‘So how do you cope?’ Hannah looked directly into his eyes.
‘Nothing so original for me, I’m afraid, simply taking one day at a time. They say time heals but just lately time seems to bring one problem after another. My brother died a couple of months ago too. He was murdered.’
As Hannah listened she studied the man sitting just a few feet away from her. He had the air of having lived through so much and a depth of experience was etched in his face, lines of sadness and loss covered what must once have been laughter lines, and grief was evident in his eyes. She hoped that for Joe there could still be joy, dreams and possibilities. He deserved no less. Empathy flooded through her as he shared with her the recent events in his life.
‘Oh, that’s terrible for you, I’m so sorry! You must be devastated?’
‘Well, I can’t claim that we were close and it’s a bit of a long story, I wouldn’t want to bore you with all the details...’
‘It wouldn’t bore me at all and I’ve been told I’m a pretty good listener.’
‘Another time perhaps?’
‘Yes, another time.’ Hannah smiled.
‘How about you, Hannah, how are you managing?’
‘Rather like you I suppose, a day at a time. As you see I’m upright again and have become quite a whiz on crutches when the leg gets too much.’
‘Good for you, it can’t be easy. Is your husband not with you today?’ Joe looked around.
‘Ah, that’s another story, we’ve split up.’
‘Oh, Hannah, I’m sorry, and here’s me going on about my woes!’
‘Don’t worry, at least he hasn’t died.’
‘It wasn’t because of the accident was it, your leg, I mean?’
‘No, apparently there was someone else, a younger woman and they’ve recently had a baby. As always I was the last to know, or even suspect.’ Hannah’s empty laugh at her own words didn’t hide the hurt that was evident in her eyes.
‘That must be difficult. Can I be so presumptuous as to go on record as saying he must be a total fool?’ Joe looked earnestly at Hannah and her eyes began to fill with tears. ‘Now I’ve upset you, sorry again! Can I get you another cup of tea? I think I’d like one now.’
‘Good idea.’ Hannah sniffed.
As Joe left her for a few moments, she blew her nose and took a few deep breaths. Perhaps they should stick to talking about the weather, it was much safer, but she liked Joe, he’d been through so much and it appeared to give them a bond. Hannah wondered if there really would be ‘another time’ and found herself hoping that there would.
CHAPTER 28
Joe had begun to notice an improvement in his general health of late which he had no hesitation in attributing to giving up smoking. It hadn’t been an easy journey, but it was now over four months since he’d smoked his last cigarette. He’d lost weight too, not consciously and not perhaps in the best of ways, sometimes it was simply because he forgot to eat, but he felt better for it and knew that Alison would be proud of him.
Attending a social event without Alison still felt strange to Joe, but the project at Timmy’s Farm was so fascinating that he soon became absorbed in all that was going on around him. Meeting Hannah Graham again was an unexpected pleasure too; she was so easy to talk to, straightforward and honest, qualities which he’d always admired in a person. They talked in a general manner, both in awe of the Joneses’ hard work, and on a deeper level too, as Joe shared some of the details of his brother’s death, and Hannah told him that she and her husband were now separated.
She also shared the better news that she’d regained her memories of the accident, and it was so obvious to Joe that a weight had been lifted from her by the realisation that she hadn’t been to blame. Joe assured her again, as he had at the hospital, of his certainty that there’d been nothing that she or anyone else could have done that day. Still, he could understand her relief and he would probably have felt much the same himself in Hannah’s situation.
Joe really wanted to see her again and was pretty sure that she felt the same, yet he’d been embarrassed about asking for her phone number, feeling like a tongue-tied schoolboy. Their shared life-changing experience of the accident seemed to have created a bond between them, and now that they were both on their own, why shouldn’t they meet up as friends? He hoped that perhaps Hannah would like to go out to dinner with him one night; he missed such simple pleasures and thought that she probably did too. With the certainty that she was honest enough to say no if the idea didn’t appeal to her, he could only ask, but he rather hoped she would say yes.
The open day helped to fill in the weekend, pleasantly so, and Joe returned to work on Monday morning ready to focus on the growing pile of accounts on his desk. Before he made any great inroads into the day’s work, however, he was disturbed by a telephone call from DS Armstrong. Joe’s heart sank; he hadn’t heard from the detective for several weeks and assumed that no news was good news, so what did the man want now?
‘Good morning, Mr Parker. I need to update you on Mrs Pamela Parker’s circumstances.’ As ever, Armstrong’s speech sounded as if it was straight from a textbook. ‘After an incident at the women’s facility where she is being held, it has been necessary to move her to a secure psychiatric hospital.’
‘And can you tell me what this incident was?’ Joe asked.
‘The latest one, and there have been a few minor incidents of a similar ilk, was an attack on another detainee. Mrs Parker appears to have lost control and attacked this other woman quite ferociously, leaving her with serious injuries.’
Joe’s heart sank. ‘So how does this affect the trial? Will it still go ahead as planned?’ He’d been dreading the trial and giving evidence, evidence which he knew might actually support Pam’s claims that David had been an abusive husband.?
‘Ah, well.’ DS Armstrong cleared his throat. ‘It now appears that Mrs Armstrong may not be standing trial. Her solicitor has put forward a motion to have the charges dismissed due to her precarious mental health.’
‘And will that happen?’
‘It’s too early to say, but the judge has ordered a round of psychiatric evaluations and these things take time. The CPS still wishes to proceed with the charges, but of course the tests will have to be completed before any decision is made.’
‘So if the trial doesn’t go ahead will she just get away with it?’ Joe was horrified to think that David’s death might go unpunished.
‘I wouldn’t put it quite like that. If she is declared unfit to stand trial, at the very least she’ll be committed to some sort of psychiatric institution for treatment. I will keep you informed of any further developments and of course if I can help in any other way, please give me a call.’
After work, when Joe picked Liffey up from Phil and Helen’s, he shared with them what the detective had told him that morning.
‘My goodness me, she must be absolutely mad,’ Helen said, her husband nodding in agreement.
‘So will the trial be delayed?’ Phil asked.