No Longer Safe(93)

‘And the child’s been fine?’

I frowned. ‘Karen’s been giving her sedatives, but she said the doctors prescribed them as part of her recovery.’

An unwelcome thought caught me unawares. ‘There is another thing. Karen grabbed me and…’

‘And what?’

‘Well – she took hold of me by my arms – she was cross about something – and shook me pretty hard, as it happens.’

‘She shook you?’

‘It doesn’t mean—’

I could see him chewing the inside of his cheek. ‘I’m not going to leave you alone with her,’ he said.



Supper was uneventful. Stuart and I didn’t betray Karen’s Holloway secret. Mark barely said a word, Jodie spent the entire time snuffling into a tissue and Karen kept up some semblance of appearances by asking Stuart questions about Edinburgh University.

I saw glimmers of the old Karen – the one who could make a person feel special and important – but my sense of wonder only lasted a few minutes. More than anything, I felt sad. I’d lost her for good. We wouldn’t be keeping in touch after this holiday. I didn’t know who she was anymore and what I did see of her no longer held any allure. I gripped Stuart’s hand under the table. He was the one I wanted in my future.

We all helped out with the dishes, making small talk about the weather, then Mark and Jodie sloped off to bed. Karen made herself a hot drink and followed them.

Stuart said he’d stay the night and tried the sofa for size.

‘Are you sure about this?’ I asked. ‘I’m not sure it’s going to be all that comfy.’

‘I’m not going anywhere,’ he said. He’d offered to sleep on the floor in my room, but the thought of him lying on the same spot as Charlie – his own flesh and blood – was just too gruesome.

I brought two blankets down to the sitting room from my chest of drawers. I opened them out. They were musty, infused with the camphor smell of mothballs.

‘Will you be warm enough?’

‘Sure,’ he said. ‘I can pull this over me if I’m chilly.’ He’d hung his wax jacket over the back of a chair.

‘We should plan what we’re going to do tomorrow,’ I said, my fingers fiddling with my lip.

‘The police will have checked us all out on their national records after they interviewed us, so they‘ll know about Karen’s conviction. At the moment Melanie seems fine – do you agree?’ I nodded.

He went on, ‘Did the officers say anything in particular when they came over the day after Brody went missing?’

I backtracked to their visit. ‘Karen went upstairs with them – do you remember? So they could see Mel. They were up there a few minutes checking her over and taking a look around. I don’t think the officers said anything when they came down.’

‘Maybe there were being discrete – she’s served her sentence after all. It’s not their place to tell everyone about her criminal history. It will be Social Services’ job to keep an eye on the child – they should be aware of everything.’

‘We should ask Karen about that tomorrow,’ I said. ‘She ought to be having visits from them. Perhaps we should contact them ourselves, to be sure?’

‘Good idea.’

He looked down at his feet, that familiar searching look in his eyes.

‘What about your nephew?’ I asked tentatively, feeling like the worst possible Judas, but it would have seemed odd not to ask.

‘Jim has completely lost him again. There’s no trace of him anywhere. Probably best I let him go – stop the search. If Charlie is involved in the boy’s abduction the police will track him down. I don’t want to go back to Tony having played a part in that kind of news.’

He stroked my hand. ‘I’ll go back to Edinburgh. You could come with me for a few days.’

‘I’d love to,’ I said. He pulled me to him and held me firmly. We were locked together, solid, like a sculpture made from one piece of stone and I didn’t want to let go.

‘So – we’ll leave tomorrow, shall we?’ I asked, cheek to cheek.

‘Let’s make sure Melanie is safe and Social Services are fully aware of the situation. Then – yes – let’s go to Edinburgh and get you to a doctor to see about these headaches.’

‘Oh – okay.’ I was getting used to them by now; they’d become a natural part of every day.

‘My father knows people – we can get you looked over, before you get proper tests done in London.’

‘Thank you – that would be good.’

‘Sleep well,’ he said, before giving me a tender kiss. ‘See you in the morning.’ He said, tweaking my nose like my grandfather used to do. ‘Mine’s a strong black coffee by the way.’