The Other Woman(71)

‘Hey, I’m back,’ Adam called out from downstairs.

What the hell was he doing here? He’d only been gone half an hour. I dropped the box, the inhaler falling out into the drawer, and I scrambled furiously to pick it up and put it all back. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, pumping extra energy through my hands, making it almost impossible to do even the simplest thing without shaking.

‘You here?’ he said. I could hear the creak of the floorboards as he walked through the hall to the kitchen. ‘Em?’

If I could just stop my hands from trembling I could get it all back in position. I could make out his footsteps coming into the hall, and there was only one place for him to go from there. A burning acid tore through my chest and my throat constricted violently as it struggled to hold it down.

‘Hey, what you doing up here?’ he asked, reaching me just as I sat on the edge of the bed, my foot slowly closing the open drawer he couldn’t yet see.

‘I . . . I just . . .’ I faltered.

‘Jesus, Em, you’re deathly pale. What’s up?’

‘I . . . I came over a bit funny downstairs, a migraine or something, so I brought myself up here to lie down.’ I patted the pillows under the embroidered bedspread, still untouched and perfect.

‘Oh,’ he said, not noticing. ‘How do you feel now?’

‘A little better, but I think I just sat up too quickly when I heard you calling. You were quick. Is Pammie okay? I hope she’s not going to mind me being up here.’

‘She’s not back yet, I need to go and get her in a couple of hours. Do you feel up to a sandwich or a cup of tea?’

‘Sorry, you’ve left Pammie there?’ I asked tersely.

‘Yeah, she doesn’t like me going in with her.’

‘But you went in with her last time.’

‘No, I did the same then, as well,’ he said. ‘She doesn’t want me to see her like that, all wired up and whatever else they do. Silly really, because I’m sure that’s when she needs me most, but she’s adamant she doesn’t want me in there.’

‘But . . . last time . . . you told me about the other ladies, how they were all chatting to one another?’

‘That’s what she told me,’ he said, not understanding for a second the implication of what he was saying. ‘No doubt to make me feel better about not going in. Apparently, they’re all on their own, they don’t encourage accompanying visitors because it’s only a small room and there’s just not enough space.’

‘So where does she go when you drop her off?’ I asked, my mouth moving too quickly for my brain to keep up. ‘Where does she go?’

‘To ward 306, or whatever it is.’ He laughed. ‘I don’t know. I just do what she says and take her to the main entrance.’

‘So, you don’t go with her past that point?’

‘What is this, Em?’ he asked, still half laughing, but a tension was beginning to seep in.

I needed to sit, be quiet, and think. My brain felt like it was going to explode with all this new information bombarding it from every angle. The inhaler, Rebecca’s picture, and the image of Pammie walking straight through the hospital and out the other side, clogged up any sense.

‘You really don’t look well,’ said Adam. ‘Why don’t you lie back down and I’ll go and make a cup of tea.’

‘I can’t,’ I said, feeling suddenly compelled to get out of there. ‘I need to go. I need some fresh air.’

‘Whoa, hold up,’ he said. ‘Just take it slowly. Here, take my arm, I’ll help you back down the stairs.’

‘No, I mean – I can’t stay here.’

‘What the hell’s wrong with you?’ he said, his voice a little louder. ‘I’ve got to go back and get Mum in a bit, so just have a cup of tea and calm down.’

‘Drop me back to the station when you go. I’ll get the train home.’

‘That’s crazy,’ he said. ‘You’ll have to go all the way into London and back out again to Blackheath. That doesn’t make sense.’

I knew it didn’t, but nothing made sense anymore. After everything she’d done, I’d given Pammie the benefit of the doubt, and was fully prepared to put everything behind us and get through her treatment together, as a family. But this? This was something entirely different, something that I couldn’t even begin to contemplate.

‘Come on,’ said Adam, beckoning me towards him. ‘It’s been a tough few weeks and we’re all feeling the strain.’

He rubbed my back whilst he held me, blissfully unaware of the knowledge that was slowly poisoning my brain. The realization that not only was Pammie a lying, deceitful schemer who had set out to ruin my life, but a truly abhorrent murderer who had deprived Rebecca of hers.





34

I watched from the car as she hobbled across the car park, hanging onto Adam’s arm, and felt physically sick. She’d kept him waiting in the busy hospital reception whilst she finished her ‘chemotherapy’. He’d offered me a coffee from the cafeteria, as she stretched it out, no doubt to add authenticity, but I couldn’t stomach it. I’d wanted to get dropped off at the station, so I didn’t have to face her, so I could no longer be party to her evil lies and deceit. But Adam had refused.