The café was busy, and Sally was counting down the minutes until her flight. “Three extra shots? You’ll be dancing on the ceiling,” I said, handing over the coffee. “Thanks.
”
“Did I leave my purse here yesterday? ” a woman asked. “Sorry, hello. ”
Pat, one of the regulars, leaned in.
“How you bearing up? ”
“I’ve had better days,” I admitted. “Must be strange, Sarah not being around. ”
“I miss missing her more than I’ll admit.
It’s been an absolute nightmare. ”
“You’ll get through it. Remember what you were like at that age. ”
“Oh, yeah.
”
“Right, I can’t stop. I said I’d cover for Asher at the shop. See you, darling. ”
“Bye, Pat.
”
The door chimed as she left. Sal was next. She was escorting two kids to their auntie’s in Spain. “For them, it’s lovely.
I’ll barely see the sun before I’m back on a plane. ”
“Have you had the chat yet with Johnny? ” I asked. “No, have you?
”
“No. I think I’m avoiding it, if I’m honest. ”
“Well, I was looking at tips online. Says the best way to come across is be really relaxed and no eye contact.
”
“Isn’t that what they say about meeting gorillas? ”
We both laughed, relieved to have a moment of normal. Then my phone buzzed. A text from home.
“I’ve got to go,” I said, grabbing my bag. When I got home, Beth was on the sofa, her hands trembling slightly. “Come on, Nellie. That’s it,” Ben said, guiding her through her exercises.
“I don’t like this. It’s stupid. ”
“Beth, come on. The occupational therapist said this is really good for your fine motor skills.
You’re nearly there. I love you. ”
“You all right, Beth? ” I asked.
She looked up, her eyes distant. “A bad dream. ”
“Okay. We can stop for now, but when I get home, we’re going to carry on.
We’re going to do some mirror exercises. ”
“Yay. ”
“I’ll be two hours, three hours tops. I’m just next door at the factory.
You going to be all right? ”
“Mhm. ”
The door clicked shut behind me. Later, I found her scrolling through her phone.
“What do you want to do? ”
“What? Um… Heard about Liam. ”
“Oh, yeah.
That. I heard. ”
“Well, I didn’t text. Are you okay?
”
“Who cares? ” Beth snorted. “He’s fine. I saw him at the hospital.
”
“What? Where? ”
“Beth, you need to stop worrying about him and focus on yourself, okay? ”
“What are these for, anyway?
” I asked, pointing at the sheets she was holding. “Moving hands. ”
“All right. ”
“I don’t want to be late,” she said, getting up.
“I said I’d meet my mom and Tristan at eleven. ”
“Look, she’ll be back in a minute. We’ve got plenty of time. Deep breaths, yeah?
”
“Sorry. I just don’t want to rush into anything. ”
“Look, it’s just a couple of visits to check a few places out. If your mom hates it, then we’ll leave.
No pressure. ”
Pat came back in. “Found it. Sorry.
Hey, you’ve got a big day today, haven’t you, love? Well, not a big day in a good way. It’s actually really sad. But if you find somewhere amazing for her, it’ll be a weight off you and your brother, knowing she’s safe.
Even if it’s just for a few weeks. ”
“Yeah. I suppose. ”
We headed to the care home.
As we walked in, I overheard a conversation. “What were they doing in Whitby? What? Like the whole band?
”
I froze. Whitby. That was where Liam had been. I forced a smile and led Beth inside.
Ben was already there, looking pale. “Hey, hospital let you out, then? ” I said. “Yeah.
”
“How you feeling? ”
“Sore as anything, but, you know. ”
“It’s a good job he’s got a solid noggin,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “These are for you, by the way, for helping me,” Dylan said, handing me flowers.
“I made two cheese and ham toasties by accident, if you want them. On the house. ”
“How’d you make two cheese and ham toasties by accident? ”
“They wanted chicken and sweet corn, but I’m so used to making cheese and ham, I just did them out of habit.
”
“Take a seat. ”
“So, you’re going to go home now, catch up on some sleep? ” I asked Dylan. “Oh, no, I’ve got a shift in a bit.
”
“Dylan, you can’t work with a concussion. ”
“I’m fine. Will you stop fussing? ”
“Maybe you can help convince him to tell me the truth,” Ben said.
“If you think I believe that you falling over was an accident, you’ve got another thing coming. ”
“Will you stop making a drama out of nothing? ”
I excused myself to the bathroom. When I came back, the atmosphere had shifted.
“Curly hair, lots of anger, dad’s in prison for murder,” Dylan was saying. “Brody. How’d you know? ”
“Oh, I stopped them from fighting in here.
An hour later, Dylan’s in hospital. Now, is that a coincidence? ”
Everyone turned to Brody. “I already told you, he’s fine,” Brody said.
“I beat it? You tapped him. ”
“No, I just shoved him. Okay, I didn’t mean to hurt him.
Not that bad. I didn’t. He fell back and he whacked his head. ”
“Oh, so his fault.
”
“That’s not what I’m saying. ”
“Pavement’s fault. ”
“It was my fault and I know that. I’m sorry.
I’m sorry that I went after him, but I was just so angry. He’s been walking around all this time. After everything that’s happened. And you can’t because you’re like this because of him.
”
“Dylan, no. Intent. You intend–”
“No, Betsy. You went out of your way to hurt him.
You could be locked up. ”
“You can’t tell anyone. Please, Betsy. I didn’t think, did I?
That’s the thing, I didn’t think. I was so focused on the fact that he was going to get away with it. ”
“Then don’t make any excuses. ”
Things got worse.
Someone called the police, and Brody’s phone was taken. Later, I was in the back room when a mate from college came by. “As requested, all text message, GPS data, metadata linked to that mobile device you gave me. ”
“Mate, I can’t thank you enough.
”
“No, you can’t. You owe me big time. ”
“I know. It’s all there if you want to check it.
Between us, though? ”
“Of course. ”
I slipped the memory stick into my pocket just as Ben walked in. “Sorry, are we interrupting something?
”
“No. This is Jay, a mate from college. ”
“He was just leaving. ”
“Listen, thanks again.
I’ll give you a bell? ”
“Yeah, good luck. ”
“Good luck with what? ” Ben asked.
“Nothing. ”
“What you still doing, though? I got a call from the holiday club. Apparently, Ashton’s been causing a disturbance.
”
“What were you doing? ” Ben asked the boy. “Nothing. Chucking tennis balls at everyone, refusing to join in, and being cheeky.
”
“Listen, mate. I know you miss your mum. I do, too. So does Bethan.
But behaving like that isn’t going to help, is it? ”
“Sorry. ”
“Why don’t you go and tidy your room? If you do a good job, I’ll get you a pizza for lunch.
”
“I don’t think you should be rewarding him with pizza. ”
“Don’t worry. He’s not going to tidy his room. So, who was your mate?
”
“Told you. Someone from work. ”
“No. You said someone from college.
You couldn’t get him out of here fast enough. And I saw you hide something in your pocket when we came in. What are you up to? ”
Before I could answer, Brody stormed in, hand wrapped in bandages.
“Oi! Lennox Lewis, I want a word with you. ”
“What’d you call me? ”
“You heard.
Look what you’ve done to my hand, you little psychopath. ”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. ”
“Oh, really? I’m calling the police.
”
“No, you’re not. ”
“Give it back. ”
“You should listen to your boy. All you’re achieving here is embarrassing him.
”
“Look, Brody didn’t do this,” Ben said. “Well, how do you explain this? ”
Everyone looked at the bandages. “Yeah, I can see why this looks bad, but these are already days into healing.
There’s no way they could have hit anyone yesterday,” Dylan said. Brody backed down, but the tension stayed. “You are, you know. I wish it was me that taught the wife beater a lesson,” Brody muttered.
“You need to stop calling me that,” Dylan said. “You put Bethan in hospital because you’ve got a choking fetish, you little freak. ”
“Don’t say that you’ve not, because you bragged about it in front of me. ”
“The difference is I didn’t give a girl a stroke.
Look at you. You dodged a bullet. I’d do anything to be in your place. ”
“Come on, Dylan.
”
“No, Dad, he needs to hear it. Believe me, I don’t care. Betsy knows I didn’t mean to hurt her. But don’t think you’re a better person because you didn’t hurt anyone.
You got lucky. There’s no right way to do it. I barely touched her and look what happened. ”
After that, everything felt frayed.
Ashton came downstairs. “Can I send my new jeans to Spain? ”
“Yeah, of course you can. ”
“Some people say you sound like an owl.
”
“Who? ”
“Huh. Very good. ”
I tried to laugh, but my mind was elsewhere.
Ben’s phone rang. It was Annie, from the care home visit. “We’re back early. ”
“What happened?
”
“Sadie clicked into this weird moment of lucidity. She realized where she was and just started freaking out, begging Sienna and Tristan not to leave her there. That it was awful. Then she started kicking off at everyone.
”
I felt sick. We had tried to place Beth’s mother in a care home, and it had gone wrong. Sienna came in, looking exhausted. “How you doing?
” I asked. “How do you think? Today was a bad one. But we’ll try again in a few days.
”
“Are you kidding? You even said it yourself. She’s rarely that lucid anymore. ”
“So what?
Shove her somewhere while she’s got no clue what’s happening? ”
“No, that’s not what I meant. Stop pressuring me into this. I’m not ready to lock my mum up.
Sorry if that interferes with your plans. ”
“Sienna, I’m just trying to help. ”
“Well, I think it’s maybe best if we just stop this. ”
“Yeah, you know, just go at your own pace.
”
“No. I mean it. I just need to be there for my mom at the moment. I don’t have the time or the energy for a relationship.
I’m sorry. ”
She walked away. Ben caught up with her later. “You’re not just trying to pin this on Gary because you’re jealous of them two, are you?
”
“I’m not pinning this on anyone. I just want him to tell the truth. ”
“But he tried to help her, didn’t he? Is it really fair to just drop him in it?
”
“If he wanted to help your mom, he should have just told her to call the police straight away. It’s that simple. If her defense team can show that Gary was the reason she didn’t come forward straight away, she could get off with it. Or at least not get sent down for a long stretch.
And that lad in there might be able to get his mom back. ”
The pieces were coming together. Gary had been there the night of the murder. He had told Beth’s mother not to call the police.
And now he was covering his tracks. I pulled out the memory stick and opened the data. “Anything? ” Ben asked.
“No, nothing. It’s obviously not Gary’s first rodeo. He’s made sure the texts give away nothing. ”
“The GPS dates weren’t any more helpful.
He left his phone at the builder’s yard after Mom called him that night. So, what now? ”
“I don’t know. I’m not a data analyst.
”
“Well, maybe we just need to stop all this now. ”
“You do what you want. I’m not going to stop until I can help your mom. ”
“What?
”
“Well, I might not be able to prove where he was that night. But it’s always worth seeing where he went the next day. There’s no murder weapon recovered yet. ”
I pulled up the coordinates from the GPS data.
“Wasteland near the canal. ”
“Perfect place to hide something. ”
