Skin Deep (23 page)

‘I know that. I know my own son.’

I leaned my head on her. ‘Mum?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’m scared as well.’

She put her arm round me. ‘I know that too.’

My phone rang and I jumped to answer it.
Ryan’s voice was urgent.

‘Jenna? I’m at the stable. Can you meet me?’

‘I don’t know. I’ll try. Give me a few minutes. If I can’t, I’ll call you back.’

Mum was still at the kitchen table when I went down.

‘Where’s Dad?’

‘On the phone to the police. I sent Charlie to play upstairs. He knows something’s wrong, but I don’t want him overhearing anything. How are you feeling?’

‘Oh, OK now. You were right – it was the shock. Listen, nobody’s been over to the horses. I’ll nip down and see to them.’

A frown line creased her forehead. ‘Maybe I should come with you.’

‘No, you stay with Dad. I’ll take Raggs. It’s broad daylight and if there’s anyone around he’ll bark. I’ll take my phone and I’m only in the next field.’

‘I don’t know . . .’

‘I won’t be long. And Dad might need you. We can’t leave the ponies any longer or Ollie will eat his way through the hedge. I’ll be fine. Nothing’s going to happen to me in the paddock.’

‘OK,’ she said reluctantly, ‘but be quick.’

I flew down the garden with Raggs racing beside me. When I clanged the latch on the gate shut, Ryan’s head appeared round the side of the stable. I ran down to him. ‘Are you all right? Are you . . . oof!’

He hugged me so hard he squeezed the breath out of me, and I hugged him back while Raggs washed his trainers with an eager tongue.

I wriggled loose. ‘I haven’t got long. Mum’s in a flap. How’d it go?’

He kissed my nose and released me. ‘The police came round to see if we heard anything. Mum covered for me, but she told me not to say about the fight so I didn’t. I told them I fell off my bike.’

‘Did they believe you?’

‘I think so. Hard to tell.’

‘They have to suspect everyone. It’s their job. I remember how they were when they questioned me after the accident.’

‘There’s something else,’ he said, searching my face. ‘I had to tell them you’re my girlfriend. They asked if I knew Carlisle. I didn’t tell them about everything, but . . . oh, it’s too long a story. I’m sorry. I don’t want to get you in trouble, but I couldn’t get out of it.’

His face was pale and the bruises stood out all the more starkly on his face because of that. I put my arms round his waist again. ‘Am I your girlfriend?’

He looked down at me, puzzled.

‘Only you haven’t actually told me that yet.’ I dredged up a grin to relieve the tension I could feel in his muscles. ‘Or asked me.’

He laughed and tugged my head closer. ‘Yes, you are.’

‘And I don’t get a say in that?’

‘No, I decided for you.’

I thumped him gently on the chest. ‘Big-head!’

He rested his chin on my hair. ‘I was going to ask if you’d come to the cinema with me tomorrow, but I don’t suppose you’ll be allowed now.’

‘Will you buy me popcorn?’

‘Yup.’ I felt him grin. ‘Might even take you for a pizza.’

‘We’re going then. Leave the explaining to me. Call for me at . . . oh, what time?’

‘Eleven. We can get lunch before the film.’

‘OK, eleven. At my back door. What’re we seeing?’

‘It’s a surprise. But you want me to meet you at your house? What –’

‘I said I’d sort it.’

‘OK if you’re sure . . . oh no!’

I jerked up to look at him. ‘What is it?’

He smirked. ‘Just this.’ And he kissed me. Properly.

‘You’re evil,’ I said when I pulled away several minutes later. ‘Urgh – I haven’t got much longer and I’ve got to feed the horses. Can you give me a hand?’

‘What do you do with them?’

‘Tip a bag of pony nuts in the feeder.’

‘Leave them to me. I’ll do it in a bit. We’re not wasting valuable time messing around with horse feed.’ He looked down at his feet. ‘That mutt of yours is chewing my laces now.’

‘Raggs, stop it!’

As usual, Raggs ignored me.

‘So well trained,’ he murmured, tucking his head down for another kiss.

When we walked back up to the gate, he held my hand. ‘You do believe me? I know I hit him, but –’

I put my finger on his lips, but worried hazel eyes continued to ask. ‘I know. Yes, I believe you.’

I felt guilty for even considering it was a possibility. But surely he couldn’t have been so drunk that he’d kill someone without knowing it.

I bent to scoop Raggs up under my arm and then tugged Ryan’s head down for a last kiss. ‘See you tomorrow!’ And I ran back up the garden before Mum came looking for me.

I was upstairs sorting the laundry for Mum when the doorbell rang. Peeking out of the window, I could see a police car on the drive. Charlie’s bedroom door was still closed and the noise of his PlayStation echoed through it so he wouldn’t have heard the bell. I heard Dad take them into the study and then I scuttled downstairs with the washing under my arm. Mum was in the kitchen at the table, twisting her rings round on her fingers.

‘Just drop it in the utilty room,’ she said. ‘They want to talk to us too.’

I got rid of the washing and sat with her at the table. The house was strangely quiet, but for the ticking of the clock on the wall, and I couldn’t hear a sound from the study.

It must have been half an hour before two police officers came out. Mum got up without a word and showed them through to the sitting room and I was left to wait alone. I sat staring at the study door, hoping Dad would come out, but he didn’t.

They didn’t take as long with Mum and when they’d finished, she brought them through to the kitchen.

The policewoman smiled at me. ‘I’m DC Evans, Jenna, and this is my colleague, DC Plummer. Just a few questions. It won’t take long. Nothing to worry about.’

‘OK.’

‘Now yesterday, can you tell us everything you did from the time you left school?’

 ‘Yeah, sure.’ I could handle this. The number of times I’d had to go through interrogations after the accident, all the questions, every insignificant detail. ‘Um, I got the bus home so I arrived here around half four. Mum and I went to the supermarket with my little brother. We had tea there – Charlie likes the fish and chips in the café.’

The PC smiled. ‘Sounds like my son. What time did you get back from the supermarket?’

‘About half six or seven. Charlie and I had some homework, then we watched TV for a while. Charlie went to bed just before ten. Dad came in not long after.’

‘Would you happen to know an exact time?’

‘About five or ten past ten. Definitely no later because we had BBC1 on and the news had just started.’

‘And did you see your dad when he came in?’

‘He went in the kitchen for a few minutes to talk to Mum and get a drink. Then he came to watch TV. I stayed up for a while, but then I went to bed.’

‘And your dad was still watching TV?’

‘Yes.’

‘And what time was that?’

‘Around half eleven.’

‘It was after eleven?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you’re sure?’

 ‘Yes, positive.’

She nodded. ‘What was your dad wearing when he came home?’

‘His work suit. Um, the navy pinstripe one. Oh and a pink shirt. I remember that because I always tell him it looks stupid with that suit, but he never listens to me.’

They both smiled. ‘One final question,’ the man said. ‘Did you notice anything unusual about his appearance?’

He didn’t come home spattered in blood if that’s what you’re getting at!
‘No, nothing. Just normal.’

DC Evans got up and turned to Mum. ‘I think we’re done here now. No need to speak to your son at this stage as he was in bed when your husband got home, although we may need to talk to him later depending on the forensics result. Thanks for your co-operation. There’s just the matter of Mr Reed’s clothing . . .’

‘Yes, I’ll get it for you now,’ Mum said.

I bristled. ‘Why?’ They were treating him like a suspect, but he hadn’t done anything wrong.

‘Routine,’ the man said. ‘Helps us to eliminate your dad from our enquiries.’

Mum went upstairs with them and they came down shortly after with Dad’s clothes in a clear plastic bag. She called Dad out of the study and the detectives exchanged a few words of thanks with him before they left.

It felt like the house sighed with relief as their car crunched away on the gravel. Dad leaned against the study door with a face that’d aged ten years in a day.

‘I’m hungry.’ Charlie stood at the top of the stairs, kicking the skirting board.

Mum gasped. ‘Oh darling, I’m sorry. Jenna will make you a snack, won’t you, Jen?’

I was dispatched to the kitchen with him while she and Dad retreated behind the study door to talk.

I made a toasted sandwich while my brother sat on the table swinging his legs. His mouth pursed as he watched me. He looked like a mini version of Dad when he did that.

‘What’s going on, Jen?’

‘Grown-up stuff. Do you want tomato on this?’

‘No. I want to know.’

‘Well, you can’t.’ I put his sandwich under the grill and folded my arms.

‘If you don’t tell me, I’ll tell Dad you were out all night.’ He smirked as he saw me flinch. ‘So you’d better.’

‘I-I wasn’t.’

‘Yes, you were. I saw you come back.’

My pulse beat faster. ‘You’re lying.’

‘Oh, am I? Ha! I don’t think so. I woke up early this morning. I had a bad dream so I came down to see if there were any biscuits. Raggs wanted to go out so I let him. Then he wouldn’t come and I had to fetch him.’

He was bluffing. He had to be.

‘He was trying to get into the paddock. I had to drag him back.’

But maybe he wasn’t – I remembered Raggs hadn’t wanted to go for a pee when I got in.

‘When I was going back to bed, I saw you coming up the garden.’ He gave me a triumphant glare. ‘See!’

‘Charlie, shut up! You can’t tell Dad. You can’t.’

He grinned. ‘Better tell me what’s going on then or I’ll tell them about that boy you meet.’

‘What boy? There’s no boy. Don’t be stupid.’

‘So who was that you were kissing by the gate? A ghost?’ He screwed his face up. ‘Eww! It’s disgusting. I could see you from my window. You were all over each other.’

‘We were not!’

He punched the air. ‘I win! You admitted it.’

‘You horrible little brat!’

He sniggered. ‘Yeah. So tell me . . .’

I scowled. I’d have to tell him something. He’d hear about Steven Carlisle at school, but I was keeping Dad out of it.

On Sunday morning, I crept up Jenna’s garden and hovered outside the back door.
It felt weird going so openly to the house, but it was quiet, no sign of her parents. I knocked softly.

Jenna opened it and peeked round to find me standing against the wall. ‘Come in.’

Raggs leapt straight at me of course. I stooped and fussed his ears as we went inside. It wasn’t until I straightened up that I saw the woman at the table. I knew who she was before Jenna spoke. They had the same shape faces, the same noses. And her mum looked as shocked as I felt.

‘Mum, this is Ryan.’

‘Hello,’ Mrs Reed said faintly.

I mumbled something that was supposed to be good morning.

Jenna smiled, all innocent. ‘Mum doesn’t think it’s safe waiting around at bus stops, especially with the Sunday service being so unreliable, so she’s going to drive us to the cinema.’

That look was wasted on me. I could just imagine what she’d done – ‘Mum, I’m going to the cinema with a friend.’ Didn’t tell her it was a boy, didn’t tell her it was me.

Fair play to Mrs Reed, she rallied and smiled. ‘Yes, and you’ll be there much quicker by car so you’ve time for a drink if you’d like one, Ryan. Tea? Coffee? Oh, and do sit down.’

‘Um, coffee, please.’

‘I’ll make it,’ Jenna said. She went to put the kettle on as I sank into a chair.

‘Have you two been friends long?’ her mum asked.

‘A couple of months.’ Well, that was when I’d first met her. A couple of months sounded better, like we’d known each other longer. Say something . . . think of something reassuring . . . my mind’s a blank.

‘Oh!’ She didn’t manage to hide the blink of surprise, but followed up with one of those ‘that’s nice’ smiles. ‘Are you at the same school?’

‘No, I . . .’