The Witness

by Jane Bidder

  For a minute, they both stood in awkward silence. Then the kettle began to sing (she’d always liked the old-fashioned variety) and at the same time, the phone began to ring. As if in tandem, there was the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.

  Kayleigh! For a while, she’d forgotten why Paul Black had come in, in the first place. So too, from his face, had he. The phone stopped before she could reach it. At the same time, Kayleigh came into the kitchen. Clean. Hair freshly washed. Pale. Scared.

  “Kayleigh, I believe you’ve met PC Black before.”

  The look on the girl’s face was matched only by that of her other visitor. “He’s just come round to … to see how I am,” she added, aware that it sounded odd. “Would you like a cup of tea? Paul’s having one. Sorry. I meant to ask. Darjeeling or Lapsang? Kayleigh takes builder’s although she did try a sip of Russian Caravan at breakfast, didn’t you, Kayleigh?”

  Aware that she was babbling with nerves, Alice came to an abrupt halt.

  “Breakfast?” repeated Paul Black, incredulously. “Are you staying here then?”

  Kayleigh folded her arms defiantly, jangling the charm bracelet which Alice had given her from her own jewellery box; privately, without telling Daniel. “Yes. I’m sixteen now. You can’t stop me.”

  Paul Black’s eyebrows met. “Actually, I’m afraid we can.”

  Really? Alice began to feel nervous. “We met … bumped into each other … on the beach after the trial. Kayleigh was worried … we both were … that Frankie’s friends might hurt her. So she came back here because she didn’t have anywhere to go …”

  Her voice tailed away as her visitor’s face grew even more serious.

  “She did have somewhere to go. She had a foster family and …”

  “That lot was weird!” Kayleigh cut in furiously. “Marc was a right creep. Have you seen the bruises on his wife’s arms?”

  “Frankie’s friends gave her a picture of her mother looking as though she’d been attacked,” added Alice, shooting the girl a ‘Let me take over here’ look. “That’s why she skipped court. She had to check her mother was all right.”

  “And was she?”

  Kayleigh nodded.

  Paul had his notebook out. “Can you describe his friends?”

  “You kidding me?” Kayleigh snorted. “I’m not going to give you any bleeding statement. If I hadn’t given you the last one, I wouldn’t be in this mess. And if Alice hadn’t blabbered to you, her dog would be all right.”

  Dear God. Maybe the phone call earlier had been the vet. Why hadn’t she thought of that? “Excuse me,” she began, picking up the receiver and dialling 1471. It had been the surgery and now it was engaged. Her heart began to beat faster with a pulse that didn’t know if it was hope or fear.

  “I don’t think you’ve got your facts quite right,” said Paul Black clearly, looking first at Kayleigh and then her. “The local authority is still responsible for you until you’re twenty-one.”

  Kayleigh’s face crumpled. “You’re kidding me.”

  “However, this doesn’t mean you have to go back to your previous foster family.” Paul looked up at the huge Welsh dresser studded with Victorian and Edwardian china that Alice had collected over the years. When Garth had been little, he had saved his pocket money for weeks to buy her a cup and saucer for her birthday. Now she was lucky if he even remembered the date.

  “We need to set up a meeting with your social worker who will work out a Pathway Plan.”

  Alice almost laughed. Pathway Plan? Who thought of these titles?

  Kayleigh’s eyes were sullen, dull. “What’s one of those when it’s at home?”

  Paul started to speak but as he did so, the phone rang again with the distinctive Ring Back tone. “Veterinary Centre speaking,” said a voice.

  “This is Mrs Honeybun, speaking.” Alice’s throat thickened. “I believe you rang, just now.”

  She stopped. Waiting. This was it. This was the time when she would know if …

  There was a knock at the back door. The top half was already open Alice favoured stable doors as it made the kitchen less stuffy in summer with the Aga. Another irrelevant thought, she mentally observed, to puncture the drama around her and lessen the shock. Perhaps her brain was acting as a sort of screen saver.

  Dimly, she took in Janice, standing there uncertainly, the local newspaper under her arm. Her friend’s eyes darted to Paul Black and promptly widened with interest. Then she glanced at the girl and visibly shrank back. Kayleigh’s dreadlocks and small silver stud in her lower lip probably weren’t to everyone’s taste.

  “May I come in?” said Janice quietly. “There’s something I need to tell you.” Then she gave Paul Black and Kayleigh another glance. Steelier than before. “Alone, if that’s all right.”

  “Mrs Honeybun. Are you still there?”

  For a second or two, Alice had forgotten she was still holding the phone. “Thank you for calling back.” The voice was carefully neutral. “We have some news about Mungo …”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  If she kept very quiet and very still, no one would remember she was there. Over the years, Kayleigh had developed this art into a fine skill. She still had a vivid memory of crouching behind the kitchen door while Mum and some bloke – whose name she couldn’t remember – threw stuff at each other.

  Afterwards, they had inexplicably, made out right there on the ripped lino. She’d given herself away when Mum had started to make a terrible moaning noise like a cow she’d seen once on the telly.

  “What the fuck are you doing there?” Mum had yelled. Kayleigh, stricken into silence by the sight of a naked man, had burst into tears and run off into the toilet, locking it behind her.

  There’d been the sound of a door slamming, followed by Mum hammering on the door. “Look what you’ve done. He’s gone. How are we going to bleeding well eat now?” After that, Kayleigh learned to stay quiet, no matter what happened. Even when the police had come to take away Callum.

  Now, in Alice Honeybun’s amazing kitchen, she stood very quietly by the fridge (never had she seen one so big!) and simply observed. So what if that woman who’d turned up at the door with the newspaper under her arm was eying her suspiciously! Nosy cow. Kayleigh knew that look. It was the type that some snotty shop assistant would give her when she and Marlene would rifle through the sale rails, pretending they might actually buy something.

  Marlene … for a minute, Kayleigh’s mind wandered. It still seemed impossible that her friend was really dead. How could Frankie’s mate have done that to her? He’d seemed so nice. Her body prickled uncomfortably. Maybe Callum was right when he said Kayleigh was too trusting. “Too bloody naïve for a world like ours,” he’d said, chucking her under the chin, just before the police had come for him. “You don’t belong here, know that?”

  If only he could see her now! At last, she did belong somewhere. In Alice Honeybun’s home with its cosy cooker that you called an Ah-ger where you lifted up a lid to put saucepans on (she’d got that wrong to begin with), not to mention her beautiful bedroom with a real wardrobe instead of coat hangers on the door and proper curtains that met in the middle. As for the bathroom that led off it – an ‘on sweet’ apparently – she’d never seen anything like it. There was even a funny little sink on the ground with a tap that you could wash your feet in. Then there were all the books! Wonderful stories with leather spines. She’d taken one down the other night to have a look until Daniel had told her to be careful. “It’s valuable,’ he’d said sharply, as if she was going to nick it instead of reading it.

  Sometimes Kayleigh felt as though she’d died and gone to heaven. The only problem was Alice’s snotty husband and this friend of hers, Janice, with the smart, crisp haircut like a shampoo advert. Her suspicious eyes, sweeping her up and down. But then Alice said something that made each of them stop throwing daggers at each other and listen instead to the conversation on the phone.

  “You are sure? Really?
”

  Alice’s face was shining. She’d had some good news! Kayleigh felt happy for her. Mrs Honeybun had been nice. She deserved something good back in return.

  “Is it Garth?” asked this Janice as soon as Alice put down the phone.

  A slight cloud passed over Alice’s face, masking her earlier smile. “No. The vet. Mungo’s going to be all right.”

  The woman frowned. “I didn’t know he was ill.”

  Kayleigh watched Alice’s hands shake. Mum’s hands did that when she had too much to drink but Alice had only had tea, hadn’t she? Unless she’d been at the bottle early. Mum did that too. It made her do silly stuff. That’s why Kayleigh had decided, ages ago, not to drink even though Marlene took the piss out of her for it.

  “It’s … it’s complicated,” said Alice, looking at the policeman. That had been the other reason why Kayleigh hadn’t so much as twitched a muscle. If she attracted attention to herself, he might take her away. Make her go to this Pathways woman perhaps.

  Too late. He was looking right at her now. “I’m glad your dog is recovering.” He spoke stiffly, Kayleigh noticed. Was he nervous of the woman with the newspaper who was shooting him curious looks as well. “But I’m going to have to file a report about Kayleigh.”

  Alice’s friend eyed her with open suspicion now.

  “File a report? Why? Who is she, Alice? Has she stolen something?”

  What cheek! “I’m no bleeding thief. Get your facts right before you start accusing people of stuff.”

  Alice threw her a reproachful look. “Kayleigh. Please don’t swear like that.”

  “Well it’s the truth.” She tried to talk as though she wasn’t quaking inside but really she was shit scared. She wanted to stay here, Kayleigh realised. Desperately wanted to remain in this safe house with proper towels instead of torn up strips and a bed that was big enough to stretch out in. She liked Alice and her kind face and way of listening to her without putting her down all the time. OK, the husband was rude but he wasn’t here all the time, was he? Maybe he’d bugger off like Mum’s blokes.

  “Can she stay here for a bit until something is sorted?” Kayleigh heard Alice say. Yes! Yes!

  “It doesn’t work like that.”

  Kayleigh felt a crash of thudding disappointment followed by a glimmer of hope as he added “Let me phone social services to see what we can do. It might be possible to arrange an emergency care order.”

  She’d heard of one of those. The kid next door had had one. It meant you didn’t have to go to court to get put into care. It was all arranged for you.

  “That would be wonderful.” Did Alice realise how lovely she looked when she smiled? She ought to do it more often. “Please use the landline if you prefer.” Then she looked at Kayleigh. “Do you want to make your bed? Janice and I are going to have a little walk in the garden.”

  Kayleigh slipped back to her room (it already felt like ‘her’ room just like it had seemed really cool when Alice had said ‘make your bed’). Hastily pulling up the duvet with its pretty pink roses, she looked out of the window. There was a bit of lawn outside and then a bench, where the women were talking, and then a hedge and through that, an opening that led down to a field. Surely that couldn’t all be theirs?

  The woman with the newspaper had one of those loud voices that carried through the air.

  “In the newspaper …”

  “Everyone talking …”

  “Something I’ve got to tell you …”

  “Daniel …”

  “Monica …”

  “NO!”

  Kayleigh almost fell out of the window as Alice’s cry reached her. Instantly, she flew down the stairs, rushing through the kitchen past the policeman who was still on the phone and out into the garden.

  “What’s happened?” she said, taking Alice’s hands. A stream of tears were running down her cheeks and her eyes were red and swollen. Then she rounded on the woman with the paper and posh haircut. “What did you say to her?” she demanded.

  “What business is it of yours? Alice, for goodness sake, tell this girl to go away.”

  “No.” Alice, Kayleigh noticed with a flush of pleasure, was gripping her hand as though needing the comfort. “No. I want you to tell me again, in front of her, so I know I haven’t imagined this. I insist, Janice. Tell me again.”

  Alice’s mate spoke in a quieter voice now. “I said that Daniel has been having an affair with Monica. That’s how they knew in court about you and … about you and Daniel not sleeping together any more. She told someone.’

  So Alice’s boring bloke with the grey bits in his hair was having an affair? Still, posh people did it all the time. That’s what Marlene always said. They just pretended they were better than anyone else but inside, they were as randy as the rest of them. “Who’s Monica?” she couldn’t help asking.

  Alice gave a laugh that didn’t sound right. She’d stopped crying, Kayleigh noticed, but her eyes were still red and puffy. “She’s a scrawny cow from the book club.”

  Kayleigh was shocked. She didn’t expect women like Alice to use the word ‘cow’.

  “I don’t get it,” she said, squeezing Kayleigh’s hand so hard that her wedding ring pressed against her skin. Not that she minded! Alice needed her. “How could he do this to me? And why did he tell the court?”

  “He didn’t.” Janice was puzzled by the hand holding. She could see that. Kayleigh straightened her back with importance.

  “It was Monica who told them. She wants to cause trouble, don’t you see? She wants you and Daniel to split up.”

  Kayleigh frowned. “How do you know?”

  Janice glared.

  “Yes,” repeated Alice. “How do you know?”

  “Because,” said Janice stiffly, “Beverley told me.”

  Alice nodded, closing her eyes briefly before opening them again. “Beverley’s in the book club too,” she told Kayleigh. She was really confiding in her like a proper friend! Then Alice dropped her hand, leaving Kayleigh with a horrid sense of loss and emptiness.

  “What are you doing?” demanded Janice.

  “Ringing Daniel.” Alice’s voice had an unnaturally high squeak. “I need to find out the truth.”

  “Don’t be daft!”

  Janice tried to grab the phone. “That’s playing into Monica’s hands. Don’t you see?”

  “She’s right.” Kayleigh heard her own voice. “That’s what happened in this book I read. The woman who’s having an affair tells the woman whose bloke is cheating on her and then it all goes tits-up even though the bloke is sorry and wants to get rid of the woman he’s having the affair with, ’cos he’s had enough of her.”

  Janice’s mouth was open but she was nodding. “See,” she said weakly.

  Alice was shaking her head. “I don’t know. Nothing makes sense any more. Daniel … how could he do it. How could he …”

  “Face it, Alice. If he hasn’t had sex for years, he’d going to look elsewhere, isn’t he?”

  Kayleigh had been about to say the same thing. Frankie might have been her first but she’d learned the theory side from Marlene years ago. If you didn’t sleep with a boy, he chucked you. It was as simple as that.

  “But I thought he’d accepted it …”

  Janice snorted. “You were deluding yourself then. Brian and I …” Then she stopped and looked at Kayleigh. “Are you sure you want this girl here?”

  Alice paused. “This girl, as you put it, needs a safe haven.”

  Janice’s lips tightened. “If you hadn’t tried to help her in court,” she said quietly, “Monica wouldn’t have been able to have stabbed you in the back. Now she’s got you where she wants. Don’t you see? Daniel’s been made to look like a fool in front of everyone and men don’t like that. I told you about my friend. She said that when you’re a witness, it’s not just you that’s on show. It’s your family too.”

  There was a cough behind them. The policeman was standing at the back door. Talk about s
nooping! How much had he heard? Kayleigh suspected from her face that Alice was wondering the same thing.

  “I’m sorry to bother you but I finally managed to get through to the right people.” He spoke directly to Alice, his eyes never leaving her face. He liked her! Kayleigh could tell. He fancied Mrs Honeybun! Even though her eyes were still red and raw, she still looked pretty. For a second, Kayleigh felt a touch of envy. She looked a right mess when she cried. Mum always said so.

  “The Pathways co-ordinator needs to meet Kayleigh.” Here he looked at her briefly. “And you too, if you’re certain about having her to stay.”

  Alice nodded firmly. “I am.”

  “Are you touched?” The friend grabbed Alice’s arm but she shook it off.

  “I know what I’m doing. This girl needs help and I’m the right person to give it to her.”

  “And you don’t think you’ve got enough on your plate?”

  “That’s my affair.” There was a hysterical laugh. “Affair? Get it?”

  So she could stay. She didn’t have to go. Kayleigh wanted to hug Alice. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

  “I’ve managed to set up a meeting tomorrow.” The policeman sounded as though he’d done them a huge favour. What would he want in return, Kayleigh wondered, suddenly worried. Men never did you a favour for nothing. Marlene always said that.

  “We’re very grateful. Aren’t we Kayleigh?”

  For a minute, it felt as though Alice was her mum. A real proper mum who involved her daughter in decisions and did stuff with her like mums in books. “Yes,” she said, playing her part. “We are. Thank you.”

  But she managed to say it in such a way and with a certain look so that the policeman knew. Don’t expect anything from Alice for doing this, she said. If you try to hurt her, you’ll have me to deal with.

  If there was one bit of advice that Kayleigh remembered, it was the thing Callum had said before the police came to get him. “Always look out for people who look out for you,” he’d told her.

  “What about the others?” she’d asked. “The ones that don’t.”

  “Get rid of them.”