Allegation

by R. G. Adams

  Kit nodded, her head down, perspiration gathering on her brow.

  ‘There’s an external fixing disc around the stoma and another one on the inside. I lift the external one up and check the edges of the stoma closely to make sure it isn’t red or inflamed. Then I have to wash around it. The tube has measurements on it, so we can make sure it’s sitting in the right place. It can slip into the stomach otherwise. So, I check that it’s right and then I push the tube into her stomach and rotate it right round so that the fixing plate on the inside won’t be stuck in her stomach tissue. Then I pull the tube back up until I feel resistance and clamp it in place.’

  ‘Thank you. That was very detailed. Shall we move on now?’

  Annie nodded, letting slip a tiny smile.

  ‘So, tell me about when Lucy was diagnosed?’

  ‘Tell you what?’ Kit could hear immediately that something had changed. Looking up, she saw that Annie’s expression had taken on a rigidity.

  ‘I need to know about Lucy’s exact diagnosis, what caused her disabilities, and what her needs are now.’

  ‘You can get all that from Jean Collins, surely? Lucy’s disability and her care package are all fully set out in your records already, I’m sure.’

  This was, of course, perfectly true. Kit searched for what she felt was lacking in the material that Jean Collins had put on the system.

  ‘But how have you and your husband been affected? And how do Chloe and Cameron cope? I know it’s not easy for kids to have a sibling as disabled as Lucy is.’

  ‘They cope just fine. We make sure they do. You can ask them about that yourself.’

  Kit wasn’t inclined to let Annie off the hook. ‘What about the other part of my question?’

  ‘Which was?’

  ‘How has it affected you and your husband? Tell me about Lucy’s early years, when you found out that she was disabled, and what that was like?’

  Annie’s gaze fell to the floor and stayed there for a while. Kit wondered if she ought to say something else, but she wasn’t sure what. Finally, Annie looked up.

  ‘I don’t see any need to go into that. This is about the children, as you said at the beginning. It’s not about me and Matt, and that is really none of your business. As I said, anything else you need to know about Lucy’s needs, you can get from Jean.’ Her words were firm, but her voice was less certain than Kit had ever heard it. Kit was sure that she could see the hint of a shine in her eyes.

  ‘I didn’t mean to upset you.’

  Annie looked away from Kit. ‘I’m sorry. But it’s just not something that I can talk about.’

  Seeing the usually hostile Annie so upset rattled Kit, and she couldn’t bring herself to persist. ‘OK. Shall I see the kids now then?’

  Annie gave Kit a small smile of relief and got up to leave the room, returning a few minutes later with Cameron. Once Annie had gone, Kit started to explain to Cameron why she was there, as best she could without saying anything about Matt. Cameron looked blank at the mention of Jean Collins’ name, but he accepted Kit’s explanation that she was his new social worker and was there to check how he was and whether he was happy. Then she explained the colouring to him. He settled down to it at once, munching his way through half the bag of chocolates. His three wishes were for more time on his Xbox, a holiday in Spain and a pet tarantula. In his house, Cameron wrote that he was happy with everything except that he wished he had a brother.

  ‘Why’s that then, Cam? The girls get on your nerves, do they?’ Kit asked him.

  ‘Chloe does. She takes my stuff all the time. She thinks she’s special.’

  ‘What about Lucy?’

  He shrugged.

  ‘I guess she takes up a lot of Mum and Dad’s time, doesn’t she?’ Kit was remembering everything she had read about kids with disabled siblings, how easy it was for them to feel overlooked and less important.

  ‘She can’t help that.’ Cameron’s tone was fractious, and his face creased into a frown. ‘Why are you smiling?’ he demanded.

  ‘You reminded me of your mum for a minute.’

  ‘Oh.’ He stared at her and took another Malteser.

  ‘You don’t mind Lucy then?’ Kit tried to get Cameron talking. But he just shrugged again.

  ‘What about Mum and Dad?’

  ‘Yeah, they’re fine. I miss my dad. I’ve got no one to play football with. He’s away because Nanna’s ill.’

  Kit felt uncomfortable. She didn’t like lying to the children, but she knew better than to risk Annie’s ire by telling him any of the truth.

  Cameron finished his drawing and Kit asked him to call Chloe, at which point her head immediately popped round the door. ‘Can I do colouring now?’

  ‘Yes, come on then.’

  Kit could hear the sound of a small scuffle in the doorway as Cameron went out and Chloe replaced him. ‘Ouch!’ Cameron said. ‘What are you pinching me for?’

  ‘For saying I think I’m special.’

  ‘You do.’ Cameron’s feet were heard running away up the stairs before Chloe could get hold of him again.

  ‘And you’re a liar anyway, you’re always fibbing – Dad told me,’ he shouted as he went.

  Chloe made a move to go after him but Kit intervened. ‘Come on then, Chlo,’ she said. ‘Let’s do our drawing, shall we?’

  Chloe accepted this surprisingly easily, her eye on the bag of chocolates. Kit went through the explanations about being the new social worker again and then she watched as Chloe carefully coloured the house and the fairy. She coloured the fairy itself in vivid pink and carefully wrote her wishes in the three bubbles. She chatted as she went along, telling Kit that the family were planning to move.

  ‘Where to?’

  ‘Llanfair.’

  Kit made a mental note. She knew this was one of the most desirable suburbs of the town. The Coopers were on the up and up.

  ‘Daddy says we’ll have a big garden and me and Cameron will go to a private school.’

  ‘That will be lovely.’

  ‘Yeah. Lucy will have her own wet room then. It’s because Grandad’s businesses are doing well, you see.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes. Daddy works for him. But it shouldn’t mean that Daddy has to be available to Grandad twenty-four/seven.’

  Kit suppressed another smile, hearing Annie’s voice once again.

  ‘I’m finished.’ Chloe turned the pictures round for Kit to see.

  ‘Those are fantastic, sweetie.’ Chloe’s three wishes were for a pony, a Disney holiday and high-heeled shoes. The happy things in her house were her mum, her cat and her rollerblades. The sad things were her nanna being ill, her mummy being sad and her hamster being dead.

  Glancing at her watch, Kit saw it was nearly five. She’d finish up with Chloe, spend some time with Lucy, and then she’d get off home. Maybe she’d text Tyler and see if he was up for a curry. She thought she could start writing up her assessment on Monday; she’d need to visit again, but so far it was all straightforward stuff, no nasty surprises. She checked herself, wondering if she was a bit disappointed to find everything so happy at the Coopers’.

  ‘Lovely, Chloe, thank you. I’d better see Lucy now.’ Kit was starting to feel peckish. She thought about her curry again. Perhaps she’d get a biryani. And maybe she’d pick up some lagers on the way home.

  ‘I’m not done.’ Chloe picked up a pen and started adding some detail to her house.

  ‘I really do need to see your sister, too. We can do some more drawing next time I come?’

  ‘Oh, OK.’ Chloe’s face brightened. ‘I didn’t know you were coming back. Will you bring me more Maltesers? I can’t finish my picture anyway. There’s no room for Lucy in this house.’

  ‘Draw one on the back for her.’ Chloe was so cute, she couldn’t help relenting. ‘Look, I’
ll show you.’

  She picked up a pen and drew a box on the side of the house. Chloe looked at it. ‘Yes, that will do,’ she said. Then she took the pen from Kit and drew two beds in the room.

  ‘Who sleeps there then?’ Kit pointed at the beds.

  ‘Me and Lucy.’

  ‘You sleep in Lucy’s room?’

  ‘We share. It’s our room.’

  ‘Why’s that?’ It hardly seemed necessary for the girls to share in the Coopers’ decent-sized house.

  ‘We like it.’

  ‘Lucy doesn’t sleep much, though, does she? Doesn’t she keep you awake?’

  ‘I don’t mind. I don’t like sleeping, it’s boring. Sometimes when Lucy’s carer falls asleep we put the telly on without any sound. I’m learning to read, so I put the subtitles on.’ Chloe’s grin told Kit that Annie wouldn’t be happy if she knew about this.

  ‘Oh, OK, that must be nice. What are you drawing now then?’

  ‘This is the put-up bed, for someone to sleep on when they see to Lucy in the night.’ Chloe started to draw a stick figure sitting on the bed.

  ‘So is that Lucy’s carer?’ Kit asked, tidying up the pens as she did so.

  ‘No, that’s Daddy. It’s his night.’

  Kit stopped pushing pens into her bag. Her mind jumped back to Lucy’s care plan. ‘I thought Lucy had a carer with her every night?’

  ‘No, I just told you, she doesn’t. Daddy sleeps in with Lucy on Fridays. So he can have some time with her.’

  Kit was determined not to read too much into it. But the hairs on her arms rose all the same. She didn’t recall seeing anywhere in the care plans that the carers only slept in six nights per week. Did Jean Collins know? But then again, did it mean anything anyway?

  ‘I need to pack up now. Can I have your drawing?’

  ‘One minute. I have a bit to finish.’ Chloe carried on scribbling for a few minutes more, while Kit continued to wonder about Matt’s night with Lucy, trying to figure out the significance of it. She wondered what her mind would be like after thirty years in this job, if it was this suspicious already.

  Chloe folded her drawing up and wrote on the outside, then she handed it to Kit. ‘There you are.’

  ‘It’s lovely, Chlo, thank you.’ Kit put it in her pocket and reached out to touch Chloe’s mop of curls. Chloe immediately ducked away from Kit’s hand.

  ‘Sorry, Chloe, I didn’t mean to make you jump.’ Kit dropped her hand back to her side and gave Chloe a reassuring smile. ‘Will you show me where to find Lucy now?’

  ‘I’d better get Mum,’ Chloe replied. She led the way to the kitchen and Annie came out, her face as grim as usual.

  ‘I need to see Lucy now,’ Kit told her. Annie moved past them in the hallway and silently crossed to an open door near the bottom of the stairs. Chloe tagged along behind Kit. As she drew near, Kit could hear a voice speaking quietly. Annie led her into the room, where Lucy was sitting in a chair, watching a music channel. A very overweight middle-aged woman was standing behind the chair, brushing Lucy’s thick curly hair with gentle stokes and talking to her as she did so.

  ‘Is that all right for you, darling?’

  Lucy seemed to shift forward a little.

  ‘That’s good. Let me know if it’s uncomfortable.’ The woman went on pulling the brush though Lucy’s hair, looking up with a start when she noticed Kit and Annie in the doorway.

  Glancing around the room, Kit could see that the walls were covered with posters: 1D, Five Seconds of Summer. Annie, probably, doing her research, making sure the room looked just right for a teenage girl. Lucy was dressed in navy leggings and a long blue T-shirt, and a pair of blue Converse lay near her chair. In fact, she was dressed very much like Kit was. This conjured up an immediate picture of Annie in Topshop, not choosing what she liked, but figuring out what Lucy would have chosen if she could.

  ‘This is Fay,’ Chloe said, indicating the woman.

  ‘Hello, Fay. I’m Kit. I’m Lucy’s social worker.’

  ‘And mine.’ Chloe was put out.

  ‘Yes, of course, I’m yours and Cameron’s, too. You’ve helped me a lot, Chlo. I’d better speak to Lucy on her own now, though.’

  Chloe sighed but she left the room. Annie and Fay both ignored the hint and stayed just inside the door. Kit let it ride for a minute, not wanting Lucy to be unnerved by being left alone with her too soon. She pulled a chair out of the corner and put it near to Lucy.

  ‘Hi, Lucy. I’m Kit. I’m your new social worker.’

  Lucy continued to stare at the TV. Kit searched about for something to say.

  ‘Do you like Taylor Swift?’

  Lucy didn’t react. Kit stood up and turned to face Annie and Fay, who had stayed at the back of the room. ‘Does Lucy use a communication board or an iPad or anything like that?’ Kit had pulled her old lecture notes out from under the bed the night before and had read up on anything she thought might help her to communicate with Lucy.

  ‘No, sorry.’ Annie’s reply came at once, but Fay looked as if she might have answered if she’d had the chance. Kit looked directly at her.

  ‘How do you manage, Fay? It must be hard with all her personal care and so on.’

  ‘Fay knows Lucy very well. She understands her needs.’ Annie interjected again. Fay appeared to be incapable of independent speech. Kit decided to give it up and chuck them both out. ‘OK, well, thanks. I’d better speak to Lucy alone now. I’ll give you a shout when I’m done.’

  She moved towards the door and, once they had gone, she shut it firmly behind them, and sat back down. She wasn’t going to give up, but Lucy’s eyes were still fixed on the TV. Kit looked down at Lucy’s hands, wanting to touch her to get her attention. She saw that Lucy’s left elbow, which was nearest to her, sat at an odd angle. Kit had read up enough to know that this was due to the contractions caused by the cerebral palsy. She reached out gently, not wanting to hurt Lucy, and touched her fingers lightly on the back of her left hand, which she saw was also clenched into a tight ball. Lucy turned her head then, and her perfect blue eyes scanned Kit’s face.

  ‘Hello, honey. I’m here to see if everything is OK with you. Can I talk to you for a while?’

  Lucy made a noise, deep in her throat, but Kit couldn’t recognise whether it was a yes or a no. ‘Does that mean it’s OK for me to talk to you, Lucy?’ Lucy jerked her body forward a little. It was the same movement that Lucy had made in response to Fay. Kit remembered from her reading the night before that some children found it easier to use their bodies to communicate. Maybe she was making a connection with Lucy now.

  ‘Your room is lovely. Did your mum get the posters for you?’

  Lucy continued to look at Kit for a few seconds longer. Then she returned her gaze to the TV. A tiny crease played around the side of her mouth. Having been ignored by countless teenagers, Kit suddenly found herself on home ground.

  ‘Ah, OK, cheeky. You just don’t feel like answering stupid questions, is that it?’

  The crease popped up again but Lucy’s head didn’t turn.

  ‘I don’t blame you. It was a rubbish question, I’m not doing very well, am I? It’s quite hard, though, because I don’t know the best way to speak to you, and I need to find a way to do it, because it’s my job to make sure that you and Cam and Chloe are OK.’

  Lucy didn’t move or turn her head, but the near-smile had dropped away. Something in Kit’s words had caught her attention, and she was waiting to see what would come next. Kit had to get it right. There was silence from the hallway, no one seemed to be about. She leant forward and touched Lucy’s hand again.

  ‘Lucy, it’s my job to help you,’ she whispered. ‘I can see that you can answer me, I just need to ask you the right questions. If anything is worrying you, I can help sort it out. I promise.’ Kit paused for a while, trying to read the situat
ion and give Lucy a chance to give her a sign if she could. Then Kit stood up and returned her voice to normal. ‘Bye, sweetie. I’ll come back and see you again soon, OK?’

  From outside Lucy’s room came the sound of footsteps. Kit crossed the room and went out into the hallway. She saw that Chloe and Cameron were in the living room, both intent upon their iPads. Had one of them been listening, and could they have heard what she said to Lucy? In the kitchen, Kit found Annie standing with her back to the sink and her arms crossed in front of her. Fay sat at the table, a coffee mug in her hand.

  ‘I’m finished for today. I’ll give you a ring to arrange my next visit.’

  ‘And what did you discover about my children? Anything you feel I should know?’

  ‘Chloe and Cameron seem like great kids. And it’s nice that Chloe and Lucy are so close. Chloe told me they share a room.’

  ‘Chloe’s got her own room so you needn’t start thinking they’re not provided for. She’s only been sleeping in with Lucy since just before Christmas. Chloe got a little bit nervous about Santa getting into her room and she just stayed with Lucy after that. Just a phase, I expect. How did you get on with Lucy?’

  ‘I didn’t really manage to communicate with her, I’m afraid.’

  ‘That doesn’t surprise me. You can’t really expect to just come along and start chatting to someone as disabled as Lucy. As I said, you’d have to put in the time to get to know her and I doubt you’d get much response even then. Why should she talk to you anyway? She doesn’t know you from Adam.’

  Annie was back to normal, but it was a fair point, Kit had to admit it. ‘I can see that. I do need to keep trying, though. I need her views for the assessment. Have you got any suggestions, Annie?’

  ‘Sorry, no, I haven’t,’ Annie said. ‘That’s something you’re going to have to work out for yourself. And please call me Mrs Cooper.’ She picked up a mug from the worktop and took a sip of coffee, but not in time to hide her smile.

  ‘Right, I’ll get going then.’

  ‘Would you mind seeing yourself out?’

  Kit nodded and made for the front door, as pleased to be going as Annie clearly was to see the back of her, yet kicking herself for slipping up over Annie’s name again. She hadn’t meant to annoy her, but the friendly tone wasn’t working. She’d have to make an effort to get that right from now on.