The Child Next Door: An unputdownable psychological thriller with a brilliant twist

by Shalini Boland

  ‘Bit late for that,’ she says with a bitter laugh.

  ‘So, it’s true then?’ I ask, my heart twisting. ‘You and Dom…’

  More tears slide down her face. She give a loud sniff and turns her face to wipe it on her shoulder.

  The earlier anger I felt towards her has dissipated. Despite what she may or may not have done, Hannah is still only a child. She looks so young and vulnerable. I get up and grab a tissue from the box on the kitchen counter, pass it to her.

  She blows her nose and gets to her feet. ‘I shouldn’t have come,’ she croaks. ‘I better go before Mum notices I’m missing. If Leo wakes up before I get back…’

  ‘Leo,’ I murmur, wondering if his surname will be Rawlings. Maybe she’ll stick with Slater to keep things simple. ‘Don’t go yet,’ I say.

  ‘I have to,’ she wails.

  ‘Look,’ I say sternly. ‘Just tell me the truth. You’ll feel much better if you get it off your chest. Then we can deal with it.’

  ‘I don’t know how to tell you.’ She’s sobbing now, gasping and shuddering.

  I can’t bring myself to comfort her, to hold her close and tell her it will all be okay. Not when she could be responsible for wrecking my marriage. ‘Hannah?’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she cries. ‘Your husband isn’t the father. I made it up. I’m really sorry.’

  My whole body sags, followed by a sharp surge of anger. ‘Why?’ I cry. ‘Why the hell would you make something like that up? You must have known something like that could ruin my marriage. Or didn’t you care?’

  ‘I know,’ she cries. ‘I know. But I had to tell Cal something. He wouldn’t leave it alone – kept asking me who the father was. On and on and on, he wouldn’t shut up about it. I don’t even really know Dom, and I definitely never slept with him. His name just came into my head. I suppose because he’s always friendly and funny. And he’s probably the only person, apart from Cal, that I would want to be Leo’s dad – he’s so sweet with Daisy.’

  ‘What about that selfie you took of the two of you?’ I ask. ‘Callum showed it to me.’

  She flushes. ‘I told your husband I was doing a school project on my neighbours. Asked if I could take a selfie with him. I needed a photo to show Callum, so he’d believe me and stop asking questions.’

  ‘Oh my God,’ I murmur, realising that Dom might actually have been telling the truth. It takes all my willpower not to take a step forward and slap this silly girl around the face. She and Callum have caused me and Dom weeks of misery and torment. Unless…

  ‘Dom could have rung you yesterday or today, to warn you. He could have told you about the school project excuse. Maybe he came up with it on the spur of the moment.’

  ‘What? No. I promise you. I made it all up. Dom is nothing to do with Leo, or with me. I swear.’

  ‘If that’s the truth, have you any idea what damage you’ve done to my life? Why didn’t you just tell Callum who the real father is? Better than lying and causing everyone else pain!’

  She nods, still sobbing. ‘I couldn’t tell Callum, because if I did, the real father, he said… he said he would hurt me.’

  ‘Hurt you?’ My skin goes cold. ‘Who’s the father, Hannah?’

  ‘It’s my stepdad. It’s Stephen. He’s Leo’s father.’

  Thirty-Eight

  ‘That’s why I lied about your husband. I couldn’t tell Callum the truth,’ Hannah says through gasping sobs. ‘I couldn’t tell anyone. I should never have told you. Stephen’s going to kill me. What am I gonna do?’

  ‘No one’s going to kill you, Hannah.’ I can barely even process the fact that my husband is innocent. The horror of what this girl has told me overshadows everything. I put my arms around her, pull her close and stroke her hair as she cries into my shoulder. ‘It’s going to be okay. I’ll make sure that man doesn’t lay a finger on you ever again.’

  She pulls away, her eyes suddenly wild. ‘No! I shouldn’t have said anything.’ She presses her shaking fingers to her lips. ‘Don’t tell anyone, please. And please don’t tell my mum.’

  ‘Hannah, it will be okay.’

  ‘No, it won’t. You don’t know what he’s like. You don’t know.’

  No, but I’m getting a pretty good idea. She’s obviously terrified of the man. ‘You’ve done the hard part – telling someone else what he’s been doing. It can’t have been easy to tell me. But now that I know what’s going on, I can help you. We can stop him.’

  ‘But you don’t understand…’

  ‘Understand what?’

  Hannah sobs. ‘He said… He said as long as I keep quiet and don’t put up a fuss, he’ll leave Jess and Lydia alone.’

  I’m shaking my head, at a loss to understand how anyone could do this. Especially someone in his position – a teacher, a caregiver, a man in charge of hundreds of children. I’m horrified. I feel physically sick that this man has been using this girl’s younger sisters to blackmail her. ‘He actually said that to you?’

  ‘When I told him I didn’t want to do it any more, he said, “That’s fine, I’ll pay Jess a visit instead.” So I don’t have a choice, do I? I can’t let him do it to my sisters too.’

  ‘How long has this been going on?’ I ask.

  She hangs her head. ‘About a year and a half.’

  I shake my head as I hear Hannah’s painful confession. She would have been about fourteen years old when this started. Tears of my own begin to prick behind my eyes, but I have to stay strong for this girl. She can’t see me fall apart. She’s been through enough. ‘Does your mum know about this?’

  ‘Mum hasn’t got a clue. She thinks Callum is Leo’s dad. And Stephen is going along with it, of course. He wants us all to move away so we can pretend Leo is his and Mum’s baby.’

  ‘Couldn’t you have told your mum the truth? She would have reported him, I’m sure.’

  ‘I couldn’t risk it. He’s hit Mum before.’

  Poor Lorna.

  ‘I was too scared to tell Mum in case she confronted him and he hurt her again. And now I’ve ruined your life too.’ Hannah stares at me with tear-filled eyes before looking down at her feet. ‘I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Hannah, listen to me.’ I put my hands on her shoulders and look her in the eye. ‘You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about. This isn’t your fault, it’s his fault. And his alone. You are brave and strong and selfless. And that man…’ I can barely speak I’m so upset and angry. ‘That man will pay for what he’s done. I promise you.’

  ‘How? How can I get away from him without him getting to my mum and sisters?’

  ‘You just need to be brave for a little longer,’ I say, thinking about what needs to be done. ‘But he will never touch any of you ever again. I’m here for you, okay? And I’ll be here for you for as long as you need me.’

  She doesn’t reply.

  Why didn’t I spot what was going on? I’m her teacher, her neighbour. I should have picked up that something wasn’t right. Instead, I’ve been living next door to this monster for years while he… I can’t bear to think about it. Well, today it stops.

  ‘I’m sorry I was such a bitch to you at school,’ Hannah says.

  ‘You weren’t a bitch,’ I lie. At least I know the reason behind it now. This child has been scared and angry for a long time.

  ‘He made me put something in your drink, you know.’

  I’m not sure I heard her correctly. ‘You put something in my drink?’

  ‘At the barbecue. Stephen… he made me. He said you were getting too close to the truth. He said that if you found out about Leo, you’d report me, and then social services would take Leo away. So he made me drop something in your beer bottle.’

  I swallow. ‘What did you put in there?’

  She shakes her head. ‘I don’t know. Some kind of clear liquid. Stephen said it would make you look drunk. He said it would mean that no one would take you seriously. They’d think you were lying if you ever found out about Leo and started talki
ng. He made out he was protecting us.’

  I thought finding out who spiked my drink would make me angry, but I also feel a strange sense of relief. I knew I hadn’t been drinking, but I didn’t know how to convince Dom. Now at least I know what really happened, that I’m not losing my mind. However, my relief is short lived. A tidal wave of fury floods my body. I will make Parkfield pay for what he’s done to me and to this poor girl.

  ‘I’m really sorry about making you sick at the barbecue,’ Hannah says. ‘Soon as I heard what happened I regretted it. Jess told me about you falling over and dropping Daisy, I feel so bad. I should never have done it.’

  ‘I didn’t even know you were there. I never saw you.’

  Hannah sniffs. ‘That’s because I snuck in and out. I was at home looking after Leo because no one’s supposed to know I’ve got a baby. But you won’t let social services take him, will you?’

  ‘You love him then?’ I ask. ‘Your baby?’

  ‘More than anything. I know that probably sounds weird, because of who his father is. But it’s not Leo’s fault, is it?’

  ‘No. It’s not his fault.’ But all the same, I wonder what she will think of her child as he grows older. If he starts to look like his father, will she begin to resent him? I hope not. Something else occurs to me. ‘Was it Stephen who rang me that time?’

  ‘Rang you?’

  ‘Yes,’ I say. ‘I got a threatening anonymous phone call telling me to stop poking my nose in or else.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she says, frowning. ‘But I bet it was him. Sounds like something he’d do. He’s been paranoid ever since we brought Leo home. Really angry all the time, making sure Leo doesn’t cry, and that all the windows are closed so no one can hear him.’

  ‘Where did you give birth? Was it in the hospital? I know you’ve been away this summer…’

  ‘We were in a cottage in Cornwall,’ she says, her face clouding. ‘Mum’s cousin is a midwife down there. She helped me deliver Leo in the cottage. But then… well, she registered Mum and Stephen as his parents. Mum and Leo had all their health checks down there and they’ve managed to get away with everything so far. But Stephen’s freaking out about getting found out and he’s in a really crap mood all the time. Thinks it’s only a matter of time before social services get suspicious. He’s even blaming me for getting them into this mess, can you believe it?’

  ‘But why are you all moving away if they’re registered as Leo’s parents?’ I ask. ‘Surely Stephen’s covered himself by doing that? It’s not a scandal for them to have a baby, is it?’

  Hannah shakes her head. ‘Yeah, but Mum didn’t go through a pregnancy. People might talk. Stephen thinks that if we move to a different health authority, it will be easier to hide the fact that Leo’s really mine. And anyway, Stephen doesn’t trust Cal. Thinks he’ll spill the beans. Turns out he was right about that.’

  ‘Callum only spoke out because he’s worried about you.’ I glance at the clock. It’s almost eight thirty. ‘Has Stephen left for school yet?’

  Hannah nods. ‘I pretended I was ill today so I didn’t have to go in. I couldn’t face it. Then I waited till he’d left before coming over here.’

  ‘Okay. Listen, if it’s all right with you, I’m going to go and tell your mum what’s been going on. Do you want to come with me? Or would you rather wait here?’

  ‘No, you can’t! Please. Please don’t say anything.’

  ‘We have to, Hannah. Otherwise it will carry on. You’ve got me on your side now.’

  ‘What if she doesn’t believe you?’ She runs a hand over the top of her head and pulls at the ends of her hair.

  ‘Why wouldn’t she? Of course she’ll believe you.’

  ‘What if she confronts Stephen and he hurts her? Or hurts my sisters?’ Hannah turns and paces to the far end of the kitchen then turns around and paces back.

  ‘He won’t hurt her,’ I say, trying to catch her eye, trying to get her trust me, ‘because we’re going to put a stop to this, all right? We’re going to put a stop to him. Today.’

  But Hannah continues pacing and starts chewing her nails again.

  ‘I know it’s scary to be doing this,’ I continue, ‘but if we want him to stop, then we have to tell your mum. You’ve already been incredibly brave by coming over here and telling me. I just need you to be strong for a little bit longer while we sort this out.’

  ‘What about him? Stephen?’ She stops in the middle of the kitchen and turns to look at me. ‘What will happen to him?’

  ‘Hopefully they’ll put him in prison and throw away the key,’ I say, thinking he deserves far worse.

  ‘Can I stay here while you tell my mum?’ Hannah asks. ‘It’s just… I don’t think I can do it. I can’t tell her.’

  ‘Of course,’ I say. ‘Of course you can.’

  Hannah nods several times and stares off into the distance. I can’t imagine what she must be going through.

  With Daisy in my arms, I make my way next door. But I realise that this isn’t going to be easy. I’m about to shatter all Lorna’s illusions. I’m not even sure how I’m going to break the news to her.

  She answers the door with her usual scowl. But behind the anger, I see pain and tiredness. I realise she could probably have done with a friend these past few years.

  ‘Hi, Lorna. Mind if I have a word?’

  ‘Haven’t you caused enough drama this week, Kirstie? Hannah’s ill in bed today, and I blame you for that. What were you thinking, coming over here and accusing her of such an awful thing? She assures me she hasn’t so much as looked at Dom, and I believe her. I pity your husband.’

  ‘You’re right, Lorna,’ I say. ‘I was wrong about Hannah and Dom. It was Callum who told me about it, but he got hold of the wrong end of the stick.’

  She sighs. ‘Between you and Callum, you’re going to send me to an early grave. If you’ve come here to apologise, that’s fine, apology accepted. I’d also appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about Leo. We’re trying to protect Stephen’s reputation and stop the school gossip-machine swinging into action.’

  It’s a bit late for that. I murmur something non-committal.

  ‘Now if you’ll excuse me…’ she says, pushing the door.

  With Daisy still clinging to me, I put a hand out to stop the door shutting in my face. ‘Wait! There’s something else…’

  ‘Give me strength,’ Lorna mutters under her breath.

  ‘Can I come in? It’s not really something I can say on your doorstep.’ I tilt my head so I can see through the crack in the door.

  ‘Fine, come in,’ she says, pulling open the door once more. ‘It’s not like I’ve got fifty packing cases to fill or anything.’

  I follow Lorna in to the lounge where she gestures for me to sit down on the sofa. As I do so, plopping Daisy on my knee, she raises an eyebrow, waiting for me to explain myself.

  ‘I’m sorry, Lorna. What I’m about to say isn’t easy. Maybe it’s better if you sit down too.’

  She huffs and perches on the arm of the other sofa, pushing her fringe out of her eyes. Her left leg is jiggling up and down – a nervous tick perhaps.

  ‘Hannah came round to see me this morning,’ I begin.

  ‘Hannah? No, she can’t have. She’s upstairs. Like I said, she’s ill.’

  ‘She’s not ill,’ I explain. ‘She just said that so she could stay home today.’

  ‘Wait there a minute.’ Lorna leaves the room and I hear her footsteps pound the stairs. Seconds later she’s back down, a look of angry confusion on her face.

  ‘Where is she?’

  ‘She’s at mine, Lorna, and she’s upset. She wants you to know something but she’s scared to tell you, so I said I’d come and speak to you on her behalf.’

  Lorna sinks down onto the sofa, a weary look of resignation on her face. ‘What’s she done now?’

  ‘She hasn’t done anything. It’s what’s been done to her that’s the problem.’

  Her face
drains of colour. ‘Kirstie, you’re scaring me. Just spit it out please.’

  ‘Lorna,’ I try to speak as calmly and clearly as possible. ‘Stephen has been abusing Hannah. Leo is his child.’

  Lorna grips the arm of the sofa, her knuckles whitening. ‘You’re lying.’ Her eyes flash. ‘Like I said when you came round before, you’re a delusional bitch.’

  ‘I know it’s hard to hear, but I’m telling you the truth.’

  ‘Where is she? Where’s my daughter? What have you done with her?’ she yells, rising to her feet, eyes wild.

  At that moment there’s a sound from above. A baby’s angry cry.

  ‘Fuck’s sake,’ Lorna mutters. A tear drips down her face and she swipes at it with her fingers. ‘Where’s Hannah? At yours?’

  I nod.

  ‘I need to see her.’

  ‘Don’t shout at her, Lorna. She’s pretty fragile at the moment.’

  ‘Don’t tell me how to speak to my daughter! Of course I won’t shout at her. What kind of mother do you think I am?’

  I don’t answer.

  Thirty-Nine

  Back from the police station, we exit the car and walk up the driveway, emotionally battered, like we’ve all just fought in a war. I fumble for my keys and open the front door, Daisy in my arms. Lorna and Hannah tentatively follow me out of the sunshine and into the shade of the hallway; Hannah carrying a sleeping Leo It feels like days, not hours, since I was last here.

  We spent all afternoon in the police station, going over everything with DS Callaghan and her colleagues. They wanted to know every gory detail from each of us. Precise dates, explicit descriptions, everything. I was debriefed separately from Hannah and Lorna, explaining all of it, from the baby-monitor incident, right up to the events with my spiked drink and then Hannah’s awful revelation.

  Hannah had a social worker sitting in on her interview. She and Lorna were in the station far longer than me, but I waited in my car for them. I didn’t want them to have to get a taxi home alone. At the end of their interview, the detective asked Lorna where they could find her husband. Lorna told her he would be finishing work soon and heading back home. Callaghan said they would come to the house to bring Parkfield in to the station.