I’m finally alone with my father-in-law and I’m so nervous my armpits are damp.
Considering we share the same house, it’s been near impossible to get Dave on his own lately. It’s as if he knows I’ve discovered he was in the same class as two kidnapped kids and doesn’t want to be alone with me. He has been working longer hours than usual, and when he returns, he either heads straight to bed or he’s with Debbie. And this isn’t a conversation I want to have in front of her. That’s why I’ve had Sonny for the day and waited until she has gone out with friends before I approach him.
When I spy him from the Annexe alone in the garden, I grab my opportunity. He is sitting on one of the patio chairs, making the most of the afternoon sun. I pick up a sleeping Sonny from his carrycot, hoping not to wake him, and quietly hurry across the lawn so as not to warn Dave I’m approaching and give him an excuse to leave.
‘Hello, Dave,’ I begin and he flinches, but tries to disguise it. His face looks gaunt, almost as if it’s haunted. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it. ‘Day off?’
‘Mia,’ he replies, and gives me a brief smile. He glances over my shoulder as if he is hoping Finn will follow. When he realises I am on my own, his eyes flicker, which tells me he is already uncomfortable. Now I’m sure he knows what I know. ‘Yes, I’m not needed today.’
‘It’s a beautiful afternoon.’
‘It is. We have been lucky. It’s been a good summer.’ ‘Not for everyone,’ I reply, thinking about the families of
the murdered children. A still-sleeping Sonny makes an unfamiliar squeaking sound and I don’t know how to respond. I gently rub his back and he stops. ‘There’s something I need to talk to you about.’
‘Oh, yes.’ He doesn’t phrase it as a question, but as a statement. And as if he has been expecting it.
‘Last week, I went to one of those children’s funerals. Abigail Douglas.’ I allow her name to hang between us. He takes a swig from his can of beer and stares ahead to the copse at the end of the garden. But he doesn’t respond. ‘When I went to the wake afterwards I met a woman called Jasmine and her daughter Precious,’ I continue. Again, there’s no reaction. ‘Jasmine remembers you. Precious, Abigail and you were all in the same class, weren’t you?’
I don’t give him time to deny it. From my pocket, I pull out the photo I stole from the wake and show it to him. He takes it in his hand and looks it over. Finally, he nods his head.
‘I’m confused, Dave. Why didn’t you think to mention
it?’ sip.
‘I discussed it with Debbie,’ he says and takes another ‘What about Finn? Did you tell him? And why not me?’
He shrugs. ‘I didn’t see the point. And you’ve been . . .
distracted lately.’
My nerves make way for irritation. ‘Yes, but it was my house where Abigail’s body was found and you were in her class. Don’t you think I deserved to know?’
‘Know what? That I barely knew her? I was hardly in school then. I was spending most of my time with older lads and getting into trouble.’
‘So you don’t remember Abigail?’ ‘Like I said, I barely knew her.’
‘What about Precious?’ For a split second, I catch his eye twitch again. He rubs at it.
‘What about her?’
‘Do you recall her too? She went missing at the same time.’
‘Vaguely.’
‘Do you know what happened to her?’
‘I heard she was in an accident. It was a long time ago so I don’t remember the ins and outs.’
When he doesn’t enquire as to how she is now, I can’t decide if he is detached from his former classmates because he is telling the truth, or because he is hiding something.
A sudden squeal from Sonny brings the conversation to an abrupt halt. I will him to be quiet but the cries that follow are ones of hunger. Only a bottle will calm him down.
I reluctantly take him back to the Annexe to feed him. From here, I watch Dave through the window opening another beer and drinking most of it in a series of long gulps. The way he stamps on the empty can with force tells me he is angry and that he’s a liar.
He knows much more than he is letting on.
