In the middle of the night Russ was woken by the sound of bumping and clattering downstairs. He tried to work out what the noise was, then remembered Justine and rolled quickly out of bed, grabbing his dressing gown and stuffing his feet into his slippers as he moved towards the stairs.
He shoved her bedroom door open as he passed, just in case, but of course she wasn’t there.
He moved quietly down the stairs but he needn’t have bothered. She was in the kitchen, taking things out of cupboards and thumping them down on the surfaces as she continued her search. She didn’t even notice him.
As he watched she pushed some of the items aside impatiently and knocked them on the floor, breaking one jar. ‘What the hell are you doing?’103
‘Looking for where you keep your wine. It’s the only thing that puts me to sleep at times like this.’
‘Wine? But you’re pregnant. You shouldn’t be drinking anything alcoholic.’
‘I just told you: it’s the only thing that gets me to sleep. Where do you keep it?’
‘I don’t have any wine here at the moment. I used up my only bottle and haven’t bothered to buy any more yet.’
She picked up a tin and hurled it across at him, fortunately missing. ‘You stupid fool, we were at a shopping centre. You could have bought some there.’
‘I’m not a heavy drinker so it didn’t even occur to me. Are you telling me you can’t live without it?’
‘Of course I can! But I don’t see why I should. Isn’t this bad enough?’ She jabbed one finger at her stomach then hurled another tin at him.
He ducked and ran across to grab her as she picked up a jar of jam. For that short distance, thank goodness, his leg behaved. He managed to pry her fingers off the jar so that it dropped back onto the surface. As he kicked aside the pieces of broken glass and yellow mush from what had been a jar of peaches, she started to struggle violently, scratching him with her long red fingernails and screaming mindless abuse at him.
He tried to talk softly, he shouted, he even shook her, but he couldn’t calm her down or get her to listen to him.
He had to hold onto her arms to stop her hurling things about, was getting seriously worried about her state of mind and the safety of the unborn child. She kept trying to get away, even kicked him and all the time the shrill screaming and cursing continued.104
What would the neighbours be thinking? She must have woken some of them by now.
Simone had been having another of those wakeful times, lying in bed wondering when jet lag would abate fully and allow her to sleep through the night. Suddenly she jerked upright as she heard a woman scream shrilly nearby.
The noise stopped then started up again, this time going on and on. It was coming from Russ’s house. What on earth was going on? Simone quickly dragged on some clothes and went to investigate.
She stood at the front outside the window of his kitchen and stared in, amazed at what she saw. A woman was throwing tins from the kitchen cupboards at Russ, who was dodging them and begging her to stop.
‘I won’t stop till you stop attacking me!’ she shrieked.
Only, he hadn’t moved, let alone tried to attack the woman.
It was a good thing she’d come to investigate, Simone thought. It wasn’t the screaming woman who might need her help but Russ if whoever this was maligned him to others.
She let out a shocked gasp as the woman lashed out at Russ. If she’d ever seen someone who’d ‘gone mad’ it was this woman, who was still yelling at him to stop attacking her.
She leant closer to the window because it seemed as if – yes, Russ had fresh scratches on his cheek, with blood trickling down, and still he was desperately trying not to hurt the woman.
Who was she?105
She saw a light go on in one of the other houses and decided it was time to intervene, so went and rang the doorbell. Maybe her arrival would help calm the woman down.
Justine was making so much noise it took Russ a while to realise that the front doorbell had rung several times.
By now he’d realised that his half-sister was beyond reason. He kept hold of her to stop her doing further damage to his kitchen – or to herself – but couldn’t think what to do next. He didn’t let go of her but dragged her across with him to open the front door.
When she saw Simone standing outside, Justine immediately began screaming for help, yelling that she was being raped.
‘I’ve been watching through the window and I think it’s you who needs help, Russ, not to mention an impartial witness,’ Simone said quietly to him.
‘Did you hear me?’ Justine screeched. ‘Make him let me go!’
She ignored the woman.
Russ looked at her in obvious relief. ‘Oh, I do need help! I’m so grateful. Please come in and close the door. I don’t want her getting away or waking the whole street.’
Panting with the effort, he dragged the woman back into the living area. ‘This is my half-sister, Justine, who turned up suddenly today. She’s always been – um, volatile – but I’ve never seen her like this before.’
The ongoing moans and accusations of being attacked cut off abruptly and Justine yelled again. ‘Save me from him. He’s raped and abused me! That’s incest.’
His grip slackened, he was so shocked at this and she 106at once snatched up a vase of flowers and raised it in the air as if about to smash it on his head. But he grabbed her arms before she succeeded in doing anything except shower them both with water.
Simone grabbed the vase from behind the hysterical woman and put it quickly out of reach on the windowsill. ‘What on earth has set this off, Russ?’
‘You might well ask. She woke me by pulling things out of my cupboards and throwing them about. She claimed she was looking for a bottle of wine to calm herself down so she could sleep. Then she began screaming.’
‘Why is she here?’
‘She rang earlier to ask if she could stay with me, said she’d run away from the man she’s been living with for nearly two years in Paris.’
‘I had to run away!’ the woman yelled. ‘He’s been ill-treating me. You’re all against me, every last one of you.’ She began sobbing loudly like a child, burying her face in her hands, swaying back and forth.
Russ kept an eye on her and held onto her arm, continuing to speak to Simone in a low voice, ‘I think she must be an alcoholic – or maybe even on drugs – she’s behaving so irrationally. She doesn’t seem to care about the baby at all.’
‘I never wanted this damned baby!’ Justine yelled at him. ‘Never, ever! It was an accident. He’s paying me to carry it to term, but I’m not going to do it any longer. I can’t bear looking like this.’
She glared at Simone, then let out a mirthless laugh. ‘If I’m not careful, I’ll get as fat as you are, you interfering bitch.’107
They both goggled at this unjust accusation, then she jerked away from Russ, picked up a cushion and tossed it at him. ‘Will you stay away from me?’
He didn’t move but once again she jerked back as if someone had hit her and began screaming for help.
‘I think we’d better call an ambulance,’ Simone said. ‘She’s beyond reasoning with, and she may harm the baby.’
‘I hope I do!’ Justine yelled at them.
‘Can you call them, Simone, while I keep an eye on her?’ he asked. ‘My phone’s over on the breakfast bar.’
‘Yes, of course.’
Simone dialled the emergency number and spoke to someone who said it would be at least an hour before anyone could get there.
Justine began to shriek for help and yell that she was being raped.
‘Is that her?’ the emergency officer asked, sounding shocked.
‘Yes. There’s no one near her and Russ hasn’t touched her. We’re worried because she’s pregnant, quite a good way along, we think.’
‘Do you know her?’
‘No. I only just met her a few minutes ago when I came to help my neighbour. She’s his half-sister and he’s not touching her, but we’re worried sick that she’ll hurt the baby.’
‘If there’s a baby involved, we’d better get someone there as quickly as we can.’
Justine began laughing hysterically. ‘I heard that. They’ll be arresting you by the time I’ve finished laying charges of rape and incest, Russ bloody Carden.’108
He didn’t even attempt to answer, just continued to keep a wary eye on her. He murmured to Simone, ‘I hope the ambulance will come quickly.’
So did she. This was like a nightmare.
Time seemed to pass slowly, with occasional outbursts of yelling from Justine, and it was over half an hour before the ambulance turned up. When the paramedics found themselves confronted by a violent, screaming woman, they insisted on calling in the police to help them subdue her on the way to hospital.
By that time there were lights on in a couple of nearby houses and the security officer at the hotel had phoned to ask if everything was all right.
The police arrived quickly and took over the task of keeping Justine from attacking Russ. By that time the paramedics had phoned the duty doctor for guidance on dealing with a violent pregnant woman.
The police officer questioning Russ kept her voice low but she was looking at him rather suspiciously. Simone couldn’t bear to see it and moved to stand next to him, linking her arm supportively in his.
The thankful look he gave her made her stay by his side while the paramedics managed to coax Justine to go with them quietly.
In the end Russ agreed to accompany the police, first to the hospital to give them Justine’s details then on to the station to make a statement about what had happened.
‘Can I phone the baby’s father in Paris first?’ he asked.
‘You’re not the father?’109
‘I told you: I’m her half-brother. What sort of man do you think I am? She turned up here today, saying she was running away from Pierre. And she keeps saying she’s going to get rid of the baby.’
‘I heard her say that more than once in this short time,’ Simone put in. ‘And I saw her arrive. She wasn’t here before.’
‘I phoned the father earlier and he’s coming here tomorrow – no, it’s today now, isn’t it? But she’s grown so hysterical he needs to find a way to deal with her more quickly if he wants to protect his unborn baby.’
The officer looked from one to the other, shaking her head as if dubious about a phone call, so Russ said, ‘I’ll put the phone on speaker and you can hear everything we say. Hell, you can record it if you want. I’ve nothing to hide.’
It took three consecutive phone calls to wake Pierre.
Russ told him quickly what had happened and asked him to stick to English so the police would know what was being said.
‘Police?’
‘I had to call for help. She’d gone berserk, shrieking that I’d raped her, for heaven’s sake. I thought she might harm the baby. They’ve taken her away in an ambulance.’
‘Mon dieu! I’ve been worried sick since you phoned earlier but this is beyond my worst imaginings. I’ll be there as soon as I can, Russ. With some form of medical help. I can’t allow this to go on.’
When he switched off his phone Simone asked him, ‘Do you want me to come with you to the police station, Russ?’
‘I have no right to ask it, but would you?’110
‘Yes, of course. I’m probably a useful witness.’
The police officer, who had been keeping an eye on them both, said quietly, ‘It’d be better if you followed us to the hospital in your car, madam, then you can drive Mr Carden back from the police station later once we’ve got his account of what happened.’
‘Good idea. Give me the name of the hospital first, though, because I’m new to this area. I’ve only been in England for a few days. I’m Australian.’
She gave her a friendly wag of the head. ‘I guessed that from the way you talk. You’ve dropped right into the thick of this situation, then.’
‘Tell me about it. I’ve never seen anything like how she was behaving. I’ll just nip next door for my handbag and keys.’
She drove out of the hotel grounds behind the police car, amazed that this had happened in the peaceful rural England the Dittons had promised her.
Simone arrived at a huge hospital just as Justine was being persuaded to leave the ambulance on a stretcher. She started screaming as soon as she saw Russ get out of the police car.
The two officers frowned at him, looking even more suspicious, but they waited for Simone to join him before escorting the two of them into the A&E department into which Justine had already vanished.
One of the officers went with him to the counter to give information about his half-sister and Simone stood to one side.
‘Are you sure you don’t know the other details about 111her?’ the clerk asked Russ. ‘Not even her address?’
‘I’m certain. I hadn’t seen her for well over a year till she phoned me from Swindon yesterday afternoon. I’d had an accident in Australia, you see, and I’m only just recovering from it.’
‘Is that what caused the limp?’ the police officer asked. ‘She told my colleague she had to kick you to stop you attacking her and that was why you were limping.’
‘What?’
Simone moved forward. ‘Mr Carden has been walking stiffly because of the accident in Australia and a fall the day before yesterday in his garden. When the screaming started I went out to see what was happening. I watched him and his half-sister through the window before I knocked on the door.’
‘What were they doing?’
‘She was screaming for help and saying he was attacking her but he was nowhere near her. I think she must have been hallucinating. He didn’t even touch her till she attacked him, then all he did was try to hold her still.’
They had to hang around under the watchful eye of the police until a doctor had seen Justine and given her a sedative.
The doctor came out to see Russ. ‘Does your partner take drugs?’
‘She’s not my partner; she’s my half-sister. And the man she’s been living with said he’d got her off drugs. I don’t know whether she managed to get hold of something or not. It’s been over a year since I’ve seen her. She has taken drugs a couple of times that I know of in the past, though I don’t know what exactly.’112
When they’d finished admitting Justine and taken her away, Russ turned to leave but was intercepted by the police officers.
‘If we could go to the station and take statements from you both, it’d save you coming to see us later today,’ one officer said to them.
Russ shrugged. ‘Why not? I’m certainly not going to sleep easily. Is that all right by you, Simone?’
‘Fine by me. I’ll probably have trouble getting to sleep again, too.’
By the time they were allowed to leave and Simone started driving back to the leisure village, the sky was full of pre-dawn greyness.
‘I can’t thank you enough for your help tonight,’ Russ said quietly. ‘The suspicious way those officers were looking at me made me shiver.’
‘I only told the truth.’
‘Very quietly and convincingly.’
When she pulled up in front of his house, he said, ‘Come in and I’ll make you a hot chocolate. I don’t know about you, but I’ll never be able to sleep now without something soothing.’
‘Sounds good to me. I’m a bit wired up by it all, too.’
Once the drinks were ready, they sat side by side on his small sofa, watching a glorious dawn gradually colour the sky and sipping the hot drinks. They didn’t say much but he felt himself gradually calming down.
When she leant her head against his shoulder and didn’t answer his question, Russ turned his head to look down at her and smiled. She’d fallen asleep between one sentence 113and the next. He took the mug away from her with his free hand and put it down next to his on the side table.
The warmth of her body against him and her soft, even breathing seemed to soothe him still further and he let his own eyes close, just for a few moments of peaceful rest.