Chapter 42
Chapter Forty-Two
Leo now had his own key to Pauline’s home and let himself in when he called round.
He found Pauline on the floor of the living room with tears streaming down her face and surrounded by newspapers.
The curtains were drawn and there was a fug in the air, a mixture of stale cigarette smoke and alcohol.
‘Pauline, what are you doing? I thought you were going to stop reading the papers?’
She looked up at him. She tried to speak but she was choking on the emotion. She lifted up a tabloid and handed it to him.
He took it from her, recognising it straight away as a copy of The Sun from yesterday. He’d seen it. He’d read it. He’d thrown it at the wall.
‘Someone posted it through the letterbox,’ Pauline said. She looked around her at the crumpled pile of papers. ‘Someone posted dozens of them through the letterbox.’
‘Jesus Christ, Pauline,’ Leo said. He helped her up off the floor and sat her on the sofa.
‘It’s true, isn’t it? It’s all my fault.’
‘No. It’s not. You were doing what you thought was right.’
‘I’m being blamed.’
‘The papers love to blame someone.’
Pauline took a packet of cigarettes from her pocket. Her fingers were shaking as she put the cigarette to her mouth and lit up. She took a deep drag and blew out a lungful of smoke.
‘You saw, Leo, you saw how much Anthony was bullied at school. You saw what all the other boys did to him, what they said to him.’
‘Yes. I did.’ He took the cigarette from her and stubbed it out in the saucer-cum-ashtray on the coffee table. ‘This is not helping you, Pauline.’
‘I had to do something. I could see the hurt on his face. I heard him cry himself to sleep every night. He was my son. I had to look after him. The school was useless. Maybe if … I don’t know, maybe if we’d moved or something…’
‘Pauline, don’t do this. You can’t go through your whole life looking for ifs and maybes.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Don’t you think you’d better start getting ready?’
‘Why?’
‘We’re meeting Jennifer Ripley at twelve to talk about the appeal.’
‘What’s the point? They’re not going to let him out. The police have found their man and they’ve put him away. They don’t care about the truth.’
‘But we do,’ he said firmly. ‘We care. We can get him out. You have to believe that, Pauline. For Anthony’s sake.’
She sniffled and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her cardigan. ‘I don’t think I can go through all this. I’m not strong enough.’
‘You’re not on your own. I’m here. I’ll never leave you. And we’ve got Jennifer on our side, too. All this rubbish in the papers will die down soon when the next piece of filth comes along.’
‘Do you think so?’
‘I know so.’
She studied Leo and smiled through the tears. ‘I wish I had your confidence.’
‘You can share it,’ he smiled back. ‘Now, you go and have a shower. I’ll make you a strong coffee and something to eat and we’ll get off.’
‘Thank you, Leo.’ She held his hands. ‘I honestly don’t know where we’d be without you.’
She left the room, leaving Leo behind on the sofa.
He bent down and began gathering up the newspapers from the floor.
He looked at the photographs of Anthony and Pauline taken without their knowledge.
He’d always had feelings for Pauline, ever since she first moved in all those years ago.
They’d grown close over the years, but she always put Anthony first, as any single mother would, and Anthony was a special case.
He wondered how long he would have to wait before he made his feelings to Pauline known and she accepted them for what they were and not simply as a sign of comfort during a traumatic time. Not much longer, he hoped.