No Longer Safe (26 page)

‘Karen’s been doing something pretty nasty,’ said Mark.
‘She’s been blackmailing me over my little affairs. Why do you think I agreed
to come here? It certainly wasn’t for the sun, sea and sand.’

He’d given her the ten thousand pounds and now he wanted it
back, hence the time I caught him snooping around in her room.

‘You didn’t tell Jodie, did you, Mark?’ said Karen in a
superior tone.

‘Tell me what?’ she sniffled.

‘Mark won twenty grand in a game of blackjack a few months
ago,’ she said breezily.

Mark sank down on the sofa arm with a loud sigh.

‘What are you talking about?’ Jodie whined. ‘He’s been
borrowing
money from me all the time. He
hasn’t got any.’

‘Jodie, I hate to tell you this,’ said Karen. ‘But Mark has
a serious gambling problem. It’s not just fruit machines anymore, is it Mark? I
take it you didn’t know.’

Jodie’s face said everything; she looked completely blank.

‘That’s why he keeps slipping away,’ Karen said. ‘He’s got
no Internet connection here so all his online gambling sites are out of reach.’

Jodie turned to him, disbelief twisting her face, waiting
for him to challenge what Karen had said. Nothing happened.

Suddenly Jodie was on her feet. ‘I don’t care about the
money. I care about what you two DID!’

She looked like she was going to throw a punch at Mark, then
spun round to Karen. ‘You were my friend. You’ve played me for a fool all this
time – you bitch!’

She grabbed something from a plate in the hearth and flung
herself at Karen. The prongs of a fork sank into Karen’s bare arm and she
squealed. I pushed Jodie away and she fell into Mark, almost toppling him over.
He got up to keep her at bay.

The fork hung out of Karen’s arm at a right angle and for a
second she stared at the blood trickling down in four thin lines. Then it fell
to the floor.

‘You crazy bitch!’ yelled Mark shaking Jodie.

I ran for a tea towel and soaked it in cold water. I nudged
Mark out of the way and gently held it against Karen’s wound.

Where the hell was Stuart? Why wasn’t he here beside me,
like he said he’d be?

Mark shot his arm out and jabbed his finger at Jodie. ‘You.
Upstairs. Now. Pack your bags.’

He turned to me. ‘Alice. Ring for a taxi. I want her out of
here. And one for me. We’re both leaving.’

I was happy to do as I was told. As it happened, it was
exactly what I wanted too.

Within the next hour, the dynamics at the cottage changed
dramatically. A taxi arrived and Jodie left for good. In a flash, Mark was gone
too.

It was just the two of us – and Mel – again.

Karen joined me by the fire once Mark’s taxi had
driven away. Silence billowed out across the room. Mel had managed to sleep the
entire time. Karen must have dosed her up with sedatives again. The quiet after
the ferocious storm was like a soothing, but prickly, blanket. A false sense of
security.

‘I thought you might have gone too,’ she hissed through gritted
teeth, cradling her arm. I’d bandaged it while we waited for the taxis.

‘I’m waiting for Stuart.’

I didn’t tell her I was also still here because I had
questions – sack-loads of them – I needed answering. ‘How’s the arm?’ I said.

She stroked the bandage with care. ‘Nothing that won’t
heal.’

‘What a morning,’ I said, lying back, my hands over my eyes.

‘Mark really takes the biscuit. I can’t believe he came out
with everything,’ she said.

‘Was he telling the truth?’

‘About having a child with the math’s tutor?’ She sniffed.
‘Oh, yeah. I knew about that alright. Saw them scurrying around together plenty
of times. I knew she was pregnant, too.’

I sat up. ‘And you and him?’

‘I wasn’t sure if you knew,’ she smiled. ‘You were Jodie’s
chief spy, after all.’

‘Not a very good one.’

‘I don’t think being deceitful comes naturally to you,
Alice.’ She threw me a ravishing smile. I swallowed, filled with sadness for
the friendship that never truly existed.

‘I can’t believe he did that to Jodie,’ I said softly.

She folded her arms, then realised it was too uncomfortable.

‘He needs some serious help,’ she said. ‘The compulsive
gambling has made him a nightmare to be around.’ She wrinkled up her nose. ‘He
got seriously hooked soon after we left Leeds, I reckon. He’s really gone
downhill. Become aggressive, rude – turned into a complete tosser, don’t you
agree?’

She was skirting around the issue.

‘Totally, but what about cheating on Jodie?’ I said. ‘Right
from the start he’s been a complete sleazebag…all those years…and
you
…’

She didn’t say anything, wouldn’t engage.

The air between us chilled a fraction. ‘We should have said
something.
I
should have said
something,’ I corrected.

‘Jodie could only be blind and stupid not to know he’s
always fooled around. She didn’t want to see it, that’s all.’

‘How did you know about his gambling problem?’ I asked.

‘You get to learn a lot in prison. I recognised the signs. I
didn’t say before, but I was in touch with him when I came out; it was just after
he had a big win at blackjack. I bumped into him in Soho. He let slip that he
was on a “winning streak” and was heading for the local casino. He was trying
to impress me, I think.’

She laughed. ‘That’s when I decided he owed me and put
forward my demand for the ten thousand quid. I was skint after prison. I
threatened to tell Jodie everything – the affairs, his secret love-child and
the gambling too.

‘At the time he was terrified, but he knew I meant business.
He handed it over once he got here. But, obviously, he seems to have changed
his mind about Jodie, after all this time together. He decided he wanted his
money back and didn’t care about what she knew, anymore.’ She sent her eyes up.
‘That’s what the truth or dare charade was all about.’

‘Why have you been friends with Jodie all this time?’ I
asked her. ‘Did you use her, too?’

She winced with the pain in her arm and sat forward. ‘Had a
soft spot for her, that’s all. She’s smart in her own way, if you cut through
the silly girly façade. She’s much better when she’s not with Mark.’

‘Does she know where you were in the last few years? Does
she know you were in jail?’

For some reason it was important to me. She glanced down at
her hands. ‘No – no one knew – we didn’t keep in touch after Uni. I only saw
Mark again, by accident.’ 

I was gratified; they weren’t
really
friends, then.

‘I need to feed Mel,’ she said, getting up.

‘Can I do it? Can I help?’

‘You can come up if you want.’ She moved gingerly, her
shoulders rounded, looking like her whole body had taken a battering.

Mel didn’t move as Karen approached the cot. Her eyes were
almost glued together with yellow crusts of sleep. I didn’t say anything, but
it obviously wasn’t normal. Karen picked her up and her head flopped to one
side. I snatched a breath. ‘Is she okay?’

How much had she given her?

‘She’s just sleepy from the medication,’ Karen said.

We went down to the kitchen and while Karen prepared Mel’s
milk, I tried to wake her up, rolling toys across the table to her highchair,
tickling her in an attempt to bring her back to life. Even though her legs were
kicking and her arms were flapping about, her focus continued to waver, as if
following an invisible insect around the room.

‘So, Mel is your second child. You gave her the same name…’
It felt a bit morbid, somehow.

Karen didn’t respond.

‘Do you get visits from social services?’ I asked
innocently, ‘after…what happened.’

She looked up at me warily. ‘Yeah. I went to see them on the
way back from the hospital last week. They’re coming tomorrow for a visit.’

I hesitated. Was this another lie?

‘I’ll give you their card and you can ring them, if you
don’t believe me,’ she added, her tongue hooked under her tooth. ‘It’s
upstairs.’

‘Stuart and I…are going to leave today. I’m going to get
myself checked over by a doctor…’

‘Okay,’ she said blankly.

I shrugged. There would be time later for the awkward
goodbyes – we didn’t need to have any now.

After Mel had been fed, Karen started running a bath. I went
up after her.

‘I can do it, if you like – you’ve only got one arm.’

‘No – it’s fine,’ she said firmly, putting a clean nappy on
the wooden chair. She gathered a couple of towels and squirted bubble bath into
the flow of the water. The froth multiplied quickly, foaming up into a
cauldron.

I went down to the sitting room and tried ringing Stuart.
The landline rang and rang, then his mobile went to voicemail.

‘Where are you?’ I said. ‘Call me – as soon as you get
this.’

I’d just put the phone down when it rang, making me jump. ‘What’s
happened?’ I said, without waiting for his voice. There was a silence at the
other end before a woman asked to speak to Karen.

‘Oh, sorry – who’s calling?’

‘Mrs Ellington – I own the cottage – it’s quite important.’

I left the receiver on the French dresser and ran up the
stairs. Karen had the radio on in the bathroom and was singing along with Mel
to an old song by
Wham
. I called out. No
reply. There was a sharp glug and the water starting gurgling down the
plughole. I called again, then tapped and opened the bathroom door a fraction.
Karen was sitting on the edge of the bath, a towel on her knees. Mel was
sitting facing me, naked.

My mouth fell open.

I stared at the baby and then up at Karen’s
startled face. There was no doubt about it. The child was a boy.

I made my mouth form the words. ‘There’s a call for you,’ I
said, barely audibly, as though in a trance. ‘It’s Mrs Ellington…’

Karen didn’t say a word. She carefully wrapped the boy in a
towel and took him downstairs. I stood on the landing, blinking fast, aware of
her voice in the distance on the phone.

She came back to the bathroom and carried on as if I wasn’t
there, wrapping the infant’s nakedness inside the towel and rubbing him down.
‘Mrs Ellington wants the rest of the payment for the cottage,’ she said with a
yawn. ‘I’ll drop it round for her.’

I picked up a wet flannel that had fallen to the floor and
held it out like a gift.

‘It’s Brody, isn’t it?’ I said aghast.

No wonder he was crying a lot when he was awake. Karen was a
complete stranger. He wanted his mother.

I stared at her. She was like an apparition emerging from
the billowy steam. A phantom. Several pieces of the jigsaw began to float into
the spaces around me.

I’d never seen her baby’s face clearly the
whole
time; the hat the child always wore, the
oxygen mask, the drawn curtains, the sedatives so she would sleep for long
periods – all designed so we wouldn’t see her properly. The stained rubber
gloves – of course, Brody’s hair had been blond – the rash around his hairline.

I frowned in confusion. The police had examined ‘Melanie’
after the boy went missing. At some point she must have made a switch; Brody
for Mel.

I left the flannel on the edge of the sink, backed out of
the room and closed the door.

I had to call the police.

And what about Stuart? Why wasn’t he answering?

I went to the window in the stupid way people do when
they’re waiting for someone who isn’t due back for hours. I thought I might see
his Land Rover pulling up, or see him walking towards the cottage.

Except, to my horror, the Land Rover was still there. I
swung open the front door and, still in my slippers, I ran towards it. I
slapped my hand on the bonnet; the engine was cold and the vehicle was empty.
Stuart’s cap was lying on the seat where he’d left it, yesterday.

Why hadn’t I checked for the car, earlier? Where on earth
would he go on foot? Did Karen know more about his departure than she’d told
me?

I came back inside in turmoil. I was going to have to handle
this on my own. My breathing was all over the place – too loud, too fast. My
hands slipped on the bannister as I raced up the stairs again.

‘Where’s Stuart?’ I said.

Karen came out onto the landing with the boy and walked past
me into her bedroom. ‘Your guess is as good as mine,’ she replied. 

A week earlier

I can’t believe it. I thought I’d made it
clear. I’m desperate to blurt it all out, but I’ve got to keep my cool. Been a
bit lax and had a few more spliffs than I intended. Mustn’t lose it. But how
else am I meant to deal with what has happened?! I’m completely on my own with
this total cock-up.

Charlie showed me a photo before he took the child;
the infant was certainly a dead-ringer apart from the blonde hair – similar
size, remarkable likeness in features and face shape – and I remember
double-checking with him that the child was a GIRL. At that age it’s not always
easy to see the difference.

Charlie kept hold of the new baby in the caravan until
after the police had done their house-to-house interviews. The police came to
check out ‘my baby’, of course – and found she was a girl, so there was no
issue from that point of view. I knew they’d be checking out my history, but I
was ready for that.

When I collected my new child – I knew it was all
over. As soon as I got him back to the cottage and changed him – total
disaster! My new baby HAD to be a girl – everyone already knew about her.

Charlie must have been a total pillock. He’d got the
most basic, most crucial part wrong! The stupid prat wasn’t bloody well getting
the rest of his money after that. That’s why he turned up during the night, no
doubt – to get his hands on that final payment. I didn’t have it by then,
anyway; with the police sniffing around, I’d already passed it on to Pam for
safe-keeping.

Obviously it didn’t end well for him.