‘I know! Let’s go, Dad!’
‘No,’ said Flora. ‘I don’t want you going back to school. You can stay here with me. This is all getting… out of hand.’
‘Honestly, Mum, it’s fine. Dad, I’ll just go to the loo?’
‘Okay, Beckster.’ And when she had left the room: ‘Let’s not make a big thing of this.’ His voice strained to stay light, unconfrontational, in front of Caroline. ‘She’s fine to go back to school, and I think that’s for the best. You can take it easy and chill this afternoon.’ And his eyes lingered on her. ‘Maybe – relax in a hot bath or something.’
She knew she looked a mess. She knew she probably whiffed a bit. ‘Let’s just keep her off today and then see about tomorrow. I’m not going to be able to “chill” if I’m worrying myself sick about her –’
‘This isn’t about you, though, is it?’
Caroline was edging towards the door. ‘Okay guys, see you later.’
‘Yes, thanks so much, Caroline.’
A charged silence until they heard the front door close. ‘How dare you?’ Flora spat at him. ‘How dare you say I’m making this “all about me” when it’s you saying Beckie being at school will give me a chance to “chill”. As if I’m going to be able to “chill”!’
‘Well, for Beckie’s sake, Flora, if for no other reason, you’re going to have to try to do something to…’ He flapped his hands in the air. ‘The last thing she needs is a neurotic mum to worry about on top of everything else. School is the best place for her at the moment, a normal environment –’
‘Oh, it’s normal, is it, to be ganged up on by a load of little bastards taunting her, saying her parents are psychos –’
‘She’s not being ganged up on! I’m there in the car watching, remember, when she’s in the playground, and she’s got plenty of friends. There’s no problem that I can see –’
‘That you can see. That is the whole problem, Alec!’
He opened his mouth; closed it. He moved to touch her, but she stepped back. ‘Okay. We can talk about this later.’
Flora was lying on a sofa in the family room, drowsily watching the Ten O’Clock News, when Neil came back into the room. ‘Asleep. She’s amazing, isn’t she? The way she’s taking all this in her stride.’
‘But is she taking it in her stride, or is it an act to keep us from worrying about her?’
He sat down on the arm of the sofa. ‘Maybe a bit of both.’
‘I don’t want her going back to school. It’s only a couple of weeks until the summer holidays; it’s not as if she’d miss much…’
‘She’d miss out on the class trip to the watersports centre, and she’s been looking forward to that for ages.’
‘We could take her there in the holidays.’
‘Hardly the same.’
‘I don’t want her going back to that school. Don’t you think… If we’re going to move, now would be a good time to do it?’
‘Move?’
‘We’re never going to be safe from the Johnsons unless we do.’
‘No. I’m sorry, Flora, I know all this has really freaked you out – freaked us out, I should say… given that I was the one charged with assault.’ He attempted a weak smile. ‘But there is no way we’re moving again. We have to get some perspective here. What have they actually done? Nothing, other than indulge in a bit of low-level harassment –’
‘Low level?’
‘But I agree, of course, that it’s sensible to take reasonable precautions.’
‘A few CCTV cameras and some self-defence tuition from an HR consultant?’
‘If they were going to do anything –’
‘They’re toying with us! Ryan Johnson in the Botanics today – They’re enjoying it, they’re enjoying making us suffer before closing in for the kill! You weren’t there. You didn’t see the way he was looking at me –’
‘Flora… Caroline didn’t see anyone.’
‘What, so I’m hallucinating now?’ She got up; put distance between them. ‘They killed Saskia! What’s to stop them killing us? A few CCTV cameras? What would happen to Beckie then? Who would look after her?’
He just shook his head at her wearily.
‘You have to wake up, Alec. Seriously.’
‘I –’
‘And the first thing we have to do is appoint someone to be her legal guardian in the event of our deaths. We have to make sure she’ll be okay whatever.’
‘Flora –’
‘It’s hardly ideal, but I guess that person has to be Pippa.’
He breathed. ‘Okay.’ Making a Herculean effort, it seemed, to humour her. ‘If you want. I guess that’s something we should have sorted years ago anyway.’
‘Let’s call her now.’
‘Now? It’s the middle of the night where she is.’
‘If she agrees, we can at least get the legal stuff moving.’ She reached for the landline handset and held it out to him. ‘Put her on speakerphone.’
Pippa answered groggily. ‘You do know what time it is here?’
‘Sorry,’ said Neil. ‘We’ve, um… We’ve got something to ask you, Pip.’
‘Is everything okay?’
‘Yes, well, more or less…’ He sighed. ‘You know what’s been going on with the Johnsons… But no, we’re fine. It’s just that… Flora… We’re thinking we need to appoint someone as Beckie’s legal guardian – not that we’re thinking anything’s going to happen to us or anything, but all this has concentrated our minds and, well – Would you be okay with being next in line to look after Beckie?’
Several hundred miles of static.
In that second’s, two seconds’ pause, Flora knew that it was the wrong thing. She knew it before Pippa’s ‘Sure, of course’; the false note in her voice.
‘No, Pippa, actually it’s fine,’ she said quickly. ‘It’s not fair to ask you. You don’t want a child in tow – what were we thinking? I mean, I hope you’d still be part of Beckie’s life, just not – in a parenting role.’
‘It’s all hypothetical anyway,’ said Pippa sleepily. ‘Come on. Okay so these people are bad news, but they’re not going to murder you. Come on.’
‘Yeah, I know, sorry… Sorry to wake you,’ said Neil, giving Flora a What the hell? look. And as soon as he’d ended the calclass="underline" ‘For Christ’s sake, Flora!’
‘Pippa would be a terrible guardian for Beckie. Last time she saw her, she got Beckie drunk.’
‘It was a few sips of wine.’
‘Beckie was staggering around giggling, and Pippa thought it was hilarious. She couldn’t understand why I was so angry.’
‘Mm.’ Neil grimaced. ‘But Beckie does love her.’
‘She hasn’t seen her for three years.’
‘But still.’
‘Beckie loves her because Pippa lets her do whatever she wants. I know she’s your sister, and I’m really fond of her, but…’
Neil stood abruptly. ‘This was your idea, remember? But somehow it’s been turned back on me, as usual.’
‘Pippa’s not the right person.’
‘Okay. So who else do you want to phone up and badger with a bizarre and frankly really disconcerting request in the middle of the night, before changing your mind and insulting them by pretty much coming out and saying they’re not parenting material? Who else is there, Flora? Because let’s face it, we don’t really have any friends any more, do we?’
‘There’s Pam and James. Now the Johnsons know where we are, there’s no reason not to contact them. We could ask them…’