school Chloe kept nudging her and asking what Aleksy had said.
‘I saw the two of you chatting as the bus pulled off,’ she whispered during English. ‘Come on, spill – what did he want?’
Beth put her finger to her lips then pointed to the teacher, who was bound to catch them talking.
Chloe wasn’t giving up, though.
‘Hey. Hey! Have you still got the hots for that guitar teacher as well? Shit, juggling two blokes! Look! You’re blushing! You go bright red every time I mention his name. Beth fancies her teacher.’ The last was in a sing-song whisper.
‘Shut up! I do not!’ Beth hissed.
She screwed up a piece of paper and threw it at her friend. It bounced off Chloe’s head and landed on the floor. The teacher turned and frowned in their direction, clearly knowing something was going on but unsure what. When he went back to the whiteboard and started talking, Chloe and Beth began to giggle uncontrollably.
Then Chloe mouthed something to Beth.
‘So what’s the big secret?’
Beth felt like replying, ‘Which one?’
Forty-Five
Before I went home following my chat with Chloe, I had another teenager to apologise to: Aleksy Jachowski. I nipped round to his home, feeling foolish. His father answered my rap on the blue door, and held it open just enough to be seen. Clearly he wasn’t in a hospitable mood; no surprise there.
His son had inherited Mr Jachowski’s sharp cheekbones and upward-slanting eyes. His high forehead, currently crinkled with a suspicious frown, gave a glimpse of the future
for Aleksy – the handsome boy wouldn’t be able to hide behind a fringe forever.
‘I wanted to apologise for last night. That mob was—’ I gave a helpless gesture. No words could describe how awful it must have been for his family, cowering in their home, terrified, while villagers screamed obscenities at them. ‘I know it sounds hollow, but… Anyway, the police have arrested someone for Beth’s attack, so everyone will know soon that Aleksy had nothing to do with it.’
Mr Jachowski said nothing, simply grunted. Nodded his head.
‘But I did wonder if I could have a quick word with your son about—’
The door closed.
Well, that was as much as I could have expected, really, given what his family had been put through.
‘All right, all right,’ shouted Jacob, running to the front door. Wiggins barked enthusiastically, presumably running at his master’s feet, as eager as Jacob to discover who was hammering to get in. From the bedroom I heard muffled conversation, voices rising.
‘Who is it?’ I called, making my way down the stairs. ‘We need to set off for the hospital in a minute…’
I saw Ursula’s platinum hair a second before she spotted me. Her scarlet mouth became a sneer of fury.
‘You!’ She jabbed her finger in my direction. ‘If you come near my daughter again, I’m getting an injunction against you!’
‘Hold on a second. Will someone tell me what’s going on?’ demanded Jacob.
‘I’m sorry, Ursula. But you know how protective you are about your daughter right now? Imagine how I feel with Beth in hospital. I don’t even know if she’ll ever wake up.’ The words came out at machine-gun speed. I’d felt good making peace with Chloe, but Ursula throwing her weight around reignited the fury that seemed to burn in me permanently these days.
‘What have you done, Mel?’ Jacob asked again.
‘I’ll tell you what she’s done. She’s upset my daughter. And I’m not having it!’
‘Ursula, Chloe and I sorted it out. Chloe kept a secret about Beth and James Harvey, so I had every right to ask her about it. But we’re fine now.’
‘No. No way. I’m not having you going near her again. What’s happened to Beth is dreadful, but it’s my duty to protect Chloe.’ Ursula was white as she spoke. A fleck of spittle flew with the force of her words. Wiggins gave a small growl. ‘You come near her again and I’ll get Steve to get an injunction against you.’
‘I thought you and he had split up,’ I said, confused.
‘We’ve decided we’re stronger together. You made us realise that, just now. I mean it, Melanie, Jacob: stay away from Chloe or you’ll regret it.’
Jacob stepped towards her, placating, arms wide in a gesture of openness. ‘I’ve no idea what Mel’s done, but I’m so sorry if it’s upset Chloe. I’m sure that was the last thing she wanted. Wasn’t it, Mel?’
‘Yes, yes, of course,’ I spluttered. ‘And she’s not upset!’
But Ursula wasn’t listening to me, Beth. She flounced away, wiggling inappropriately in her cobalt-blue skinny jeans and high-heeled boots. Climbed into her white BMW and gunned it.
* * *
Tears stung the raw skin beneath my eyes. I was all cried out, stretched thin and hung out to dry after everything that had happened. After Ursula left, I had expected your dad to hold me tight and comfort me. Despite what he’d been up to, I still wanted that. Instead…
‘Christ, Mel, I’m sick of you having a go at people all the time. You’re upsetting our friends! We need all the support we can get right now, and you’re stirring stuff up.’
Gobsmacked, I watched him pace back and forth. ‘But Jacob—’
‘No. That’s the end of this. Now that James Harvey has been arrested, just concentrate on getting Beth better.’
‘But that’s the point!’ I exploded. ‘Nothing we can do will make any difference to Beth’s health. Now, though, we can rest easy knowing that I’ve done something useful in all of this. I’ve found the person who put Beth in hospital. She doesn’t have to be scared any more; she can wake up!’
He stopped pacing so he could rub his face in despair. ‘It’s great news that James is being questioned – and you’re right, that is thanks to you. But you know catching Beth’s attacker isn’t going to make any difference to her prognosis, don’t you?’
‘I know—’
‘Good. Because God knows, I wish it did, but it doesn’t. And I’m worried that you’ve linked the two in your head.’
‘I think I preferred it when you were having a go at me for upsetting friends,’ I muttered.
He’d been reaching towards me. But his hand dropped to his sides. ‘You know what? Whatever. We need to get going. We’re already late.’
I’ve always said that the family stubbornness skipped a generation and passed direct from my dad to you. But I’m ashamed to admit, Beth, that at that moment I’d have been willing to cut my nose off to spite my face – in fact, I did something even worse.
‘Well, if you’re going to be so sanctimonious, you can go to the hospital alone,’ I said.
I thought he would back down, especially after what he had done, the secret I knew. Give me a hug. Tell me I was being a tit but that he still loved me. Instead he picked up his keys without a word, threw me a remorseful look, waiting for me to say something conciliatory. I almost did. This was ridiculous. More than anything in the world, I needed to see you, Beth. But somehow it was easier to hurt myself than face time in the car while your dad judged me.
As soon as he drove away, I regretted it. Snatched up my phone and unlocked it, ready to dial.
But it wasn’t your dad I called.
Instead of being with my family, I sat in Glenn’s van in the dark car park of the marsh. Listened to crap music on a local radio station. He pulled out a big flask filled with whisky. I had a slug, grateful, then passed it back. He shook his head.
‘Can’t, driving. But you help yourself.’
So I did. A lot. Glenn sat beside me, stone-cold sober, writing notes in his silly pink notebook. Updating our investigation, presumably. I snatched it from under his nose before he had the chance to react, possessed with that fluid speed that only drunks seem to achieve. Jumped from the vehicle.
‘Give it back, Melanie.’ He leapt out too. Silhouetted in the headlights, hands on hips.
‘I want to write in it: “Case closed”.’ Eurgh, I was slurring.
‘You’re drunk. You’ll ruin it. Give it back, Melanie.’
I danced out of the way, stumbling in a direction I hadn’t anticipated. Clearly neither had Glenn, as his charge completely missed me.
I opened up the book triumphantly.
‘Let me write… Hey, what’s this?’
The first two pages were covered not in Glenn’s spider scrawl; instead it looked like the neat, rounded script of a teenage girl. In one corner sprouted a doodle of a flower growing from a stack of books. A drawing of a bird with a long, plumed tail, like a peacock or something, dominated the opposite corner. Both were beautiful. They were only a couple of lines, but clearly done by someone artistic. While Glenn had many talents, artistry almost certainly wasn’t one of them.
I peered closer when – ouch! Glenn snatched the notebook from my grasp so quickly, my fingertips burned from the friction.
‘Flipping heck, Glenn, no need to have a cow! Mardy arse. I only wanted to write in it. Someone else already has, so what’s the big deal?’
He hugged it to him. ‘Look, you know this was my daughter’s, Mel. This is all I’ve got of hers. I grabbed the nearest thing I could without Marcie noticing, pocketed this book. Writing in it makes me feel closer to my kid.’
Even in my drunken state, shame gripped me. Of course! Sometimes I was so busy thinking about the loss of my daughter that I forgot Glenn had his own loss to deal with.
‘Sorry. Some friend, eh?’ I took a staggering step and wrapped him in a loose hug. It was nice. Plus it helped keep me steady.
‘’S�
�okay.’ His voice was small. He clearly hadn’t quite forgiven me.
‘Look, tomorrow we’ll forget about all my problems and do whatever you want. Yeah?’
‘Yeah?’ He held my shoulders, pushing me back to arm’s length so that he could look at me properly. ‘Well, you know what I want to do?’
I shook my head, and if it weren’t for him holding me up I would have fallen over. ‘Whoops,’ I giggled.
He laughed and shook his head too. ‘I want you to have a lie-in and get over the hangover you’re bound to have tomorrow.’
‘Yay!’ I flung my arms up in celebration. ‘I want to see James Harvey get sent down for a very long time.’
‘Okay, well, we’ll see what we can do.’
We stood in companionable silence. I couldn’t face going home. Not quite yet. My head lolled back against Glenn’s shoulder as I looked at the stars.
‘I could never live in a city,’ I murmured.
‘Hmm?’ He grunted, clearly in his own world.
‘I could never live in a city or town. Well, for one, it’s too noisy, but… I’d miss the stars. You can only see a handful of the brightest ones there, but here, with no light pollution, wow. It’s like someone has sprinkled diamonds across the sky.’
An infinite number glittered, some small, some large, all so bright against the huge black night.
‘Yeah. It’s funny, when I lived in Nottingham I didn’t notice it. But now I’m back, I look up at the sky and it really is incredible how much more you can see. I did see that amazing red moon, though – that was cool.’
I wrinkled my nose. ‘I thought you were travelling in September.’
‘Huh?’
‘September last year. I thought you were travelling.’
‘I was. Australia.’
‘But the blood moon was in September.’ I turned to him, making sure to hold onto his parka for steadiness. He was finally wearing it as a concession to its being well below freezing tonight.
The Darkest Lies: A gripping psychological thriller with a shocking twist Page 15