by K Leitch
‘And who will be taking care of Matilda?’
‘Um…I have a neighbour, Nora who is going to have her. I mean it’s only for a few hours each day isn’t it so…’
‘We’ve just had a new computer system put in; do you think you’ll be able to cope with that Tracy?’
Tracy cleared her throat; she was finding it difficult to keep up with Shauna’s quick fire questions.
‘Oh yes it shouldn’t be a problem…um I’m a quick learner and Juno will be able to keep an eye on me till I get the hang of it won’t she?’ she said confidently.
‘It’s not Juno’s job to look after you,’ Shauna said sharply. ‘I will expect you to be completely up to date with our system within a week of being here; do you think you’ll be able to do that?’
Tracy swallowed hard and nodded determinedly. ‘Yes definitely, as I said I’m a fast learner…’
‘Ok well… several senior members of my staff put your name forward to me for this post. So I will accept their recommendations and offer you the job…as long as you understand that it will be on a three months trial basis at first, we’ll see how you do shall we…’
‘Oh thank you so much Shauna, I won’t let you down I…’ began Tracy ecstatically.
‘Well I hope you’ll enjoy working here Tracy,’ Shauna said cutting her off mid flow. ‘As I’m sure you are aware next week is half term, so I’ll expect to see you the following Monday…bright and early mind.’ She got up and walked round to the door.
Taking that as her dismissal, Tracy gathered her things together and headed for the door.
‘I was so sure I wasn’t going to get it,’ she said to Shauna as she left the office. ‘I was sure that the woman that you saw before me had the job in the bag.’
‘Who… Rebecca?’ Shauna said with raised eyebrows. ‘But she’s not going to be helping in the office,’ she said with an incredulous shake of the head. ‘She’s with the mobile library; we were just fixing dates for the next term. Very bright girl Rebecca is, she wouldn’t be working in the office…she went to Oxford you know. See you next Monday Tracy…don’t be late.’
Even Shauna’s patronising air couldn’t dampen Tracy’s euphoria; she had her old job back! Oh of course it was only part time and a lot of her old friends had moved on, but Juno was still there as was Gloria Sharples who was the one who had told her about the job in the first place. She couldn’t wait to tell them that she had got it!
CHAPTER 14 – 1969 Exerts from the diary of Una Flannery
…Things with Missy have got worse, the poor girl. She’s barely speaking and a couple of times recently I have seen the most awful bruises on her arms and legs. She doesn’t know I’ve seen them, she thought I was asleep when she was changing from her work clothes to her nightgown. I don’t know how I didn’t cry out…dreadful purple and red bruises round the tops of her arms and round her ankles.
It is that devil Mr Silco that’s hurting her… I’m sure of it. I’ve seen the terror in her eyes when he comes into a room and I’ve seen her slither away trying not to be seen by him. He always sees her though, he watches her with that creepy smile on his face… it’s like he enjoys her fear. He taunts her, plays with her, like a cat does with a mouse before it kills it.
She hasn’t been well either, Missy hasn’t, I heard her throwing up something awful the other morning, though what she can be bringing up I don’t know because she hardly eats a thing. She has become so thin you can see her ribs clearly and her arms are like little sticks.
She worries me she does. I was thinking that I might speak to Mrs Cray the cook, she must have noticed as well. Maybe she could get her to see a doctor or something….
CHAPTER 15 - HELEN
Kathy Hunt was sitting as bold as brass in Helen’s living room.
Lena had been anxiously looking out for Helen, so before she could get to the front door she had opened it and was talking to her in stage whispers.
‘She just push her way in Helen…I don’t know what to do with her…she say she is Andy’s mum and she has rights…’
‘It’s fine love,’ Helen said in a hushed voice. ‘I have called the police; they shouldn’t be too long in coming. All we have to do is keep her here till they arrive.’
Kathy Hunt had abandoned her son Andy in a children’s home months ago, after being cleared of the murder of his sister…her daughter, Lucy. As far as Helen was aware she was still being charged with concealing Lucy’s murder and perverting the course of justice but as soon as she had been let out on police bail she had absconded, and no one had heard anymore about her. Helen swore under her breath angrily; they had been getting on so well with Andy, he was just beginning to relax and feel part of the family, this was the last thing he needed.
The problem was that despite the fact that his mother had treated him appallingly, neglecting both him and his sister in the worst possible ways, battering him whenever she’d had too much to drink, which was nearly all the time, Andy still loved his mum. He had never given up hope that one day she would turn up sober as a judge and take him home with her, so how he was going to feel if he ever found out that Helen had told the police where to find her…well Helen didn’t like to think about that.
‘Ok let’s hear what she has got to say for herself,’ she said. She put her arm round Lena who had been hovering nervously next to her, waiting for her reaction. ‘Stop worrying love, what else could you do?’ she said to her reassuringly. ‘At least you had the good sense to call me. Can you keep the little ones upstairs and out of the way, Andy’s with Maya and he doesn’t know anything about it… and he won’t, not if a can help it,’ she added determinedly as she walked past Lena and into the living room.
Kathy Hunt was a tiny, mean looking woman with hunched shoulders and claw like hands. She looked up at Helen as she came into the room and gave her a thin smile.
‘You the woman that’s got my boy?’ she asked coming to her feet. ‘Where is he then, I thought the old lady said he would be home from school soon?’
Helen held out her hand, ‘I’m Helen Drover Mrs Hunt, my partner and I are fostering Andy at the moment that’s right. You really should have made arrangements with social services if you wanted to see him…’
Kathy ignored Helen’s hand. ‘Bollocks to that,’ she said crudely. ‘He’s my son…I should be able to see him whenever I want. I don’t need no stuck up cow like you telling me what I can and can’t do…’
‘Andy is in my care Mrs Hunt, and I’m afraid that unless you go through the proper channels you won’t be able to see him…’
‘Proper channels… proper bleeding channels,’ shrieked Kathy, moving up close to Helen and pointing a bony finger at her. ‘Now you just listen here you fat bitch, you just tell me where my boy is or it will be the worse for you…’
‘Please sit down Mrs Hunt,’ Helen said as calmly as she could. She’d noticed a police car pulling up outside so she needed to keep Kathy from looking out of the window. ‘I have no intention of keeping you from your son, but you must see that I have to abide by the rules myself. When we became Andy’s foster parents, we committed to keeping him safe and also to agree to the rules that were laid down for us. One of those rules was about who was allowed to visit him, and it was made very clear to us that you, Mrs Hunt, were only allowed to visit if arrangements had been made with social services. So I’m sorry but you have had a wasted journey today. If however you get in touch with the right people of course…’
The door bell rang, Kathy looked incredulously first at Helen and then out of the window where the police car was parked in full view.
With a shriek of fury she turned on Helen, ‘I’ll ‘ave you…you stuck up cow,’ she shouted as she rushed past, shoving Helen, rugby style, out of the way so that she fell hard against the sideboard. Kathy then ran down the hall, through the kitchen and out of the back door.
‘Stop her!’ Helen screamed to the two policemen as she opened the door, ‘She’s going through to the
garden.’
The policemen split up, one running through the house and the other sprinting round to the side entrance to the garden. But all to no avail, they came back ten minutes later empty handed.
‘She must have run into the woods,’ one of them panted. ‘I couldn’t see any trace of her.’
They needed to ask Helen and Lena some questions, so Lena made some tea and sat them down in the living room.
Helen explained the situation as best she could, ‘So you see I’m just so scared that she’ll come back and try and take the boy,’ she was saying. ‘After all she knows where he goes to school, what’s to stop her going there?’
‘Try not to worry Mrs Drover,’ Constable Henderson said giving her a reassuring smile. ‘It might be a good idea though, to walk Andy inside the school each day and similarly pick him up from inside the school in the evening, then there will be less chance of her getting near him. Hopefully we will have picked her up pretty soon though, so it won’t be a problem anymore.’
After taking a few more details the policemen left and Helen phoned Maya to let her know what had happened.
‘Oh no Helen…maybe she comes back again, what should we do?’ Maya said anxiously.
‘I suppose we’ll just have to keep an eye on him,’ Helen said with a grimace. ‘The policeman that was here said we should walk him into the school in the morning and stuff…but what’s Andy going to think if we start doing that, he’s a bright kid he’s going to know something’s up isn’t he.’
‘We can’t tell him Helen, promise me you won’t tell him,’ Maya said urgently. ‘I will not allow that woman to get her hands on him again; he’s just getting better…’
‘I know, I know love,’ Helen said choosing her words carefully. ‘But do we really have the right to keep this from him?’
‘YES!’ said Maya fiercely. ‘We do because we love him and we know what’s best for him…and it is not that awful woman. Don’t you remember what he was like…don’t you?’
‘Hey listen I don’t want him to see her either,’ said Helen holding up her hands. ‘I’m not the enemy here love, I’m just worried that he might be a bit resentful of us if he knows we’ve kept this from him…’
‘I would rather have him angry and safe…wouldn’t you?’ Maya said bitterly.
Helen sighed, ‘Yes of course…why don’t you bring him home now love, I’m pretty sure the coast is clear. I’ve seen a police car drive past the house twice while I’ve been talking to you so I don’t expect she’ll be hanging around.’
Maya agreed to that and they finished their call. Helen could hear splashing coming from the bathroom upstairs, obviously Lena was bathing the two little ones. She went through to the kitchen to make a start on dinner.
The back door opened making her jump, but it was just Sophie, Maya’s nineteen year old daughter, coming home from college.
‘Mm something smells good…I’m so hungry I could eat my own arm,’ she said throwing her bag on the table before opening the fridge.
‘It won’t be long love,’ Helen said with a smile. ‘Don’t eat too much now or you won’t eat your dinner…’
‘Ha,’ said Sophie with a laugh. ‘Don’t worry Helen I will eat every mouthful I promise…where’s Mum, she’s late isn’t she?’
‘Yes…um she had a staff meeting or something; she should be home soon…’
She broke off laughing as two screaming, naked children raced into the kitchen. They were being chased by a growling Lena with a towel over her head.
Maya and Andy arrived home a few minutes later, and soon they were all sitting down to a big family meal. Helen looked around the table at her large extended family and swore to herself that she wasn’t going to let the likes of Kathy Hunt bring any harm to her beloved family. She would protect them with her dying breath if necessary.
CHAPTER 16 – 1969 Exerts from the diary of Una Flannery
…Missy got into big trouble today, I was coming up the back stairs when I heard an awful crash and Mrs Cray shouting and swearing. When I got into the kitchens I could see Missy curled up into a ball near the back door while that old cow Mrs Cray was whacking her round the head and shouting at her something awful. There was broken china all over the floor, obviously Missy had dropped the plates she’d been carrying or something.
Anyway Mrs Cray stopped hitting her when she saw me standing there, she just shouted at her to ‘Get this bloody mess cleared up you stupid little cow,’ and marched off back over to her side of the room.
I went over to Missy and tried to help her up, but she cried out when I pulled on her hand and shrugged off any help. She looked dreadful, swollen eyes and snotty nose so I got some paper towels to clean her up. When I came back she was trying to pick up the broken china but her hands didn’t seem to be working properly and when I looked at them closely I could see that a couple of fingers on one of her hands were sitting at a peculiar angle as if they were broken.
‘What happened Missy?’ I asked her in a whisper, pointing at her hands. She just shook her head, but her face crumpled in misery.
‘Was it Silco?’ I asked again, she looked up at me, terror in her eyes, ‘it was, wasn’t it…that fecking devil!’
Missy looked at me, her eyes enormous, ‘You mustn’t say anything Una…please promise me.’
‘You need to tell someone Missy,’ I said angrily, ‘why do you put up with it? Why don’t you get away from here…go back home....’
‘You don’t understand,’ Missy said almost in a whisper. ‘I have nowhere to go, my mum won’t have me back,’ she faltered, ‘there were so many of us you see…as soon as we got old enough we had to work…no I can’t go back there, my dad would kill me…’
‘But surely that’s better than this?’ I said, but she was shaking her head, tears streaming down her face.
‘No, I have nowhere else to go…and no one to help me,’ she looked at me again, pleading with me.
‘You mustn’t say anything Una…he will know if you do…please, please don’t say anything.’
After a moment I nodded, and began to help her clear up the broken china, but I was now more determined than ever to speak to Mrs Cray, oh I know she can be a hard cow but surely even she wouldn’t stand by and watch a young girl being tortured…yes that’s what I’ll do, I’ll wait till after lunch tomorrow then I’ll speak to her.
CHAPTER 17 - TRACY
‘Right,’ Imogen Wiseman said, imperiously taking control of the auditions before Andrea (who was actually meant to be in charge of the production) had had a chance to speak. ‘As there are so many of you that want to be Inspector Johnstone and Lucinda Lovett, I think that maybe we had better put all of you into two groups and audition those groups separately. What do you think Andrea?’
‘Um…oh yes Imogen of course if you think that’s best,’ Andrea said uncertainly. ‘Only don’t you think that we should give those parts to our strongest actors, they are the main roles after all. And some of the women who want to be Lucinda Lovett…well they’re not at all suitable are they?’ she added in a whisper, looking pointedly at Hillary Sutcliffe, a thirty stone growler with pebble glasses and unconvincing long red hair.
‘Oh nonsense Andrea,’ Imogen said waving aside Andrea’s objections. ‘Trust me I’ve had more years' experience treading the boards than I care to admit and I can promise you that it never does any harm giving new blood a chance, if you know what I mean.’
‘Yes but there are so many that want those parts Imogen dear,’ Andrea tried again nervously. ‘Maybe we should emphasise how strong some of the other parts are…um Mrs Page for instance, oh I know she dies in the third scene but still, it’s a good part…’
‘Oh there’s plenty of time to find people to fill those parts Andrea my dear,’ Imogen replied rather patronisingly. ‘But these characters are the ones that will make or break our play…we need to find two people who will fill the stage with sexual tension and romance …’
‘Romance?’ said Tra
cy, who had been drafted in at the last minute by Helen, when some problems at home had kept her from attending the auditions herself. She looked up from her script with interest. ‘I wasn’t aware that there was any romance in the play, it is just a simple “whodunit” isn’t it?’
Andrea looked sheepishly at Tracy. ‘Er… well I might have made a few changes since you last saw the script Tracy,’ she said. ‘Lady…I mean Imogen thought that there should be some romance in it. So we’ve made a few changes and now Inspector Johnstone and Lucinda Lovett end up being lovers. Brilliant don’t you think?’
Tracy stared at her incredulously. Andrea had already introduced several new characters to the play so that more people had a part, but now it seemed she was changing the actual play itself. Helen was not going to be happy; she had spoken long and hard about it to Tracy earlier when she had asked her to deputise for her. The play had been brilliant in its simplicity, she had said, a detective story pure and simple conjured up from the mind of a fifteen year old boy. Tracy had to agree with her…that was why it didn’t have any romance in it for crying out loud, what fifteen year old boy worth his salt would write about all that sort of mushy stuff.
‘I’m not sure that the author would have wanted there to be a love story…’ she began.
‘Oh take my word for it Mrs Burton,’ Imogen butted in. ‘If he’d thought about it long enough he would have. Yes I’m absolutely sure that he would have thoroughly approved of the changes we’ve made. And Andrea’s ideas about DS Jim Palmer’s latent homosexual feelings towards his boss are just genius…takes the play to a whole new level.’
Andrea beamed with pride, completely oblivious to Tracy’s horrified expression. ‘I think maybe you’d better give me a copy of the new script Andrea… for Helen to read,’ Tracy said between gritted teeth, ‘so that she can get up to speed.’
Andrea immediately began to rummage around inside her enormous canvas bag. ‘Oh of course Tracy, I was going to give her one anyway…but I’ve only managed to run off three copies so far. My printer ran out of ink halfway through I’m afraid, so the later scenes are a bit faint…ah here we are.’