“It all still counts as assault.”
“Yeah, but it didn’t feel like it. The worst he’d done up to then was sprain my arm twisting it up behind my back when I wouldn’t give him the car keys to drive home. That one, I put down to him not realizing his strength when he was drunk.”
“Are you making excuses for him still?” Alice glanced over at her, tapping one finger on her knee. “It’s a bad habit and you need to break it.”
“No, just explaining what my mind thought back then. It all snuck up on me so gradually, it took a lot before I finally noticed.”
“Did you remember later?”
“What?” Sally turned to Alice, trying to work out what her friend meant. Sometimes, talking with her was exhausting, with all sentences slightly missing the right connection.
Each time she felt frustrated with the difficulties of talking to Alice, Sally reminded herself that she only had to deal with the nuisance with one person. This must be what communication was like for her friend when talking with everyone else on earth.
“The bang on the side of your head. The blood.” Alice tapped on her temple. “Did you remember later that Jason hit you? You said you didn’t realize it at the time.”
Alice nodded in understanding. “No. I’ve never remembered anything from a blackout. It was another person at the party who took great delight in telling me what he’d done.”
“Who was that?” Hogarth leaned forward, and Alice wondered if he would note down the name to check on later. Someone who witnessed a domestic assault and didn’t report it wasn’t a criminal, but it didn’t make them the star of the righteous show, either.
“It was Jason’s ex-girlfriend. The mother of his son.”
Gloria. The name rankled Sally and had done since the moment she first heard it. Little pinches up and down her spine. It was an old-style name, a hang-over from the forties or fifties. Not the kind of handle someone should pass onto a child of the seventies. Not unless they were trying to be unkind.
“Aren’t you going to offer me a cup of tea?” the woman asked.
The nerve. After dropping in unexpectedly and announcing that Jason needed to babysit his son, Steve, for the rest of the day, now she had time to demand refreshments.
Still, it wouldn’t do to needle her. Jason barely saw his child as it was. Any excuse Sally gave for Gloria to stay away even longer would reflect badly on her.
“If you’re sure you have time, I’ll make one,” Sally said, hovering by the table for a minute just in case the woman replied she didn’t. Have time, that was.
Gloria’s mouth stayed buttoned shut. Sally sighed and walked through to the kitchen, popping on the kettle and checking the clock to see if she could take another couple of aspirin yet. The first ones didn’t seem to make much of a dent at all, but just the act of swallowing the pills offered a small degree of comfort. The placebo effect hard at work.
Another hour at least. Great.
Gloria appeared at the doorway, raising Sally’s back even more. What did the woman think she would do? Pour rat poison into her tea?
Not a bad idea when she thought about it. She should store that until next time.
“I saw you out on the town last night,” Gloria said. “Do you remember?”
“It’s all a bit hazy.” Sally glanced back at her, trying to work out the tone. She didn’t remember seeing her at all, but that could be counted as a small blessing. “Whereabouts?”
“Halfway down Riccarton Road. You were on your way home from the pub.”
Sally nodded, grabbing a box of tea bags out of the cupboard above the sink. The paper on the bags felt a bit damp but she threw it into a cup. It was just going to end up with boiling water covering it, anyway. If Gloria wanted a premium blend, she’d come to the wrong place.
“Milk? Sugar?”
“I’ll have milk.” Gloria’s nose wrinkled. “No sugar.”
Sally’s aim was off, the two-liter bottle spilling more of its contents onto the bench than it got into the cup. “Here you go.”
“Just like the Ritz.” Gloria rolled her eyes but took a sip. “Jason invited me back to yours when we bumped into each other. Do you remember that?”
The horrified expression on Sally’s face must have been confirmation enough that she didn’t. Gloria took another mouthful of tea, then smiled. She looked like a shark baring its teeth and Sally shivered. “Did you stay the night? I didn’t catch you this morning.”
“No. I left after he smashed your forehead into the mantelpiece. That was enough for me to see the way the wind was blowing, and I’ve covered up enough bruises in the past from Jason. No need to go down that route again.”
The shiver grew deeper, worming its way into Sally’s bones. She felt as cold as on a frosty morning when she went outside in just her nightgown to fetch the paper.
Forget about the clock. She popped the cap on the aspirin bottle and tossed a couple into her mouth.
“Ew. Don’t you need water to swallow those?”
Sally just gave a grunt in response, trying not to wince too much as she chewed the tablets into powder. She wanted relief now, not in an hour when her stomach broke the capsules down.
“You’ll be here while Steve’s staying, won’t you?” For the first time, Gloria had concern written on her face. “If not, I can work something out with my neighbor.”
“Jason would never lay a hand on Steve,” Sally said in a dull voice. Before today, she might have made the same claim for herself, though with less conviction. For the first time, she realized she had no idea of what Jason would or wouldn’t do. “But yes, I’ll be here.”
“Good. You seem under the weather.”
Gloria reached out toward Sally’s face, where the bruise thumped and ached, and she flinched away, her eyes widening. “Don’t touch me. We’re not friends.”
“No.” The woman turned and dumped the rest of her tea straight down the sink. Probably a wise move. “But we sure do have a lot in common.”
While Jason took his son down to the neighborhood park to play on the swings—Steve’s favorite thing in the WORLD—Sally lay down on the bed to rest.
Her mind still spun from the news Gloria had delivered. As much as she wanted to deny such a thing was possible, the sickening churn in her gut told her it was true.
Why did she drink so much? It had to stop. Not today, she’d need to have at least a few shots or glasses of wine to sleep tonight, given the state of her hangover, but tomorrow? Yes, tomorrow for sure. She’d stop drinking, cold turkey all the way.
Maybe she should wait a week.
Sally turned over and opened her eyes, staring at the decade’s old wallpaper. The pale pink roses were framed with shiny strips of cream on either side. Her nana would have loved it.
The data entry job was boring and felt like a complete waste of her time, but it brought extra money into the house. It was also the only earnings that didn’t also come with the threat of police inquiries.
One more week and the work would be over, and Sally would sit back to wait for a ring from the temp agency, on tenterhooks until it came. Still, she could count on a few days before a new job arrived. Days during which she could detox and get herself physically back on track.
Sure. That’s the best bet. Why not wait a month or a year?
Sally gritted her teeth and rolled onto her back. It increased the pounding in her head, but it stopped the pressure on her other bruises. Sure, she’d often thought of giving up drinking and still hadn’t done it, but that didn’t mean this time she would fail.
You’ll fail.
Be quiet, brain.
Sally got up and walked into the kitchen. Now she’d made the decision, a weight lifted off her shoulders. A bladder of white wine was sitting in the fridge, nice and chilled. In earlier years, she would have shuddered in horror, insisting at the very least on a cask. Now, it wasn’t the taste or quality of what was inside that mattered. It was just the alcohol content.
Yeah. You’ll give up in a week. No problems.
As the first sour tang hit her taste buds, Sally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
Chapter Five
“I know, I know.” Sally held up her hands to ward off the question before it came. “You don’t understand how this ties into the current investigation.”
“I wish all of you could get to the point quicker. I feel like I’m being led down the garden path via a wonderful trek through memory lane.”
Alice stood up and moved to the side window, peering out into the backyard while she cupped her elbows. “Considering how long we took to work out what had happened, it seems we’re taking you through the whole scenario at a pretty fast clip.”
Hogarth gave a grunt, expressing clear disagreement. “What happened to the boy?” He glanced at Alice’s back before returning his full attention to Sally. “I presume that’s where you’re going. Did Jason end up beating him, just like everyone knew he would?”
“Life must be so easy in your black and white world,” Alice grumbled, moving back to sit beside Sally again. “There’s not a trace of doubt in your mind that’s the ending, is there?”
“Nope.” There was no hint of a smile on the sergeant’s face. “I’ve been in this job long enough to know people are, by and large, a disappointment.”
“What a wonderfully cheerful view on life you have, Mr. Hogarth. Do you have a wife and children with whom you share this joy?”
He glared at Sally until she looked away, embarrassed. “You’re wrong, in any case. Jason never laid a finger on Steve, not to hurt him.”
“Really?” Hogarth lifted an eyebrow. “What happened then?”
Sally sighed and pulled her hair back, retying it in a ponytail so tight it pinched at her scalp in a hundred places. In an hour’s time, if she didn’t loosen it, she’d pay the price with a headache.
But she could live with a measly headache. After what she’d survived in her life, Sally didn’t think it would be much of a concern at all.
Jason didn’t have a real job, not one he had to pay tax on or came with a contract. He floated around his small group of companions, helping out here and there with any new venture they came up with—every single opportunity in breach of the law.
It made child support a pain in the ass for Gloria. Sally knew this because the woman mentioned it in conversation almost every time she dropped Steve off for a visit. She couldn’t use the court system to make him pay—not when Jason’s actual declared income was his unemployment benefit.
Even when Sally and Jason got married, a thoughtless decision made so she could wear a pretty dress and which she regretted almost immediately, her added income didn’t bring them close to the required threshold to have her pay docked.
Not that Sally ever bothered to check with the court system. As long as nothing arrived in the mail and her employer didn’t garnish her wages, she was fine. Jason paid across little bits and bobs from his criminal dealings to keep Gloria happy and Sally never checked how much.
She partly thought the cash-under-the-table-support was the reason Gloria brought Steve by all the time. Sally gritted her teeth and put up with it, but she really wished the woman would take her son and just move away.
Looking in the mirror that morning, almost seven years ago, Sally smoothed the extra-strong foundation over the side of a bruise and tilted her head back and forward to see if it did the job. Not really was the answer from her reflection, but hopefully, no one would look at her, anyway.
A new temp role had just come in but from what the agency said, the main office staff had already moved on. She’d be sitting amongst a pile of old boxes, cataloging their contents. When she finished, the master list would be passed on to the liquidators handling the business closure, and they’d decide what to do with each one.
Good times.
One of these days you should try getting a real job. You know, right after you stop drinking.
Sally derailed that particular train of thought before it could get going. She rinsed with mouthwash and instead of spitting it out, swallowed it. Probably not the recommended usage, but soon the alcohol in the mouthful gave her the beginning of a buzz.
“Aren’t you going to be late?” Jason stood in the doorway, scowling at her, and Sally sighed.
A few months ago, when waking with unexplained bruises became the regular situation rather than a special treat, he’d always been extra-loving when the handiwork of his fists or boots showed clearly on her face. Not that it made up for the pain or shame, but it had meant she could relax for a few days while he slathered her with extra attention.
That ship had sailed.
It pulled out of port the moment he realized you weren’t going anywhere, you silly fool. Why don’t you get over it by having another drink?
Her gut clenched as hard as her jaw at the thought. Be quiet, brain. I’m the one who’s in control here, not you.
The idea was so ridiculous, it brought a smile to her lips.
“What’s so funny?” Jason sounded annoyed and Sally turned away to pop her makeup back into the cosmetic purse.
She’d take it along to work, just in case her agency had the details wrong and she needed to show up with a presentable face. If it wasn’t to cover bruises, she didn’t wear the stuff. Just the sensation, oily lips, powdery skin, made her feel uglier. But preferences were one thing and appearances were another.
Jason snapped his fingers to gain her attention. “If you lose this job on the first day, it’ll take even longer to get the next one.”
Sally had been on the waiting list at the agency for close to three weeks this time. If it had clocked over one more, she would have been down at the Social Welfare office, signing on.
“I’ll be there in plenty of time. The bus doesn’t even leave for another twenty minutes.”
A knock at the door made her grit her teeth again, even before Gloria’s forced cheer of a greeting came sailing through the air. “Is there a father around? I’ve got a child who needs taking care of.”
The choice of the phrase had Sally wincing. Her worst fear lately wasn’t that Jason would hit her, it was now just routine, but that Steve might say the wrong thing at the wrong time and trigger his dad to give him a beating. She was a grown woman and able to handle herself. His son had only just turned four.
He won’t do that, Sally told herself as she looked in the mirror. He loves his boy, and he’d never hurt him in that way.
You thought he loved you once and look what he’s done to you. If you really want to help that boy, stop hovering about him while he’s playing here and just get out of this place. Gloria would never let him stay with Jason on his own.
“I hope you can handle it without me,” Sally called out, a warning to Gloria. The woman might be intensely annoying, but she wasn’t stupid. “I’ve got a new job starting up today.”
“Of course, I can look after Steve for the day by myself,” Jason growled. “I’m not a moron.”
“It’s not for the whole day,” Gloria said with a quick glance at Sally’s inept makeup. “Just for a few minutes while I pop down to the TAB to place a bet.”
“Are they open now?” Jason sneered and narrowed his eyes at his ex-girlfriend. “I would’ve thought they’d stay shut until nine or ten.”
“I don’t know,” Gloria snapped back. “It’s not like I spend every waking moment in one, memorizing their timetable. I thought they’d start up early with all the big races that are going on.”
“What’s your pick?” Sally asked, unable to help herself. She knew the betting talk was just a charade to cover over a decision to get Steve safely out of harm’s way but watching Gloria struggle to find an answer always made her heart sing.
You’re an awful person, you know that?
Yes, brain. I know that.
“I’ve got the horse's names circled on the paper in the car.” Gloria shot Sally a look dripping with venom. “Where’s your new job?”
/> “In the city. A property developer went under and they’re trying to clean up the mess.”
Gloria’s eyes opened wider, and she gave a nod. “I didn’t know you were involved in stuff like that. I thought you were a secretary.”
It was strange how the brief show of respect made Sally feel smart and competent. She really did need to get out more and associate with other people. “I think Jason’s right, though. The TAB won’t open for another couple of hours yet.”
“Fine. I’ll shoot off then. Say goodbye, Steve.”
Steve ducked behind her jeans-clad legs and peeked out through the small gap between them. The boy really was very cute. At odd times when Jason’s son was staying over, Sally allowed herself to dream they were a proper family. Mom, dad, kid. Then reality would reassert itself.
She walked down the front path and waved goodbye as Gloria got into the car. If the sudden change of plans surprised Steve, he didn’t show it. He stuck a thumb in his mouth and vigorously waved out the passenger window with his other hand.
Sally frowned at the arrangement. Shouldn’t he still be in a car seat?
Not her concern at any rate. She hurried down the road to get to the bus stop early so she’d be able to sit in the peace and quiet, a nice place to think.
Chapter Six
“I stayed with him for years longer than I should, all because of that little boy,” Sally said, glancing over at Alice. It was her friend who really deserved the entire explanation. That the detective sergeant would glean some useful information from her talk was just a sideline benefit.
Alice stood by her when it must have seemed that Sally had gone sailing around the bend. Now, here she sat, still sticking up for her, even though it must be sending her anxiety into the stratosphere.
“Didn’t you try to get away at all?” Hogarth stared down at the notepad though it had been several minutes since he’d jotted anything.
The Double Dip (A Honeybee Cozy Mystery Book 3) Page 3
