Her Perfect Family

by Driscoll, Teresa

  ‘And are we any nearer finding who did this, DI Sanders – since we last spoke?’

  ‘We’re doing everything we can and I have good people.’ Mel turns to Matthew.

  ‘Right. Good. Of course. I’ve asked our head of communications Amanda to join us, by the way.’ The chancellor starts sifting through papers in front of her. ‘She’s drawn up the report you wanted on all the extra security arrangements. Also the press statement we’d put out when – or rather if – we go ahead.’ The chancellor looks at her watch. ‘She’ll be with us in just a few minutes. I just wanted to give us some time alone in case you have anything you wish to share with me privately. Do you have any leads?’

  ‘As you know from the papers, we have someone in custody but no firm evidence yet. We have to assume that the person who shot Gemma Hartley could still be at large. There’s no denying that cancelling Friday is the safest option.’

  ‘And is that what you recommend, Inspector?’

  Matthew watches Mel closely. He knows that senior officers want the public reassured. They don’t want to signal that the force can’t keep the peace; can’t keep people safe.

  ‘We don’t want the public thinking we can’t keep them safe. It’s a balancing act.’ Mel reaches for her coffee cup again.

  ‘I’m going to be frank, Inspector. We already have foreign students cancelling their courses. The blow to income is considerable. Parents are ringing in constantly. I want people to be safe too. But I also want my university to survive. It would be a lift if we could end the summer with a happier memory.’

  There’s a knock at the door before Mel can answer.

  ‘Ah, that will be our press officer.’ The chancellor lowers her voice. ‘I should mention, strictly between us, that she took it hard – what happened in the cathedral. Amanda. She’s having counselling. Great asset to the university. Very capable. She’s been working round the clock – all weekend.

  ‘Come in.’ The chancellor shuffles the papers in front of her into a neat pile.

  A tall woman then enters the room, carrying a stack of reports, and Matthew recognises her as the woman who helped him with the students in the two holding rooms at the back of the cathedral directly after the shooting. She was very shaken, he remembers, but impressively capable, nonetheless. She didn’t flee.

  ‘You may remember Amanda from the cathedral, Matthew. She tells me you were marvellous.’

  Matthew nods and Amanda’s eyes look strained suddenly. He can understand why it would haunt her too. Ice cream. Ice cream. He feels a little guilty for asking so much of her and Tom that day. Must have been difficult. The student panic in the locked rooms. The reason for the counselling?

  ‘Amanda did very well,’ he says. ‘And Tom. There was a marine who stepped up too. I’d have struggled without your help. Both of you.’

  ‘Thank you.’ She pauses, then shakes his hand and Mel’s too before passing each of them a document. ‘Right. So here, we’ve summarised all the extra security suggestions.’

  Matthew quickly glances through it. The list includes use of a specialist consultancy and a range of measures, including airport-style scanners in marquees outside the cathedral.

  ‘We’re assuming the police would also offer extra support?’ The chancellor’s looking directly at Melanie again. ‘Amanda’s drawn up a draft statement for the press.’

  ‘If we go ahead,’ Amanda says suddenly.

  ‘Quite.’ The chancellor’s expression is difficult to read.

  ‘We’ll do a sweep of the cathedral and have uniformed officers for reassurance,’ Mel says. ‘Senior officers don’t want an obvious armed presence. But we’ll have backup on standby.’

  Matthew glances at Amanda who’s still looking tense. The chancellor seems to notice.

  ‘Look, I like directness so you should know that we have divided opinions in the senior management team over what to do.’ The chancellor clears her throat. ‘Our head of student counselling has concerns. But we have terrific support in place. For the students and the staff too. The bottom line here is we have to get past this and, like it or not, we have to think of the bigger picture. The future of the university. So you’re not advising against going ahead, Inspector?’

  Mel narrows her eyes. ‘It’s a difficult call but – no, I’m not.’

  ‘Good. Good. And are we likely to see anyone charged this week? Before the ceremony, I mean?’

  ‘In an ideal world. But I can’t say.’ Mel takes in a long, slow breath. ‘By the way, there is one line of inquiry that you might be able to help with.’

  ‘Fire away.’

  ‘There’s a suggestion that Gemma may have been having an affair with one of her tutors. A member of staff.’

  The chancellor looks shocked. She looks over at Amanda, then back at Melanie. ‘And do you have evidence of this, Inspector?’

  ‘No. But have there been rumours?’

  ‘I’ve heard nothing. Amanda? Are you aware of this?’

  The press officer shakes her head.

  ‘Right. Well, we’ll need to quash that. Probably just tittle-tattle.’ The chancellor’s fiddling with the pearls around her neck.

  ‘Possibly. But we’ll need a list of all Gemma’s tutors for interviews. And if you do hear anything at all, you’ll be sure to let us know?’ Mel is staring at the chancellor now.

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘And that other list I asked for? Any staff sacked. Tribunals. Anyone who might hold a grudge.’

  ‘It’s in hand. Unfortunately, my head of people is in Meltona, would you believe.’

  ‘Oh goodness. The hurricane?’ Matthew widens his eyes. The chaos on Meltona island has been on the news for three days. So that’s why the list’s been slow to arrive.

  ‘She’s safe, thank God. They all got to higher ground. She managed to borrow some reporter’s satellite phone to contact family but all comms are down again. She doesn’t expect to be flown out for a few more days. But I’ve got other staff working on the list for you. By tomorrow, latest.’

  ‘Thank you. Though I’d really like to speak to your HR lead on Meltona if that’s at all possible. What’s her name?’

  ‘Molly Price.’

  ‘Right. We’ll try the comms our side but if she gets through again, would you ask her to ring me?’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘And you mentioned student support. Can we run another check on whether Gemma was seeing anyone? A counsellor. Anything like that?’

  ‘That would be confidential.’ The chancellor is frowning.

  ‘In an attempted murder inquiry, I’m afraid nothing is confidential.’ Mel stands to signal the meeting’s over. ‘Right. Forensics are nearly finished on site. We’ll release the cathedral back to the authorities by tomorrow. And I look forward to your board’s decision.’ She doesn’t shake hands again, just heads to the door.

  ‘Of course. We meet at six p.m. I’ll email you straight afterwards.’

  Matthew follows Mel but at the door she suddenly turns back. ‘Oh, by the way, I heard some rumblings of redundancies. Could we have that list too?’

  Matthew suddenly understands why Mel’s so keen to speak to the HR lead.

  The chancellor’s also standing. ‘All universities are up against it, financially. No secret there. We hope to use voluntary severance. There’s no list yet, Inspector. No decision. No disputes. We have a happy ship.’

  Mel pauses and then smiles before leaving the room. Matthew follows and they’re careful to say nothing until safely out of the building. As Mel fires the central-locking key towards her car, she leans into the rear passenger door.

  ‘So what do you make of them? Our chancellor and our head of communications?’

  ‘Not sure. But they clearly disagree over the final ceremony.’

  ‘And what do you think, Matt? Have I called it wrong? Should I have played safe and advised cancellation?’

  ‘Like you said before, you can’t win either way.’

  Mel op
ens her driver’s door. ‘Which gives me precisely four days to crack this case . . . with your help.’ She grins.

  He tilts his head but is careful not to reply.

  ‘What’s your gut saying, Matt?’

  He pauses to think but not for too long. That would defeat the object. ‘My gut’s saying it’s to do with the baby. We obviously can’t press for paternity tests while she’s in a coma. Legal nightmare. But we do need to find out who the father is.’

  ‘OK, Matt. I think I might agree with you. Meantime let’s go see Gemma’s dad. Find out why the hell he’s been lying to us, eh?’

  CHAPTER 16

  Lemon

  The cot is assembled now and I’m pleased with it.

  The curtains are up too – lemon, of course – and I have found a matching duvet. Lemon with little white elephants.

  There’s still work to be done, so many boxes in the corner to be unpacked and sorted, but I feel it is all finally coming together and I like to come in here in the evening now and sit in the tall-backed chair. It feels so calm and special. Stops all the noise and the stress. All the questions in my head.

  Why, oh why, are there always so many questions?

  Sometimes, you know, I feel as if my head is actually going to explode with them. I told a doctor this years ago and he said that we could try a different prescription, but I got tired of the battles over the drugs. All the wretched side effects. It seems to me that drugs try to fix one thing but simply create another problem. And then you need a different drug to fix the new problem. But do the doctors listen? Do they sympathise? No, they don’t.

  I think I may look for a mobile next – to hang above the cot. When I was small my mother used to sing this lullaby . . . I know the tune but I can’t for the life of me remember the words. I may look online. YouTube perhaps? Imagine if I can find a mobile with little elephants to match the duvet.

  That would be just perfect, wouldn’t it?

  That would blank out what happened. All the blackness and the noise in my head.

  That would make things nice and calm again.

  A lemon mobile with white elephants. Yes. I’ll look online. Maybe they sell one to match.

  That would be just perfect.

  CHAPTER 17

  THE PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR

  ‘So what do you think? Be honest, Sal.’ Matthew’s in his car, mobile clamped to his right ear as he watches Mel, ready to pull away ahead of him.

  He’s holding his breath but she doesn’t answer for a time and so he ploughs on. ‘I won’t say “yes” if you hate the idea. But I think this could be a good thing for us; for Amelie, I mean. We can tell her Daddy’s going to help catch the bad person and she doesn’t need to be afraid.’

  More silence.

  ‘Please say something, Sally.’

  ‘This is someone with a gun, Matt.’

  ‘I know, I know, love, but I also know what I’m doing. And I can help them solve the case faster if I’m on board officially.’

  ‘But this isn’t your problem, Matt. The whole thing really scares me.’

  ‘I understand and I won’t agree to anything until we’ve talked it through tonight. I just wanted you to know straight away about the approach. Look, I’ve got to go.’ He lifts his hand as a signal to Mel that he’ll follow her car. ‘I love you, Sally.’ He means it. He really does. He just wishes he could make her not worry.

  ‘I love you too.’

  Matthew’s just about to fire the ignition when he spots Amanda, the PR, leaving through the main doors. A thought suddenly sweeps in and he quickly steps out of the car.

  ‘Amanda. Sorry to hold you up but have you got a minute?’

  She glances at her watch, frowning. ‘I’ve got a meeting actually.’

  ‘Don’t worry. Won’t take long. I just wanted to say thank you properly. How grateful I was for your support at the cathedral. You and Tom. Keeping the students safe until the full team arrived.’

  ‘Oh that. Right.’ She looks embarrassed. ‘Well to be honest, it wasn’t my finest hour. I was pretty petrified actually.’

  ‘Me too.’

  She smiles at last.

  ‘Seriously. I was sorry to ask that of you. Put you and Tom on the spot. But most people at the cathedral just bolted. You didn’t.’ He won’t mention that he knows she’s having counselling. The chancellor clearly shouldn’t have shared that.

  ‘No. Well, we had the students to think of.’ She looks away for a moment. ‘They were terrified too.’

  ‘And the other thing I wondered . . .’ He waits for her to look back at him. ‘. . . is how you feel about this final ceremony. If it goes ahead, will you be involved? Did I pick up back there that you have concerns?’ He pauses. ‘Off the record.’

  ‘Oh, come on.’ She tilts her head. ‘You and I both know that there’s no such thing as off the record, Mr Hill.’

  ‘Matthew, please.’

  ‘I’m a press officer. I’m hardly going to speak out of turn, Matthew.’

  ‘Of course.’ He bites into his bottom lip then plunges on. ‘But I’m going to be asking around. I’m going to find out anyway. So – is this senior management team very split?’

  She takes in a long breath as if weighing something up. ‘Look, it’s no secret around campus that opinions are divided. Some badly want a morale boost to see us past this. Others think it safer and easier to just bump it all.’

  ‘And you share the latter view?’

  ‘I didn’t say that.’

  He looks at her intently. ‘It’s OK to be nervous, you know.’

  She lets out a long sigh. ‘Is it? Our chancellor’s thankfully made of stronger stuff.’ Her eyes look haunted for a moment and Matthew remembers her in her smart, black suit alongside the marine as he barked instructions at them.

  ‘As I say, I asked a lot of you. And if I remember, they shepherded the chancellor out of a side door pretty quickly.’

  Amanda glances around her again. ‘Actually, there is something I should probably mention to you.’

  Matthew’s more curious now.

  ‘Oh – nothing significant. Just something on my mind. It’s just my sister Helen knows the family. Gemma’s mother – they live in the same area. Helen asked me to fix good seats for them in the cathedral. We’re really not supposed to do that; the demand for seats is a hot potato every year. Anyway, my sister went on and on about it so in the end I did. Wangled for the Hartleys to be right up the front. It’s why they saw it all so clearly. I feel bad about that now.’

  ‘Right. So you know the family?’

  ‘No. Not me, not personally. But my sister’s fond of the mother. Helen asked me to give some tips about the uni when Gemma first applied. And this last year she asked if I could help Gemma with work experience. I’m afraid I fobbed her off. We’re always so busy. I feel terrible about that now.’ She looks crestfallen.

  ‘Well, you couldn’t know.’ He smiles. Everyone hated babysitting trainees when he was in the force. Then he remembers that Mel’s waiting.

  ‘Oh, and just one more thing. More personal. I read in the paper that the university is offering counselling to students and staff.’ He’s keen to be diplomatic even if the chancellor wasn’t.

  ‘Yes – that’s right. We have a very good team.’

  ‘It’s just my daughter’s having nightmares. She was there that day – on the high street with my wife and heard too much. I was wondering if you could recommend someone. A counsellor from your team? I’d be happy to pay privately.’

  ‘What age is she?’

  ‘Four.’

  ‘Poor thing.’ Amanda’s eyes soften. ‘Well, our team specialises in student and adult counselling, but I know they have contacts who work with children. There were a few younger siblings at the cathedral. I can have a word with our head of student counselling if you like.’

  ‘Would you?’ Matthew hands over his personal card. ‘Email and mobile are on there. As I say I’m happy to pay privately but wou
ld love a recommendation. We need someone good.’

  ‘No problem. Happy to help. And about the seating. Do you want me to come clean with the chancellor? It’s just I’ll be in a bit of hot water but I’d rather tell her myself if it’s going to be an issue. I’ve been a bit worried your investigation might question why they were up the front. In the VIP section.’

  Matthew realises it had never occurred to him to wonder. He looks down at the ground and then back at Amanda.

  ‘No. I don’t think it’s important. Mum’s the word.’

  ‘Thank you.’ She looks relieved.

  ‘And try not to worry. If the ceremony does go ahead, DI Sanders will keep everyone safe. She’s good. Very good.’

  Amanda just nods and looks at her watch again. ‘Sorry. But I really ought to be going. The meeting.’

  Twenty minutes later, as Matthew finally pulls up at the police station, Mel’s waiting on the steps, scrolling through her phone.

  ‘So what happened to you, Matt? On the phone to Sally?’

  ‘You should be a detective.’

  Mel laughs.

  ‘Yeah. I spoke briefly to Sal but I also had a quick word with the PR Amanda. We were right. She’s trying to be diplomatic – typical PR – but she clearly doesn’t agree about the final ceremony going ahead. She’s more shaken than the chancellor realises.’

  ‘Interesting. And what about Sally? What does she think about my offer?’

  ‘We’re going to talk tonight. My guess is she’ll want me in a bulletproof vest minimum.’

  ‘Well, at least you’re skinny enough to carry it off.’ Mel’s smiling as she leads them through the front office, using her security card to take them into an inner corridor. ‘I look pregnant again in mine.’

  Matthew’s turn to laugh. It was a standing joke when they last liaised over a case. Mel was in the final stages of her pregnancy and was so large that everyone, Matthew included, was sure she was having twins. She wasn’t. It’s funny to see her tiny again – her son at home. Separate and growing up fast.

  He follows her to the lift, thinking also of Amelie and hoping that Amanda may help source a good counsellor. He wonders how anyone would even approach this – with a child so young.