The Good Neighbour (30 page)

Davey and Lola would probably make it too.

‘Turn here,’ she said, and Andy artfully manoeuvred the huge lorry into the side-street. He shut off the engine and she opened the door, climbed down onto the step above the wheel and jumped the last couple of feet. She ran into Busy Tigers, and saw with relief that Sharon, the manager, was at the front desk.

‘Oh, hello, Mrs …’

‘Fairbanks. Hello, Sharon.’

‘You’re a family friend of Lola Brooke’s, aren’t you? Didn’t you collect her recently?’

‘That’s right!’

‘Is she OK? She’s normally in on Mondays, but her mum didn’t answer her phone.’

‘Oh, she’s fine. Cath said something about her having a cold. So, er, I was wanting to get an application form, please.’

Sharon visibly warmed up. ‘Great! For your little girl?’

‘Tilly. Yes. In three weeks’ time she’ll be a year old. I think she’d really enjoy mixing with other children. And I’m going back to work.’ How glad she was, to be able to say that.

Sharon opened the filing cabinet drawer and handed Minette a form. ‘You can pop it in next time you’re passing.’

‘Thanks.’ Minette put the form in her bag and started to walk away, then turned back as though only just remembering. ‘Oh, there was one other thing. Cath told me I needed to update my details with you, on the named person form. I don’t think you have my new mobile number.’

‘Sure. Let me just find Lola’s form …’ Sharon rifled through the cabinet drawer while Minette held her breath. ‘I must say, when Lola didn’t come in I thought perhaps Mrs Brooke had decided not to send her here anymore. Now we’ve settled.’

‘Settled?’

‘You know Mrs Brooke sued us over the M&M business?’

‘Good god, I had no idea.’

‘Oh. Well. It was my first experience of the legal system. And the last, I hope. We settled out of court. My managers wanted it over quickly, to avoid the publicity.’

‘How much was it?’

‘Five thousand. Luckily our insurance covered it. I suppose our premiums will shoot up next year. Ah, here we are.’

She put the form in front of Minette, who quickly scanned Gina’s details before saying, ‘Oh, you do have the right number, I was more efficient than I thought.’

Sharon smiled. ‘Well, do tell Mrs Brooke once again how sorry we were about the incident. And wish Lola better for us, if you see her.’

‘I will,’ Minette said. ‘I’m hoping to see her very shortly.’

Minette expected that Andy would drop her back home before heading to Eastbourne, but he took it for granted that she would come along with him. She debated with herself whether to insist, then reasoned that she would just stay in the lorry when they got to Gina’s. It would be stupid to be seen to be so involved; Gina would tell Cath, and then Minette would be in for it.

Andy was silent while he steered the lorry out of the narrow Brighton streets and onto the A27. Then he said, ‘What made you decide to give Adam my number?’

‘There wasn’t just one thing.’ Minette couldn’t tell him about Liam, or the photos, or any of it, really. There was a solid honesty, an ordinary blokiness to Andy, that meant she wanted him to think well of her. She didn’t want his disapproval. ‘The key thing was the feeling that Davey – Adam – wanted me to help him.’

‘Thank you.’

‘You don’t have to keep thanking me. It’s my fault, really, if you think about it, that Cath’s run off. By giving Adam your number, I scared her away.’

‘You can’t think of it like that,’ Andy said. ‘You did the right thing.’

‘I wish I’d acted sooner, now. I wish I’d …’

‘What?’

‘Nothing, really.’ Minette had been going to say, I wish I’d taken them away. Run as fast as I could and kept them safe. It wasn’t the sort of thing that really happened. Anyway, the kids probably wouldn’t have wanted to go with her. They hardly knew her. Instead she said, ‘I was wondering why you didn’t have Gina’s address. I thought you sent her money for the children.’

‘Yes, but that’s to a PO box, not to her home. I just have that, and an email address. She and Ruby are both very careful. I always put a little note in with the cheques, telling Gina my side of it, and asking if she can get the kids to give me a call. She has my number though I don’t – I didn’t, till you gave it to me – have hers. All I knew was that she lived in Eastbourne, where she and Ruby grew up. After Ruby left in February, I went straight to Eastbourne, spent several days just driving around, looking for them. But I didn’t find them.’

Minette wondered what it was like, to be Andy. To spend all your time alone, driving thousands of miles, with nothing but the radio and your thoughts for company. No one to come back to anymore, either. She knew she had to ask him about Davey, but wished she didn’t.

‘So, uh, this might seem an odd question, Andy. Or perhaps not. But Davey – Adam – he definitely has muscular dystrophy, is that right?’

‘Oh, yes.’ Andy slowed down for a roundabout and glanced across at her. ‘Ruby took him for the blood tests, they all came up positive.’

The lorry trundled along the road, past Lewes and on towards Beddingham. Another roundabout. Minette waited.

‘Shit,’ Andy said. ‘Shit, shit, shit. How could I be such a shitting idiot?’ He whacked the steering wheel, hard, and gave such a cry of despair that Minette’s eyes filled with tears.

‘Ruby took him for tests at the hospital where she worked. She could have lied, or doctored the results, or anything. Oh my god, I am such a fucking idiot.’

‘I don’t know if this is relevant,’ Minette said, hesitantly, ‘but when I was at the house once, I saw a freezer in Cath’s room. It had blood samples in it.’

‘I know, she borrowed it from work, years ago. Never gave it back when we left Birmingham. Little Panasonic portable, it is, lab freezer. She kept samples from kids she worked with once they’d been tested.’

‘What for?’

‘You’re going to think I’m stupid, but I never really asked her. I thought she just kept them out of interest, or to do her own tests on. She was a nurse, not a lab technician, but she was always very interested in that side of things.’

There was a silence while they both thought about what Cath might have used the samples for.

‘Such a fucking idiot,’ Andy said, under his breath.

‘Will the hospital in Harrogate let you have Davey’s results, do you think?’

‘I don’t know. I could try. But if she substituted someone else’s blood for his, what difference would it make? Anyway I can’t even remember if she got him tested at Harrogate. We moved around quite a bit, and she worked in a lot of different hospitals. I can work anywhere but she often got fed up with jobs, wanted to go somewhere else.’

‘Did she get sacked?’

‘Well, she would have been sacked from her last job, from the nursing bank. Worse than sacked, I think. Letters came after she left, saying she had to go to a disciplinary hearing. There were question marks about the little boy who died, Darren. It looks like he was doing well, then Ruby took over his care and he quickly got worse and, well, he passed away.’

They were silent for a moment. Minette wanted to ask if he thought Cath had deliberately done something to harm the little boy, then checked herself. His own children were with her, and maybe he was frightened that they too were in danger. It didn’t bear thinking about. But Minette couldn’t imagine Cath harming Davey or Lola. Behaving oddly, yes. Pretending they were ill, certainly. But physically harming them? It didn’t square with anything she’d seen of Cath. She wondered what had happened with the little boy who died. Whether it was just some of Cath’s odd behaviours taken too far, or whether she had just slipped up, given him the wrong treatment or not enough of the right one, or something? Well, she probably wouldn’t ever know.

Andy continued, ‘I had to ring the hospital and explain that Ruby had left me. I think they’ll have to drop it. Before that, no, I don’t think she got sacked. When I met her she was working at the Queen Elizabeth in Birmingham, and I think I told you before how she was very upset about a little girl who died there, Libby. Ruby wanted to leave straight after that. We moved to Edinburgh, then Liverpool a few years after.’

‘Andy, I really think Ruby’s unwell. I looked up that thing you mentioned before, that illness with the weird name.’

‘Munchausen syndrome by proxy.’

‘Yes. Could it be that?’

‘I don’t know. Possibly.’ Andy wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. ‘To be honest, I don’t really care. Having a name doesn’t help. It doesn’t explain anything, it just describes it. Minette. Tell me one thing. You saw the children yesterday. Are they really OK?’

‘They really are.’

‘Well, you know.’ Andy laughed bitterly. ‘Apart from all the lying and the mental health issues, Ruby is a pretty good mother.’

They passed the sign for Eastbourne – ‘The Sunshine Coast Welcomes You’ – and Andy followed the satnav’s instructions to Gina’s street. The lorry juddered to a halt, and Andy opened his door. Minette said, ‘Good luck,’ and he turned to look at her, surprised.

‘Aren’t you coming with me?’

‘Well, no. I, er, wouldn’t it be better if it was just you? Less overwhelming for Gina? In fact, I was going to say, it would make sense if she didn’t know that Abe and I have been helping. Don’t want her feeling like there’s a whole load of us ganging up. Don’t you think?’

Minette’s plan – to sit tight in the lorry, slide down so she couldn’t be seen – had taken everything into account, except the expression on Andy’s face. He looked utterly bereft. ‘Shit. I’m a bit anxious about going in there on my own.’

Minette’s heart went out to him. Really, she wanted to go with him. But you can’t, she told herself. You mustn’t be any more involved than you already are. The photos, Minette, think of the photos. ‘We don’t want to be mob-handed, Andy. And suppose Cath’s still there, she won’t want to see me, will she?’

‘She won’t want to see me, either.’ He had tears in his eyes, and she had to look away to stop her own eyes from watering in sympathy. ‘No matter how this turns out, I just want you to know that I appreciate it,’ he said. ‘You’re the first person who’s really tried to help.’ He climbed out of the lorry.

I don’t know you, Minette thought. We’ve only just met. I need to protect myself. Even as she was thinking this, she was opening her door. She couldn’t bear to let him go alone. ‘I’ll come,’ she said.

She knew it would end badly. But she couldn’t do otherwise. She knew that in the same situation, Cath would sit firm, would protect herself, would not think twice. But Minette wasn’t like Cath; there was clear blue sea between them. Holding on to that thought, and letting all the other thoughts go, Minette jumped down from the cab and walked up to the house by Andy’s side.

When Gina saw them she tried to shut the door in their faces, but Andy put his foot in the jamb and pushed into the hall. Minette felt a flutter of fear as she saw how easily he did this. Christ, was his story complete bullshit? Had Cath been telling the truth after all? Gina looked like she thought so, as she backed away from them. ‘Get out of my house or I’m calling the police.’

‘Gina, are they here?’ Andy said. ‘I just want to know if they’re here.’

‘Took them to the airport this morning, so you can both just fuck off out of my house.’

Andy burst into tears.

‘Christ, I need this like a fucking hole in the head,’ Gina said.

‘What’s the problem, babe?’ A skinny young man with a pronounced Adam’s apple came down the stairs. Minette recognised him from the internet photo.

‘Nothing, Ryan, they’re just leaving.’

‘Gina, please can we talk to you?’ Minette said.

‘You’re on his side,’ she said, flipping a thumb in Andy’s direction. ‘I don’t trust you. Ruby thinks you gave Adam his number.’

There were so many confusing new names. Minette translated them in her head to the ones she was familiar with. She hoped Davey hadn’t got into too much trouble. She herself was, she realised, already in trouble, even before she’d stood side by side with Andy. She was prime suspect number one for having given out the number, so it didn’t matter so much about being here. Even if she hadn’t come in, Cath still had justification to drop the hand grenade of those dirty photos into her house. Don’t think about it, Minette told herself. Now she was here, she might just as well go all the way.

‘Andy,’ she said. ‘Maybe you should wait outside.’

‘Yes,’ he said, stumbling to the door.

‘Careful mate,’ Ryan said. He turned to Gina. ‘Shall I sit with him? Poor bloke looks a bit fucked.’

Gina nodded. Then she said to Minette, ‘OK, come in here.’

‘Want a cuppa, mate?’ Minette heard Ryan say as she followed Gina into the living room. Gina shut the door and they sat opposite each other on two plump white sofas.

‘You’re like a sodding detective, you are,’ Gina said, and Minette thought there was a note of admiration mixed in with the scorn. ‘How’d you get Andy’s number out of Ruby’s phone? We never could work out how you got past the passcode. And how’d you find my address?’

‘Let me ask
you
something,’ Minette said. ‘Andy told me that he’s sent you loads of notes, telling you what happened.’

‘What happened, according to
him
.’

‘Yes, according to him. So you know both sides of the story. How come you have never believed his version?’

Gina shook her head. ‘I met Ruby in reception class. We was four. She held my hand when I cried after peeing my pants. We grew up together. She lived with Mum and me for six years, from when she was fourteen. I know her inside out, and she me. She looked after me. She rescued me.’

‘That doesn’t mean she’s telling the truth, though.’

‘You’re missing the point. I’m with her all the way, through thick and thin.’

‘Gina, Cath didn’t leave Andy because he hit her.’

‘He did hit her, though.’

‘Yes, but he thinks he has cause, he …’

‘It ain’t never justified. You look to me like a lady who’s never got herself into a bad situation with a bloke. So you don’t tell me that “he has cause”. There isn’t never a cause.’

‘OK. Look. She didn’t leave because he hit her, bad as that was. She left because she was in serious trouble at work. And because Andy discovered that she was lying about the children.’