The Good Neighbour (25 page)

‘Yuck.’

‘No, you don’t like that, do you. Or toast and marmite, you’d prefer that. And a special little glass of juice. And her voice would be different from her busy voice. It was like an angel’s voice, really. I wish you’d known her. She died a long time ago, long before you were born.’

Davey was asleep. Cath stayed still, so as not to disturb him. She knew that sometimes he said he felt ill when he didn’t. All kids did that, for the attention. She certainly had. But he never normally slept in the day. She wondered how much of the row he’d heard. He came out of his room some time after Minette had gone home, maybe nine thirty, saying he couldn’t sleep. Real shame about Minette. Cath had thought for a while that they were going to be proper friends. It wasn’t to be, sadly. You couldn’t be friends when there was no trust. The things that Minette had implied! Cath counted herself lucky she’d had the sense to put things in place to protect herself.

She wished she could stay where she was, drift off to sleep with Davey. But there was too much to do. She carefully extricated herself from Davey’s clasp, and stood looking down at him. So beautiful. Like a sudden blow, Cath felt the absence of Andy by her side. When the children were tiny and she checked on them when they were asleep, she would often call Andy quietly. ‘Oh, come look, they are so cute.’ Standing silently by the children’s beds, Andy would put his arm round her, and they’d admire the rounded curved cheeks that they together had made, smiling at the little snuffles and moans, their funny sleeping positions.

God, snap out of it, Cathykins. She shook her head violently. Remember Troubletown, remember having to leave work, remember what would have happened if she’d stayed. Remember Andy’s face. There was no going back. Andy wasn’t any kind of solution. He was the problem, really. He would make her deal with a load of stuff she didn’t want to. Moving forward, that’s what was needed. She didn’t really miss any of that crap, anyway.

She went into her own room and updated her notebook. She put a big tick through the page for Kirsten. Only £100! When you thought about the size of the renovations Kirsten had been doing. Still, it wasn’t too bad, considering Cath hadn’t made much progress with getting to know Kirsten. She saw she’d written a note on Kirsten’s page to book Lola in for a cranial appointment with her; that was another ball she’d dropped. Ah well, can’t win ’em all. She turned to Martin and Sarah’s page, and noted that she would need to wait till Wednesday evening, when Sarah went out to some evening class and Martin was in on his own.

She put the book away and fired up the laptop. She hadn’t had a chance to look at her email for a few days, and there were three from Verna. She replied:

Dearest V

I was just thinking about Mum today so it’s funny you mentioned her. It will be twenty-eight years next month. Looking forward to hearing more of your memories.

Sorry that I’m changing like the wind here. You’re right, it might be sooner after all, rather than later. Still not sure of eta, things a bit up in the air, can I keep you posted? Thanks for looking into the stuff for me. Thought Duchenne might get better benefits there, bit of a shame. Still, turns out the easiest way to transfer UK benefits is to get Gina to collect and send them on.

R xx

Typing Gina’s name reminded her that they hadn’t spoken for a few days. She dialled her number.

‘Hey,’ Gina said, ‘I was just about to ring you.’

Cath leaned back in her chair and smiled. ‘That’s nice. Great minds. I miss you. Don’t suppose there’s any chance of you popping down this evening, is there?’

‘Oh … I’d like to but I can’t, I got this thing with Ryan …’

‘Sure.’

‘I’ll pop down tomorrow. And I’m coming next weekend anyway, aren’t I, for your crazy triathlon? So listen, bit of a weird one from Andy this time.’

‘I don’t need to know about it.’

‘He’s enclosed a letter from the hospital. Where you used to work?’

How funny that she’d just been thinking about it, and now here it was.

‘It mentions that boy who died. Darren? It says something about a disciplinary.’

‘Tear it up, Gee, there’s a love.’

‘Sure?’

Cath straightened her shoulders. Moving forward. ‘Yep. That’s all in the past now.’

After they’d hung up, she looked up the
Harrogate Advertiser
online. It was there, on the homepage: ‘Police investigating child hospital death’. There was a school photo of Darren. A lousy picture but there was no hiding that cheeky grin. She smiled back at the picture. Absolutely lovely kid, one of the best she’d ever nursed. She realised that she must have had Darren in her head when she came up with Davey, another D name. She scanned the details of the report, but it didn’t mention her or any of the other staff. It just mentioned those mysterious ‘irregularities’. Yeah, pretty irregular, not recognising when a child was properly ill, not listening to his nurse, not giving him the treatment he needed. Still, no one believed her then, and there was no way that they would believe her now.

She turned off the laptop, went downstairs, and checked on the kids. Davey was asleep, Lola still staring at the telly. Then she popped out to collect the rest of the money, giving Martin and Sarah’s house a miss. By the time she got home she was carrying almost 500 quid. Not bad for half an hour’s work. She put the money carefully in her ‘Duchenne’ cash box, and locked her bedroom door.

MINETTE FINALLY GAVE
up on texting, and as soon as Abe had left for work she rang Liam.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, when he picked up, ‘I don’t want to stalk you. But we didn’t seem to be getting anywhere with texts.’

‘No, well, I’ve been pretty busy.’

She knew from his voice that it was over between them. Then she told herself to get a grip. It was already over, the moment she saw those photos. No, it was over the moment Cath told her Josie was pregnant. Then she homed in on it. It was over the moment she saw Liam with Josie on the beach. His face, the way he looked at her.
Careful, baby
.

‘I promise it won’t take long,’ she said. ‘Can I pop over now?’

‘No, I’ve got some stuff to do this morning. Uh, with Josie.’

‘I’m doing my last training run at lunch time. How about joining me?’

‘I haven’t been for a run for weeks.’

‘I go pretty slowly.’

They arranged to meet at the end of the street. Minette hung up and turned round, to find that Tilly was no longer sitting on the floor where she’d left her, but was holding onto a chair and standing up. ‘Oh, Tilly, you clever girl!’ Minette said, and had a little cry. Whether it was about Tilly, or over Liam, she wasn’t sure. When she’d composed herself, she made a phone call she’d been working up to for a few days.

‘Hi, Harry?’

‘Minette! I was just thinking about you, and cursing you, in fact.’

‘Oh dear, why’s that?’

‘I got lumbered with pulling together this damn job description.’

‘Does that mean you haven’t appointed anyone yet?’

‘I think you’ve forgotten how slowly the wheels turn here, my sweet. We haven’t even sent out the damn advert yet.’

‘In that case would this be a good moment to ask for my job back?’

‘Really? Are you kidding? Tell me again.’

‘I want to come back. Part-time, if that’s OK.’

‘Yay! Did you hear that? That was the sound of me ripping up the job advert. When can you start? I’ll sort everything out with personnel, don’t worry. Just get your lovely self back here pronto.’

Minette was in her running clothes when Abe got home. She told him about deciding to go back to work. ‘That’s great news,’ he said, and kissed her. ‘I’m not sure being a stay-at-home mum really suits you.’

‘Well, you say that, but if I hadn’t been here I’d have missed Tilly standing up …’

‘Oh my god,’ he said, running into the kitchen. ‘Show me, Tills!’

As Minette jogged to the corner, she thought how sad it would be, to be a single parent. No one else in the world was as fascinated by Tilly as her, except Abe. People like Cath had no one to share that stuff with. And how close Minette had come to throwing that away. Well, she wasn’t going to allow Cath to try and ruin things for her. But then … she slowed down. What about helping Davey and Lola? Jesus, there were no easy answers. Someone was going to get hurt, however it played out.

Liam was waiting outside the shop, looking hot as all get out in running gear. He gave her an odd little nod, and set off at a ridiculous pace. She jogged after him, not trying to keep up, and after a moment he turned round and said, ‘You’re not going for speed at this triathlon, I take it?’

‘If we’re to talk, you’ll have to slow way down.’

He settled into a more manageable pace alongside her. ‘Where are we headed?’

‘I usually go down as far as the pier.’

‘Bring it on.’ He was already slightly out of breath. ‘So, what is this vitally important thing you have to tell me that requires eight texts on a weekend?’

‘I’m sorry. You don’t know me well enough to know how out of character that is.’

‘I’ll take your word for it. Go on, then.’ They turned the corner and ran down towards the seafront.

‘I saw Cath at the weekend …’ She paused while they crossed the road. ‘Liam, she’s taken dozens of photos. Of us.’

‘What do you mean? Us at her party?’

Minette stared straight ahead at the path. The Palace Pier glittered, off in the distance. It looked impossibly far. ‘Photos of us, er, in bed.’

‘She’s got sex photos of us?’ Minette could feel Liam looking at her. ‘How?’

‘I think she set up a camera in the spare room.’

‘Can we please wait a minute?’

They stopped running, and Liam bent down to get his breath, hands on his knees. Minette thought that he was really upset, but when he straightened up, he was grinning. ‘Are they good?’

‘Pardon?’

‘Do we look hot in them? Have you got one? I’d love to see them.’

‘Aren’t you shocked?’

‘Well, it explains a lot about Cath. Everyone’s got a kink, Minette.’

‘She didn’t take them for some sexual purpose. Christ, Liam, she’s threatening me with them.’

‘Oh, come on, Minette, I know you love the movies, but this isn’t
Dial M for Murder
. This is Cath we’re talking about, middle-aged mum next door who, we now know, gets off on perving over nudie pictures of her neighbours.’

‘You’re not listening.’ Minette started running again, fast, as if that would get her away from the situation. ‘And there’s no one else I can talk to.’

Liam chased after her. ‘So you can go faster if you want. Look, Minette, it doesn’t make any sense. Why would she want to blackmail you?’

‘Because I know something. Something bad.’

‘What is it? Christ, slow down a minute.’

‘I can’t say.’ Minette changed her pace back to a talking speed. ‘But let me ask you this. Do you think her kids are OK?’

‘They seem fine to me.’

‘Great teacher you’re going to make. Razor-sharp instincts.’ Minette was out of breath now.

‘Well, what am I supposed to have noticed?’

‘You don’t think she’s like, a little bit odd with them? That night I looked after them, when you came round, she told me to leave them in the house on their own.’

‘She was concussed, you said.’

‘And Davey has his own front-door key.’

‘Isn’t that quite impressive, though? Yes, she’s hands-off. But you know, there’s a balance, isn’t there, between laid-back parenting, and over-protectiveness.’

‘Meaning I’m over-protective, I suppose.’

‘You know what, Minette? I think we should keep out of it.’ Liam was breathing hard. ‘How much further are we going?’

‘You want another rest?’

He shook his head. His face was beetroot, his hair plastered flat onto his forehead, and there were sweat patches down the sides of his vest. If she’d been trying to cure herself of lust, she couldn’t have found a better way.

‘Look,’ he said, ‘Cath’s a bit odd, sure. But those kids are not our responsibility. I think we should back off a bit. You certainly shouldn’t confide in her any more.’

‘Believe me, I’m not planning to. She made it clear that if I told anyone what I knew, she would show Abe the photos.’

‘Well, that makes it very simple. Don’t tell anyone. I don’t even know why you’re telling me about it.’

‘Because she said she would show Josie as well.’

Liam stopped dead, panting, and grabbed hold of her arm. ‘Fuck’s sake, how did Josie get dragged into this? Why did you even tell Cath you knew this mysterious secret? What’s wrong with letting sleeping dogs lie?’

‘Never had you down as a head-in-the-sand type, Liam.’ Minette pulled away from him. ‘I’m worried about those kids. I
had
to tell her.’

‘No, you didn’t. You wanted to.’ Liam’s voice got louder. ‘You were like a bored child putting a stick into a hornet’s nest. You’re just another under-stimulated mummy, in search of a hobby. Poking your nose into someone’s else’s life is a bit more interesting than feeding the baby, isn’t it? You need a fucking job, you know that?’

Minette stared at him, her hands on her hips. ‘I see. That’s what you think of me. Good to know. Oh, one more thing, on the topic of babies. Cath told me that Josie’s pregnant.’

‘What? How the hell does she know?’

‘So it is true.’ Minette started running again. ‘Congratulations.’

‘Minette, please wait.’ He raced after her. ‘I’m sorry. I was going to tell you.’

‘When, exactly? Next time we had sex? The time after that? “By the way, Minette, you know I said I wasn’t sleeping with my wife? Oops.” And of course, I would reply …’

‘Don’t, Minette.’

‘I would reply, “Oh that’s OK, Liam, I don’t mind being lied to and made a fool of.”’

‘My god, the drama. Look, Josie and I
weren’t
sleeping together when you and I first met, I didn’t lie.’

‘And when you later reunited, you forgot to mention it?’

‘Not being funny, Minette, but I was hardly going to cock-block myself, was I? The sex was amazing, you got to admit.’

‘So is your conscience finally blocking your cock now she’s pregnant?’