And now the door was opening and Danielle’s brother was beaming at his sister, and behind him Caroline was shaking her head apologetically.
No Beckie.
‘Sorry Flora,’ Caroline grimaced through a nervous smile. ‘She still doesn’t want to come. I told her about the Family Hub and the wee garden and everything, I said it didn’t even seem like a prison, but –’
Flora nodded. ‘It’s fine. It’s maybe better she doesn’t come. I –’
‘Coffee, yeah? And a Kit Kat?’ A smile still fixed to her face, Caroline hooked her bag over the chair opposite Flora’s.
‘Thanks, that would be great.’
‘I’m really sorry, Flora.’
‘Don’t worry about it. I think it might be better to concentrate on persuading her to agree to Skype. Or even just to write to me.’
‘She just needs a bit more time. She’ll come round. She’s just…’
‘She’s confused and angry and scared.’ Flora breathed. ‘Of course she is.’
Watching Caroline making her selections at the drinks vending machine, glancing first one way and then the other over her shoulder, as if expecting to be jumped at any moment, Flora reflected that it was as if they had swapped places. Flora seemed to have acquired all the assurance Caroline had lost. It was obvious that Caroline hated coming here, that it unnerved and disturbed her. And where Flora had lost weight and toned up thanks to hitting the gym for four hours every day, Caroline’s figure had expanded and softened, the fabric of her white jeans sausage-tight across her bum and thighs.
The coffee was as terrible as ever. And she found she didn’t even want the Kit Kat.
‘Are things any better at school?’
‘Not much. She and Edith have fallen out again.’
‘Oh no.’
‘She’s… I think the word is volatile. She’s really volatile. You don’t know what’s going to set her off. The headmistress and the teachers have been great, but…’ She shrugged. ‘And living a few doors down from her old home… It’s not easy for her. What I’m thinking is it might be better if we moved away. There’s this nice wee house in Bearsden for rent… I used to live in Bearsden a while back and I think Beckie would like it there. New house, new environment, new school…’
‘Oh, but Glasgow… That’s where the Johnsons live.’
‘I doubt whether the Johnsons ever frequent Bearsden! Practically a different planet from Meadowlands Crescent.’
‘But I can’t ask that of you. To uproot yourself…’
‘Oft, no problem. I can work from anywhere, eh?’
‘But you must let me give you the money for the rent. I’m going to get a bridging loan on the house. I’ve been advised not to sell until… well, until the murder has faded from the collective memory. But… I’m so sorry, this is so disruptive for you. Caroline, I don’t know how to thank you, for everything, for taking such good care of her. Really.’
‘I love the Beckster, you know that. And we still manage to have fun. She’s really into jigsaws now. On Saturday we went into town and she chose three two-thousand-piece numbers. Kittens, the Taj Mahal and an underwater scene.’
‘And let me guess – you’re doing the kittens first?’
‘Course we are.’ Caroline took a slug of coffee and made a face, looking for a moment like her old self. ‘That is foul. If you’re not going to eat that Kit Kat…’
Flora pushed it across the table. ‘The good news is that I’m not being charged with Saskia’s murder. The neighbour who buzzed me into the stair apparently went across the landing to Saskia’s door to tell her she had a visitor, and saw her dead on the floor. It took her a while to come forward because she was plucking up courage – frightened of repercussions from whoever was responsible.’
‘Aw, that’s brilliant, Flora!’
‘The bad news is that Ailish has made a statement about the quarrels she overheard between me and Neil.’
‘Bitch.’
‘And not just Ailish. Pippa too – it seems Neil called her a few times to talk about his worries about my “weird behaviour”. And Dr Swain has also made a statement. About my “disturbed” state of mind when I went for that Darren boy in the waiting room.’
‘Oh Christ. But you thought he was attacking you.’ Caroline snapped the Kit Kat in half.
‘But he wasn’t. That’s the point.’ She sighed. ‘And there’s just no evidence that the Johnsons were anywhere near the house on the day Alec was killed. That’s a huge problem.’
Caroline grimaced. ‘And what about the drug issue? Any further forward on that?’
Methamphetamine had been found in the blood sample taken on her arrest, and she had no clue how it got there, unless the Johnsons had somehow managed to put it in her food – but how could they? Her solicitor was working on the assumption that there had been a mix-up with the samples. ‘The police are insisting the chain of evidence is intact. But I know I never took methamphetamine. I wouldn’t even know how to go about getting hold of it. Charles says it could work in my favour if I said I’d taken it, it could explain my “paranoia”, but why do I need to explain it? The Johnsons were harassing us. That wasn’t just me being paranoid – you were there, that time on the pavement. They’ve got your statement and everything.’
Caroline was munching Kit Kat, looking down at the silver foil, rubbing it with her finger.
She flicked a look up at Flora. ‘I’m really sorry, but I think I’ve messed up big time as far as that’s concerned… They had me in to give another statement. They’ve got a witness to what happened on the street that day – I’m thinking it could be Ailish. This witness corroborates what the Johnsons are saying, that it was just Jed going a bit mental, that at no time was Beckie threatened, or either of us… And you know how they are, how they ask you the same thing again and again but in a slightly different way, so you have to give a slightly different answer, till you’re not thinking straight? I think… I think I might have given the impression that it was just Jed, and that the two boys were just trying to get him away from you. Sorry, Flora.’
Damn. ‘It’s okay, Caroline, I know how they twist what you say…’
‘Aye, but that’s not all. That’s not the worst of it.’ Her gaze was back on the Kit Kat foil. ‘They’ve taken a statement from Beckie.’
Flora couldn’t speak.
‘Apparently they asked her what happened before we left the house, and she said she called out “Bye Dad” to Neil without waiting to hear his reply. She’s beating herself up about that, poor wee soul. And she also told the police that I just called “See you, Neil” or something, and he didn’t reply to me either. Which contradicted my previous statement – I’d told them that both Beckie and I had said goodbye and he’d replied. So second time round – in the second statement – after what Beckie had said, I had to admit that I didn’t see or hear Neil that morning.’
‘But – that’s wrong.’ Flora could feel her palms moistening. ‘Maybe Beckie didn’t wait for a reply, but you heard him speak to you as we were leaving – Beckie was still in the kitchen, so she couldn’t know how the exchange went, she must be misremembering… We were both in the hall, and Neil called out “Have a good one” or something, and you said “You too.” We were both there. You must remember that? And then you went out and I had a conversation with him about…’ She swallowed. ‘About getting ingredients for a trifle.’
‘Oh God. Sorry, Flora, yes, you’re right. I did hear him say that. Oh God, I’ve really fucked up. They were messing with my head, I wasn’t thinking… I’ll go back and make another statement, set the record straight.’