‘When she wakes, you just need to warm the bottle through, and she’ll need changing too…’
‘Don’t worry. We’ll be fine. I know I’ve been slacking the past week or so, but I had lots of practise when you first got home from the hospital. I think I’ve got it covered,’ Lisa said, holding her hands up to show that she had everything under control. ‘Take however long you need. I’m sure you’ll feel better after you’ve seen a doctor, Becks.’ Lisa steps forwards and gives Rebecca a kiss on the cheek.
Only Rebecca steps back and shakes her head.
‘No, it’s not me that’s seeing the doctor. It’s Jamie.’ Wondering why Lisa is directing her concern towards her. It’s Jamie who has the bandage wrapped around his shoulder.
‘I’m fine.’ She holds up her bandaged hand before catching the look on Lisa’s face that tells Rebecca there’s something deeper going on.
And when she looks to Jamie for reassurance, there’s none. He still won’t meet her eye.
‘What do I need to see a doctor for? I don’t need a doctor?’ Defensive now, as she was met with silence. ‘Can someone tell me what hell is going on?’
‘Please don’t make this any harder than it already is, Rebecca. I think we should get you checked out, that’s all. Just to be on the safe side.’
‘Checked out? For what?’
Jamie shook his head.
‘You’re not right. Surely you can see that. Please, think of Ella.’
Rebecca almost laughed.
‘I am thinking of Ella. She’s all I ever think about. I’m staying here. In my home. With my daughter. I don’t need to see a doctor. The police need to do their job and find this man, because he’s still out there.’ She raised her voice now, incensed by how the situation was playing out. How suddenly all the suspicion and concern was aimed towards her.
‘For Christ’s sake, Rebecca. Will you stop being so damn difficult! I’m trying to help you here.’
‘If you want to help me, then you’d listen to what I’m telling you. You’d believe me.’
‘We have listened to you. And we all saw the tape. There was no one else out in that garden with you. There was nobody in the house.’ Jamie looked genuinely sad, his eyes filling up as if he was about to cry, though he quickly regained his composure. ‘You’re not well, Rebecca.’
Rebecca looked at Lisa and then to the officer, hoping that someone would speak up for her, only they both continued to stand in silence, which only confirmed that they agreed with Jamie.
They were all against her.
‘Can’t you look at the tapes properly? Someone must have tampered with them. Please, I know how it looks. But I saw him. He was real!’ Begging now, unashamedly, Rebecca pleaded with Officer Blythe because he was her only hope.
‘Maybe a visit to hospital wouldn’t be such a bad idea, Rebecca. You’ve had a nasty shock tonight,’ he said gently, trying to talk Rebecca into going of her own free will.
The conversation was stopped by a rap at the door and Officer Blythe excused himself to open it.
Rebecca eyed the two officers out on the path, as they all spoke quietly among themselves.
She could only pick up on a few sentences.
‘There was no sign of any of the doors and windows being forced for him to gain entry. There’s nothing that we’ve found that is likely to provide any traces of any DNA. No clothing left behind. No cigarette ends. No footprints in the mud outside.’
Then there were hushed whispers again, before the second officer glanced in Rebecca’s direction.
They were talking about her. Officer Blythe was telling them that Rebecca was going to hospital. They thought this was all her. That tonight had been in her head.
She laughed then, the sound loud and maniacal, exploding from her mouth.
‘This is some kind of a joke. Can’t you see what’s happening here? Someone is doing this on purpose. They are deliberately making you think I’m going mad. That’s what this is. So that they get away with it,’ Rebecca screeched, pushing past the three officers, and ignoring Jamie’s instructions to come back into the house.
That she was making a spectacle of herself.
‘If you people aren’t going to take my claims seriously, if you aren’t prepared to help me protect my daughter, then I bloody will.’ She sped out into the middle of the road, her coat sliding off her shoulders as she ran.
Rebecca knew she should feel cold, but all she felt was the rage surging inside her as she stood there with her blood stained nightdress exposed to the neighbours that had come out of their homes to see what all the commotion was about.
She didn’t care what she looked like. Let them look. Let them stare.
‘I know you’re out here,’ she screamed. ‘And I’m not afraid of you!’
‘Come on, Rebecca. You must be freezing, let’s get you back inside, yeah?’
She could feel Officer Blythe at her side then, trying to gently coax her back into the house.
‘Like you give a shit about me? I’m telling you the truth, why won’t you help me?’
Now she could feel Jamie beside her as well.
‘Come on, Rebecca, please. This is just madness. Everyone’s looking at you.’ Jamie placed a hand firmly on her arm as he tried to lead her back into the house, away from the crowd.
Madness.
The word ringing repeatedly then in her ears. Unsettling something inside her.
Was this madness? The sane part of her brain told her that it was. But her anger got the better of her.
‘Let them fucking look. Because someone needs to do something. HE’S STILL OUT THERE!’ she bellowed into the darkness. ‘I’m not scared of you, you know. You’re a coward. Hiding from us all. Running away! Come on, show yourself, you bastard!’
‘Rebecca!’ Jamie said, his voice stern as he held his wife’s arms down at her side, gently trying to walk her back inside.
But Rebecca knew what he was doing. He just wanted to shut her up. He didn’t want her to make a scene and have all the neighbours talking about them.
‘Get your fucking hands off me.’ Striking out with her fist as she yelled, Rebecca twisted her body to escape, so that she could at least make a run for the stairs, her only thoughts being that she now needed to get to Ella, to get to her daughter. This was all just one big conspiracy so that they could get her away from Ella. Because they didn’t think she was a fit and capable mother. They thought she’d become a risk.
Only Jamie is too strong.
‘Get off me!’ she screams again, having lost all control now. The thick anger bubbled away in the pit of her stomach as she shrieked loudly, fighting with everything she had to break free of Jamie’s grip.
‘Rebecca, you need to calm down…’ Officer Blythe says softly, trying to intervene, but Rebecca doesn’t hear him. She doesn’t hear anything.
She lashes out one more time at Jamie, but misses, her fist connecting with the police officer’s face. The crack of cartilage silences them all for a few seconds, then Rebecca is suddenly surrounded by all three police officers as they restrain her.
‘Rebecca Dawson, I’m detaining you under section 136 of the Mental Health Act,’ Officer Blythe says reading Rebecca her rights, almost apologetically.
He has no other choice.
The woman had already accidentally cut herself and her husband, and now she’d struck an officer in front of a street full of onlookers. It’s clear that Rebecca Dawson is out of control, so Officer Blythe has to detain her for her own safety.
‘Please, I didn’t mean to do that. I’m sorry. I just wanted you to listen to me…’ Rebecca is crying as two officers lock her arms down by her sides, before leading her towards what looks like a patrol car.