Safe With Me

by K. L. Slater

  Nobody was available to speak this early in the working day. Messages were left for relevant staff to contact her as a matter of urgency.

  Carla herself rang the police, who went straight to the family home. What they found there brought them back to the school.

  * * *

  Principal Turner called Carla to his office.

  His secretary showed her in, and Carla stood frozen in the doorway.

  Bill Turner’s face was ashen. He didn’t get up from his chair. He didn’t move.

  ‘What’s happened?’ she whispered.

  ‘Sit down and close the door, Carla,’ he said finally.

  Her skin felt scalded; the very air seared her. She closed the door and sat down in one of the comfortable chairs opposite his desk but found herself looking around for something she could be sick into if the nausea continued.

  ‘Carla, I’m very sorry to have to tell you that Daniel Clarke and his mother, Monica, were found hanged at their home by the police this morning.’

  Blood rushed to her head and she gripped on to the sides of her chair to keep from sliding down.

  ‘But last night she said she’d come into school to talk about it.’

  She tried to pull in some air but it felt as if her whole head was wrapped in plastic.

  Mr Turner buzzed through for a glass of water.

  ‘Last night?’

  ‘I – I went to the house, last night,’ she faltered. ‘Just for a chat.’

  ‘You know the rules, Carla. You should never—’

  ‘I know,’ she swallowed. ‘I thought – I just wanted to avoid any drama. I did it for the school, Bill. I just wanted to make it better.’

  She thought about Anna.

  ‘Does Anna know? She stopped me in the car park this morning; she was afraid something bad was going to happen to her brother.’ Carla squeezed her eyes shut and covered her mouth loosely with her hand. ‘I made her wait. We might’ve been able to save him – I could have helped her.’

  But even as the useless words slipped from her mouth, Carla knew she hadn’t helped Anna Clarke at all.

  In fact, she couldn’t possibly have made it any worse.

  Chapter 58

  Present day

  Anna

  When I wake up, Liam is walking back into the room. He looks tired and sort of puffed out.

  ‘What time is it?’ I croak, pushing myself up into a seated position.

  The light looks different outside the window and the room feels cooler.

  ‘You’ve been asleep for a few hours,’ he says, placing a glass of water on the floor beside me and sitting in the chair opposite.

  His jeans are fashionably torn at the knee and his gold-flecked hair falls messily over one eye just the same as ever, but he looks different. . . stronger, somehow. His fingers tap a beat on the arm of the chair.

  ‘I’m sorry I’ve taken up your evening, Liam,’ I offer. ‘I feel much calmer now. You must’ve been bored out your mind while I’ve been out of it.’

  ‘Nah, I’ve kept busy.’ He shakes his phone at me.

  He has probably been talking to Amanda Danson but I push the thoughts away as fast as they appear. He has been here for me today and that is what matters.

  ‘I worry how you’re going to manage, Anna.’ His lips disappear into a tight little line.

  ‘Manage?’

  ‘If you don’t get your job back,’ he says. ‘How will you manage financially?’

  He sweeps his arm round to take in the house.

  ‘Oh, I see what you mean.’ I take a sip of water. ‘Well, I haven’t got a mortgage so that’s something, I suppose.’

  ‘You own the house outright?’

  I nod.

  ‘I’ve lived here all my life. When my family – well, let’s just say it became mine, paid for years ago.’

  ‘That must be a relief under the circumstances,’ he says.

  ‘I’m lucky. I’ve never spent a lot and when—’ I hesitate but I know there is a decision to be made. Do I open up to Liam, trust him? ‘When my mum and brother died, there was an insurance policy.’

  Liam stares at me.

  I can’t make up my mind if the way he’s looking at me makes my toes curl or my heart sing. All I know is he’s the first person that’s ever looked at me that way and it makes my head hum.

  ‘You’re amazing, Anna. I was worrying about how you’d manage if you lost your income but it seems you’re all sorted.’

  My cheeks are burning up now. Still, I can’t say I’m displeased with Liam’s assessment.

  ‘I’m far from amazing,’ I mutter.

  ‘It’s still a worry though,’ he says, cutting into my thoughts. ‘It’s so easy to get into money problems before you even realise it.’

  I look at him but he averts his eyes. I want to know what exactly he means but I’m getting vibes off him that will me to stay silent. It sounds like he’s speaking from experience but that can’t be so because he can’t remember anything.

  I jump slightly when a shrill ring starts up. We both look down at Liam’s phone on the seat cushion next to him. ‘Amanda’ flashes up on the screen.

  He picks up the phone and I feel like snatching it off him and smashing it against the wall. She still manages to intrude even when she’s not physically present.

  But the twist in my throat straightens out when Liam clicks a button at the side and cuts off her call. He places the phone back down next to him.

  Albert jumps up on to my knee and allows me to stroke him while he calmly appraises Liam.

  ‘He’s got his eye on you,’ I laugh but he ignores my quip. Still, a warmth is spreading through me at the way he just rejected Amanda’s call.

  ‘The thing is, Anna, depending on the outcome of this disciplinary action, they could sue you.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘The people who didn’t get their mail. Silly as it sounds, they could come up with all sorts of stories, claiming they’ve lost wages or suffered ill-health through not getting important letters through. We live in a blame culture society.’

  I consider this.

  ‘But they would have to have proof,’ I say. ‘It would be hard to make something like that stick.’

  Liam nods. ‘I agree, but still.’ He sits next to me on the couch, lays his hand on mine. ‘I’d hate to see you lose everything you’ve worked so hard to get.’

  With a spare hand he tickles Albert’s ear but the cat moves away and jumps down to the floor.

  A beep signals the arrival of a text. Before Liam reaches for his phone, the message flashes up on-screen.

  ‘Call me when you can. Need to talk. A’

  She just never gives up.

  ‘Think about it,’ Liam says, stuffing his phone into his jeans pocket without answering her message. ‘I read stuff about this kind of thing in the papers all the time. Ordinary people, sued privately for just doing their job.’

  ‘I don’t want to think about it.’ A chill shivers through me despite a brief burst of glee over Liam’s dismissal of Amanda’s attempts to speak to him. ‘There’s nothing I can do about it if people decide to be so vindictive.’

  Liam smiles and crinkles appear around his eyes and the top of his nose. Just like they used to with Danny.

  ‘That’s where you’re wrong,’ he says. ‘There’s a really easy step you could take to make sure everything you own is safe for good.’

  I look at him.

  ‘See, if you sign your assets over to a relative, nobody can touch anything at all. Everything you’ve worked for can be safe.’

  ‘Assets?’

  ‘You know, the house, the insurance money. The stuff that someone unscrupulous might want to get their hands on.’

  ‘That sounds complicated.’ I shrug. ‘Besides, there is no one. I have no relatives.’

  A weight settles on my chest as I say the words.

  ‘A really good friend then,’ Liam suggests. ‘Someone you can totally trust?’

>   ‘Nope. There’s no one.’

  Voicing my utter isolation makes me want to run upstairs and pull the quilt over my head. I want him to drop it now, although he’s set alarm bells off in my head. Is it possible things could get so bad at work they’ll try to take my house, my savings?

  ‘There must be someone, Anna. Think.’

  Then, out of nowhere, a face pops into my head.

  ‘Mrs Peat next door.’ I brighten. ‘She’s known me from being a child. She’d always want the best for me.’

  ‘But you’d have to explain the situation to her,’ Liam frowns. ‘And she’s old, Anna. It’s a horrible thought but she might not have long left herself.’

  He’s right but it’s not something I want to think about. I might only pop next door for a few minutes here and there to chat with Mrs Peat but it’s a company of sorts.

  ‘Well, there’s nobody else,’ I say, studying my hands. ‘The only other people I see regularly are the people I work with and that’s it. Apart from—’

  I snap my eyes up.

  ‘Anna, what’s wrong?’ His selfless eyes search my face, eager to see how he can help.

  ‘You!’ I wonder how it took me so long to realise. ‘I trust you, Liam.’

  ‘Oh no, I couldn’t.’ He rubs his forehead. ‘I mean it wouldn’t be right.’

  ‘Why not?’ I’m seized with the idea. ‘You’re my friend; I know you want what’s best for me.’

  ‘Of course I do but what would people say?’ He pulls his ear. ‘I’m sorry, Anna. It just wouldn’t work.’

  ‘It would work perfectly. No one needs to know. It can be just between us. Our secret.’

  Before I even realise, I’ve reached for his hand. His fingers feel warm and dry next to mine. He doesn’t move them away.

  ‘Say you’ll do it, Liam,’ I say, aware of my heart thudding relentlessly in my chest.

  ‘I should think about it,’ he falters, squeezing on my fingers.

  ‘There’s nothing to think about,’ I reply. ‘I’ve never been so certain of anything in my life.’

  ‘Well, if you’re sure—’

  ‘I am,’ I say firmly. I feel lighter inside, like we’ve moved closer in some way. ‘I just need to know what to do next.’

  ‘I suppose there’s no time like the present.’ Liam pulls his hand away and offers me his mobile phone. ‘There’ll be nobody in the solicitor’s office at this time but leave a message asking for an appointment tomorrow afternoon, and we’ll make absolutely sure nobody can take anything away from you ever again.’

  Chapter 59

  Thirteen years earlier

  Somehow, in that way they do, the press had got hold of the information that Carla had taken it upon herself to carry out a home visit to the Clarke house despite it contravening all ethical guidelines.

  Now everyone was blaming her. Everyone.

  She had been suspended from her position at school by the governors and had been asked to withdraw her application from the high school. Her career was as good as finished.

  Carla couldn’t find out any details about what was happening; nobody would speak to her.

  Where was Anna? What had happened to Anna?

  If she’d had a phone number for her mother or her sister, she would have called either one of them right away.

  All those silly years of feuding meant nothing now. She wished she had made the effort to stay close until they’d forgiven her for what she did; theirs was a special bond that should never have been broken.

  But the same senseless pride that had stopped her offering the olive branch had now drained away, together with any glimmer of hope that she could set things straight for Daniel Clarke and his sister.

  Carla opened the packet of extra-strength painkillers the doctor had prescribed after her minor leg op eighteen months earlier. She would just take a couple to ease her pain a little, help her to zone out.

  Perhaps she would fall into a peaceful sleep, and when she woke up, she could try again. Leave the area and start afresh.

  Become someone else entirely.

  Chapter 60

  Present day

  Anna

  When Liam has gone – typically unselfish and insisting he got a cab to save me driving him home – I walk into the kitchen and take out two small fancy sherry glasses from the back of the cupboard.

  A drinker I am not, I hardly touch the stuff. But today is special. The most special day in my life so far, and I want to mark it in some way.

  I fumble around at the back of the cupboard before I find what I’ve been looking for. A bottle of port, never opened; a raffle prize I won at work last Christmas.

  Two minutes later, I tap on the window and let myself in to Mrs Peat’s.

  ‘What a surprise,’ she beams. ‘I was only thinking about you this morning, wondering how you were, Anna.’

  I feel a weight settle on my chest as it dawns on me I haven’t visited her for a while.

  ‘I can’t think of anyone better to celebrate with,’ I chime, setting down the glasses. ‘I’ve lots to tell you, Mrs Peat, about Liam, my friend. Everything is just perfect.’

  ‘Are you okay, Anna?’ she says slowly, watching me.

  ‘I’m fine, absolutely fine.’ I grin. The words tumble out of my mouth before I can properly think them through. ‘I’ve never been better to tell you the truth. Even though they’re trying to get rid of me at work, it’s all going to be okay. Liam is going to move in, and we’re going to see the solicitor tomorrow and then nobody can take what’s mine.’

  ‘Your head looks sore,’ Mrs Peat says gently.

  I touch my temple.

  ‘It’s not sore,’ I say. ‘Not really.’

  ‘Anna dear, remember when you were small? Myself and Mr Peat used to tell you that you must always keep yourself safe. That you could come round to us day or night if you needed help?’

  I stay quiet because I don’t want to talk about the past, not now. But she still carries on.

  ‘The same applies now, Anna. There are people who will try to take advantage of you, who might try and get their hands on what’s yours.’

  Mrs Peat wasn’t making any sense at all.

  I hand her a glass of sherry.

  ‘To happier times,’ I say. ‘For all of us.’

  We clink glasses and I take a sip.

  ‘You’ve not known this man very long in the scheme of things, Anna. It’s far too soon to—’

  ‘I know she’s up to something,’ I say curtly.

  ‘Who, dear?’

  ‘Amanda Danson. The woman who knocked Liam off his moped.’

  ‘You haven’t mentioned her before,’ Mrs Peat frowns.

  ‘Haven’t I?’

  I feel sure I must have; poor old Mrs Peat is probably losing her mind. I start giggling and, bizarrely, can’t seem to stop.

  ‘Anna, I’ve known you a long time and I’m worried you’re not feeling well again.’

  ‘I’m fine.’ I don’t know why she’s raking up the past.

  ‘If you’re having a bad time like before, you should go and see the doctor. There’s no shame in it, dear.’

  I tap my glass with a fingernail.

  ‘You’ve been through an awful lot.’ Mrs Peat’s on a roll now. ‘I don’t know how you—’

  ‘Don’t mention anything about what happened in the past to Linda. I work with her sister.’

  ‘Roisin?’

  I look at Mrs Peat.

  ‘She came here with Linda just yesterday,’ Mrs Peat beams. ‘She popped round to surprise you, but you were out. Gone ages, she was. She says you’re good friends.’

  My mouth is instantly dry.

  ‘She’s just a colleague,’ I say faintly. ‘I don’t want her to come to the house. I don’t want her knowing anything about me.’

  Mrs Peat frowns as if I’m being unreasonable.

  ‘I have to go.’ I stand up suddenly. ‘I’ll come round again tomorrow or the next day.’

 
I hear her call out as I close the back door behind me but I don’t go back.

  I like Mrs Peat but it seems even she wants to put a dampener on my newfound happiness.

  Back home, something white under the table in the middle room catches my eye.

  I stoop to pick it up and find it’s a letter addressed to a Mrs Dodds on the Clifton estate.

  I thought I’d been extra careful but it must’ve escaped the bin bags when I lugged them upstairs after the police visit. Funny I’ve not noticed it before.

  Who’d have thought that such joy and good feelings about the future could come amid such trouble at work?

  With hindsight, I feel certain I’ll look back on my job catastrophe as a new chapter in my future with Liam.

  * * *

  On a stroke of luck, I find a local solicitor working late in the office. He says he can arrange the process for my assets to be transferred into Liam’s name.

  I make an appointment for the following afternoon and text Liam to tell him. He insists he wants to come with me for moral support.

  For the first time I allow myself to acknowledge I am not alone any more.

  For the first time in my life, I have someone special who cares about me. I feel a glow in my chest; I never want to go back to a place where I feel so isolated from other people again.

  Ignoring the now familiar stench in my nostrils, I lift the tiny sherry glass I’ve carried back round with me. The dark-amber fluid shimmers in the lamplight.

  Albert eyes me curiously from the doorway as I take a sip of the port.

  The drawers in the dresser catch my eye. Both are slightly open, and I always keep them closed: it is one of my pet hates. How odd.

  I walk over and slide one open. I frown in at the muddled contents.

  I keep my important papers in here: the house deeds, my bank statements and the like, filed and in order. I open the other drawer and it is in similar disarray, as if someone has rifled through it.