The phone rang once. Then nothing. “That’s what happens when someone cancels your call, Sarah,” I said. “Right.
Where’ve you been? ”
“The Ritz. ”
“I was worried about you. ”
“Were you worried I was going to get hit over the head with a scaffolding pole, or worried I dobbed you in?
”
“Well, did you? ”
I didn’t answer. “Been arrested yet? ”
“Right.
So what are you thinking? Keeping quiet, or…? ”
“Looks like it, doesn’t it? ”
“Oh, come on.
That’s not even an answer. ”
“I can’t live like this, Sarah. I’m not going to say anything. ”
“It’s only a matter of time before someone figures this out.
”
“Which is why we offer a decent alternative. Someone who knows exactly what happened that night. No, Gary goes down for this, and you’re in the clear. ”
“No.
Gary helped me. He saved me. I’m not going to throw him to the wolves. ”
“So, have you got a better plan?
”
“I’ll have to hand myself in. ”
“Why would you do that? ”
He looked at me, waiting. I couldn’t hold his gaze.
“I can’t let Harry go down for something that I did. But I can’t let Harry grow up without a mom. ”
I stared at the ceiling. “You can’t confess,” I said.
“I can’t let Harry grow up without a mom,” he repeated. “Then don’t. We’ll figure something out. ”
“Yeah.
We always do, don’t we? ”
We always did. Later, Steve came downstairs with his jacket half on, looking like he’d slept in a hedge. “You’re cutting it fine,” I said.
“I know. I’m late. Sorry, darling. I thought Bethany had already taken you to school.
”
“Nope. You should have woken me up. ”
“You will. No, mate.
You look human. Just practicing me interrogation face for work, mate. ”
“You’re such a geek. ”
He grinned and kissed me on the forehead.
I pushed him off, laughing, telling him to get his stuff together and I’d take him to school. I found Bethany in the kitchen, holding a framed photo of her mother. She was wearing the same perfume—the one I’d bought her last Christmas because it smelled like her mum’s old bottle. “I thought you’d already left,” I said.
“I wanted to stay for a bit longer. ”
“It’s your graduation day, sweetheart. You should be excited. ”
She put the photo down and smiled.
It didn’t reach her eyes. “I am. I just… I miss her, Dad. ”
I sat beside her and pulled her into a hug, letting her cry into my shoulder until she was done.
Then I made us both a cup of tea and told her how proud her mother would be. She wiped her face and nodded, then went to get dressed. I watched her go and wished, not for the first time, that her mother could have seen this day. At the hospital, Carla and I sat in the waiting room with Brian.
He looked like he hadn’t slept. The doctor had just told us that Betsy had suffered a stroke. A stroke. Eighteen years old, and a stroke.
“That’s not right,” I said. spring “She’s a teenager. She doesn’t just have a stroke. ”
“Some do,” the doc said quietly.
“It’s rare, but it happens. We’re giving her thrombolysis, which dissolves the clot. If her symptoms worsen, we may need a thrombectomy. ”
I couldn’t breathe.
I thought of her graduating next year, of London Fashion College, of all the plans she’d made. Of her laughing that morning, arguing about jam in the butter. Later, Brian and I stood outside her room. He was telling me he’d found her on the kitchen floor, the tap still running.
She’d been fine that morning. Laughing. Then gone. I remembered the climbing wall.
She was six, and I’d turned my back for a second. She’d climbed it, no harness, and fallen. I’d caught her just in time. I thought of that fall, and this stroke, and how she’d always picked herself up.
She would again. She had to. The doctor came back. The second stroke had hit while she was asleep.
They’d done a mechanical thrombectomy and removed the clot. She was in recovery. I asked what the chances were of full recovery. “Every patient’s different,” he said.
“But we’re very optimistic we removed the clot in time. ”
Later, Ryan came in. He sat beside me and took my hand. “She’ll be fine, Reese.
She’s made for London Fashion College, all right? Nothing’s changed. ”
“What if it’s not that easy? ”
“Hey.
That girl was made for that place. She’ll get there. And we’ll be paying her rent. ”
I laughed, despite everything.
“Yeah. With London house prices. ”
When she finally woke, she could barely speak. She tried to say water, but it came out wrong.
“Um. Shower. You want a shower? After.
You need a shower? ”
She nodded, tears running down her cheeks. I told her she was beautiful. She shook her head.
“Old and sick. ”
“That’s silly. Who can say that? ”
She didn’t answer.
I held her hand直到她在泪水中睡着了。
The scan results came back. The doctor wanted to speak to us in private. I felt the floor drop out from under me. “One of the scans has highlighted something,” he said.
“There’s damage to the lining of Betsy’s carotid artery. Can you recall receiving a blow to her neck? Any time it’s been crushed? ”
I shook my head, thinking of everything.
Of the dance. Of the man she’d been seeing. Of the night she’d come home quietand wouldn’t tell me why. “This doesn’t have to have been an act of extreme violence,” he said quietly.
“Cutting off the circulation for just a few seconds could have caused it. ”
I felt sick. “She’s been assaulted. ”
I went to her room.
She was sitting up, staring at the wall. I sat beside her and took her hand. “Betsy. The doctor says someone hurt you.
Is that true? ”
She didn’t answer. I waited. Then she spoke, her voice slow and broken, like she was pulling every word up from the bottom of a well.
“Me and him. In the garage. He said… get a KFC. You can eat it in the garage.
”
“The garage. With the dogs? ”
“No. The garage with the food.
The kitchen. ”
I nodded. I remembered. She’d told me she’d had a date.
A man she’d met. They’d gone to a KFC, then back to his. I’d been happy for her. I hadn’t asked too many questions.
I should have asked more. “We danced,” she said. Her voice cracked. “In the kitchen.
He put his hands around my neck. While we were dancing. ”
I felt the blood drain from my face. I couldn’t speak.
She looked at me, tears spilling over. “He choked you. ”
She nodded. Then she said, quiet.
“I didn’t think it was a big deal. ”
“Betsy. That is a big deal. That’s… that’s assault.
”
She shook her head. “It wasn’t… I was fine. He didn’t… I mean, we had sex. I thought it was normal.
”
I wanted to crawl out of my skin. I wanted to find him. I wanted to make him feel what she felt. But I couldn’t do any of that.
I could only sit there and hold her hand及以上她哭了,直到她没力气再哭为止,,, I told her it wasn’t her fault. She said she was sorry. I told her she had absolutely nothing to apologize for. She didn’t believe me, but I kept saying it until she did.
Or until she fell asleep. I don’t know which. I don’t care. I just know I stayed.
Later, Ryan came in. He looked at me, then at her, then back at me. I told him he couldn’t be here right now. He followed me out into the corridor.
I told him everything. He went pale. He said he’d talk to Lisa, do some digging, make sure the investigation went the right way. I told him to trust me.
He said he would. I don’t know if I believed him. I went back in. She was awake again.
She looked at me, and I could see her trying to find the words. I sat down beside her and took her hand again, because that was all I could do. That, and wait. And hope.
And believe, the way I’d believed at the climbing wall, that she would dust herself off and carry on. Because that was who she was. And nothing—not a stroke, not a monster, not the whole rotten world—could change that.
I’d make sure of it.
