Thirty-Eight
‘That’s why I lied about your husband. I couldn’t tell Callum the truth,’ Hannah says through gasping sobs. ‘I couldn’t tell anyone. I should never have told you. Stephen’s going to kill me. What am I gonna do?’
‘No one’s going to kill you, Hannah.’ I can barely even process the fact that my husband is innocent. The horror of what this girl has told me overshadows everything. I put my arms around her, pull her close and stroke her hair as she cries into my shoulder. ‘It’s going to be okay. I’ll make sure that man doesn’t lay a finger on you ever again.’
She pulls away, her eyes suddenly wild. ‘No! I shouldn’t have said anything.’ She presses her shaking fingers to her lips. ‘Don’t tell anyone, please. And please don’t tell my mum.’
‘Hannah, it will be okay.’
‘No, it won’t. You don’t know what he’s like. You don’t know.’
No, but I’m getting a pretty good idea. She’s obviously terrified of the man. ‘You’ve done the hard part – telling someone else what he’s been doing. It can’t have been easy to tell me. But now that I know what’s going on, I can help you. We can stop him.’
‘But you don’t understand…’
‘Understand what?’
Hannah sobs. ‘He said… He said as long as I keep quiet and don’t put up a fuss, he’ll leave Jess and Lydia alone.’
I’m shaking my head, at a loss to understand how anyone could do this. Especially someone in his position – a teacher, a caregiver, a man in charge of hundreds of children. I’m horrified. I feel physically sick that this man has been using this girl’s younger sisters to blackmail her. ‘He actually said that to you?’
‘When I told him I didn’t want to do it any more, he said, “That’s fine, I’ll pay Jess a visit instead.” So I don’t have a choice, do I? I can’t let him do it to my sisters too.’
‘How long has this been going on?’ I ask.
She hangs her head. ‘About a year and a half.’
I shake my head as I hear Hannah’s painful confession. She would have been about fourteen years old when this started. Tears of my own begin to prick behind my eyes, but I have to stay strong for this girl. She can’t see me fall apart. She’s been through enough. ‘Does your mum know about this?’
‘Mum hasn’t got a clue. She thinks Callum is Leo’s dad. And Stephen is going along with it, of course. He wants us all to move away so we can pretend Leo is his and Mum’s baby.’
‘Couldn’t you have told your mum the truth? She would have reported him, I’m sure.’
‘I couldn’t risk it. He’s hit Mum before.’
Poor Lorna.
‘I was too scared to tell Mum in case she confronted him and he hurt her again. And now I’ve ruined your life too.’ Hannah stares at me with tear-filled eyes before looking down at her feet. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Hannah, listen to me.’ I put my hands on her shoulders and look her in the eye. ‘You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about. This isn’t your fault, it’s his fault. And his alone. You are brave and strong and selfless. And that man…’ I can barely speak I’m so upset and angry. ‘That man will pay for what he’s done. I promise you.’
‘How? How can I get away from him without him getting to my mum and sisters?’
‘You just need to be brave for a little longer,’ I say, thinking about what needs to be done. ‘But he will never touch any of you ever again. I’m here for you, okay? And I’ll be here for you for as long as you need me.’
She doesn’t reply.
Why didn’t I spot what was going on? I’m her teacher, her neighbour. I should have picked up that something wasn’t right. Instead, I’ve been living next door to this monster for years while he… I can’t bear to think about it. Well, today it stops.
‘I’m sorry I was such a bitch to you at school,’ Hannah says.
‘You weren’t a bitch,’ I lie. At least I know the reason behind it now. This child has been scared and angry for a long time.
‘He made me put something in your drink, you know.’
I’m not sure I heard her correctly. ‘You put something in my drink?’
‘At the barbecue. Stephen… he made me. He said you were getting too close to the truth. He said that if you found out about Leo, you’d report me, and then social services would take Leo away. So he made me drop something in your beer bottle.’
I swallow. ‘What did you put in there?’
She shakes her head. ‘I don’t know. Some kind of clear liquid. Stephen said it would make you look drunk. He said it would mean that no one would take you seriously. They’d think you were lying if you ever found out about Leo and started talking. He made out he was protecting us.’
I thought finding out who spiked my drink would make me angry, but I also feel a strange sense of relief. I knew I hadn’t been drinking, but I didn’t know how to convince Dom. Now at least I know what really happened, that I’m not losing my mind. However, my relief is short lived. A tidal wave of fury floods my body. I will make Parkfield pay for what he’s done to me and to this poor girl.
‘I’m really sorry about making you sick at the barbecue,’ Hannah says. ‘Soon as I heard what happened I regretted it. Jess told me about you falling over and dropping Daisy, I feel so bad. I should never have done it.’
‘I didn’t even know you were there. I never saw you.’
Hannah sniffs. ‘That’s because I snuck in and out. I was at home looking after Leo because no one’s supposed to know I’ve got a baby. But you won’t let social services take him, will you?’
‘You love him then?’ I ask. ‘Your baby?’
‘More than anything. I know that probably sounds weird, because of who his father is. But it’s not Leo’s fault, is it?’
‘No. It’s not his fault.’ But all the same, I wonder what she will think of her child as he grows older. If he starts to look like his father, will she begin to resent him? I hope not. Something else occurs to me. ‘Was it Stephen who rang me that time?’
‘Rang you?’
‘Yes,’ I say. ‘I got a threatening anonymous phone call telling me to stop poking my nose in or else.’
‘I don’t know,’ she says, frowning. ‘But I bet it was him. Sounds like something he’d do. He’s been paranoid ever since we brought Leo home. Really angry all the time, making sure Leo doesn’t cry, and that all the windows are closed so no one can hear him.’
‘Where did you give birth? Was it in the hospital? I know you’ve been away this summer…’
‘We were in a cottage in Cornwall,’ she says, her face clouding. ‘Mum’s cousin is a midwife down there. She helped me deliver Leo in the cottage. But then… well, she registered Mum and Stephen as his parents. Mum and Leo had all their health checks down there and they’ve managed to get away with everything so far. But Stephen’s freaking out about getting found out and he’s in a really crap mood all the time. Thinks it’s only a matter of time before social services get suspicious. He’s even blaming me for getting them into this mess, can you believe it?’
‘But why are you all moving away if they’re registered as Leo’s parents?’ I ask. ‘Surely Stephen’s covered himself by doing that? It’s not a scandal for them to have a baby, is it?’
Hannah shakes her head. ‘Yeah, but Mum didn’t go through a pregnancy. People might talk. Stephen thinks that if we move to a different health authority, it will be easier to hide the fact that Leo’s really mine. And anyway, Stephen doesn’t trust Cal. Thinks he’ll spill the beans. Turns out he was right about that.’
‘Callum only spoke out because he’s worried about you.’ I glance at the clock. It’s almost eight thirty. ‘Has Stephen left for school yet?’
Hannah nods. ‘I pretended I was ill today so I didn’t have to go in. I couldn’t face it. Then I waited till he’d left before coming over here.’
‘Okay. Listen, if it’s all right with you, I’m going to go and tell your mum what’s been going on. Do you want to come with me? Or would you rather wait here?’