Her Perfect Family(58)

Later in bed Rachel had said she was grateful too as she’d had a lovely time with Gemma, just the two of them. But then she paused and added in quite a serious tone that she found Alex a little bit too good to be true.

What do you mean?

Well – bringing me presents each time. Don’t you find that a little bit much? A bit creepy?

He had to think about it for a bit. Most people would be grateful for a young man who bothered with gifts but she was right, actually. It was a little bit weird. As if Alex wanted to ingratiate himself with Gemma with a show of consideration towards Rachel. It would have been fine and understandable if he and Rachel were close but they weren’t at all. When left alone together, Alex struggled to find anything to say to Rachel. He would immediately get his phone out, she said. Borderline rude. It was almost as if he only wanted to make an effort if Gemma was watching. Ed hadn’t liked this about Alex, but at the time he put it down to his youth.

The truth was, Ed had always seen Alex as wanting to impress Gemma and that hadn’t seemed such a bad thing in a boyfriend. He had honestly not seen any sign in Alex that he was capable of turning on Gemma. Was that a lack of judgement on his part as a father or was Alex just a very good actor?

Whatever the case, Ed now sees Alex as someone deeply troubled – maybe even with some kind of personality disorder. His thinking is that anyone capable of staging that horrific nonsense at the car park is capable of the shooting at the cathedral.

He shudders at the thought of it. Him alongside Alex fishing. Alex in the cathedral with a gun?

What Ed still can’t contemplate is that Laura would be involved. He’s desperately trying to work out why the hell Laura might travel to the UK. There’s been no contact in years so it really shook him when DI Sanders said she was no longer at the clinic in Canada. But the greater leap is Rachel’s new suspicion that she’s here in the UK and has been following her. That could be mistaken identity, of course. Paranoia even? But what the hell is the postcard all about? He presses his hand against his pocket – the rectangle of cardboard inside a plastic bag in case the police need to check for prints. He’s planning to hand it over to DI Sanders, but all of a sudden a crazy thought circles the room and lands in his brain.

Is there a chance the postcard could actually be down to Rachel? Getting back at him? For the secret over Laura . . . He glances across at his wife. This woman has not a bad bone in her body. No, no, no. He’s going mad. She wouldn’t do something like that – not Rachel. Not in the middle of all of this. Would she?

‘What?’ Rachel has looked up from her book.

‘I didn’t say anything.’

‘You made a really weird noise. Like exasperation. Or shock or something.’

Ed wasn’t aware that he’d made any noise at all. ‘Sorry. Mind in overdrive here.’

‘Me too.’

‘I know I’ve said it already but if I could go back in time—’

She puts her hand up to stop him. ‘Please. Don’t, Ed. Just don’t.’

He stretches his arm to put his book down on the end of Gemma’s bed, conscious only as he stares at it afterwards that it’s in the very place her foot should be. Rachel follows his gaze and he can tell by her expression that she’s acknowledging the very same thought.

They don’t say anything. Neither of them are ready to talk about how they’re going to tell their daughter. The prospect of rehab. What it will be like – all the physio and the reality of some kind of prosthetic limb. They don’t talk about it because even that horror – the adjustment that their beautiful daughter has to face – is an assumption too far.

Gemma has to make it out of the coma first.

He checks his watch again. DI Sanders is running late.

‘It could have been someone else with the same colour hair.’ This again is thinking out loud.

Rachel looks up at him. ‘And why would she say such an odd thing? He’s not who he says he is. Something which completely fits with Laura. The whole, bizarre story that is . . .’ She pauses. ‘Laura.’

He’s trying to think how to counter this when there’s a tap at the door.

Ed stands as he announces to DI Sanders that she can come in.

‘Do you want to find a quiet room? An office?’ Mel Sanders is taking in Gemma’s headphones, looking a little puzzled.

‘I would prefer that,’ Rachel says. ‘But I’ll ask if a nurse can sit with her. They’ll probably let us use the corner office if it’s free.’

Rachel leaves the cubicle to liaise with one of the nurses and DI Sanders lets out a long sigh.

‘I can’t believe the media were allowed to cover it the way they did,’ Ed says. ‘Alex’s show.’

‘Some outlets held back. Our comms unit put out direct appeals to news desks. Some edited a lot out.’

‘But not all.’

‘No. We did our best but I’m sorry you had to go through that.’ DI Sanders again looks at Gemma. ‘I understand that your wife wants to speak to me on her own first. We’ll send the nurse in when we’re ready for you.’

Ed is shaken by this. Rachel didn’t spell that out. He knows she’s really upset over the shock of finding out about Laura and he expected her to be. Who wouldn’t be? But he hates the thought of not knowing what she’s going to say to DI Sanders.