‘Did you see anyone else following her?’
‘Not really. I mean there was a cyclist on the road. One of those fanatics wearing the whole Tour de France get-up, but you can hardly chase a car while riding a bike, can you?’
‘Oh, I dunno, I’ve seen plenty of despatch riders on bikes terrorising other road users.’
Fay laughed quietly. Another tube train rolled past on the track above them, and the children’s voices rose to a crescendo to drown out the noise.
‘I’ve asked you this before, but did you kill my mother?’
‘The truth is, I don’t know,’ Fay replied. ‘I wish I could say for sure, but I can’t. I know I wanted to.’
Their eyes met, and Helen read the apology in them. She knew she should be angry, but for some reason she couldn’t summon up the feeling. If Fay was guilty, she’d paid for it ten times over. Perhaps it was time to let it go.
Reaching out, she took Fay’s hand, which trembled slightly in her own, and surprised even herself by saying, ‘I’m beginning to feel that it doesn’t matter any more. Whatever you did do, I think I understand your reasons. I can’t keep hating you, it’s too exhausting. Let’s concentrate on the future. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you who I was from the beginning.’ She squeezed Fay’s hand. ‘Won’t you come back home with me? Charlie absolutely hates me for chasing you away.’
‘Charlie can be a bit like that.’ Fay rose and gathered up her photos and a few other belongings. ‘But it’s my fault too. I should’ve demanded to know what it was all about. I’m just not very strong.’
No, Fay wasn’t strong at all, Helen noted as they made their way back. She’d used up all her strength in prison in order to survive, but now she’d been set free, she was just like so many other people daily trudging the streets of London, isolated, overlooked, living on the poverty line with no real future ahead of them.
She was going to change that. Together with Jason and the others they would make sure Fay had a good life, and the first thing they’d do was to track down her family, come what may.
‘I’m making fish pie for supper,’ she said as they crossed the road. ‘Fancy giving me a ha—’
She never finished the sentence. Everything happened so fast. An engine revving, Fay shouting and shoving her in the back, making her stumble and fall towards the kerb, dropping her bags. Her knee took the brunt of the impact, her elbow the rest. Red dots swam before her eyes, and she heard a sickening thud. A woman screamed.
And then it was all over. The dark car which had ploughed into Fay turned the corner with a screech of brakes. The shock on the faces of passers-by imprinted itself onto Helen’s mind. She ignored her throbbing knee and the searing pain in her elbow. Ears thrumming and eyes stinging with tears, she crawled to where Fay lay all twisted and bent, and hugged her close.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gentle hands lifted her away, and kind words brought her back to reality.
‘You mustn’t move someone who’s been in an accident,’ said one.
‘That bag lady saved your life,’ said another. ‘The car was coming right at you.’
‘I got some of the registration number,’ said a third, a young man already on his mobile. Detached, Helen thought he looked like an estate agent, with his sleek suit and gelled hair.
They helped her to the pavement and made her sit down. A woman with a pram knelt beside her and pressed a stack of baby wipes in her hand. ‘It’ll help with the bleeding.’
Bleeding? Helen looked at her hands, and the horror of what she saw made bile rise in her throat.
‘It’s not my blood, it’s Fay’s. Oh, god! Is she …?’
‘Fay? Is that her name?’ The woman put her arm around Helen. ‘It was a bad accident, I’m afraid. The ambulance is on its way.’
Helen looked to where Fay was lying. Someone had draped a jacket over her, and her face was ashen, as if she was already dead. Blood seemed to be everywhere – on her clothes, hair, face, on the road. Helen’s vision blurred, and someone helpfully pushed her head between her legs as the world swam and blackened, her heart beating like a drum. The last thing she remembered before a simple partial seizure took hold of her was the gentle hand on her neck …
Jason pushed open the double doors to the waiting room and found Helen with her head resting against the wall. Relief flooded through him, followed by guilt that he hadn’t been there when she needed him.
He wanted to put his arm around her to make sure she was all right, but Charlie beat him to it, throwing herself down in the only available chair next to Helen.