Allegation

by R. G. Adams

  ‘Thanks, I will. I am going to try and speak to Lucy again. If I can’t manage it, I’ll have to think about what to do next and what action we can take.’ Kit was lying through her teeth, hoping to rattle Annie’s composure. ‘I need to communicate with her somehow, Annie. I’m not happy to close this assessment until I’ve done so, now that I know that it is possible.’

  Annie rolled her eyes upwards but didn’t answer, so Kit turned to leave the kitchen, knowing this was best, before Annie’s rudeness needled her so much that she said something unprofessional. Annie would delight in that. As Kit moved into the hall, Annie banged the kitchen door shut behind her.

  Kit found Chloe still sitting on the bottom of the stairs. She sat down next to her and Chloe leant in close to Kit’s side.

  ‘Hi, sweetie, you still here?’ she asked her.

  ‘Yes. I’m waiting to do our colouring,’ Chloe said. ‘Cameron is out with his friends all the time and Daddy isn’t here like he used to be. And Mummy’s always cross. She says it’s all your fault, but she won’t tell me why.’

  ‘You sound sad,’ Kit said.

  ‘I am.’ Chloe dropped her eyes and Kit saw she was fighting back tears. She reached out to touch her hair but remembered just in time that Chloe didn’t like it. Close up, she could see that Chloe’s hair was even wilder than it had been the last time she’d seen her. In fact, it looked a bit matted. Surely Annie wasn’t letting things slip so much that she wasn’t making sure Chloe brushed her hair?

  ‘Look, honey, I really do have to see Lucy first. I’ll come and find you as soon as I’m done.’ Kit dug in her bag and got out her pack of gel pens and a crumpled copy of the fairy exercise. ‘Why don’t you go upstairs and put all this ready for us in your room, and I’ll be up in a bit.’

  ‘OK.’ Chloe started off up the stairs very slowly. As soon as Kit turned the corner into Lucy’s room, she could hear Chloe’s footsteps returning.

  ‘Chloe?’ she called.

  Chloe appeared at the door immediately. ‘My room’s not upstairs now. It’s here.’

  ‘I’m sorry, I forgot about you and Lucy sharing. Why don’t you come in here and colour while I talk to Lucy? Then you can show me the fairy at the end.’

  ‘OK.’ Chloe came in and threw herself on the floor by Lucy’s bed. She started work on the fairy straight away.

  Lucy was in her chair again, watching TV. Kit came closer and touched her hand. Lucy turned slightly towards Kit and Kit smiled at her.

  ‘Hi, Lucy. Do you remember me? I’m Kit. I’m your social worker.’ Lucy stared at Kit for a few seconds, her beautiful blue eyes unblinking, and then turned back to the TV. Kit sighed. She was starting to recognise when Lucy was not going to cooperate.

  ‘Lucy,’ she said, ‘I need to talk to you. Remember how I told you that it’s my job to visit children and ask them what they think.’

  Lucy continued to stare at the TV, without the slightest change in her expression. The room was warm and airless, and Kit was beginning to feel tired. But she couldn’t walk away yet.

  ‘It must be very hard for you at the moment, Lucy. Because your dad isn’t living here.’ Lucy didn’t move, and her expression didn’t alter, but something in the room had changed. The tiniest of shifts.

  Kit tried again. ‘I expect you miss your dad, don’t you, honey?’ This time Kit was ready, and there it was – Lucy’s breathing had altered, Kit was sure of it. It had come just a little faster, for a few breaths, then settled down again.

  ‘Would you like your dad to come home?’ This time Lucy turned her head. She looked directly at Kit and she made a guttural noise.

  ‘She likes Mum better.’ Kit jumped slightly. She had half forgotten Chloe was there.

  ‘Does she? Really?’ Kit remembered what Vernon had said. She knew she shouldn’t push this too far. But she couldn’t just leave it either.

  Chloe sat up, cross-legged. ‘Yes. Everyone thinks Lucy likes Dad best. But they’re wrong. I know. Mum’s her favourite.’

  ‘How do you know that then, Chlo?’ This was news to Kit. All she had heard from everyone was that Matt Cooper had the fantastic relationship with Lucy.

  ‘Lucy told me, of course.’ Chloe’s tone suggested Kit was possibly the most stupid person she had ever come across.

  ‘How does Lucy talk to you?’

  ‘With her hands. Fay showed us.’

  Kit paused and wondered whether to go on. She glanced at the open bedroom door. The hallway was empty and silent, no sign of Annie. She decided to risk it. Bugger Vernon and his warnings. ‘Chloe, would you like to help me talk to Lucy?’

  ‘OK. She won’t do it if she doesn’t feel like it, though.’

  ‘That’s all right. Let’s give it a try, shall we? Will you ask her if she will talk to me and tell her about why I’m here?’

  Chloe got up and squeezed onto the chair next to Kit. Lucy turned to her and Chloe lifted her hands up and made some gestures, speaking clearly as she did so. ‘Lucy, do you want to talk to us?’ she asked. Lucy’s eyes followed the movements, but she didn’t move herself.

  ‘She’s not answering. I expect she’s not in the right mood. I did say that she might not be, actually. Can we do my colouring now?’

  ‘Will you ask her again?’

  Chloe sighed heavily, but she nodded. ‘I suppose so. But if Lucy had anything to say, she’d tell Mum, not you.’ She repeated the question and made some more hand movements in Lucy’s direction. Lucy’s eyes were still following Chloe’s hands, but again, she made no response.

  ‘My sister doesn’t feel like talking today,’ Chloe said, with finality, and then, in order to close the matter, she turned away from Lucy and bent down to pick up her colouring.

  The room was quite dark now and the heat was continuing to build. Kit’s head was starting to ache, and she was desperately thirsty. She didn’t want to stop trying but she needed a minute to think. She reached out to take Chloe’s colouring from her.

  ‘It’s lovely, Chloe.’ The fairy was resplendent in shocking pink once again.

  ‘Thank you. Can we do it again next time you come?’

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry, honey, I’m not coming again. This is my last visit. I came to talk to Lucy but then I’ve finished working with you three. We need to say goodbye today.’

  Chloe looked devastated. ‘I don’t want this to be your last visit,’ she said.

  ‘I really am so sorry. Remember I told you I would be visiting to find out what you and Cam and Lucy thought? And now I’ve finished doing that, so I won’t need to come to you anymore. Life will go back to normal now, Chlo.’

  ‘Does that mean Daddy is coming home?’

  Kit hesitated, but there was no reason not to tell Chloe the truth. It was time to admit defeat. ‘He’s going to be coming home soon.’

  Chloe turned back to Lucy and made some more gestures. ‘I’m telling Lucy.’

  ‘OK, good girl.’

  Chloe had picked up her pens again. ‘I’m going to do you another drawing. A goodbye one.’

  ‘That would be lovely.’ Kit looked over at Lucy. She noticed Lucy’s breathing was fast again, rasping in her chest. She definitely seemed agitated. Kit got up and moved closer to her, stepping around Chloe, who was still busy with her colouring on the floor.

  ‘What is it, sweetie? It’s my last visit so if there’s anything you want to tell me, it needs to be now.’ Kit bent down next to Lucy’s chair. She reached out to touch her strong hand, but as she did so, Lucy raised her hand into the air and made a movement, close to her face. Kit looked at Chloe to ask what it meant, but Chloe was looking towards the door, following a sudden noise from that direction.

  ‘I think you’ve finished here now, haven’t you?’ Annie stood in the doorway. ‘It’s time for Lucy’s change. Her carer will be here to help me any minute.’ Kit wondered how long
Annie had been in the hall, and how much she had overheard.

  ‘I think it’s important that I understand what Lucy is saying. She made a sign and she seemed upset as well. It seemed to start when Chloe told her about Matt coming home.’ Kit braced herself for Annie’s reaction.

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous. What sign did Lucy make, Chloe?’

  ‘I didn’t see her make a sign.’

  ‘Chloe’s only six, you know. I’m not sure it’s appropriate for you to be using her to communicate with a severely disabled child actually. It’s hardly reliable.’

  ‘I am reliable.’ Chloe was sulking now.

  Annie took no notice of her and continued to address Kit.

  ‘Now, Miss Goddard, if your so-called assessment is over, I think it’s time for you to leave.’ Annie stood back and waited. Kit could see she was not going to win this one. She decided to retreat, for the time being.

  ‘I’ll have to go and take legal advice,’ she said.

  ‘You do that. It hasn’t really helped you much so far, has it? I don’t suppose we’ll be seeing you again, so goodbye.’ Annie turned and walked ahead of Kit down the hallway. Annie didn’t say another word, but opened the front door, placing her attention upon her fingernails while she waited for Kit to leave. Kit did so, having failed to come up with a suitable parting shot.

  As Kit got to her car, she heard her name being called. Chloe had come around from the back of the house and was running after her.

  ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t say goodbye, did I?’ Kit said.

  ‘No, you didn’t. That was really mean. Can I sit in your car now?’

  Kit wanted to get away. She was desperate for a fag and a coffee and needed to speak to Vernon. But she saw that Chloe’s face was sad again.

  ‘Five minutes. Then I really do have to go.’

  Chloe grinned. Kit unlocked the car and they both got in. Chloe settled herself in the front seat and started rummaging through Kit’s glove compartment. She found a half-finished packet of fruit Mentos.

  ‘Can I have these?’

  ‘Go on then.’

  Kit thought about the hand movement she had seen Lucy make just before Annie arrived in the room.

  ‘Chloe, can I ask you something?’

  Chloe nodded, her mouth full of sweets.

  ‘Lucy did make another sign. I know you didn’t see her, but I did. What does this mean?’ Kit demonstrated roughly what she had seen Lucy do.

  Chloe watched Kit’s hand carefully and then she chewed for a few seconds.

  ‘Show me again,’ she said.

  Kit repeated the sign while Chloe swallowed her sweets.

  ‘It doesn’t mean anything. I don’t think that’s even a sign. Sometimes Lucy makes mistakes.’ Chloe opened the car door. ‘I have to go in for my tea now. Goodbye, Kit.’ And with that, she was gone, before Kit had the chance to reply.

  Chapter 13

  Kit arrived back at the office in fifteen minutes flat. Once there, she saw that the car park was packed. She drove round it twice without finding a space and then gave up and parked in the duty social worker’s slot. She knew it wouldn’t make her popular, but she needed to move quickly.

  She took the stairs two at a time. Arriving in the team room, she ignored Ricky’s questioning look, and headed for Vernon’s door. She prayed he was in there, and, when she put her head in, saw she was in luck. He was at his desk, updating his allocations book.

  ‘Bloody hell, you’re a bit sweaty, and you’re all red,’ he said. ‘What’s up?’

  Kit couldn’t speak immediately. She flopped into a chair and took a few seconds to regain her breath.

  ‘You want to give up those fags, girl.’ Vernon pointed at her with his pen. He looked down at the allocation list again. ‘And by the way, how are you getting on with those two new ones I gave you last week? I’ve got twenty referrals waiting and I need to get them allocated – when are you likely to have some space? There’s a nasty-looking medical exam coming up tomorrow, I was hoping you’d take that for me. I can’t send Maisie; the paediatrician’s refused to have her in his clinic again.’

  ‘Vern, shut up a minute, I want to tell you something.’

  He stopped talking abruptly. ‘Oh, all right, no need to get in a strop. What’s the problem this time?’

  ‘It’s the Coopers.’

  ‘For God’s sake Kit, Jesus, not them again. Didn’t I tell you not two hours ago to get that closed today?’ It was the first time he had ever spoken to her with real exasperation in his voice.

  ‘You did, yes. But something’s changed. I spent some time with Lucy.’

  ‘And?’ Vernon sighed, but he leant back and waited.

  ‘I got Chloe to do some signing. We asked Lucy questions. She seemed scared or stressed or something. She said something else, too, but I don’t know what that was. I asked Chloe, and she said she didn’t recognise it, but I’m pretty sure she was fibbing. Something doesn’t feel right. Then Annie Cooper came along, and she threw me out.’

  Vernon stared at her, struggling to take it all in. ‘Why did Annie Cooper throw you out?’ he asked, going straight to what was clearly the least important issue as far as Kit was concerned.

  ‘Oh, I don’t know. You know what she’s like. She was complaining about me using Chloe to talk to Lucy, saying it wasn’t appropriate because she’s so young.’

  ‘Remind me how old Chloe is?’

  ‘She’s six.’ Kit could see that Vernon was not impressed. She started to feel less sure of her ground.

  ‘So, what are you trying to tell me?’ He was speaking slowly, as if she was daft.

  ‘Well, surely now we can push it a bit further? Can we go back in with someone who can do Makaton? Maybe we’d better get legal advice, too.’

  ‘So, what you’re telling me is this: We’ve got a severely disabled girl with learning disabilities and very limited communication, mental capacity unknown, who’s been taught a couple of Makaton signs by an unqualified carer, against the parents’ wishes, and you want me to go for legal advice for care proceedings based on something you think she might have said, using a fibbing six-year-old as an interpreter. Are you trying to make us a laughing stock with Legal?’

  Kit looked down at her lap. She couldn’t argue with him. But then she thought back to Lucy, in that dark, stuffy room, her hand fluttering in the air, the first time Kit had seen her really animated.

  ‘I know you’re right about how it looks. But I’m so sure there’s something more to find out with these girls. I just feel it. What do I do? I can’t just move on and pretend it’s all OK, can I? How could I live with myself?’

  He smiled at her, his exasperation slipping away as he saw how upset she was. ‘I’m not saying you’re wrong. Your judgement’s good, and I trust it. I’m saying I don’t think you can do anything else but move on to the next family. You’re always going to get cases that stay with you, Kit. I’ve got a list going back thirty years. Some I should have handled better, and plenty that I couldn’t do a damn thing about, no matter how hard I tried. They keep me awake at night to this day. You have to learn to live with that. But focus on the children that you can help.’

  ‘Can I make a suggestion?’ Ricky’s voice came from the doorway.

  ‘Eavesdropping, were you?’ Vernon snapped.

  ‘You left the door open. The entire office heard every word.’

  Kit smiled, pleased to see Ricky standing up to Vernon as she had told him numerous times he needed to do. Vernon was stunned into momentary silence, and Ricky took the opportunity to edge his way into the room.

  ‘I just thought maybe . . . there’s another way round all this.’ Ricky’s voice had become uncertain now, his nerve draining away as Vernon glared at him.

  ‘Why don’t you sit down and tell us?’ Kit said, ignoring the look Vernon now shot at her. R
icky looked like he would rather not, now it came to it, but did as she suggested and sat in the chair next to her own.

  ‘Come on then, lad, let’s have the benefit of your expertise,’ Vernon said.

  ‘You don’t need to speak to him like that,’ Kit snapped. She turned to Ricky, making as much of a show as she could of the kindness in her voice.

  ‘If you can think of something that would help me, Ricky, I’d really appreciate that. You can see why I can’t just leave it, can’t you?’

  Vernon gave an exasperated grunt at this, but he didn’t speak.

  ‘You see, it seems to me that you’re taking all the responsibility here,’ Ricky started tentatively.

  ‘Go on.’ She encouraged him, making sure that she avoided catching Vernon’s eye.

  ‘You’ve ended up being Annie Cooper’s enemy, haven’t you?’

  ‘I’m not sure I’d say that exactly.’

  ‘But you’re on opposite sides, aren’t you?’

  ‘Well, what do you expect? The woman is an absolute nightmare. I don’t think it was my fault. Anyone would have struggled to work with her.’

  Ricky was looking at Kit, his eyes kind. ‘Kit, I have noticed that you often hear criticism where it doesn’t exist. I wasn’t making any comment about your ability, I was just describing things as they are. But you get defensive quite easily and sometimes it stops you hearing what people are actually saying.’

  ‘Right, OK, sorry,’ she mumbled, taken aback.

  ‘What I’m saying is, does Annie Cooper love her children?’

  ‘Yes. Absolutely.’

  ‘And does she want the best for them?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Then there’s really only one person who can do anything about this situation. And that’s Annie herself. You’ve got no evidence, Kit. No criminal conviction and nothing at all for care proceedings. But it seems to me that if there is anything to know, then deep down, Annie Cooper already knows it.’

  ‘But she’d never admit that. She’s defended him all along.’

  ‘Because the system has put her in that position. I’m not saying that’s your fault, before you get all defensive again.’