Chapter 17
After a stressful day, all Lottie wanted was peace and quiet. That wasn’t what she got.
The atmosphere in her home was reaching an unbearable level.
She wasn’t sure how much longer she could survive it without anyone to rant to.
If she could let her frustration out, maybe the internal turmoil would ease.
She and Boyd were barely on speaking terms and only discussed work stuff; because of her own stubbornness, she had no sounding board on personal issues.
And it wasn’t fair to offload on her daughters. She was on her own.
She’d put Louis to bed. Katie was out. Again. And on a Monday night! She hadn’t even got a full-time job.
Lottie sat in the kitchen listening to the torrential rain outside. A knock on the back door startled her. It was after eight. Another knock. Louder and sharper.
Normally when someone came to the back door they were familiar and after one knock they would enter. Not this time.
The handle rattled.
‘Coming.’
When she opened the door, a drenched and bedraggled Boyd stood there. She was shocked, surprised, and so pleased to see him.
‘Oh,’ was all she managed. Then Sergio stepped out from behind Boyd, a little backpack strapped to his shoulders. The boy was growing so tall and his smile lit up the dark, wet night. ‘Come in. Come in out of the rain.’
She hustled Sergio inside and raced to the hot press for towels. When she returned, Boyd had taken off their dripping coats and hung them on a hook at the back door.
‘Sorry for barging in so late,’ he said, ‘but we have a problem.’
‘Welcome to my world,’ she quipped. ‘Tea?’
‘Is Sean here?’ Sergio asked.
‘Ah, no, pet,’ Lottie said. ‘He’s away at college. You can go up and play on his PlayStation if you know how to turn it on.’
The youngster gave her a look as if to say, I could turn it on blindfolded, and disappeared at speed up the stairs.
‘Are you going to stand there like a drowned rat?’ she said to Boyd.
He rubbed his hair with the threadbare towel as he sat. ‘I won’t have any tea. Thanks.’
She took the towel when he’d finished and hung it on a line over the stove. ‘What’s up?’
‘Someone in the flat above mine must have left a tap running or they had a leak. Whatever it was, my apartment is flooded. The ceiling is sagging.’
‘Oh no.’ She turned round to him, feeling unusually awkward. ‘Is it that bad?’
‘Probably worse. I had to get out of there and you were my first port of call. I’m sorry for barging in, but Sergio’s been through so much over the last while, I didn’t fancy bringing him to a hotel. Do you mind if he stays here? I’ll get a room for myself in the Joyce.’
‘No.’
‘No you don’t mind, or no he can’t stay?’
‘Of course he can stay and you can too. There’s loads of room with Chloe and Sean away.’
‘Isn’t your mother here?’
‘She was here last night, slept in the sitting room, her makeshift bedroom. But she insists on being in her own house even though she doesn’t recognise it half the time. Katie was over there earlier. Rose’s friend Betty is with her tonight. So, are you staying?’ Her heart dropped when he stood.
‘I’ll get our stuff out of the car.’
She smiled to herself as he left, and switched on the kettle. Maybe things weren’t as bleak as she’d thought earlier.
He returned holding a tote bag crammed with what looked like Sergio’s clothes and a suit on a hanger for himself.
‘Which room?’ he asked.
‘Sergio can have Sean’s. You take Chloe’s. The beds are all made up.’
‘I’ll pay for the laundry.’
‘Will you stop! Have you called a plumber?’
‘Yeah. Didn’t sound too hopeful about when he could get to it.’
‘You’re always welcome here. You know that.’
‘I know. But Lottie, this doesn’t change anything. Between us, I mean.’
‘Okay. Fine.’ She felt her shoulders sag. Deflated.
He picked up the bag and moved to the door without looking back. ‘I’ll head up and get this lad off the PlayStation and into bed.’
She felt more alone than before he’d arrived. He was here, but he wasn’t here. She was at a loss as to what to feel or do. She sat for a long time watching her tea go cold.
The house was silent.
Thomas had gone out. The guards and detectives had left, even the lovely guard Martina. Thomas had shunted her away too.
Rain thundered against the windowpanes, the only sound Sadie heard as she lay on the floor by the bed.
It was bad this time. She might in fact have a broken rib, such was the ache in one side.
But that wasn’t what worried her. What caused her intense pain was the terror stalking every nerve in her body at the thought of her daughter.
‘Lily, don’t worry,’ she whispered, and found there was blood in her mouth.
Caroline would help her. She needed to talk to her friend.
Everything had gone haywire. Their plans were screwed.
She scrabbled around the floor, searching for her phone, but couldn’t remember where she’d left it.
Then the terrible reality dawned – her best friend was dead.
Murdered. The guards suspected it was by the hand of her prick of a husband.
A man so like Sadie’s own husband. A bully and a control freak.
How had she and Caroline both ended up with abusive men?
She was almost afraid to answer that because she might just hit on the answer. They were both victims.
She was alone without her friend and her heart was broken into shards, but a steely resolve took her by surprise. She would not be a victim any longer. She had to fight back.
Sadie managed to stand up eventually, and felt in her pocket for the piece of paper with the young guard’s phone number. An ally. Just how to use her, she was not yet sure.
She dragged herself into the en suite. She did her best thinking in the shower.
It took an age to strip off her clothes.
She sat on the floor with hot water prickling her skin and tried to come up with a plan.
A new plan. One that would reunite her with her daughter.
Poor Lily must be petrified. She had to act fast.