“She did fucking what?” Mike wasn’t far off snarling at the lawyer, who was only the messenger when all was said and done, although she didn’t seem perturbed by his outburst. Andy gave her an apologetic smile on Mike’s behalf, which she acknowledged with eye contact only and continued sipping her coffee. Andy turned to his brother, not sure what to say, given he’d agreed not to say anything at all.
He’d been expecting it, or something like it, and was more surprised by Mike’s reaction than he was by what Rachel had done. There again, Andy had the benefit of Josh and Sean’s psychological expertise; they’d been there at the ‘final showdown’, when Rachel had turned up at The Blue Anchor pub and publicly humiliated herself. The start of the second half, the Lions were down by a good few goals, and Andy had a clear run…
At first, the voices had been indistinguishable from the cheers and boos—mostly boos from the home crowd—but those two words had sliced through the air like a spinning blade. Ginger whore. Andy had abandoned the ball to go to Shaunna, but before he’d left the pitch, George and Charlie had caught him and restrained him, the bastards.
Four months down the line, he was grateful they had. If he’d got hold of Rachel that day, it would be him doing time for murder, not her. In the aftermath, they’d gone back to Mum and Len’s, and the pieces had finally fallen into place. Kris had called George to tell him he and Ade had been in an accident. The brakes on Ade’s Jag had failed, like the Corvette last Christmas, but unlike the woman in the Corvette, Kris and Ade had lived to tell the tale, or their part of it, because there was more, so much more. The break-ins at Elite Motors, the vandalism of Hayley’s salon, the atrium chandelier had come crashing down just the day before the Blue Anchors match, and Rachel Perry was responsible for all of it.
Then there were her visits to the gym where Adele worked part-time, flexible hours, yet Rachel somehow always happened to be there when Adele was. Before that, Sean had spotted Rachel in the milk bar, watching him and Shaunna. Whatever he’d seen in Rachel’s behaviour that day had worried him enough to warn Andy, but Andy had dismissed it as coincidence. Even when Josh mentioned he’d seen Rachel at The Red Lion—at the first Lions v Anchors match months earlier—Andy still tried to pass it off as nothing more than Josh and Sean’s usual conspiracy theorising.
Ultimately, they’d both independently pre-empted Rachel’s diagnosis of a personality disorder. During the trial, it had come to light that Mike wasn’t the only one to suffer at Rachel’s hands. She’d been physically abusive towards her younger brother and sister, although only her brother had testified while Jacqueline Perry sobbed and shook her head, refusing to believe what her son was saying, because Rachel had been clever enough to hide it from her. How many others had she hurt over the years, who, like Mike and Rachel’s sister, were too frightened to take the stand?
In court, Rachel’s expression had alternated between bored and gleeful. She’d thought she was going to get away with it, like she always had, except this time she’d killed someone, and the judge rejected her defence of insanity. She was a calculating, manipulative bitch with no regard for the consequences her actions had for others. In fact, she seemed to get a buzz from watching other people suffer. Now she was in prison, right where she belonged, and no doubt she’d be telling anyone who’d listen how much she was missing her daughter, or whatever other bullshit served her best.
“If she thinks I’m going to let my daughter grow up in prison…” Mike began, but the lawyer was already shaking her head.
“I think we can safely assume the request will be denied, particularly given what you say about Rachel deserting Bethan. The only reason they might consider it is post-partum depression, but there was no indication of that in her psychiatric assessment.”
“She wasn’t depressed,” Mike said curtly.
Andy couldn’t agree more. If anything she’d always seemed a bit manic, even when Andy had gone to see her in the police cells and she’d played the suicide card.
The lawyer continued, “I think perhaps the point of contention is your refusal to let Mrs. Perry see her granddaughter.”
“I didn’t refuse,” Mike cut in and then backtracked just as quickly. “Well, I did, but she only asked once, on the way out of court. And it wasn’t a polite request. She called me a few choice names and said I wasn’t fit to look after a dog.”
“To which you responded, ‘That’s no way to talk about your daughter.’”
Mike opened his mouth to protest, but Andy got in there first. “Actually, Shaunna said that.”
“Shaunna being…?”
“My girlfriend.”
Ms. Lane wasn’t smiling as such, but she looked amused. “There’s no love lost there, I take it?”
Mike sighed loudly. Andy put his head down and butted out, even though he was desperate to give Mike’s lawyer the full lowdown on Rachel Perry. But he’d given Mike his word. And broken it.
Mike glared at Andy a moment longer before turning back to his lawyer. “It came up in the trial. When she went to Shaunna and Andy’s place, it was to see Shaunna.”
“For what reason? Did they know each other?”
“Only in passing. She claimed Andy was Bethan’s dad, and she was trying to break them up. It’s all part of her scheming. That’s all she ever does.”
Mike was getting agitated again, Andy knew, because he was repeatedly dislocating and relocating his right thumb. He’d always done it, even as a kid, sometimes just to make their mother squirm. But he also did it when he was pissed off or, as on this occasion, stressing out.
To her credit, his lawyer noticed, too. “We don’t need to go into the nitty-gritty now. I’ll go through the trial transcript again later.” She sat back and clasped her hands in front of her, pausing a full minute or more before she asked, “How would you feel about offering Mrs. Perry access to Bethan?”
More minutes passed. Andy had expected Mike to say ‘no’ outright and looked to see why he’d delayed responding. His nod, barely discernible at first, became more definite.
“Yeah, I could agree to that, so long as she doesn’t take her to see Rachel.”
“We can attach conditions to your offer. That’s not a problem.”
“I’m not sure I’d want Bethan to stay overnight with her, either. I mean…I know Jacqueline’s brought up three kids, but…” Mike shrugged, unable to justify the feeling, but Andy understood. He’d let the twins stay with his mum a couple of times, and waking up to an empty house had made him feel so wretched that he’d brought Rosie and Sorsha home again before nine o’clock the next morning. Of course, it wasn’t anything like the same situation. He trusted his mum with the girls as much as he trusted Shaunna, and more than he trusted himself. And that was the other thing: he had Shaunna. A few hours of undisturbed sexy time had been some compensation for his daughters’ temporary absence. Mike had no such distraction.
Ms. Lane had been tapping away at her keyboard and continued to do so as she spoke. “I’m jotting down what we’ve discussed so far. What I’m proposing we do is this: I’ll put together an offer that makes clear you’re happy with Mrs. Perry having limited access to her granddaughter. There are several conditions we’ll automatically put in place, such as not taking Bethan out of the country, ensuring any special dietary requirements or preferences are adhered to, and so on. However, you need to be aware that Mrs. Perry has already rejected the suggestion she apply for contact access rather than guardianship. Also, bear in mind she hasn’t yet applied for the guardianship order, but she is legally required to inform the local authority of her intention to do so three months before submitting her application.”
“But we’re going to court next week.”
“For the mediation information assessment meeting. The local authority received written notice on the fifteenth of August, and they’ll have assessed Mrs. Perry’s suitability before taking the matter further.”
“That was a week after the trial. Why has it taken this long for me to hear about it?”
“That’s partly why we have the assessment meeting, although it would be for the court to decide whether you should be kept informed of the progress of Mrs. Perry’s application.”
“How can she apply for custody of my daughter without anyone telling me?”
“To apply for the order, consent must be obtained from those with parental responsibility. As Bethan’s mother, Rachel automatically has parental responsibility.”
Mike clapped his palms to his forehead and ran them back over his hair. His hopes were dwindling fast; he looked wretched. “She’s gonna get custody, isn’t she?”
The lawyer leaned across her desk and waited for Mike to look at her before she asserted, “It’s absolutely not a foregone conclusion, particularly as Rachel made no attempts prior to her incarceration to arrange access to Bethan. Are you solely responsible for your daughter’s care?”
“Apart from when I’m at work. Then my mum looks after her.”
“So we can make a case for Bethan’s primary attachment being to you and your mother. There’s a possibility that Mrs. Perry will accept contact access and withdraw her application, but even if she does, I’d still recommend you attend the mediation meeting to ensure both you and Mrs. Perry are happy with any arrangements.”
“And if she doesn’t withdraw her application?”
Ms. Lane observed Mike in silence, as if she was weighing up how much to tell him. She had that same lawyer poker face Andy had seen on Jess many times over the years. He’d become quite good at interpreting the little signals Jess used to give off. Failing that, he’d usually been able to tickle or woo it out of her. Not so with Ms. Lane, who saved and closed the file on her computer before finally answering Mike’s question.
“There’s a possibility she would be granted special guardianship because of Rachel’s rights.”
“She’s serving a life sentence in prison.”
“She still has maternal rights, and you’ve made clear you don’t want her to see Bethan. That may count against you.”
***
“Alright?” Mike greeted as he stepped into the salon, heading straight for the counter and the computer.
Shaunna was midway through a cut and blow-dry and gave him a cautious smile. Hayley was organising the stockroom, but she’d be straight out as soon as she knew Mike was there, and it was clear from his demeanour that the last thing he needed today was to be hit on by a randy middle-aged hairdresser. Shaunna wondered what had happened since the morning, because he’d seemed in quite a positive frame of mind.
“OK to log out?” he asked, gesturing to the computer.
“Yep,” Shaunna confirmed. She turned back to her client, separated a section of the woman’s hair, combed it and snipped. “Are you all right, Mike?” she asked, with a glance in his direction.
“Hm? Oh, yeah. Fine.” He nodded without looking away from the monitor.
Shaunna’s client peered up at her and grimaced. Shaunna raised an eyebrow in response. “Just shout if you need anything, OK?”
“Will do.”
Much as Shaunna hated to acknowledge it, Mike’s presence seemed to have instantly sucked all of the joy from the salon. She reminded herself that whilst he was forever nattering her ear off, he rarely talked in company, particularly that of strangers. There was nothing odd, therefore, about his sullen silence, and yet…something wasn’t right.
The stockroom door opened, and Hayley appeared, a large can of hairspray in each hand. “We haven’t used this in…godda be two—oh! Mr. Jeffries. Whad a lovely surprise!” She went over to shake his hand, limp-wristed and with the back of her hand angled perfectly for a genteel kiss. It was the same move she pulled on every handsome man who came within touching distance, but it didn’t work on this one.
Hayley retracted her hand and peered behind her at Shaunna, who signalled with her eyes for Hayley to go easy on him. Whether she’d take any notice was another matter. Since last Christmas, when Hayley had cajoled Andy and Dan into putting on an impromptu show for a hen party at the salon, she’d been obsessed with all things Jeffries. The only stopping block to her advertising the hen parties had been Shaunna’s maternity leave, but it was only a matter of time, especially now Hayley knew for sure that there were three of them, and to her eye—though not to Shaunna’s, of course—Mike was just as ‘hod’ as Andy and Dan.
For now, Hayley offered Mike a cup of tea, which he accepted and she duly delivered and then let him be, although not necessarily out of the kindness of her heart. It was a busy afternoon, and both Shaunna and Hayley had clients booked in through to five-thirty.
All the while, Mike worked away in silence. He was the most miserable Shaunna had ever seen him, and the one time she didn’t have a client in front of her, he popped out to make a phone call, he said, but she was almost certain there was nobody on the other end of the line for much of the time he stood in the street with his phone to his ear. If he didn’t want to talk about it, she wasn’t going to drag it out of him, but for once she was wishing he would talk to her. Or talk to someone.
After her last client of the day left, Shaunna went to get the brush from the stockroom, using it as a prop to get closer to the counter.
“Almost done,” Mike said, nodding at the progress bar onscreen.
Shaunna took it as permission to move closer to the computer, keeping as much distance from Mike as she could. He had his arms folded tight against his chest, the tensed tendons in his neck giving away how stressed he was. “What’s happening here?” she asked.
“Updating the printer drivers. Everything was well out of date.”
“Ah. That’s because Hayley’s terrified of accidentally downloading a virus.”
“Yeah, she had plenty.”
“Oh dear.”
“I’ve got rid of them and set up the firewall and antivirus software. It was all installed on the machine already. Should run a bit better now.”
“Thanks, Mike.” She smiled at him, but he didn’t even attempt one in response. “What are you up to tonight? Anything?”
“Working.”
“On Friday evening?”
“Afraid so. I promised I’d get this woman’s flat done by Monday.”
“The computer would’ve waited, you know.”
Mike sighed. “Yeah, but I need to stay…busy.”
Shaunna was so close to asking the question, but Hayley had her keys in her hand, ready to leave.
“If it gives you any more trouble, text me.” Mike got up and tugged his jacket free of the stool’s backrest.
“Will do,” Shaunna said. She watched him leave and get into his van. Hayley stopped next to her and watched him, too.
“He’s nod a happy man, is he, sweedie?”
“No. He’s really not.”
***
“Hey,” Shaunna called as she walked through the front door. Pausing to take off her coat, she sniffed, expecting a delectable aroma to fill her nostrils. Andy might not have held back in most regards, but it wasn’t until she was beached with Rosie and Sorsha that he revealed his culinary talents. All those years trekking the globe had afforded him the sort of education chefs must dream of, yet amazingly, a traditional British roast was beyond him.
However, there was nothing cooking tonight. Assuming he’d had a rough day with the twins, Shaunna crept upstairs, fully expecting to find the three of them crashed out together on the bed, but the bed was made, and empty, as were both cots.
“Was the car there?” Shaunna thought aloud as she returned downstairs and opened the front door to find that no, the car wasn’t there. “Weird.” She shut the door again and went through to the kitchen, put the kettle on and checked her phone to see if she’d missed a call or a message. The screen wouldn’t turn on. She plugged the charger in, went upstairs again to change out of her work clothes and use the bathroom, back down to the kitchen, where the kettle wasn’t quite boiled, but her phone should have been charged enough to switch on. No joy. She checked the socket.
“Yeah, that’d explain it.” She flicked the switch to the on position and laughed at herself. “Can’t even blame hormones anymore.”
Deep in thought, she put a teabag in her mug and leaned against the cupboard, wondering where they’d gone.
***
“Mummy’s still not answering,” Andy told the girls, who were in their seats in the back of the car. He glanced through the side window at the salon, locked, no lights apart from the small green flash on the alarm panel. She’d obviously not received his message before she left for home. He turned the ignition key and slowly pulled away, knowing he was for the high jump.
He hadn’t intended staying all afternoon at his mum’s, but Charlie was at a loose end, and so they’d got talking, as was their way. It was a nice distraction, not that he was bothered so much about Rachel. He didn’t get worked up about stuff like that, but he was feeling for Mike. If they’d asked their family and friends a year ago, none of them would have predicted that Mike and Andy would become dads, yet they had, both in their forties and within three months of each other. It was finally something that bonded them as brothers, and Andy could imagine all too well the awful thoughts going on in Mike’s head at the moment.
Shaunna was looking out of the open front door when Andy arrived back at the house, and she came to help him with the twins. Andy got out, preparing to be yelled at for worrying her, hoping a lingering kiss would tame the beast. She accepted his kiss and smiled up at him.
“Where’ve you been?”
“I went to meet you from work. Didn’t you get my text?”
“Nope. Phone’s dead.”
“Ah. Well, I was only gonna suggest we went out for pizza. What d’you reckon?”
“Fine by me. I’ll just go and sort my face out.”
“It’s beautiful, as always.”
Shaunna laughed and stretched up to kiss him. “Thanks. Won’t be long.”
“OK. We’ll wait here.” Andy got back in the car; a couple of minutes later, Shaunna joined them, a waft of perfume following her in. Once she’d fastened her seat belt, Andy turned the car around—never easy in their road, given the size of the Mustang—and set off for The Pizza Place.
“Mike’s been in the salon all afternoon,” Shaunna said.
“Has he?”
“Yep. Fixing our computer. I’m not sure what he was playing at. He said he had a job to do before Monday.”
“Did he tell you about Rachel’s mum?”
Shaunna turned in her seat. “No. What about her?”
“She’s applying for custody.”
“Oh, my…you’ve got to be kidding.”
Andy laughed joylessly. “I wish. We spent the morning with his lawyer.”
“Did he ask you to go with him?”
“No, and he wasn’t keen on me being there, but I couldn’t leave him to do it on his own.”
Shaunna turned to face the front again and sighed heavily. “I thought it was over.”
“Yeah, so did he, but that…” The girls were too young to understand swear words, but Andy curbed his cursing anyway. The things he wanted to call Rachel were best not said aloud. “She gave her mum permission. Apparently, she still has parental responsibility.”
Shaunna shook her head and angrily flicked her hair back. “The law really is an ass. What did the lawyer say?”
“What Mike needed to hear.” Or that was Andy’s impression. Ms. Lane had sounded confident enough, but he knew from Jess’s work that when it involved children, the law was skewed in women’s favour. All they could hope was that the law wasn’t quite so much of an ass as people thought. Having Bethan had been the best thing that had ever happened to Mike, and losing her would end him.
* * * * *