Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
KARA
I wouldn’t be doing this if not for Jack.
I remind myself just how caring he is. It’s thanks to him gently encouraging me to get behind the wheel and riding with me until I felt confident, that I’m driving at all.
I glance at Evie after a moment. She looks so much younger in her hastily thrown-on leggings and tracksuit top.
Vulnerable, despite the maturity she’d shown in being so caring of her grandmother.
She was clearly bewildered by all that had gone on tonight.
As am I. ‘You were back early,’ I venture, attempting to engage her in conversation.
‘Was the under-eighteens event cancelled?’
She keeps her gaze on the side window. ‘I didn’t stay long,’ she answers with a shrug. ‘Immy was being a pain, though, so…’
‘Oh? How so?’
‘She flirts. A lot.’
‘Ah.’ I have no idea what to say. I can imagine Immy doing that, but I don’t want to appear to be judging her.
‘It’s embarrassing and annoying, and I told her so.’
‘You had words?’
Evie nods but says nothing.
‘Are you going to be all right, Evie?’ I ask after several minutes driving in silence – apart from Lina singing softly to herself in the back. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Memory’. I recognise it. The lyrics are apt. After all I’d heard, every street lamp does seem to beat a fatalistic warning.
Evie doesn’t respond. Noticing her rocking to and fro, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, I’m worried for her. I so wish she felt she could open up to me. ‘Evie?’
‘What?’ She glances at me. Clearly she’s miles away.
‘I wondered if you were okay. You can always talk to me, you know, if you need to.’
She glances briefly at me again. As she does, her phone rings, as if on cue. She checks it. ‘It’s Dad,’ she mumbles.
‘Are you going to answer it?’
She shakes her head.
‘At least text him,’ I urge her. ‘Let him know you’re all right and that you’ll see him soon.’
She glances back to her phone, thumbs it once the ringing stops. Then, ‘Can’t,’ she says. ‘Battery’s dead.’
‘Use mine.’ I nod to where it rests in the phone holder. I tell her the PIN – 0207, Kai’s birth date – then watch as she types in a text. It was short, just a See you later, I guess.
‘There’s a charger in the glove compartment,’ I say. ‘Take it and let me have it back later.’
‘Thanks,’ she mumbles and fetches it out. ‘Do you believe him?’ she asks, looking back at me. ‘Dad. Do you believe what he said?’
Lina has stopped singing, I notice. Wondering whether she’s listening, I glance in the rear-view mirror.
She has her eyes closed and appears to be sleeping.
‘I do, yes,’ I say. ‘I’ve never known him to be anything but kind and caring.
’ Have I, though? I wonder as I recall how furious he’d been with the employee who’d stolen from one of his clients.
How furious he’d been just now with Lina.
But it was all justifiable. Wasn’t it? ‘He cares for you a great deal. You must realise that.’
‘I suppose.’ Evie sighs. ‘The thing is, though, if he was cheating on my mum, then he has told lies, hasn’t he? He must have lied to her.’
‘So you think he might be lying to you about what happened to her?’ I ask, glancing cautiously at her.
She answers with a small nod. ‘Do you think it really was suicide?’ she asks, such uncertainty in her voice it tears a hole inside me.
‘It must have been. The conclusion was that she’d jumped, wasn’t it?
’ I reply carefully. After glancing again at Lina and noting her eyes are still closed, I continue quietly.
‘Your father didn’t have anything to do with her death, Evie.
I think you know that, in your heart. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.
He’s even rerouted the plumbing on building projects to avoid disturbing wildlife habitats. ’
A frown crosses Evie’s face, and she nods thoughtfully again, then looks away.
As she fixes her gaze on the side window again, I think back to what Jack had told me about his wife.
He’d been devastated, visibly, when he’d talked of her, the way she died, her mental health problems. Had everything he’d said been the truth, though?
Worry niggles away at me as I realise I only have his version of events.
I’m doubting him, I realise, swayed by Lina’s ridiculous accusations, which were obviously the product of a confused mind.
Surely the police would have arrested him if they suspected he had played a part in her death.
I try to reassure myself, but I can’t quite manage it.
After a moment, I feel Evie’s gaze on me. ‘Was he seeing you before Mum died?’ she asks suddenly, astounding me. ‘Were you two involved before we went on that cruise?’
‘No,’ I reply firmly. ‘I was married for many years, Evie. I lost my husband and my little boy. I was struggling with my grief right up until I got together with your father. He was struggling with his own grief. We helped each other through a dark period in our lives. If anyone’s told you anything different, then—’
‘We’re here,’ Evie says, cutting me short. ‘It’s the flat above the empty shop on the right. You can park in front of it.’
Pulling up, I glance at her curiously. ‘She lives here?’ I ask, surprised.
There’s no reason I should be, I suppose.
Lina is obviously on her own. I wonder whether her husband, Natalia’s stepfather, has passed away or whether they might have split up.
Something had obviously happened between him and Natalia.
Jack had said something about her being at a vulnerable age, Lina turning her back on her, and I’d gleaned that she’d suffered at her stepfather’s hands.
Whatever happened, the man clearly isn’t around any more, and looking at where Lina is now living, above a shop in a run-down property, one of many on the high street, it would appear that she’s struggling financially.
‘She can’t afford anywhere else.’ Evie confirms it. ‘I have a key. I’ll go and open up,’ she adds, climbing out of the car.
Now I’m really taken aback. If she has a key to Lina’s flat, she’s clearly become quite close to her. I had no idea. Obviously Jack didn’t either.
As she goes to open the door at the entrance to the building, I help Lina out.
She smiles sweetly and takes hold of the hand I offer her. ‘I mustn’t give in,’ she sings softly. Once she’s safely on the pavement, she looks at me and her smile fades. ‘Natalia?’ she whispers, her eyes growing wide with fear. ‘You shouldn’t be here.’