In a sudden movement Neil was out of the kitchen and into the living room. A scream I recognised, and a grunt from Neil.
'Michael!' he said. 'What are you doing out of bed? Where's Rose?'
'She's in bed. I heard a noise. I wondered what you were doing down here. My clock has broken. The time is flashing.'
'Michael,' Neil said. 'Go into the kitchen and wait with Mum for a minute. I need to go and make sure Rose is OK. I'll check your clock for you. Just go into the kitchen.'
Michael appeared at the kitchen door. I didn't need to ask if he was OK. His face said it all. He was reluctant to come straight to me, despite me holding out my free hand to him.
Of course, just minutes earlier, I had been a perspiring wreck on the sofa, having dreamt of attacking a child. I was still probably slightly drunk, and definitely on the edge. Now I was holding on for the police with one hand and holding out for my son with the other. My hand was shaking and there was broken glass on the floor. Michael looked at me, then the flashing digits on the microwave and cooker. He was pale and had dark rings under his eyes. I had no idea what the time was.
He took the last few steps to me, but didn’t get close. I didn’t blame him. I didn’t need my extreme sense of smell to tell me that I was not pleasant to be near at the moment. Sweat, booze and fear. And I probably looked as bad as I smelt.
I gave the police our address and they told me to stay on the line. To wait on the phone until they got to the door. I worried about Rose.
‘Michael, was there anyone upstairs?’ I said.
I know it’s not right to worry your children unnecessarily, but I wasn’t thinking straight. Michael hesitated.
‘Was there anyone upstairs!’ I pulled his hand, yanking his arm. He pulled it away from me and stepped back.
‘Rose is up there,’ he said. ‘No one else. Just Rose!’
I put my forefinger to my lips, told him not to shout. He looked angry.
‘What’s going on?’ he said. ‘Why are you and Dad acting so weird? Is there someone in the house?’
I had successfully freaked him out. Woken him in the middle of the night and then scared him half to death with my rantings.
‘Michael, everything is going to be OK. The police are on the way. I thought I heard a noise, that was all. I’m sure everything will be fine.’
Where the hell was Neil? Why wasn’t he back down yet? I listened out for footsteps above us, but I didn’t want to move the phone away from my ear. I wasn’t sure if my heart could cope with everything. It actually felt as though it might just stop.
The stairs creaked. The third step up, it always creaked. It sounded like Neil — but surely it could be anyone, making the stair creak.
‘Neil,’ I whispered as loudly as I dared. ‘Is that you?’
Neil came to the kitchen door.
‘Everything is OK,’ he said. He was pale too. ‘Rose is fine. She’s fast asleep, surprisingly. I checked all the rooms upstairs. And it’s all clear downstairs. There’s no one here.’
‘What about the cupboards? The airing-cupboard? What about the downstairs loo?’
‘Chris, I’ve checked everywhere. There is no one here.’
He walked to the knife-rack, replaced the knives. He tried to shield what he was doing from Michael. I guess he didn’t want to encourage Michael to go for the knife-rack at the first sign of trouble. He was probably right.
I had let the phone receiver move away from my ear. So I didn’t hear the person on the other end telling me that the police were at our door. So when the knock came, I almost died. That was also the point that I realised I really needed the loo.
‘Who is that?’ I said to Neil.
‘Probably the police?’
I brought the phone up to my ear so fast that it slammed against the side of my head. I just managed to stop myself from swearing in front of Michael.
‘There’s someone at the door!’
The person at the other end of the phone told me not to worry, that it was the police, that we were OK to let them in.
‘We need to let them in.’ I said and looked at Neil.
The police officers (two, again) followed Neil into the living room. Neil waved a hand at the sofa and invited the officers to sit down. Neither accepted the invitation.
Their skin looked grey.
I checked the clock over the fireplace. Because it was powered by battery it was one of the few clocks in the house showing the correct time. Twenty-five minutes past two. Shit.
They looked at me, then Neil. They glanced at Michael and then spotted the fallen glass of wine on the carpet. The tallest one spoke.
‘I understand that one of you reported an intruder,’ he said.
Neil nodded at me.
‘My wife thought there was someone in the house,’ he said.
He made it sound like he was having doubts. Like he was blaming me.
‘I woke up and felt a draught,’ I said, touching the back of my neck. ‘As though a window was open, or a door. And then I thought I sensed someone in the house.’
‘Sensed someone?’ the tall one said.
I burned inside. I wasn’t going to be made to look stupid in my own house.
‘And heard someone,’ I said.
‘What did you hear?’ he said.
‘Just a noise, I think. I don’t know what it was. Just a noise, like a bump or a footstep or something.’
He turned to Neil.
‘Were you and your wife upstairs when this happened?’
Neil hesitated.
‘I fell asleep on the sofa,’ I said. ‘I called for Neil to come down. And then Michael woke up too.’ I looked over at Michael. He was so tired. So little all of a sudden.
‘We all went into the kitchen and that’s when we noticed the flashing clocks. All of the digital clocks in the house are flashing. Someone has turned the electricity off and on again. Now why would someone do that?’
‘We have had a few reports of a power-cut in this area tonight. It caused one or two problems for some of the elderly residents. Did you notice any lights going out for a while?’
I hadn’t considered a power-cut. None of us had.
The policeman studied my face then looked again at the fallen glass.
‘I’ve been through a lot recently,’ I said. ‘I was attacked a few weeks ago. Ended up in hospital. I just wanted to relax on the sofa with a glass of wine before going to bed. But I fell asleep. When I woke up — that’s when all this happened. I must have knocked the glass over. Unless the intruder did.’
I moved across the room to pick up the glass then stopped. ‘Should I leave this? In case you need to check it for evidence or fingerprints or something?’
The smaller officer smirked.
‘I think it will be alright to pick that up,’ he said. He turned to Neil.
‘Have you had a chance to check the house, sir. Have a look around?’
‘I’ve checked the whole house, upstairs and down,’ Neil said. ‘And all the windows and doors.’ Neil looked at me, eyes slightly downcast. ‘It’s all clear. There’s no one here at the moment, as far as I can tell.’
Small nodded. Tall spoke.
‘Do you mind if we take a quick look around, just to be sure.’
It wasn’t a question. They would do it whether we wanted them to or not.
‘No problem,’ Neil said. ‘I’ll show you around. Our daughter is upstairs asleep at the moment.’
‘It might be better if you stay down here with your wife,’ tall said. ‘Perhaps you could go and get your daughter, bring her down here. At least then you’ll all be together.’
I didn’t understand what was going on. Why would we want to bring Rose downstairs? Why wake her when she was sleeping? I started to panic. Started to worry that these two men weren’t actually policemen at all. Started thinking that they might be in on it. One of them might be the intruder.
‘Neil, I’m worried,’ I said. ‘I don’t want these men in our house anymor
e. I’m scared.’
‘We only want to have a quick look around,’ tall said. ‘Just for your, and our, peace-of-mind.’
‘I want you to leave,’ I said. The fear was starting to rise up inside of me. I felt prickles on the back of my neck. Felt like I was being chased by someone. I practically screamed at them. ‘I want you to leave my house. Straight away!’
Michael ran over to Neil. Neil held him close. Told him to run up to bed and try to get some sleep. Michael did as he was told.
‘Chris, they’re only trying to help. They need to check the house to make sure it’s safe.’
He turned to the tall one.
‘Maybe I could check the house with you,’ he said. ‘I think we might both be happier with that.’
He glanced at me to check whether I approved. Reluctantly I nodded.
It took them less than ten minutes to check the entire house. They reassured us that everything was secure and that they would pass by the door periodically for the rest of the night.
‘It’s probable that some of our colleagues may come by tomorrow in the daylight. Just to check the outside. Make sure there’s nothing we’ve missed on the windows or doors.’
I thought about school the next day. I didn’t think I could deal with it, not if the police were coming round. I worried how Margaret would be with that. Worried what she might think.
Neil walked with the two police officers to the front door, I stayed by the sofa, staring at the fallen wine glass.
I heard their muffled voices. It was hard to make out what they were saying, but I was pretty sure I heard Neil say: “hit on the head” and “drinking”.
10
Inheritance Page 9