Part 30 (1/2)

The burly policeman who was tasked with driving Maggie home was in a chatty mood. He was one of those men who was comfortable with life, and when he wasn't talking he was humming a tune under his breath. How he managed to keep so cheerful in his job, Maggie didn't know, and more than anything she wanted him to shut up. Every inch of her body ached from the stress of holding herself together, and if the drive had gone on for much longer she thought she might have screamed at him to be quiet.

She was desperate to see Josh and to do whatever she could to repair the inevitable damage that had been inflicted on her child that night. He had heard every word she had said to Samil, and much as she hadn't wanted that to happen it had seemed a better option than Josh staying with her. Imagine if he had seen what they had done to that poor girl Leo? Or, Maggie couldn't help thinking, if he had seen how his daddy had seemed quite willing to kill her. She shuddered at the memory.

When the police car pulled up on the drive of Maggie's home, the policeman insisted on seeing her into the house, to make sure all was well there. As she opened the front door and walked into the hall, Maggie was still trying to convince him that he didn't need to come in.

The sound of her voice must have penetrated the sitting room, because the door was flung open and she was. .h.i.t hard in the chest by Josh's bullet of a head. He was sobbing with relief.

'It's okay, Joshy. Everything's okay now, sweetheart. It's all over they caught the bad guys.'

She hugged him tightly and then crouched down so she could look him in the eye. 'And they caught them because of you, Josh. The police told me you were really, really brave a bit of a superhero.'

Her sister appeared in the doorway and looked at Maggie, tears running down her cheeks. Maggie wanted to pour out her heart, tell her sister everything. But she couldn't. That would make her sister into a criminal too, because Maggie knew she was going to have to lie to the police, and that didn't fill her with any pride or joy.

'Everything okay here, ma'am?' the policeman asked Suzy with a smile. 'Would you like me to check around?'

Maggie declined the offer. Samil and his friend were under lock and key, so they were safe. The policeman was kind, but she just wanted him out of her house so she could focus on her family, and he finally took his leave.

As Maggie closed the front door she turned to her sister. 'Thanks for being here, Suze,' she said, which brought fresh tears to her sister's eyes. 'Let's all go in the sitting room and have a chat, shall we?'

Maggie didn't want to pack Josh off to bed yet. He needed time to settle, and she needed time to be with him, to block out the rest of the night. She wasn't surprised to walk into the sitting room and see Lily curled up asleep on the sofa. Maggie looked at Suzy.

'I wanted us all together in one room. I know she should be in bed, but...'

'It's fine. I'm glad she's here.'

'Shall I make you a cup of tea or something to eat?' Suzy asked.

'No, but can you pour me a very large Scotch do you think?'

Suzy laughed, thinking she was joking.

'Check my coat pocket,' Maggie said. She'd had to beg the policeman who drove her home to lend her some money and stop at an off-licence so she could buy the whisky. Now she realised she had forgotten to give the money back to him. She felt a stab of guilt and for a second marvelled that she still had any conscience at all given the lies she was going to have to tell.

'What about you, Josh?'

'Could I have some juice, please?'

'Of course you can.'

And then Josh asked the question. The one question she hadn't yet prepared an answer for.

'When's Daddy coming home?'

It had taken over an hour to rea.s.sure Josh that he was safe, and although he was still anxious he was also totally exhausted, so Maggie had tucked both him and Lily into her double bed. She wanted to spend the whole night with them next to her where she could feel their precious bodies warm against hers. She read them a story to settle them and made her way downstairs for a last much-needed drink.

Suzy was still sitting where she had left her, staring into the flames of the decrepit old wood burner that had come with the house. Maggie had loved it on sight, and when filled with flames as now, it was so comforting.

'How are you feeling,' her sister asked. 'I can't imagine everything you've been through tonight. It's more than anybody should have to face in a lifetime.'

If only she knew, thought Maggie.

'The whisky's a good a.n.a.lgesic.' She tried again to smile, but she was feeling wired with adrenaline and at some point she was going to crash.

'I thought you answered Josh's question about Duncan well, but I could tell that you don't know what to say. Do you want to talk about it?'

'Duncan's not coming back. I haven't worked out how to explain to the kids. I need some time. But he's not coming back.'

Suzy looked at her, and Maggie could see the understanding in her eyes. She looked away.

They were both silent for a while, and Maggie knew her sister was waiting for her to speak. She felt the words forming, and then they stuck in her throat. She couldn't tell her. She couldn't make her a party to all of this horror.

64.

Monday 'Is one of you Tom?' A young nurse stood at the entrance to the waiting area. It was five in the morning. Ellie and Max had arrived a few hours previously, but none of them had been allowed to see Leo.

'I'm Tom,' he said, standing up. 'Is she okay?'

'She's a bit groggy, but she's asking for you.'

Tom had started to cross the room towards her cubicle when the young doctor pushed his way through double pale blue swing doors and strode towards them.

'Sorry to interrupt, but before you see Leo, I'd like to give you an update. We're worried about her arm. When she came in we treated her with antibiotics but we were concerned about bacterial infection necrotising fascilitis. We took a tissue sample, and the tests show that the bacteria is present, so we need to remove some of the tissue in her arm to stop it spreading. We'll do whatever we can to save her arm.'

Ellie started to cry. As a nurse herself, she knew exactly what this meant, and understood how serious it was.

'Go, Tom,' Ellie said through her sobs. 'Go and see her. I'll be in in a minute.'

Tom swallowed and tried to fix his face into a neutral expression with a trace of a smile to welcome Leo back to consciousness. The nurse showed him into the cubicle and kept a discreet distance, checking the monitors.

'Hey,' he said, sitting down next to the bed, close to her face. 'Good to have you back with us, Leo.' He reached out a hand and stroked the hair back from her face.

Leo made a noise deep in her throat.

'Don't try to speak, love. It's okay. You're safe.'

She made a gurgling noise in her throat. 'Got them?' He finally made out what she was trying to say and understood why she had wanted to see him.

'Yes, don't worry about a thing. We've got them.'

He leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead, and as he sat back down he heard a sound behind him.

'Tom?'