No Longer Safe (24 page)

‘D’you think Mel is safe?’ I said, chewing my
thumbnail, pacing about in Stuart’s kitchen.

What he’d told me had thrown everything up in the air. I
thought about how often the baby had been sleeping – and when she was awake,
how often she was crying. Was she at risk? ‘I’ve got to go back,’ I said.

‘Are you sure?’

‘I need to talk to Karen – see Mel – make sure she’s okay.’

He got our coats and reluctantly led me back to the Land
Rover. Stuart could see I was nervous; I sat during the drive with my head down
and my gloved hands squeezed between my thighs.

‘I’ll stay with you from now on,’ he said. ‘I won’t let you
out of my sight, I promise.’

I gave him a bleak smile. My mind was racing about all over
the place. All I knew for certain was that I was heading back into the lion’s
den.

Karen’s car wasn’t there when we came to the top of the
track.

‘Looks like she’s gone out,’ I said.

‘At least it gives us time to think about what to do,’ he
said. ‘Come on – deep breath.’

‘You’re back,’ she said. It was Karen who let us in. The
other two must have taken the car. She didn’t sound pleased, merely stating a
fact. ‘I was worried about you,’ she conceded. ‘Thanks Stuart.’ She nodded at
him.

‘I’m fine,’ I said churlishly. ‘And I’m not about to do
anything
out of character
.’

Karen laughed and rubbed my back, but I pulled away. I was
looking over her shoulder into the kitchen. Mel was sitting in her highchair
having breakfast.

I tipped my head so Stuart would get the message to go into
the sitting room and I joined Karen in the kitchen.

‘Where are the others?’ I said, scrutinising Mel for any signs
of distress. I couldn’t see much of her face under the hat, but she seemed
bright and perky.

‘Mark insisted on borrowing my car. I don’t know where he’s
gone. Jodie is still in bed.’

Karen tried Mel with a spoonful of porridge, but she threw
out her arm and sent it flying over to the fridge. Karen laughed. ‘Okay –
enough porridge, eh?’

I remained standing as she brushed past me and shut the door
to the hall.

‘You didn’t say goodbye,’ she said flatly.

‘I was going to phone.’

She glanced at the connecting door to the sitting room and
brought her voice down to a whisper. ‘What’s going on? I thought we were in
this together?’

‘Karen…’ I didn’t know where to start. I closed my eyes
briefly and decided to jump right in. ‘I know you were in prison. I know there
was no job in Hollywood.’

Her face hardened. ‘How did you find out?’

‘Stuart told me.’

‘Right,’ she said noncommittally. She leant against the
fridge and folded her arms.

‘I know what you did,’ I said in a hushed breath.

‘No – you don’t,’ she hissed, her eyes blazing. ‘I lost my
baby. I was falsely accused.’

I shook my head in dismay.

‘Let me explain,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t my fault.’

‘What? Someone else did it?’

‘No – what I mean is – it was never conclusive.’

‘I think you need to explain,’ I said.

‘Sit down,’ she instructed. I stayed standing where I was,
but she dropped into the nearest chair.

‘I’m going to get a bit technical, but it’s the easiest way
to explain it. When shaken baby syndrome is suspected, pathologists look for
three signs – swelling of the brain, bleeding between the skull and the brain,
and bleeding in the retina – known collectively as the triad. If all three are
present then a conviction is likely.’

‘And that’s what they found in your case?’

‘Yes – but a growing number of doctors believe that relying
on the triad alone is no longer enough. During my sentence I did all the
research I could. I found out that in a small number of cases, injuries
associated with the triad can occur naturally and are not always the result of
trauma.’ Her eyes were bright and wild. ‘I’ve got people fighting for me, now.’

‘And no one supported you at the time?’

She shook her head. ‘But these exceptions are so significant
that experts
now
believe that at least
half of those brought to trial in the past for this kind of injury have been
wrongly convicted.’ Her voice tailed off into a croak. ‘I was too late to get
my conviction overturned.’

‘So – you didn’t do it?’

Her head dropped. ‘She was choking on baby food. I was
trying to get her to breathe, to get rid of the blockage…’

‘Why didn’t you tell me? Why all the lies about America?’

She slapped her hand down and laughed. ‘Would you have kept
in touch with me if you’d known? Would you have wanted to be associated with…a
child-murderer?’

‘I would have wanted to hear your side of the story,’ I
insisted. ‘I might even have been able to help.’

‘Thanks – Alice.’ Her expression was sceptical. ‘You only
have my word that I was wrongly accused – but everyone – the medical
profession, the courts – found me guilty. I’m not sure you would have found it
an easy ride.’

‘It would have been nice to have had the choice,’ I said.

‘I’ve got stacks of paperwork at home with all my findings,
if you’re interested,’ she said. ‘I should have a PhD in it by now. Ironic,
isn't it? You were right. Medicine was going to be my grand illustrious career.
I was going to go right to the top, once I’d taken a year out to travel, but I
got pregnant…and after that everything fell apart.’ She gave a chilly laugh.

‘Nevertheless, I’ve spent
hours
scrutinising reports, statistics, other cases. You can see it all – back in
Brixton – if you like. My lawyer is filing an appeal for miscarriage of justice
at this very moment. I’m determined to clear my name.’ She was back to the old
Karen; fiery, single-minded, invincible.

‘What about your parents? Did they stand by you?’

Her hands snapped into fists. ‘Did they hell! They disowned
me. Completely.’

I dropped my head. ‘Oh…’

‘It wasn’t just me. I never told you that my brother went
off the rails when he was in his teens, did I? He did the total
drugs-drink-crime rebellion thing. Serves them right. My dad is a conniving
swine. I found out he’s been fleecing his mates out of money for years, reneged
on deals, cheated and lied. He
uses
people.’

I looked at her. Like father, like daughter.

The door opened and Jodie came in looking flustered.

‘You okay?’ said Karen.

She threw herself into a chair. ‘I don’t know. Mark has been
so bloody weird, lately. It’s like he can’t stand my company for more than
about half an hour, anymore.’

‘Where’s he gone?’ I asked.

‘How the hell would I know?’ she snapped. ‘I mean – what is
there that’s urgent – out here? We’re on holiday for fuck’s sake. What’s wrong
with him?’

‘Maybe it’s not you that’s the problem,’ said Karen.

‘What do you mean?’ Jodie asked. She snatched the packet of
capsules from her bag and threw a tablet into her mouth before taking a long
swig of orange juice.

‘Maybe Mel is driving him mad,’ Karen suggested.

Jodie didn’t look convinced. Karen seemed about to speak
again – as if she knew something – but then she shrugged. ‘Perhaps he can’t
stand being cooped up. Being cut off like this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.’

‘Yeah, well – he’s driving me mad.’ She laid her head on her
folded arms on the table. ‘Any coffee going?’

Karen pointed to the fresh pot on the stove.

‘I don’t want to speak out of turn,’ I said, ‘but is he
using too much dope these days, Jodie? Has it got out of hand?’

She shook her head adamantly. ‘He uses the same as he always
did – we both do.’

Karen twisted her mouth to one side.

‘There is one thing,’ said Jodie. She propped her head in
her hands. ‘I shouldn’t be telling you this – but I don’t know what to do. He’s
in a lot of debt and I’ve lent him piles of money.’ Her chin started to wobble.
‘It’s getting really bad...’

Karen pulled up the chair next to her and put her arm around
her. ‘Oh, dear,’ she said with a sigh.

Jodie buried her face into Karen’s neck and spoke in short
bursts between blubs. ‘I’m scared…he’s cleaning me out…I’ve got nothing left…he
doesn’t pay me back.’ She looked up in horror. ‘He’s even started stealing from
my bag.’

At that moment, the door slammed and there were footsteps in
the hall. Mark breezed in as if he was the long-awaited special guest at a
party.

‘What’s happening, guys?’ he said.

‘Jodie’s upset,’ Karen said, giving him a stern look.

‘What’s wrong, Babe?’ he crouched down beside her, holding
her hand. ‘Is it about losing your mum?’

She pulled away. ‘No, it’s not.’

I left them to it at that point, aware that Stuart had been
sitting patiently in the other room.

‘Sorry,’ I said, joining him on the sofa.

‘That sounded melodramatic – are you okay?’

‘Yeah. Did you hear any of it?’

‘I got the gist,’ he whispered. ‘Karen claims she’s
innocent.’

‘Come on – let’s get some fresh air,’ I said, pulling him
up.

There was sleet in the breeze as we set out. Once again
nature couldn’t decide whether to rain, thaw or snow. This apparent indecision
matched my confused situation perfectly. We pulled up our hoods and walked in
silence against the wind, linking arms, our free hands in our pockets.

‘There’s a brook down this way with a cute humpback bridge,’
he said. ‘Let’s go there. If we get too cold we can come back for the Land
Rover.’

I made a brave attempt at a smile and merely followed him. I
didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know what to believe.

It was the same spot I’d found before. I wanted to sit on
the bridge but it was too wet. Stuart pulled a tangle of dead leaves from a branch
above him. His thoughts must have been somewhere else, because his next words
came out of the blue. ‘Has anything odd happened at the cottage?’

My stomach lurched to one side. I had to be selective about
what I told him. I hated it; having to hide information from him about his own
nephew, but I could see no alternative. Karen was right. How would Stuart react
if he found out we’d covered up Charlie’s death and dropped his body in the
lake?

My mind leapt to the police divers. I’d heard nothing on the
local news about the search. Surely, they’d have given up looking by now. Or
maybe they’d found him and were still trying to identify the body, before
releasing any information.

Whatever the outcome, I still couldn’t believe I’d gone
along with it – Karen had been so clever making me doubt myself – making me
think it could have been me who killed him. She made it look like she was doing
me a favour, when really it was the other way round. 

‘I found ten thousand pounds,’ I said. ‘It was in Mark’s
room and then it disappeared.’

He whistled. ‘What’s that all about?’

‘I’ve no idea. It went soon after I discovered it. Maybe you
heard Jodie say just now, that Mark was heavily in debt.’

He frowned.

‘Do you think it could be connected to the boy who was
abducted?’ I said, not looking at him.

‘According to the police, the boy was handed over to someone
in a car near Craigleven on Monday evening,’ he said. ‘Where was Mark at around
nine-fifteen that night?’

I thought about it. ‘Mark and Jodie had taken Karen’s car sometime
after eight o’clock…’ I scanned my memories. ‘Karen was with me at the cottage.
She went to bed early, before you picked me up to go for a drink, at around
nine-thirty.’

‘So Mark and Jodie were out at nine-fifteen?’

‘Yeah…they
said
they
went to a pub…although I didn’t see them at The Cart and Horses.’

‘Do you think Mark could have been hiding the boy
somewhere?’

‘Bloody hell…’ I exhaled loudly at the idea of it. ‘I can’t
believe Jodie would go along with something like that,’ I said, running my
finger in the snow along the edge of the bridge, ‘but Mark does keep finding
any excuse to leave the cottage.’

‘Maybe Jodie doesn’t know,’ he suggested.

It wouldn’t be the first time Mark had kept secrets from
her, I mused.

The air was thick with a number of things that didn’t add
up. ‘What about Karen?’ he said. ‘Now you know about her past, has anything
struck you as suspicious?’

‘She’s barely left the cottage since we’ve been here – apart
from going to the hospital – she’s been too busy with Mel.’

‘And the child’s been fine?’

I frowned. ‘Karen’s been giving her sedatives, but she said
the doctors prescribed them as part of her recovery.’

An unwelcome thought caught me unawares. ‘There is another
thing. Karen grabbed me and…’

‘And what?’

‘Well – she took hold of me by my arms – she was cross about
something – and shook me pretty hard, as it happens.’

‘She
shook
you?’

‘It doesn’t mean—’

I could see him chewing the inside of his cheek. ‘I’m not
going to leave you alone with her,’ he said.

Supper was uneventful. Stuart and I didn’t betray
Karen’s Holloway secret. Mark barely said a word, Jodie spent the entire time
snuffling into a tissue and Karen kept up some semblance of appearances by
asking Stuart questions about Edinburgh University.

I saw glimmers of the old Karen – the one who could make a
person feel special and important – but my sense of wonder only lasted a few
minutes. More than anything, I felt sad. I’d lost her for good. We wouldn’t be
keeping in touch after this holiday. I didn’t know who she was anymore and what
I did see of her no longer held any allure. I gripped Stuart’s hand under the
table. He was the one I wanted in my future.

We all helped out with the dishes, making small talk about
the weather, then Mark and Jodie sloped off to bed. Karen made herself a hot
drink and followed them.