Is she suspicious of Alison like I am? After all, everything was fine until she turned up. And it feels like Alison was warning – or threatening – me when she said ‘we don’t want anything to happen to your mum.’
Was my earlier thought that she might be out for revenge correct or am I being paranoid? I’m sure Nick would say I am. Maybe I am. But I’m going to keep a close eye on my mum, and I’m going to get my key back so that I can go and see her whenever I want, not when Alison allows me to. If she does remember me and is planning a twisted revenge, then I need to be on alert.
I wonder if it would be best if I told Mum, and Nick? That would stop Alison if she is planning anything. I don’t want anyone to know what part I played in that awful tragedy, though. It was an accident, and I was so young. I would do anything to go back in time and prevent it. But if I have to tell everyone to keep my mum safe, then I will.
I hope I don’t have to, though. I can’t bear to see Mum’s face when she learns what I did. And what about Nick, will he be angry and upset that I’ve kept it a secret all these years? Especially as he knows Alison and they are old friends.
Or maybe more than friends.
28
LIZZIE
I’ve just got back with the kids, given them a snack and let them play out in the garden, when a message pings in from my boss. She wants to speak to me urgently.
My stomach plunges. Yvonne has only ever sent me a message like that twice before. And both times it was when a student was upset over their assignment marks. I hope that hasn’t happened again. I try to be fair, and most of my students are great, but you get the odd one who thinks their work is better than it is. Yvonne has always been so supportive, but any type of complaint makes me nervous. And there was that one-star rating too.
I check the kids are okay and phone Yvonne, my mind going over the last few assignments I’ve marked. None of them had low marks, nothing to complain about.
‘Hello, Lizzie. Thank you for getting back to me.’ Yvonne’s manner is crisp, businesslike.
This doesn’t sound good, she’s usually warm and friendly.
‘That’s okay. Is anything wrong?’
There’s a pause. ‘We’ve had a complaint about you on the company website, Lizzie. A potential customer said theycontacted you for information about a course and your manner was very unprofessional.’
I’m stunned. I’ve never been unprofessional, and boy have I had some awkward customers, but I’ve always been polite to them.
‘Did they leave their name?’ I ask, casting my mind over all the queries I’ve had the past few days. With email queries I always have the emails as proof, but we tutors don’t record phone calls, and there have been a few phone enquiries regarding the course. The calls had been brief and pleasant – although there was that man the other day who seemed to be deliberately awkward, I recall.
‘No, it’s on the website posted as anonymous, but we still have to take it seriously, Lizzie. Have you a record of the queries you’ve dealt with over the past couple of weeks? I could ignore it if it was a general anonymous complaint, but your name was specifically mentioned.’
I’ve been set up, I can see that and am now sure it was that man the other day. I tell Yvonne about him. ‘He was a bit shirty and wanted me to assure him that he would pass the course, which obviously I couldn’t, but I was very polite and professional, I promise.’
‘It’s the first complaint we’ve had about you, Lizzie, and I’d be willing to put it down to an awkward customer, but you have three one-star ratings online too.’
Three! Another two must have gone up since I last checked.
‘Do you know who left them?’ I ask.
‘No, they were all anonymous.’
Someone is out to discredit me. Why?
‘Look, you’ve worked for us for a few years now and there’s never been any complaints before, so I’m prepared to overlook this providing we don’t have any more.’ She hesitates. ‘Are you struggling a bit, Lizzie. Do you need to take time off?’
I probably do, I acknowledge, I haven’t been myself since Mum’s fall but I need to pull myself together. I can’t afford to lose this job.
‘No, I’m fine,’ I tell her. ‘There won’t be any more complaints, I promise.’ Although I’m not sure how I can promise that when I didn’t do anything to deserve these and have no idea who is out to get me.
What’s happening to my life? Everything seems to be going wrong.
I’ve just finished the call when Nick phones. ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ he asks, his voice warm and comforting.
‘Okay, how are you? You’re not phoning to say you’ll be late, are you?’
‘Yes, sorry, we’ve got a bit of a problem so I need to stay late and sort it out. Look, don’t bother with cooking, just fix something for the kids and I’ll bring a takeaway for us.’
