Sophie turns to the voice and the firefighter looming over them in a black coat and a yellow helmet. He yells the question again and Sophie wants to cover her ears.
‘No,’ Sophie croaks. ‘Our mum’s out with her boyfriend.’
‘Are you sure?’
Matthew says something, but the world is spinning and Sophie can’t make sense of it.
A paramedic ushers them to the back of an ambulance and hands them an oxygen mask each.
Time passes, although how much, Sophie isn’t sure.
Then a firefighter appears in the doorway of the house. He’s carrying something on his back and as he reaches the front garden he drops it to the ground. Two more paramedics rush towards the lump. They think it’s a body, Sophie realizes. She wants to shout at them, tell them they’ve made a mistake. It can’t be. Her mum’s out. But her throat is so sore from the smoke. Tears are streaming down her face.
‘She’s still alive,’ someone shouts.
A stretcher appears and they’re gone so fast Sophie is still trying to process what’s happening.
‘I … What?’
‘Mum,’ Matthew whispers.
‘No. She’s out with Trevor.’
He shakes his head and tears spill from his eyes. ‘She came home early because she had a headache.’
The world turns suddenly dark. Sophie can’t breathe again, like in the house with the smoke everywhere, except there’s no smoke now.
She pulls her arm away from Matthew. His body is rigid beside her, his face dark and angry.
‘What have you done?’ She lets go of the blanket and stumbles away from him.
Time passes. People come and go from their homes, handing out water and cups of tea. More questions come, this time from a police officer with an open notebook. Sophie thinks she gives her dad’s address, but can’t be sure. She wants her mum.
Chapter 56
Jenna
I leave the hospital and drive to the seafront. There are still a few hours before I need to collect Beth and Archie, and I can’t go home and face Stuart yet.
I should cancel the dentist. I’m in no fit state to deal with Archie’s fear of the dentist’s chair, but I promised doughnuts on the seafront afterwards and something about Stuart’s affair makes me want to keep this one promise more than ever.
The waves smack and pound the shore like pummelling fists. The air is still unbearably muggy but another rumble of thunder churns in the dark sky. It isn’t raining, but it’s in the air.
Snatches of my conversation with you flit through my thoughts. You said you don’t know who I am, you said you’re not my stalker, but you remember watching me. I know it was you tormenting me, but it’s not that simple any more. Someone left those dolls and flowers on my doorstep this morning, and if it wasn’t you, then who?
I stare at the sea for a long time trying to makesense of it all. Everything I thought I knew about you, about my job, about Stuart and our life together, is sand slipping through my fingers. The only certainties are my children and how much I love them.
My phone vibrates in my bag and I dig it out. Eighteen missed calls from Stuart, five from DS Church, but it’s the text message on my screen that I’m staring at. It’s from Thomas.
An alert has gone around the hospital to watch out for a patient who’s left theBIU. Think it could be your stalker. Watch out! x
A chill spreads over my body and my eyes dart instinctively around. What the hell are you up to? I start the car and drive as fast as I dare. When I reach the school car park I call DS Church again and this time I reach her voicemail. I hang up without leaving a message.
At reception, I press the bell and wait for the receptionist to unlock the door. Her head bobs up by the window for a second and then disappears before I hear the click of the lock and pull at the handle.
The waiting area is small. A green sofa takes up most of the space. There are self-portraits painted by the Year Threes on the walls and a glass-partitioned hatch into the school office.
The receptionist leans forward in her chair and slides open the window. She’s in her fifties with black hair and glasses on a string that swing out when she moves.
