Chapter 68

Henley told no one about the phone call. All she cared about now was her daughter. She had decided to risk the wrath of her mother-in-law and visit Emma. Henley didn’t have a problem with Rob’s dad, they had always got on like a house on fire, but his mother, Natasha, was sharp, pretentious and thought that her son could have done better.

The house was across the road from Kensal Green Tube station and a stream of people were already making their way out. Not for the first time, Henley wished that Rob’s dad would make good on his promise to cash in on the ridiculous market price of his house and retire to St Lucia with his wife in tow.

As she waited at the front door, Henley wondered if she should have put the tattered Met police sign on her dashboard. Anything that would wind Natasha up would have been a small victory, but Henley was sure that the police car parked two doors down was doing a good enough job.

‘Oh,’ said Natasha, opening the door. She pulled her grey, cashmere cardigan tighter as though she was protecting herself from the cold front that was Henley. ‘I wasn’t expecting you. It’s late.’

‘It was a last-minute thing.’ Henley stepped into the house. Natasha huffed and smoothed back a strand of dyed black hair behind her ear.

‘It’s not right, you know,’ Natasha said as they walked down the hallway. The walls were covered with family photographs. Henley wrinkled her nose at the smell of fresh paint. As long as Henley had known Rob, she had never known his mother to work. Instead she ordered renovation after renovation of the house and booked cruises, while Rob’s dad continued to work as a partner in a corporate law firm.

‘What’s not right?’ Henley asked.

Natasha stopped abruptly. ‘Kiss me neck back. You’ve put Robert’s father and I in danger.’ The Jamaican accent that Natasha kept so hard to keep at bay on a daily basis crept through. ‘I have a police car outside my home, as if I’m the criminal. Do you know how embarrassing it is, Anjelica? Cha! I don’t feel safe in my own home. It’s not right that you put my son and granddaughter through this.’

‘What would you prefer? That I give up my job, become a stay-at-home mum, spend my time pureeing carrots and choosing kitchen cabinets?’

‘Would that be such a bad thing? Or maybe you could just make this’ – Natasha waved a perfectly manicured hand towards the kitchen, where Rob and Emma were presumably behind the closed door – ‘permanent.’

Henley resisted, not for the first time, the urge to slap Rob’s mum. Instead, she pushed past her and opened the door to the kitchen.

Emma jumped up from her chair, spilling her bowl of pasta and chicken onto the floor.

‘Hello, baby girl. What are you doing up so late?’ Henley fell to her knees and pulled her daughter towards her. She smelled her hair and paused. It wasn’t the same. She was used to the smell of coconut and jojoba. Now Emma smelt of vanilla and honey.

‘You changed her shampoo?’ Henley said to Rob, who was on the floor picking up the food.

‘Mum recommended it.’ He reached under the table for a stray piece of chicken.

‘I brought some more of Emma’s things. Including her shampoo.’ Henley covered Emma’s face in kisses. ‘Oh, I’ve missed you, my angel.’

‘I miss you. I love you.’ Emma planted a wet kiss on Henley’s forehead.

Henley felt her heart break and her eyes sting with tears as she kissed Emma back.

‘Where’s Luna?’ Henley asked, looking around.

‘In the conservatory,’ Natasha said. She switched on the kettle and busied herself with the pretence of making tea. ‘Robert knows that I’m allergic. I honestly don’t know why he couldn’t have left the dog with you, but I forgot that you’re never home.’

Just ignore her, Henley said to herself. She could withstand the sarcastic jabs from Natasha if it meant spending precious time with her daughter.

Henley stood up with Emma in her arms. ‘Shall we go and say hello to Luna?’

‘Yes. I want Luna,’ replied Emma.

‘Me too. And then I’ll give you a bath and wash your hair.’

Luna started to bark before Henley had even placed a hand on the double-glazed door to the conservatory. She was getting a better reception from the dog than she did from Rob and his anally retentive mother.

‘You should have told me you were coming.’ Rob stood in the doorway of what used to be his old bedroom.

‘Why? So, you could tell me that you wouldn’t be in?’ Henley replied, stroking Emma’s hair as she slept in her lap.

‘I wouldn’t have done that.’

‘You really can’t use that rubbish that your mum gave you in Emma’s hair. It’s drying it out.’

‘Come on. Mum could have been giving me the most expensive shampoo on the shelf and you still wouldn’t be happy.’

Rob stepped into the room and closed the door. Henley looked at him properly for the first time since she had walked into the house. She knew that it wouldn’t have been easy for him to seek refuge with his parents and be subjected to his mother’s controlling and manipulative antics.

‘Have they caught the person who did it?’ Rob sat down on the other end of the bed. ‘You know. The box.’

‘We’re still making enquiries but there is a suspect,’ Henley replied.

‘A suspect? Have you arrested them yet?’

‘I can’t talk about it, Rob.’

‘What do you mean, you can’t talk about it? It was our house.’

‘OK, OK. There is someone. A suspect, but she’s in hospital. We’ll arrest her as soon as she is fit to be discharged.’

‘A woman? Why would she do something as sick as dumping a—’

‘I have no idea. Did you tell your parents why you came? The exact details.’

‘You’re having a laugh, aren’t you? I doubt Mum would have let you through the front door if she knew, but she’s not an idiot. She watches the news and knows that it’s got something to do with the investigation that you’re on.’

‘I miss my daughter, Rob.’

Rob’s face fell. ‘What about me? Do… do you miss me?’

‘Of course I do,’ Henley lied as she gently lifted Emma off her lap and rested her on the bed. She kissed her and felt a sense of satisfaction, now that Emma smelt like Emma. ‘I miss my family.’

‘But you’re not exactly doing anything to get us back. Anj, I haven’t lived with my parents since I was twenty-one. This isn’t easy for me. Emma cries for you every night.’

‘Rob, you’re the one who gave me an ultimatum. My job or you. You’re the one who nearly had it off with some…’ Henley paused as Emma stirred. She got up and walked out of the bedroom and indicated for Rob to follow her.

‘Come on,’ Rob said. ‘Luna needs a walk.’

‘I don’t want to be like this. This isn’t me. I’m not a nag. We’ve never been that sort of couple,’ Rob said, aware that his mother was watching them from behind the net curtains.

‘No, you’re not. We’re not and I don’t blame you for leaving,’ said Henley. They turned left onto Holland Road, feeling the chill of the evening air. ‘I just didn’t like the position that you put me in. Asking me to choose, Rob, that’s not right. If it was the other way around, I would never have put you in that position.’

‘I know that you wouldn’t, but the fact is, Anj, it’s not the other way around and this isn’t the first time.’

‘I’m not at risk this time. We’re not at risk.’ Henley could see that Rob wasn’t buying her bullshit. ‘I’m not asking you to come home,’ she said and took the dog lead from his hand.

‘You don’t want me back?’

‘That’s not what I said. Of course I want you back. I just don’t want you to come back until we’ve caught who’s doing this.’

‘But you said that you have a suspect.’

‘It’s a bit more complicated than that. Sweetheart, I know that I can be hard-headed at times.’

‘Hard-headed is an understatement.’

‘Rob, come on. I’m trying.’

‘So, you agree with me? It was right for me to leave?’

‘Yes. It was and if I’m honest with myself, it’s probably better that we’re not together right now; not while Olivier is still out there.’

‘I don’t like it that you’re on your own. Are they looking after you?’

Henley could hear the apprehensiveness in her husband’s voice. She knew what he really meant. If there was someone else sleeping in the place where he should have been.

‘I stayed with Stanford the other night. You know what he’s like. He’s a hard man to say no to. They’ve got surveillance on the house and there hasn’t been anything to worry about. Trust me. I’m fine.’

‘I’m glad that you stayed with Stanford. At least I know that you’re going to be in safe hands with him and Gene looking after you, but fine isn’t good enough,’ Rob said. ‘I do love you. I know that I’m not the easiest but it’s—’

‘I know that you do.’ Henley reached out and hugged him. She felt his body stiffen and then relax a bit as she kissed him.

‘You could stay tonight,’ Rob said as they pulled apart.

‘God, no. Your mum would put a pillow over my face in my sleep.’

Rob laughed. ‘Come on, she ain’t that bad.’

‘Isn’t she?’ Henley pulled gently on Luna’s leash and they continued to walk.

‘It hasn’t been a picnic for me, you know,’ Rob replied.

‘Your mum waiting on you hand and foot, please.’

‘She asked me if we were getting divorced.’

‘I’m surprised that she didn’t download the application forms for you. What did you say?’

‘I told her that it was just your work.’

She ran through the logistics of staying the night in west London and then getting back to the SCU in the morning. They were running a distant second to actually spending the night and seeing her daughter in the morning.

‘OK, I’ll stay,’ she said.