The Couple at No. 9(38)

‘And you were wondering?’ Larry prompts, when Marge has left the room.

Theo concentrates on pulling his thoughts together. ‘I don’t know, really. This all started after I found a newspaper article on my dad’s desk.’ He hesitates. ‘Have you heard of a Rose Grey?’

Larry thinks about it. ‘I don’t recognize the name.’

‘Saffron Cutler?’

Larry shakes his head.

‘My dad is so secretive. He never even told me he used to have a business partner.’

Larry regards Theo patiently over the rim of his mug, waiting for him to get to the point.

‘Why did you and my dad decided to part ways?’

Larry looks regretful. ‘Yes. That was a bad business.’

Theo’s heart quickens in anticipation … and also dread at what Larry might reveal. ‘Did my dad do something wrong?’

‘Um … well, nobody knows for certain. Of course Victor always maintained his innocence. But there was a complaint from a young woman. I’m sorry, this won’t be easy to hear.’

Theo braces himself. Whatever it is, he knows he’s probably imagined it.

‘A woman complained that Victor was inappropriate with her. During an examination.’

His heart sinks. Out of all the different scenarios he’s been envisaging, this one hadn’t occurred to him. ‘Don’t they have to have nurses in the room with them?’

‘This was the 1970s,’ Larry says, by way of explanation.

‘Did the woman press charges?’

‘She went to the police. But it was her word against his.’

Theo can just imagine how a woman, forty years ago, would have found it harder to be listened to, to be believed.

A white-hot anger rises within him at the thought his dad could be capable of something so awful, and he takes a sip of his tea to try to extinguish it. He can’t get emotional about this, not now. Not yet.

‘Do you remember the woman’s name?’

Larry thinks for a few moments. ‘I can’t remember. I want to say Sandra, but I might be wrong. Sadly she killed herself a year later.’

The tea curdles in Theo’s stomach. ‘Oh, God, that’s awful.’

Larry nods gravely. ‘I know.’

‘Did you ask my father to leave the clinic after that?’

‘I wanted to believe him …’

‘But you didn’t?’

He sighs. ‘It wasn’t just that. There were other things.’

Theo’s always known his dad could be a control freak and a bully, but he’d believed he was a brilliant doctor. His dad might have been a bit shit at home but in his job he helped change people’s lives.

‘Were there more complaints?’

‘Not of that nature, thankfully.’ Larry sips his tea.

‘But you said there were other things?’

‘Well, we just stopped … gelling, I suppose, in the months after the accusation. I think we wanted different things. Your father, as you surely know, is a very ambitious man. I … I suppose I wanted a quieter life.’ Theo senses there is more that Larry isn’t saying.

‘Did you keep in touch?’

He nods. ‘A little over the years. We’d end up at the same conferences. He met Marge a few times although he never brought your mother to those things.’

That doesn’t surprise Theo. His dad always liked to keep his work and home life separate, apart from the odd occasion his mum had to have some of his colleagues over for dinner.

‘I followed his career. I was pleased to see he was doing well. I hoped … I really hoped … that there had been a misunderstanding between Victor and the young woman.’

‘When was the last time you saw him?’

Larry narrows his eyes. ‘Ooh, let me think. It must have been a good fourteen to fifteen years ago now. Yes, that’s right, it was at a conference in the autumn of 2004.’

‘That would have been a few months after my mum died.’

Larry looks troubled. ‘Ah … he didn’t say, but I didn’t speak to him for long. We had a quick conversation, but about work.’

Bonnie decides she’s too hot on the sofa so jumps down and flops at Theo’s feet instead. He leans forwards to put his mug on the coffee-table. ‘Can I ask you something?’ he says. ‘And please give me your honest answer. Don’t worry about my feelings.’

‘Of course,’ says Larry.

‘Do you think my dad was inappropriate with that young woman? Do you think she was telling the truth?’

Larry’s face clouds. ‘Ah, well, that would only be my opinion. No charges were ever brought against your father, you have to understand that. And at the time I really wanted to believe him.’

‘I know … but do you now?’

Larry is silent for a while. Theo can almost see his brain weighing it up. Eventually he says, ‘We’ll never know for certain. But my heart tells me that the young woman wasn’t making it up. Whatever happened in the clinic that day, the woman really believed your father had acted inappropriately.’

Theo goes cold.

He’d come here for answers but now he has more questions than ever.





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