‘Yes.’ She handed him a scribbled-on business card. ‘That’s my mobile number.’ Her hand was shaking. She looked at Sophie. ‘Can I do anything? Make tea or something?’
* * *
Sophie allowed herself to be led up into her hallway and on into the kitchen, watched the woman from the step filling the kettle, the female officer fetching her shoes. The other officer stepped back into the street to see if anyone else had witnessed the incident, but apart from the tanker driver who was already making a statement, nobody had seen what happened other than the woman from the step, because these things happen so fast. So, he organised the recovery of Jonah’s belongings and the removal of his car from the double yellow lines then stepped back inside to make a few calls. Sophie tried to hear what he was saying, but her head was still full of car alarms and the sound of Jonah’s skull imploding.
‘I’m Sally Browning,’ said the policewoman. ‘Sophie, is there anyone that could accompany you to the hospital? A friend? A family member? Is there a neighbour I could fetch?’
Sophie tried to think. She wanted her mother, but she was gone. ‘My sister, Josie, lives in Cork. I could phone my friend, Katie, but she’ll be at work. And Mrs Davies next door is on holiday. All month. The other side is students, but they’ve gone home for the summer.’
‘What about your husband’s family?’
‘He doesn’t have any family. And… we’re not married.’
‘I could come with you,’ interrupted the woman from the step. She offered Sophie a mug of tea. ‘I’m Suzie… Kay.’
Sophie opened her mouth to reply just as a high-pitched scream came reverberating through the hallway. Officer Browning glanced towards the stairs. ‘Is there a…?’
2
‘Laura!’ Sophie leapt up, pushed the mug away, causing dollops of tea to explode upwards, and ran into the hallway but, just through the door, her ankle failed her yet again. The already-startled police officer turned from looking up the stairs, dropped his phone and caught Sophie as she stumbled towards him. He lowered her onto the floor as his colleague hurried to help.
‘I’ll go up, Pete,’ said Officer Browning. ‘Sophie, let Officer Clark take you back to your chair. Shall I bring Laura downstairs?’
‘Yes. Please.’
Suzie Kay hurried into the hallway clutching a tea towel. ‘There’s a baby?’
‘I forgot about her.’ Her eyes wide with desperation, Sophie watched Officer Browning disappearing up the stairs, Officer Clark checking his phone and retrieving her gardening scissors from beneath the radiator. ‘Suzie, I forgot about her.’
‘No, you… You’ve had a bad shock.’ Suzie helped lead Sophie back to her chair.
‘I’d get them to look at that ankle,’ said Officer Clark, returning to the hall to communicate this latest development.
Sophie clutched at her stomach. ‘What if I’d gone in the ambulance and she’d been left on her own?’
Suzie Kay crouched down and took Sophie’s hands in hers. ‘You mustn’t think such things. She’s called Laura, right? What a lovely name. How old is she?’
‘Eleven months.’ Sophie took a deep breath. ‘Jonah wanted her to be called Laura. It was his mother’s name.’ She could feel Suzie Kay’s fingers touching hers. Clean and soft. Her own fingers were still covered in a film of pulped tomato leaves. ‘She needs her lunch. My hands are filthy.’
‘I’ll get a cloth. Are you still feeding her?’
‘Only before bedtime.’
Suzie Kay fetched a damp cloth, waited as Sophie wiped her hands and exchanged it for some kitchen towel.
Sophie looked up into Suzie’s dark brown eyes. ‘Jonah was leaving me,’ she said. ‘When will I know what’s happening?’
‘They’ll let you know.’
‘What about his ear? It was lying in the road. And some of his hair.’
‘Yes, I… They can stick ears back on. It’s just skin and cartilage.’
‘Are you a nurse?’ said Sophie, grasping at the possibility of things returning to the way they were.
‘No. But my mum had a dog with a stitched-on ear.’ An abrupt, nervous laugh. ‘I work in a travel company. In Guildford. This is my day off.’ She glanced up. ‘Here comes Officer Browning with your baby.’
* * *
With Suzie Kay’s help, Laura was lunched and settled in her playpen in the lounge. The two officers stepped in to join them. ‘Mr Royston has been transferred to Southampton General,’ explained Constable Clark. ‘He’s being taken straight to theatre. Transport is being arranged, Ms…?’
‘Denham. Sophie Denham.’
He nodded. ‘I’ve explained that there’s a young infant involved. Do you have a child’s car seat that can be transferred? Social Services are unable to supply one at such short notice.’ He handed her Jonah’s car keys. ‘Mr Royston’s car has been parked in the back road. In the correct permit zone. There doesn’t appear to be a child seat inside.’
‘Perhaps you have another car?’ suggested Officer Browning.
‘I don’t drive. Jonah always removes her seat in case he has to pick up equipment. It’s in the kitchen.’
Constable Clark turned his attention to Suzie Kay. ‘Ms Kay, if you would be so good as to provide a statement, you can be on your way.’
Suzie Kay disappeared into the kitchen with the two officers, and for the first time since Jonah’s disastrous exit, Sophie was alone with her daughter. She watched the little girl chewing her sock, oblivious to the unfolding crisis. Only this morning she had been living her normal life, with her ordinary parents living together, like ordinary parents do. And now this. She had no way of understanding the changes this day had forced upon her innocent world. Even if they mended Jonah’s skull, sewed his ear back on and he made a complete recovery, he’d decided to leave them. He’d found someone else. They must have been meeting up for weeks – maybe months – Jonah and this other woman. Spending carnal lunchtimes at her place. Sweaty hotels. Then coming home as if everything was normal. Admittedly, he’d complained about her reduced libido since Laura’s birth, about her getting up in the middle of the night to check Laura was still breathing, but things had been better lately. At least she’d thought they had. She glanced up as Suzie Kay stepped into the room.
‘Sophie, would you like me to come to the hospital with you?’
Sophie longed to say yes, but this poor woman had already been exposed to enough of her catastrophe. ‘I’ll be fine. I’ll phone my friend. She lives in Portsmouth. She’ll probably drive over. But, thanks for everything.’
‘Glad I could help. Look, this is my mobile number.’ She handed Sophie a business card: Horizon Luxury Travel Services. Suzannah Kay – Consultant. An additional telephone number was scribbled along the bottom. ‘Call me if you need to talk, OK?’
* * *
The two officers confirmed that Sophie’s transport would arrive within the hour, then left to confront another of those aberrant things that the police spend their days dealing with. Sophie thanked Suzie once again then hobbled to the front door to watch her cross the road and disappear into the everyday crowd. Things outside seemed to have returned to normal. The petrol tanker was gone and the traffic lights were executing their usual routine, directing cars whose drivers knew nothing of the events barely two hours before. There was nothing that might indicate Jonah’s exit and subsequent misfortune other than some pieces of broken headlight and a few sweepings of sand, cleared into the gutter along with any remaining traces of Jonah’s blood and lorry driver’s vomit, waiting for time to wash it all away. Sophie experienced a stultifying wave of nausea, steadied herself against the doorframe, turned to retreat into her hallway and caught sight of a man loitering by the students’ front window. He was tall, lanky in fact, stooping the way some tall people do, apologetic about their height. He had a buckled wheel in one hand; his other hand was resting on the saddle of a one-wheeled bicycle. He was wearing a crumpled linen suit, light grey, a navy T-shirt, trainers, a bike helmet and bicycle clips. He nodded apologetically as she caught his eye.