The Girl I Used to Be(82)
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RACHEL CALLED AGAIN later that day. We were all out in the garden when my phone rang.
“Is that Joe?” asked my mum. I could tell from her face that she was worried about my marriage, that it would all end in tears.
“It’s work.”
“You’re meant to be having a break from work!”
I could hear my dad hushing her as I took the phone upstairs to my bedroom.
“I think we’re right not to confront him ourselves,” she said as soon as I was able to talk. “Shall we go to the police in the morning, while he’s away? I’m not expecting him back until tomorrow evening.”
“Yes. Let’s do it.” I felt a huge sense of relief that this would soon be over. “I’ll drive down early. I can be at the police station near the office at eight o’clock.”
“I’ll be there,” she said. “I’m going up to my mum’s house after work tonight. There are some things I don’t want David to get hold of. Papers, financial stuff. Will you be able to keep them for me, until it’s all over?”
“Yes, of course. You can keep them in the safe at work if you like.”
She hesitated. “Gemma, you wouldn’t come with me, would you?”
“What, to your mum’s house?”
“Just for a few minutes.” Her voice was strained. “I don’t want to be there on my own.”
“No!” I said, horrified at the thought of being back in that house. “I’m sorry, Rachel. I can’t do that.”
“It’s okay.” She sounded resigned. “I didn’t think you would.”
“Why do you need to go there now and not after you’ve told the police?”
“I need to make sure everything’s safe,” she said. “Just in case I need to get away quickly.”
“How come you didn’t take all your mum’s documents to your apartment when you moved in?”
“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “I think I knew early on that I shouldn’t let him know about all my mum’s finances. She had a lot more money than I realized, and once we were married there was something about the way he thought he was entitled to it that I didn’t like. I didn’t tell him about the stocks and shares she had, though he asked several times whether she had any. If I don’t get them now and he has the chance, he’ll be all over that house.” Her voice broke. “I just don’t want to go in there on my own.”
I thought about her going back into her mother’s house after everything that had happened there. She’d had to deal with so much. I summoned up all my courage. “And you’ll only be a few minutes?”
She breathed a huge sigh of relief. “I know where the papers are. That’s all I want, to just run in and get them, then get out again.”
I looked out of the window at Rory. He looked up and waved at me. “I promised Rory I’d spend all day with him,” I said. “I could be there for seven o’clock, if you like.”
“Thanks so much. I know I don’t deserve it, after everything I’ve done.”
“Forget it,” I said. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“I’ll text you the address.”
“There’s no need.” Even fifteen years later, I could still remember her family home.
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MY PARENTS AGREED to put Rory to bed that night. I took a while getting ready and when I came downstairs my mum was waiting for me.
“You look nice,” she said. “New top?” She gestured toward my blue cotton shirt.
“I bought it yesterday. It was in the package that arrived in the post this afternoon.”
“Oh, I saw you had a couple of parcels. What else did you buy?”
I held my wrist out to her and she smelled my perfume.
“Oh that’s lovely. Isn’t it similar to the one you had at Christmas, though?”
I ignored her and looked at my watch. “I’d better run. I won’t be late back.” I fastened her house key onto my car key fob. “Don’t wait up.”
But still my mum hung around the hallway. “So you’re just meeting a friend? Anyone I know?”
I was prepared for this. “A friend called Helen,” I said. “I went to university with her. She’s in Liverpool with work and asked if I wanted to meet up with her for a drink.”
“Helen,” she mused. “Did I know her?”
“No, I don’t think so. She studied languages. French and Spanish, I think.”
“Oh, okay.” My mum didn’t sound convinced. “I don’t remember you mentioning her.”
I didn’t reply, but just opened my shoulder bag and checked that I had my phone and purse. Once out of the house I breathed a sigh of relief. I loved my mother but she really did miss out on her true vocation; she would have been a fantastic detective. If she’d had any idea where I was going tonight, though, I knew she wouldn’t have gone back into the house with a wave and a smile.
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IT TOOK THIRTY minutes to drive from my parents’ home to Rachel’s. On the way I passed Lauren’s old house. A different family lived there now; they’d been there for years. There were lights on in the bedroom windows at the front of the house and my mind flashed back to the last night I was there: the night of the party.