“But he survived?”
“Yeah. He was concussed for over a week. When he came round, he kept on asking about Rex — my God, he loved that dog. None of us could fathom exactly how it had happened, but it looked as if he had a sixth sense and hurled himself at Jack to protect him. They had to bloody peel his body off him...”
Ken turned away, and she put out her hand to comfort him, saying, “But he saved him.”
“Right, but in many ways I wish he hadn’t. He still talks about Rex, still sometimes asks about him.”
“But it was four years ago.”
“Yeah, but Jack doesn’t understand, because he’s got the mind of a ten-year-old and is now in a home — will be for the rest of his life.” Ken lay back on the pillows with tears in his eyes. Anna had never been with a man who showed such open emotion. He was close to crying, and she wished she’d never brought it up.
“Just before the accident, we’d been out to celebrate; he’d gotten this new job in London working for a top security firm. He and his girlfriend were about to move — well, she did move; he’d been worried that he couldn’t get permission to take Rex with him. Dog handlers often have to wait for the animals to retire before they can ask to keep them as a pet.”
Anna broke down in tears, and Ken looked at her, surprised. “What are you crying for?”
“Because of what happened in my head. I couldn’t stop it, and now I feel disgusted, ashamed, because of what I thought.”
“And what did you think?”
Anna sniffed and then reached for a tissue from the bedside table. She explained to Ken about the coincidence, the blue blanket and the dog hairs, but before she could finish, he had thrown the duvet aside and gotten up.
“Wait, just let me get this straight — because of evidence, forensic or whatever it was — you made a connection between me, the friggin’ dog, and a murder victim. Is that right? Am I right?”
“It just happened; I couldn’t help it.”
“You couldn’t help it?”
“I’m sorry.”
He stood at the end of the bed wearing just his boxer shorts and staring at her in disbelief. He then leaned forward, dragging the duvet away from her. She was naked.
“Go into the other bedroom,” he hissed. “I don’t want you here with me. Go on — get out. Get out!”
“No, I won’t.”
He reached forward and gripped her arm so tightly it hurt, but no matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t release herself. He dragged her to the door.
“Don’t do this, please, Ken.”
He pushed her away from him and picked up her nightdress.
“Put this on and get out.”
“No, I won’t.”
He glared at her as she pulled on her nightdress. “Okay, stay and do what you like, but I’m out of here.”
He picked up his jeans from the floor and started to get dressed. She went to him, wanting to put her arms around him, but he wouldn’t let her near him. She sat on the bed as he dragged on his T-shirt, zipping up the fly on his jeans.
“You know, I really believed that we had something special, and you come here, sit with my parents — for what? Because you think that I have some connection with this sick case you are fucking working on.”
“It isn’t like that.”
“It isn’t?”
“No, but I can’t help that it’s always in the back of my mind and—”
“You keep me out of your mind from now on.”
It was awful. He grabbed his bike boots and walked out, slamming the door. She ran after him, and Brenda came out onto the landing.
“What’s happened?”
Ken was by the front door with his leather jacket and bike helmet. “Go back to bed, Mum. It’s nothing. I have to leave.”
“Please don’t go,” Anna said, heading after him down the stairs, but he’d already opened the door. She held on to it, still trying to persuade him not to leave, but he roughly pushed her away and slammed the door shut.
Brenda came out of her room again as Anna began sobbing. Brenda knew her son had gone because she couldn’t help but hear his bike start up and roar off.
“Whatever’s happened between you?” She was midway down the stairs.
“Please just leave me alone — it was all my fault.”
Roy appeared above them on the landing. Brenda looked up and told him that Ken had left.
“I know that, I could hear his bike. What’s been going on?”
Anna sat on the stairs, sobbing. Neither Brenda nor Roy seemed to know what to do, and then they looked shocked as Anna sprang to her feet.
“I’m going after him.”
“Don’t you think you should calm down, love?” Roy said.
Anna ran past them to her room, not wanting to talk, just desperate to leave and follow Ken. They were still on the landing, full of concern, when she came out.
“It was all my fault, but it’ll be all right.”
Roy was moved. “You’re very upset. I don’t think you should drive.”
“I’ll be all right, really, and I’m sorry this had to happen. He’s gone without his uniform, and I have to see him.”
Brenda walked back down the stairs with her. “Don’t worry about his uniform. He’s got a spare in his flat — but I’m worried about you.”
Anna put her arms around Brenda and hugged her tightly. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I’ll write to you.”
They both watched her drive off too fast, and Roy closed the front door.
“What on earth do you think sparked that off?” he asked as he put his arm around his wife.
“I don’t know. They seemed so happy together, but you know Ken. How many girls has he split up from? He never seems able to keep one for more than a few months.”
“I thought this one was different, but then what do we know?”
Anna parked beside Ken’s motorbike. She’d driven erratically, veering between crying and angrily shouting at herself, but she managed to calm down enough to keep within the speed limit. All she cared about was making up with him.
She hurried into the block of flats and ran up the stairs. She took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. She kept on ringing it, but he didn’t open the door. Next she banged on the door with the flat of her hand.
“I know you are in there, Ken, and I am not leaving until you talk to me. KEN, OPEN THE DOOR!”
But he didn’t. So she kept her hand on the doorbell for what seemed like an age before slumping down in the doorway. Next she took out her mobile phone and rang his, but he didn’t pick up. She kept on calling him until it was switched off. She got up again and hit the door, then kicked it.
“Open the door, Ken.”
A neighbor looked out. He saw her standing there and asked if she was all right. She apologized and said she was just waiting for Ken to let her in.
“I hope he does soon, darlin’, as you’re waking up the whole block.”
She went back and sat on the stairs, beginning to think that he was not going to give in. She still had her mobile phone in her hand, and after a while she texted a message to Mike Lewis. She was so tense and angry that it took some time. It was even hard to believe it herself as she left the text that the team should check into prison officers and security guards who were dog handlers, and to go as far back as when Cameron Welsh was under arrest and on trial.
That done, she sat huddled on the stairs, and when she put her phone away, there by Ken’s photo was the envelope with her photograph that she’d forgotten to send to him. She had to have been sitting there for fifteen minutes before Ken finally opened his front door. She looked up at him.
“You don’t give up easily, do you?” he said.