‘No, no, no!’ He begins to yell so loud I keep well away from him as his foot kicks out at the table, nudging it in my direction. Then he grabs his beaker of tea and begins to bang it hard on the chair’s arm and the lid flies off, sending tea spraying all over the coffee table and floor. ‘No, no!’ He keeps repeating the same word over and over again.
The woman runs back in. ‘Archie, stop it, my love. You’re okay.’ She pats him down with a towel and takes the beaker off him. ‘We’ll need to get you changed out of this damp jumper in a minute.’
Tea drips from my hand and there’s a wet streak across my jeans.
‘Sorry about that. This happens sometimes when he’s not having a good day.’
But he mentioned the red hat. I need to know more. ‘Archie, tell me about the red hat.’
The woman glances at me as she continues to clean him up. Archie looks up. ‘The red hat?’
‘You know about the red hat?’
‘Oh, he goes on about that sometimes. Cody told me about the toddler he rescued from the car. Apparently he was wearing a red sun hat and sometimes that’s all Archie can remember. Silly isn’t it, what the brain chooses to keep. You were a hero, weren’t you, darling.’
‘Wasn’t a red hat found in the harbour when the baby drowned a few weeks after?’
She stops and bites her bottom lip. ‘Who are you?’
‘Nadine.’
‘No, no, no, no!’ Archie shouts. ‘Jessica.’
‘What do you know about Jess?’ I can’t help but push him a little more. The last thing I want to do is see him like this but I need to know.
The man yells so loud, my ears almost pop.
‘I’m sorry, Ms Turner, or whoever you are, but you best leave. As you can see, Archie is distressed. Please wait in reception and I’ll get you signed out in a minute.’
I’ve blown it. She’s suspicious of me and Archie’s in a bad way. They’ll tell Cody and he’ll put two and two together. If it is Cody who tried to kill me, he’ll want to do it even more now, especially if the woman tells him what happened or describes me. Cody is trying to hide what Archie did and I know the lengths he’ll go to. My life means nothing to him.
‘I said, can you wait in reception? Now.’
I’ve seriously blown it.
THIRTY-FOUR
KATE
‘Okay.’ I back out from the chaos, knowing that Sylvie’s not happy with me. My mouth dries up and my shaking fingers won’t keep still. She’s going to call the police, I know it. What happens to a person who pretends to be someone else to visit a resident of a nursing home? Am I in trouble for this?
Just as I’m about the leave the room, he calls out. ‘Stop the noise. The baby in the sea is crying. No, no, no.’ Tears stream down his face and I feel my own eyes welling up.The baby in the sea. I know he’s taking about Jess.
I hurry out to reception, trembling with teary eyes. The heat surrounds me like it’s thick in the air. So hot. My vision wobbles a little and a wave of dizziness passes through me, then I dry heave slightly. I have this sick headache over my temples.
‘Are you okay?’
Sylvie passes me a box of tissues and I realise I’ve made a mess of my face as I rub mascara onto the tissue. Now I’ve started crying, I can’t stop.
‘You’re not related to Archie, are you?’
‘I’m sorry. I just need the truth and everyone around here is lying to me.’
She takes my hand and leads me to a chair. ‘What’s going on?’
‘I’ve been here investigating the death of my baby sister, twenty-five years ago. Her name was Jess. Everyone said that it was an accident, that she drowned in Looe Harbour. I know there’s more to the story. The investigation was shoddy and I think the police just wanted it off their pile. Archie was there that day and the red hat he was shouting about, that was my sister’s sun hat. He mentioned the baby in the sea. He’s not talking about the car accident. He’s got both mixed up in his mind and he can’t tell me what he knows.’
‘I know something.’ Sylvie checks the corridor.
