Her Perfect Family(34)

‘We had to call in a doctor, then a specialist. Laura moved in with her parents but she got worse. Became more and more difficult to manage. At first we all assumed it was something temporary. A psychotic episode that would pass. But every time we trialled her seeing me, every time I walked into the same room, she became hysterical. She couldn’t understand why other people couldn’t see what she was seeing. She insisted I wasn’t me. It took quite a long time to get the proper diagnosis. It was all horrible. At one point she had to be sectioned. They had to sedate her and take her away in an ambulance. It broke her mother’s heart.’

‘And this was how long ago?’

‘More than twenty years ago. I was twenty-seven. We were newly married. Just six months.’

He watches Matthew rake his fingers through his hair.

‘Trust me, it was like being in a movie. Totally unreal. I couldn’t talk to people because it sounded so bizarre. And I didn’t want Laura to be labelled, because I thought she would recover. I didn’t want it to blight her future. Her chance of getting work, teaching music and so on. I honestly thought she would get well.’

‘And she didn’t?’

‘No. It all got much worse.’

Ed lets out a long sigh. He’s wondering how much detail he should go into. Laura’s dramas – smashing up her parents’ house because she didn’t recognise it. He remembers Laura’s mother crying down the phone when they had to call an ambulance to have Laura sedated and taken to a special unit. By this stage, she was uncontrollable – furious that no one would believe her. Accusing them of ‘being in on it all’.

‘So, you understand now why I just want to know that Laura’s with her parents. That she’s OK. Accounted for in Canada, I mean.’

‘When did you last have contact with her? What’s her condition now? And has she threatened you ever, Mr Hartley? Do you think she’s a danger to you? To your family.’ DI Sanders has her pen poised to make notes. ‘You realise you should have told us all of this from the very beginning.’

‘Laura is ill, not violent. I thought she was still under supervision at the clinic. There’s no way I believed she could be involved. I still don’t.’ Ed feels his body slump. He closes his eyes.

‘And Rachel, your second wife, knows nothing of this?’

He feels close to tears now. It’s unbearable to imagine Rachel’s reaction. He knows that it looks terrible, not to have come clean.

‘I should have told Rachel. I do know that.’ He doesn’t want to share just how bad things got when he returned to England. No job. Nowhere to live. He lied to friends; said that the marriage just broke up over an affair. There were antidepressants. Sleeping tablets. He didn’t think he would ever be happy again.

For months and months, he lived like a hermit, refusing friends’ attempts to get him to go out. And then finally they talked him into a dinner party. And there she was. This extraordinary woman in this beautiful red velvet dress. Rachel. It was like a light going back on in his life.

‘I was a coward. I was selfish. I should have told Rachel, but I wanted a clean slate. I didn’t want a pity party.’

‘So Laura. She wasn’t cured? She still has this syndrome?’

‘There is no cure. She’s been in and out of the clinic ever since. Her parents are wealthy. They pay for private treatment. She has spells when she’s a little better. And spells when she’s really bad. They think she may have schizophrenia too but I was never convinced of that.’

‘And you’ve kept in contact with her parents?’

‘I did at first. For a good few years. But then they said it was better to cut ties. For Laura. And for me too.’

‘Another question I have to ask.’ DI Sanders is sitting up straight. ‘Has Laura ever owned or used a gun, Mr Hartley?’

He knew this was coming. He shuts his eyes again. They’re going to misunderstand. However he explains it, they’re going to completely misunderstand.

‘Well?’ DI Sanders is again looking at her watch.

‘Laura isn’t a violent person. She’s unwell. She became unwell.’

‘That’s not what I asked.’

‘Look – OK. She was in the army for three years. The Canadian army.’

He feels the punch of their shock.

‘The army? Are you seriously telling me she’s got military training?’ DI Sanders puts both hands on her head. ‘Oh, dear Lord, I don’t believe this.’ She turns to Matthew and then back to Ed. ‘You have an ex-wife with a serious mental-health condition who’s used to handling guns and you don’t tell us until today.’ DI Sanders pushes her chair back from the table, stands and puts her phone to her ear.

‘I’m sorry but it’s not what you think. She was never a soldier. Not really—’

Mel puts her hand up to silence Ed as she waits for the phone to connect, walking to the door.

Ed stares instead at Matthew Hill, who remains seated.

‘Laura signed up after university but she was a musician, Matthew. It was for the music. She was never a proper soldier. She only joined up for the music . . .’





CHAPTER 21


THE MOTHER


‘I’ve no idea what’s holding your dad up.’ I put down the brush on Gemma’s hospital locker and stare at it. ‘I don’t expect he’ll be long. I’ve asked him to bring in a new book for me to read to you.’