Into the Water(60)

Louise began to speak again, her voice very low. ‘Explain this to me, then,’ she said, sitting back down, ‘since you know so much. Since you understand so much. If Katie loved that man, and if he loved her back, then why? Why did she do what she did? What did he do to her? To drive her to that?’

Lena turned her gaze to me. She looked afraid, I think, or maybe just resigned – I couldn’t quite read her expression. She watched me for a second before closing her eyes, squeezing tears out of them. When she spoke again, her voice was higher, tighter than before.

‘He didn’t drive her to that. It wasn’t him.’ She sighed. ‘Katie and I argued,’ she said. ‘I wanted her to stop it, to stop seeing him. I didn’t think it was right. I thought she was going to get into trouble. I thought …’ She shook her head. ‘I just didn’t want her to see him any more.’

A flash of understanding crossed Louise’s face; she understood, in that moment, as did I.

‘You threatened her,’ I said. ‘With exposure.’

‘Yes,’ Lena said, barely audible. ‘I did.’

Louise left without a word. Lena sat motionless, staring at the river outside the window, not crying and not speaking. I had nothing to say to her, no way of reaching her. I recognized in her something I know I used to have too, something maybe everyone has at that age, some essential unknowability. I thought how odd it was that parents believe they know their children, understand their children. Do they not remember what it was like to be eighteen, or fifteen, or twelve? Perhaps having children makes you forget being one. I remember you at seventeen and me at thirteen, and I’m certain that our parents had no idea who we were.

‘I lied to her.’ Lena’s voice broke my train of thought. She hadn’t moved, she was still watching the water.

‘Lied to who? To Katie?’ She shook her head. ‘To Louise? What did you lie about?’

‘There’s no point telling her the truth,’ Lena said. ‘Not now. She may as well blame me. At least I’m around. She needs somewhere to put all that hate.’

‘What do you mean, Lena? What are you talking about?’

She turned her cold green eyes on mine, and she looked older than before. She looked the way you did the morning after you’d pulled me from the water. Changed, weary. ‘I didn’t threaten to tell anyone. I would never have done that to her. I loved her. None of you seem to get what that means, it’s like you don’t know what love is at all. I would have done anything for her.’

‘So, if you didn’t threaten her …’

I think I knew the answer before she said it. ‘It was Mum,’ she said.





Jules


THE ROOM FELT colder; if I believed in spirits I would have said that you’d joined us.

‘We did argue, like I said. I didn’t want her to see him any more. She said she didn’t care what I thought, that it didn’t matter. She said that I was immature, that I didn’t understand what it was like to be in a real relationship. I called her a slut, she called me a virgin. It was that sort of fight. Stupid, horrible. When Katie left, I realized that Mum was in her room, right next door – I’d thought she was out. She’d overheard the whole thing. She told me she had to speak to Louise about it. I begged her not to, I told her it would ruin Katie’s whole life. So then she said maybe the best thing was to talk to Helen Townsend, because after all Mark was the one doing something wrong, and Helen is his boss. She said maybe they could get him fired but keep Katie’s name out of it. I told her that was stupid, and she knew it was. They wouldn’t just be able to fire him, it would have to be done officially. The police would get involved. It would go to court. It would be made public. And even if Katie’s name wasn’t in the papers, her parents would find out, everyone at school would know … That stuff doesn’t stay private.’ She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. ‘I told Mum at the time, I said Katie would rather die than go through that.’

Lena leaned forward and opened the kitchen window, then fished around in the pocket of her hoodie and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She lit one and blew smoke out into the air. ‘I begged her. I mean it, I actually begged, and Mum told me that she’d have to think about it. She said that I had to convince Katie to stop seeing him, that it was an abuse of power and that it was totally wrong. She promised me that she wouldn’t do anything without giving me time to persuade Katie.’ She crushed her barely smoked cigarette on the window sill and flicked it towards the water.

‘I believed her. I trusted her.’ She turned to face me again. ‘But then a couple of days later I saw Mum in the car park at school, talking to Mr Henderson. I don’t know what they were talking about but it didn’t look friendly, and I knew I had to say something to Katie, just in case, because she needed to know, she needed to be prepared …’ Her voice cracked, and she swallowed. ‘She died three days later.’

Lena sniffed, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. ‘The thing is, when we talked about it afterwards, Mum swore she never even mentioned Katie to Mark Henderson. She said they were arguing about me, about problems I was having in class.’

‘So … Lena, hang on, I don’t understand. You’re saying your mum didn’t threaten them with exposure?’