Aunt Christine and I excused ourselves. We crept along the hallway and I swung the door open. Mark was sitting at the desk with a flashlight reading through Dad’s old files.
‘Mark!’ said Aunt Christine. ‘What on earth are you doing?’
He dropped the file and papers went all over the floor. These files were about to go into storage. The guards had the originals, and these were all copies.
‘You wanted to see these files before. Why?’ I demanded to know.
He brushed straight past us, pushing me against the desk, and left through the front door.
‘I don’t like this, Sally. I don’t like this at all. He is way too interested in your history. He didn’t say anything today, but at Donald’s funeral he pestered me about what had happened.’
‘He told me he was fascinated by the case.’
‘He told me the same thing,’ said Aunt Christine. ‘I was so sure he was a journalist then, I looked him up on Google, but his background is all in accountancy. But this is crazy, going through Tom’s old files. How dare he? What’s he looking for?’
I grabbed my phone and called him. It went straight to voicemail. I left an angry message, demanding to know what he thought he was doing.
I declared that the party was over. Some of my guests were drunk. Stella threw her arms around me and declared that I was her best friend. I told her that Sue was my best friend and she thought that was hilarious. Nadine and Angela were both a little unsteady. Sober Kieran said he’d take them home. The others all wanted to walk. They thanked me again for a fabulous day.
Valerie and Laura left together, leaving Aunt Christine and me on our own.
‘I don’t think you should contact Mark again. If he leaves an apology message, fine, but don’t respond. I’m going to tell Angela tomorrow,’ said Aunt Christine.
‘Why Angela?’
‘His behaviour is extremely peculiar. He watches you and talks about you all the time, and I know you told me he was interested in that Asian girl, Anubha? But he didn’t even try to talk to her today. He’s obsessed with you, Sally. And not in a healthy way. Angela is your unofficial guardian in the village. She needs to know.’
I became emotional. I admitted to Aunt Christine what had happened earlier with Caroline and my attempted attack on her.
‘I cannot imagine the anger you must have inside. You were lucky there were people there to stop you. Your experience was so unique, Sally, and even though you don’t remember, you know what he did. It’s horrific. Still, Caroline is a different matter.’
‘Poor Udo and Nadine. And Lina. I didn’t even think about how Caroline’s words would have affected them. I’ll call them tomorrow to apologize.’
‘Good girl.’
‘Aunt Christine?’
‘Yes?’
‘I’m a woman, not a girl.’
‘I’m sorry, it’s because I’ve known you since you were a little girl.’
‘What was I like then? The first time you met me.’
‘Honestly? Silent. Jean and Tom treated you as if nothing had happened. They didn’t enrol you in school for the first year. You slept an awful lot. Jean and Tom argued about that. She didn’t think you should be sedated. If you don’t mind me saying so, Tom was arrogant, insisting always that he was better qualified. You didn’t like it when Donald visited with me. It upset him, you know. He would never have harmed anyone in his life, but you ran from him. Jean was the only one who could hold you or hug you, and even then, you struggled a bit, though I suppose that’s not so unusual for six-year-olds.’
‘Didn’t I ever ask about my mother? My real mother?’
‘No, Tom was determined that you would forget she existed.’
‘It worked.’
‘Maybe it was for the best? We’ll never know.’
My head nodded to my chest.
‘Let’s go to bed. We’re both exhausted. And we have children coming back tomorrow.’
