‘It doesn’t surprise me that Mr Cater and Yanina presented themselves to you as a married couple,’ Lou says. ‘I’ve often thought they seem like more of a unit than Mr and Mrs Cater do. I’m not saying there’s anything going on between them. They’ve never shown signs of being romantically involved, but they seem to be … together, somehow. Like, a pair.’
‘A pair but not a couple?’
‘Yes. There have been a few times when all three of them have been in school together – Mr and Mrs Cater and Yanina – and it’s as if Mr Cater and Yanina are the grown-ups and Mrs Cater’s a child, trailing along behind them. More in the same category as Thomas and Emily – like their older sister or something. And those three sort of cling together in a way that’s always struck me as a bit off.’
‘Which three? The Caters and Yanina?’
‘No. Mrs Cater and the two children.’
‘They cling together?’
‘Yes, it’s strange. Like she’s determined to protect them. She wraps her arms round them as if she’s terrified of the world on their behalf.’
‘My mind is reeling.’ Flora, terrified of the world? Terrified for her children? She never used to be. She was always very relaxed about …
About the other Thomas and Emily?
I can remember her taking the mickey out of the way her mum used to say, ‘Aren’t you worried about Thomas crawling upstairs?’ and ‘Aren’t you worried about Thomas sitting so near to where you’re cooking?’ Flora was a far less neurotic new mother than I was.
‘Have you ever heard any of them use the name Chimp, or Chimpy?’ I ask. ‘Flora, Kevin or the nanny? It might be a person’s nickname, or the name of a pet.’
Lou looks blank. She shakes her head.
‘What about Peterborough? Does that ring any bells?’
‘Not in connection with the people we’re talking about, no.’
‘Have you ever heard Flora … I’m going to call her Flora, since that’s who she is to me. Have you ever heard her say she’s very lucky?’ I’m not sure why I’m asking this, except that I’ve heard her say it twice: once on the phone outside Newnham House and once in the background, the first time Lewis rang.
‘No,’ says Lou. ‘She doesn’t look as if she thinks she’s lucky at all, though it’s clear they’ve got pots of money.’
‘That’s why you contacted me, isn’t it? You have a sense that something’s wrong in the Cater family?’
‘Yes, but … I kept telling myself thatImust be wrong to think that. Since I’ve known Mrs Cater, she’s been clingy with her children, and reluctant to have conversations and interactions with anyone whoisn’ther child.’
‘She was reluctant to talk to you?’
‘Always. She was painfully shy and wary. I used to think, “What on earth does she think I’m going to do to her?” I’m the school’s administrative manager, and we’re an all-one-big-family kind of school. I have a lot of contact with families – selling tickets to school shows, fielding people who’ve missed deadlines for trips but decide three weeks later that their child simply has to go. I could say the most harmless, straightforward things and Mrs Cater would mumble, “Ask my husband” or “Tell Yanina”, and then scurry off. As if she somehow … I don’t know. Didn’t want to be there. And I feel awful saying this about such a young child but Thomas’s behaviour ever since he joined the school has worried me. He’s such a solitary soul – always on his own, talking to himself as if he’s playing an endless imaginary game in his head, but he never seems lonely. He’s quite content with his invisible wall around him, but if any of the other children or a teacher tries to engage him he clams up.’ Lou winces. ‘He does this strange thing where he sort of presses himself up against the nearest wall and touches it with his hands.’
‘Is the school worried about him? Officially?’
Lou’s face hardens. ‘Nobody apart from me will admit there’s a problem. We’re non-selective, so we’ve got our fair share of special needs kids, and not enough SEN teachers, so everyone’s determined to believe Thomas is just shy and eccentric. He’s not unhappy most of the time, and he’s manageable as long as you know to leave him to his own devices whenever possible. He’s bright and polite, doing well with his literacy, brilliant with numbers – and everyone thinks that means he’s doing fine. Shy is such an easy word, so they all trot it out, but it’s the wrong word for Thomas.’ Lou sighs. ‘I don’t know what the right word is, though, so I’m in no position to convince anyone. And I’d never have dared say it before you turned up and seemed worried about the Caters too, but I’ll say it now: there’s something wrong in the Cater household.’
I want to hug her, but I restrain myself.
‘The way Thomas presses himself against walls, and against his mother too. And Emily’s the same. She’s only been in with Mrs Cater to collect Thomas a few times, but I’ve more than once seen the three of them move along the corridor like they’re glued together. Thomas is quite different with Mr Cater and Yanina. He never goes anywhere near them.’
‘That doesn’t sound good,’ I say.
Lou’s eyes fill with tears. ‘Yet I’d decided to put my worries to one side. I told myself I was being over the top. I feel guilty now. But what could I do, when the head and all the teachers kept telling me everything was okay?’
‘Don’t beat yourself up about it. You must see hundreds of strange families. More strange ones than normal ones, I bet, if my kids’ school’s anything to go by. There are fifteen-year-olds there who have never watched a TV show because their parents think television is the work of the devil.’
Lou smiles.
‘So is Thomas still in his first year at the school?’
‘No. Second. He’s very young for his year, so when he started with us he’d only just turned four. Too young to start school, if you ask me.’
