Scott didn’t answer. Couldn’t answer. He walked straight past her and went into the house, sitting down at the kitchen table without uttering a word. Michelle hesitated and watched him from the doorway, trying to gauge the situation, unsure what to do or say next. Should she just pretend nothing had happened? It would probably be for the best, but she couldn’t do it. As much as he would inevitably need space after what he’d been through, she needed answers. She moved closer, then sat down opposite him. When he didn’t react, she cleared her throat. ‘What happened, Scott?’
He looked straight at her. ‘You know what happened,’ he said, his voice unemotional. ‘The pervert I beat up died. They decided I killed him. Apparently I hadn’t.’
‘Then who…? How did he…?’
‘How the hell am I supposed to know? Why don’t you ask the fucking pigs who dragged me out of here yesterday morning and kept me locked up all fucking night for no fucking reason.’
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…’
‘It gets better,’ he said, cutting across her. ‘Fuckers tried to pin everything on me. All these killings. Cunts. All fucking circumstantial… just picking on me ’cause we’re new here.’
Michelle held her head in her hands. ‘Are we going to get this wherever we go? When I agreed to come here I thought—’
‘You thought what? Don’t try and turn this around on me. None of this is my fault. I was just trying to look out for your fucking pain-in-the-ass daughter and stop some fucking freak from raping her.’
‘I know. I—’
‘It’s not my fault this place is full of fucking psychos, is it? They’re all out of their fucking minds.’
‘I’m sorry. All I meant was—’
‘I know what you meant,’ he said, his voice suddenly louder. He banged his fist down on the table and Michelle jumped as much as the crockery. ‘I’m doing the best I can, you know. I know you lot don’t see it, but I’m trying really fucking hard here.’
‘I know you are. All I was going to say was—’
‘Maybe I should just stop? Maybe I should give up trying, ’cause the harder I try for this fucking family, the more fucked up things get.’
‘Don’t talk like that…’
‘It’s true though, isn’t it?’
‘No… no it’s not, and I don’t believe you really think that.’ She took a deep breath, trying to block out everything Tammy had said last night and focus instead on keeping Scott calm. ‘We’re going through a tough time, you in particular, but look how far we’ve come. If you’d said to me before the inquest that we’d be living in a house like this, rebuilding our lives and sorting our family out, I’d have been over the moon. We can put things back together here, I’m sure we can.’
‘Are you?’
She watched his face, waiting for any flicker of reaction. ‘Please, love… please don’t be like this. Everything’s going to be okay. You’re out of that place now. I don’t know what happened to that man, but I know you didn’t do it and that’s enough for me, really it is. And I know it wouldn’t have happened if Tammy hadn’t run off. It’s not your fault. Stop beating yourself up. You’ve got to learn to let go of stuff like this.’
He looked up at her. ‘Finished?’
She nodded and swallowed hard with nerves.
Scott was still staring at her. ‘They kept talking about the accident.’
Michelle’s body language changed. She visibly withdrew, the way she always did whenever the subject came up. ‘That’s all over now… you were cleared after the inquest.’
‘They were implying I might have done it on purpose, trying to make me out to be some real heartless fucker.’
‘They were just doing it to wind you up. What happened was an accident. Sue and Roy should have been watching her. It could have been anyone driving…’
‘But it was me.’
Elsewhere in the house, George started to cry. ‘I’ll go and see to him,’ Michelle said, ‘let him know you’re back. He was asking where you were.’ She got up and made for the door.
‘Been celebrating?’
She froze. ‘What?’
He pointed at the empty wine bottle on the draining board, evidence from last night that she’d forgotten to hide. ‘Have a drink on me, did you?’
‘I needed it to calm my nerves,’ she said, thinking on her feet, hoping he’d just accept her explanation. She’d have to get her story straight and tell the girls to keep quiet about Jackie coming around. ‘I was worried,’ she added, still not sure he was buying it. ‘Terrified. The police wouldn’t tell me anything. They wouldn’t let me see you.’
Scott nodded but didn’t say anything.
‘I’ll go and see to George, okay?’
He nodded again. He watched her leave the room but remained in his chair. He felt as if gravity had increased by a factor of ten since he’d got back, preventing him from getting up. He stared at the hole in the wall he’d made on Sunday afternoon. His sledgehammer was where he’d left it, still leaning in the corner. He didn’t dare pick it up. Start swinging that fucking thing around again and I’ll never stop, he thought. I’ll reduce this whole fucking house to rubble.
Michelle was back quickly, carrying George. She tried to show him Daddy was home, but he was cranky and tired and he wouldn’t look. She waited a couple of minutes until she couldn’t hold it in any longer. ‘Can I ask one more question? I’m sorry, Scott, I just need to know.’
‘What?’
‘What happened to change their minds? How come they let you go?’
‘Two things. First, I already told you, that pervert didn’t die from a punch in the face and a kick in the guts.’
‘Then how…?’
‘How the hell am I supposed to know? You think they’re gonna tell me?’
‘Sorry. I didn’t think.’
‘And second,’ he said ominously, ‘they did tell me something. There was another killing while they’d got me locked up. They found another body, that woman from the café. Someone raped her and sliced her up while I was locked away safe and sound in the cells.’
Michelle stayed well out of Scott’s way all day, as did the girls when they got home from school. He’d hardly slept in the cell last night and yet despite spending all afternoon lying on the bed in the ground floor bedroom, he still couldn’t switch off and get any rest. He could hear Michelle and Phoebe talking in the living room. He wished they’d shut their bloody noise up, but he couldn’t be bothered to tell them. George waddled past the half-open bedroom door a couple of times, and even he seemed to know better. Now’s not the time to be disturbing Daddy.
Scott couldn’t see a clock, but it felt like he’d been lying on the bed for hours. His body ached and he needed a piss. More than anything he needed a shower to get the smell of that damn place off him. He stank of stale sweat, reeked of the disinfected cell where he’d spent most of the last day.
With more effort than it should ever have taken, he swung his legs around and sat up, then waited a second for his head to stop spinning. He stripped to his underwear and threw his dirty clothes in the corner, thinking he felt so contaminated from being in custody that he’d rather burn them than wear them again. Wearing only his briefs, he padded over to the bathroom and opened the door.
Tammy was in there, just stepping out of the shower. She was naked. ‘Fuck’s sake,’ she gasped, frantically grabbing for her towel to cover herself up. ‘Do you mind?’