by Susan Lewis
‘Maybe not in a material sense, but a lot of them have love and ...’
‘Oh don’t worry, she’s not deprived of that.’ The bitterness was so scathing that Alex almost felt it cut through her.
‘What do you mean?’ she asked quietly.
Erica tossed her head. ‘What I said. Now, if you don’t mind ...’
‘Actually, I do mind. I need to ask you about something else.’
Erica sucked in a sharp breath and hung her head.
‘Are you OK?’ Alex asked.
‘I will be when I’m left alone.’
Alex was no longer sure about continuing. If there was something wrong with her physically, maybe she needed help ...
‘What is it?’ Erica snapped. ‘Just come out with it, please, then we can both get on with our day.’
Deciding simply to go for it, Alex braced herself as she said, ‘I’d like to ask you about your mother.’
Erica stiffened and drew back. ‘What about her?’ she demanded.
Before Alex could answer Erica was saying, ‘She’s dead. She died ten years ago. Why are you asking about her now?’
Sensing the need to tread carefully, Alex said, ‘Are you aware of the anonymous calls your husband received while you were still in Northumbria? Calls accusing him of killing your son?’
Erica flinched and started to turn away.
‘Did you make those calls, Mrs Wade?’ Alex asked quickly. Her heart was thudding, her palms prickling. It was a long shot, but so far it was the only logical explanation she’d been able to come up with – if it could even be termed that way, and she didn’t really think it could.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Erica muttered. Her back was fully turned now, her thin hands gripping the edge of the sink.
‘I think you do,’ Alex insisted. ‘I just don’t understand why you’d have made them, when according to everything I’ve read your husband was at work when it happened.’
‘I said I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Erica seethed. ‘Now please, take Ottilie and go.’
Accepting that she might have gone far enough for the time being, Alex said, ‘We’ll be back around two. Maybe you’ll feel more up to having a chat then.’
When Erica didn’t answer or turn around she decided not to press any further, and returned to where Ottilie was still standing by the front door.
‘Tell you what,’ Alex said cheerily, ‘shall we swap your lovely trainers around or your feet might start going off in opposite directions, and we don’t want that, do we, or you might end up splitting in two.’
Ottilie’s eyes rounded, and as Alex sat her on the bottom stair to right her shoes she seemed transfixed by every move Alex made.
‘There, I expect that feels better, doesn’t it?’ Alex encouraged her, when it was all done. ‘Shall we go now?’
Getting to her feet, Ottilie reached for her hand.
Oh God, she really does want to go. Alex could hardly believe how good that made her feel, and loving the tiny, trusting fingers tucked into hers she led the way out to the garage to collect the car seat. Moments later Ottilie and Boots were buckled safely into the back of her Punto.
‘Are you looking forward to seeing Chloe?’ Alex asked, glancing at her in the rear-view mirror as she pulled out into the traffic. ‘And Janet, and the others? I know they’re looking forward to seeing you.’
Ottilie was gazing out of the window, her solemn eyes seeming to take in everything they were passing.
‘Did you tell Mummy and Daddy about Chloe?’ Alex went on, making it sound chatty rather than inquisitive.
Ottilie didn’t reply.
‘She was very kind to you, wasn’t she? I think she’d really like to be your friend. Would you like that?’
Though Ottilie’s eyes didn’t move she gave a tiny nod of her head.
‘That’s lovely,’ Alex smiled. ‘She’ll be very pleased, you wait and see. Can you say Chloe?’
Ottilie pressed Boots up against the window, apparently letting him have a look out too.
‘What about Boots, do you think he can say Chloe?’
Ottilie nodded.
‘But only you can hear him?’
Again she nodded.
‘Perhaps you can say it for him.’
‘Chloe,’ Ottilie said in such a fragile whisper that Alex barely heard it.
‘That’s fantastic,’ Alex told her warmly. ‘He’s a very clever bear being able to say that, isn’t he?’
Ottilie planted a kiss on Boots’s face and Alex thought she was going to burst with affection.
Fifteen minutes later they were at the Pumpkin and darling, wonderful little Chloe was at Ottilie’s side, trying to find out what Ottilie would like to do.
‘We’ve got lots of things here,’ Chloe was telling her earnestly, her hands planted on her knees like an adult as she gazed into Ottilie’s face. ‘Puzzles and plasticine and playdough and crayons. You can have a go on any of it, can’t she, Janet?’
‘Of course she can,’ Janet agreed.
Ottilie’s eyes went up to Janet, then still holding on to Alex’s hand she moved in a little closer to her.
‘Ottilie’s very good at puzzles,’ Alex said, realising at this early stage it might be wise, if only to get things moving, to take a decision for her. ‘Shall we go and find one?’
‘I’ll get it,’ Chloe offered.
‘I know, why don’t you go with Chloe and choose one?’ Alex suggested to Ottilie.
‘I’ll hold your hand,’ Chloe told her, seeming to realise that Ottilie might feel a bit vulnerable toddling over there without holding on to someone, and to Alex’s delight, though Ottilie’s grip visibly tightened on Boots she slipped her hand from Alex’s and put it into Chloe’s.
As the two of them wound their way amongst the others, one so dark, the other so angelically blonde, Alex felt herself smiling like a fool.
‘Who is Chloe?’ she asked Janet. ‘She’s adorable.’
‘Isn’t she?’ Janet agreed. ‘She’s the youngest of four – two boys, two girls – which is probably why she’s so confident. The kindness she definitely gets from her mother.’
Though naturally glad for Chloe that she had a wonderful mother, it suddenly made Alex feel even more protective towards Ottilie. Not that Erica Wade was incapable of being a wonderful mother, or Alex assumed she wasn’t, but so far she was showing precious few signs of it.
‘Do you mind if I use your office to make a few calls?’ she asked.
‘No, go right ahead,’ Janet replied, waving her on. ‘Unless you fancy some nappy-changing? Someone needs it, can’t you tell? Time to find out who.’
Laughing, Alex started for the door. Then hearing footsteps running up behind her she turned to find Ottilie coming worriedly after her. ‘Hey, it’s all right,’ she said, stooping to her height. ‘I’m just going to use the phone, I’ll be back in a few minutes.’
Ottilie reached for her hand and clung on to it tightly.
‘OK,’ Alex said, lifting her up, ‘I’ll stay here with you while Chloe sets out the jigsaw, shall I? Then I’ll go and use the phone, just like I did last time – and I came back then, didn’t I? So you don’t have to worry. I’m not going to leave you.’
Chloe had joined them by now and was looking up at them with a jigsaw box in both hands. ‘You can go first if you like,’ she said to Ottilie. ‘We can do a piece each. That’s how I do it with my sister.’
‘Come on, there’s a free table over there,’ Alex said, carrying Ottilie to it. ‘And by the time you’ve finished the puzzle I’ll be back to see how well you’ve done.’
Fortunately, Ottilie didn’t object, so Alex set her down, and stood watching as Chloe spread out the colourful pieces of an animal picture. ‘That’s a lion,’ Chloe said, using the lid of the box to demonstrate. ‘And that’s an elephant, and that’s a giraffe.’
‘Well done,’ Alex said, clapping. ‘Can you name some of the animals too, Ot
tilie?’
Ottilie’s arms tightened round Boots.
‘OK, so why don’t you show me the snake?’ Alex suggested, going down to their level.
Seeming more comfortable now, Ottilie leaned forward and prodded her finger on the merry-faced cobra.
‘Very good,’ Alex cried, clapping again. ‘And now the bear.’
Ottilie didn’t even hesitate as she plonked her hand down on the grizzly.
‘He’s a bit like Boots, isn’t he?’ Alex laughed.
Ottilie’s eyes were shining.
‘And now what about the tiger?’ Alex challenged.
To her amazement Ottilie drew back, shaking her head.
‘What’s the matter? Don’t you like tigers?’ Alex asked curiously.
Ottilie hid her face.
‘I do,’ Chloe told her. ‘They’re one of my favourites.’
Ottilie peeped up at her, then hid her face again.
Chloe seemed at a loss. ‘I know, shall we choose another puzzle?’ she suggested.
Alex wasn’t sure what to say, but since the question was for Ottilie she waited to see what happened. To her surprise Ottilie shook her head and pointed to the one on the table.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll do the bit with the tiger,’ Chloe decided, and putting the lid down she pulled up a chair ready to start the puzzle. ‘All right, which piece do you want to choose first?’ she asked Ottilie.
Ottilie glanced up at Alex, then after a moment she sat forward and selected a corner piece covered in grass.
‘That’s really good,’ Chloe told her. ‘My dad says you should always start with the corners, that way it’s easier.’
Ottilie looked at her, seeming slightly mystified, but after Chloe made her selection Ottilie went happily ahead with hers, and so it went on for another few pieces, until Alex said to Ottilie, ‘Are you OK, sweetheart? Do you mind if I go and make some calls now?’
Ottilie was engrossed in the puzzle.
‘I’ll keep an eye on them,’ Janet, who had seen Ottilie’s reaction to the tiger, said quietly.
‘I don’t know what that was about,’ Alex commented ‘but she seems all right now.’
‘Mm, strange,’ Janet agreed, ‘and she’s just picked up the tiger’s head so now I’m really confused, but I’m sure she’ll be fine, so go do what you have to.’
Alex’s first call was to Maggie Fenn to check on Sophie, and because Maggie was so chatty and full of news they were on the line for at least twenty minutes before Alex could ring the office. After leaving a long message on Tommy’s voicemail and picking up her own messages, almost half an hour had passed by the time she went back into the playroom. Ottilie was so intent on building a Lego house with Chloe now that she almost seemed not to notice her coming back. So, taking heart, Alex slipped out quietly, and went to make a call over on Leonard’s Way where she learned that young Gemma Knight was, mercifully, settling in well with her carers.
‘She still cries for her mother, naturally,’ Frances Simms the foster-mother admitted, ‘but we have nice long chats about her, which I think she likes. Poor little thing.’
‘Are you still involved with Winston’s Wish?’ Alex wanted to know.
‘Oh yes, and they’re being marvellous. I’m not sure we’d have coped anywhere near as well as we have without them.’
Knowing what a godsend the charity was for bereaved children, Alex wrote a note for Gemma to say that she’d called round and to assure her that she’d be back again soon to spend some time with her, then thanking Frances for her time she quickly drove back to the nursery.
To her relief Ottilie was sitting with Chloe apparently absorbed in the story Janet was reading, but as soon as she spotted Alex coming into the room she toddled over to climb up on a chair beside her.
‘Tired?’ Alex asked with a smile.
Ottilie’s only answer was to settle herself more comfortably on the chair.
‘Can I sit with you too?’ Chloe asked.
‘Of course,’ Alex replied.
A few minutes later Alex noticed that the two little girls were holding hands, and if she’d ever witnessed a simpler, yet more touching scene she couldn’t remember what it was.
‘I honestly don’t know what’s going on with the parents,’ Alex was saying to Tommy later on the phone. She was at home now, having had to dash back to change after getting caught in a violent downpour. ‘They’re playing out something between them, but God knows what it is. I take it you got my message about Erica Wade using her mother’s name to make anonymous calls?’
‘I did, but you don’t know for certain that’s the case yet?’
‘No, but having seen the way she reacted I’m definitely not ready to throw it out.’
‘Did you manage to speak to her again when you dropped Ottilie home?’
‘No, not really, because after nursery I took Ottilie for a walk along the pier and wouldn’t you just know it, the heavens opened up when we were on our way back to the car, so we got soaked to the skin. This meant that as soon as I got her home she needed to go straight in the bath. And that’s something else. Her mother only asked me to do it. It’s like she doesn’t want to do anything for the child that calls for some kind of intimacy.’
‘Mm, definitely not good. So did you bath her?’
‘No, but Ottilie was trying to drag me up the stairs as if I’d already said I would, and when I told her I couldn’t she started to cry. I felt terrible, awful, but I was drenched myself, so I needed to get home. Besides, it’s not my place to bath her.’
‘It certainly isn’t. So what’s happening next?’
With a sigh, Alex said, ‘I’m taking her to nursery again on Friday. If I don’t she’ll end up not going and we don’t want that, especially when she seems to be settling in already. It’s funny, but you’d expect a child who’s been deprived of normal contact and affection to be much more withdrawn – though I guess the non-speaking qualifies as that. But she’s not completely switched off, far from it in fact. She understands everything you’re saying, and she seems fascinated by what’s going on around her.’
‘When’s she due to see the psychologist?’
‘I’m waiting for Vicky Barnes, the health visitor, to get back to me about that, but soon I hope. And the mother definitely has to see a shrink, so I need to talk to Mr Wade about that again, because I think he’s the only one who can persuade her. I’d also like Ottilie to see the community paediatrician at some point. I know her GP’s given her a clean bill of health and Vicky didn’t find anything to worry about, but I’d feel easier in my mind if she had a thorough exam.’
‘OK, I’ll trust your instincts on that, but you know Wendy’s going to start asking questions about how much time you’re putting into this case.’
Feeling herself tensing with resentment, Alex said, ‘Can you help me out with that? I just need to get through these first few weeks, find out what’s really going on there, and the closer I get to the family the easier it’s going to be.’
‘And if you end up having to take her out of there?’
Alex felt a catch in her heart. ‘I’ll deal with it when, if the time comes, but better that than leave her with parents who are damaging her.’
‘Mentally if not physically?’
‘Exactly. It could be that they’re just cold people unable to show normal levels of affection. Or maybe they’re afraid of allowing her too close in case they lose her, the way they did their son. The trouble is, I can’t shake the feeling that there’s more to it, and if there is I have to find out what it is.’
‘Of course, and you know you always have my support. I’m just pointing out that you’re not Wendy’s favourite person at the moment, so best not to give her any more ammunition to use against you.’
‘Only she would see helping a child as ammunition,’ Alex retorted tightly. She was tempted to ask Tommy if he knew that some of her colleagues were saying negative things about her, but hurtful though it was, it seemed too p
etty to get into. So after assuring him she’d keep him up to speed with everything that was happening with the Wades, she rang off and went to turn on the shower. She needed to get herself warm and dry before zooming back into town to make her last calls of the day.
Twenty minutes later, as she was rushing out of the door, she almost bumped into Elaine, the estate agent.
‘Oh gosh, sorry,’ Alex gasped, stepping back from Elaine’s expensively shod toe.
‘That’s fine,’ Elaine assured her, trying not to wince. She was as immaculately turned out as ever, with her platinum-blonde hair cut in a razor-sharp bob and the black kohl round her eyes, artfully flicked up at the corners, making her look faintly exotic. ‘I saw your car, and was just about to knock. Do you mind if I go in and take some measurements for Mr Quigley? He called just now and he’s quite keen to know the square footage of the kitchen and dining room. I think he’s planning to knock them into one.’
Wishing she could close the door and tell everyone to keep out, Alex said, ‘Of course, go ahead, but I thought he was coming with his wife, tomorrow.’
‘He is, but for some reason he wants this information now. I don’t think it’s going to turn into any kind of deal-breaker, he’s probably just trying to get a rough idea of how much the renovation’s likely to cost in order to work out his offer.’
Hearing the phone ringing inside, Alex said, ‘Come in, I’ll just go and get that.’
As she turned back Elaine suddenly dropped her clipboard, spilling paperwork all over the front step.
‘Don’t worry, go and get the phone,’ she insisted as Alex started to help her.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Of course, go on.’
Running to the kitchen Alex could already hear the machine kicking in as she grabbed the receiver, and by the time she said hello whoever it was had already rung off. Quickly dialling 1471, she waited for the number to be announced, and after writing it down she sighed irritably as she hung up,
‘It’s not local,’ she stated as Elaine came in. Why on earth had she thought it might be Jason when he’d never call her at home in the middle of the day? Maybe because she kept hoping that every call was from him. ‘I’ll bet it was some flaming telemarketer,’ she growled in frustration.
