The Broken Man (32 page)

Attached to the chain was a locket, not as flat and small as the one her own mother had, but, oh, it was so pretty. Just now as it emerged from the box, the light caught its brilliance, and the locket seemed to come alive.

Alice was mesmerised.

She saw how Adam caressed the locket in his hands, and she felt his joy. She saw how he pressed it to his face and when she heard him softly crying, she looked away.

In that moment, for whatever reason, Adam instinctively walked across the room and quietly closed his door.

Alice was not best pleased, though in her mind’s eye she saw the bright, shimmering locket still, and knew she would not rest until she had it in her hands.

In his bedroom, unaware that Alice had been snooping on him, Adam quickly replaced the locket and hid the box underneath the deep, wooden skirt of the wardrobe, where he believed it to be safe from prying eyes.

Suddenly, he could hear the telephone ringing downstairs, and then Maureen’s voice calling up: ‘Can somebody please get the phone? I’m changing Harriet’s stinky bottom!’

Adam was there in no time. Grabbing up the receiver, he asked, ‘Hello, who is this?’ Then: ‘Oh, right. Yes, we’re all fine. Maureen’s changing Harriet’s nappy, and you’ll be pleased to know that Alice is upstairs tidying her toy box.’ There was a moment when he just listened, and then: ‘Yes, I will. Yes … see you later.’

Replacing the receiver, he went into Maureen, who had already guessed from the short exchange: ‘That was either Liz or Jim, so is everything all right?’

‘They’ll be about an hour later than expected. Some friends they haven’t seen for a while have just turned up.’

‘That’s OK.’ Maureen was ready for every eventuality. ‘I hadn’t planned on going out anyway.’

With the baby struggling in her arms, she gently pushed the lazy dog aside with the tip of her toe. ‘Shove up, Buster! Harriet wants to play ball.’

She placed the baby into the playpen and watched as she quickly crawled away to get the big, blue ball from the far side. ‘I reckon Harriet’s gonna be a footballer when she grows up.’ Maureen reached down and gave the ball a gentle pat; she laughed out loud when Harriet screamed with delight as she scuttled across the playpen after the ball.

Adam, meanwhile, had gone to make sure he’d locked the garden shed.

Up in Adam’s bedroom, Alice was on her hands and knees, frantically searching for the box. She had just about given up when she spotted the corner of the eiderdown oddly tucked up at the bottom of the bed. Quickly now, she ran her hand beneath the bed but found nothing. Then, she reached under the skirting of the wardrobe and there it was: a square object with raised features on the lid. Yes! It had to be the box.

Delighted, she withdrew it and, quickly locating the silver locket, she plucked it out, closed the lid and slid the box back again. Hurriedly, she went to the door and peeped out. Satisfied that it was safe, she went straight back to her own bedroom.

As Adam ran up the stairs, she was already sliding the locket underneath her mattress.

She almost leaped out of her skin when there came a tap on her door. ‘Alice. You’ve got a bit more time to tidy your toy box.’ As the door was slightly open, Adam poked his head in. ‘Do you need any help?’

‘No, thanks. Oh! Was that my mum on the phone just now?’

‘Yes. She said to tell you and Maureen that they should be back within the hour.’

‘That’s good, because I haven’t really started on my toy box yet.’ This was her moment, just before her parents were due home.

Smiling sweetly, she invited him in. ‘Come and see. Honestly, Mummy makes such a fuss. I think it’s tidy enough already.’

Adam would rather have got on with his own tasks, but thinking to humour her, he came across the room.

When he was almost beside her, Alice calmly opened the lid, deliberately watching Adam for his reaction.

Adam was horrified by what he saw. Lying neatly on top of a mountain of toys, six mutilated dolls lay in a row, each with her hair pulled out by the roots. Their raggedy arms were hanging off, as though they’d been viciously swung round, and their pot faces were busted to a pulp.

Unable to speak for a while, Adam was visibly shaken, then he was gabbling, ‘Alice, what’s happened to them? Who did that?’

‘
You
did that, Adam!’ Alice was calm. ‘You came into my room when you thought I was asleep and you broke all my dolls. I saw you, but I was frightened in case you hurt me too.’

Adam was shocked, but from her manner and the way she was smiling, he knew the truth. ‘You little monster! You did this yourself, didn’t you?’ He was so shaken he could hardly think straight: ‘Alice! Why did you do this? And why are you blaming me? I would never do such a terrible thing!’

She came back at him, calm and smiling. ‘But you
did
do it! You thought I was asleep but I wasn’t. I saw you do this, Adam. And when Mummy and Daddy get home, I’ll tell them what you did, and they’ll send you back to that children’s home, where you belong! You don’t belong here with decent people.’

‘Oh, now I see!’ Adam grabbed her by the wrist. ‘I should have known. All your snide little glances; the way you always butt in whenever I get some attention from your parents; and I know why you wouldn’t eat the fish even though it’s your favourite. It was because me and Phil caught it. And now this … busting up your best dolls, so you can blame it on me, and get me sent away. Well, it won’t work! Because you can tell Maureen what a bad thing you’ve done!’ He grabbed hold of her wrist. ‘Come on … tell her right now!’

When he tugged her forward she started to yell and scream at the top of her voice, ‘Help! Maureen, get him off me!’

Alerted by Alice’s frantic cries, Maureen ran up the stairs; she was horrified to see that Adam had Alice by both wrists and was trying to force her downstairs. Greatly distressed, Alice was sobbing as she tried to fight him off.

‘Stop it!’ Grabbing Adam by the arm, Maureen managed to pull him off Alice. ‘What the devil do you think you’re doing?’

Breaking free, Alice clung to her. ‘I know what he did!’ she yelled. ‘That’s why he wants to hurt me … because I saw him do it. He broke all my dolls. He did it, Maureen. I saw him.’

‘Sssh.’ Maureen calmed her, before asking Adam, ‘Did you do what she said? I want the truth, Adam.’

Although Adam vehemently denied it, Maureen chose to believe Alice. ‘I can only go by what I see now.’ She pointed to Adam. ‘You were deliberately hurting her, and she’s got the bruises to prove it. What’s wrong with you, Adam? Why would you do that?’

Adam could see that he had little defence and, not for the first time, he felt alone and vulnerable. ‘What’s the point?’ He glanced at Alice, who was nestling up to Maureen; a look in her eyes that told him she would lie through her teeth until everyone saw her as the victim.

It was then that he realised no one, not even Maureen, would believe him against Alice, because she was a part of this family, while he would always be an outsider.

‘I’m waiting, Adam.’ Maureen was insistent. ‘I want to know why you hurt her like that?’

‘I was not hurting her. I was trying to get her to come and tell you the truth, and she began screaming and fighting me.’

Maureen tenderly stroked Alice’s face. ‘That’s not true. I saw you with my own eyes. You were deliberately hurting her. The poor kid was terrified. So don’t you try and lie your way out of it, because I know what I saw.’

‘Well, you saw wrong. I didn’t mean to hurt her, but she was like a crazy thing, kicking and screaming. I promise you, I never touched her dolls. I just wanted her to tell the truth about what she’d done, and how she deliberately put the blame on me.’

He gave a wry little smile. ‘I can see you’ve already made up your mind that I’m a liar, when the truth is, it’s
her
that’s lying. But if you can’t believe me, then nobody else will.’

He was not surprised to see Alice smile at him from Maureen’s protective embrace.

Deep down, he’d always known Alice hated him. He had even confided in Phil, but being the caring man he was, Phil had tried to dismiss Adam’s fears.

‘You don’t know her,’ Adam told Maureen. ‘She’s worked this all out. She’s never liked me being here. She told me that I should go back to the children’s home, where I belong. She said I don’t belong with decent people. And now, that’s what you think as well. So she’s won and I’m the bad one, and if you can believe the tale she’s told you, they will all believe it.’

Maureen could feel Alice trembling in her arms. She could not believe how Adam was desperately trying to justify what he’d done. ‘Adam, I don’t know what to say, except that I’m shocked at what you did. I really am sorry that it’s turned out like this … for Alice’s sake mainly. But she could be right. Maybe you did leave the children’s home too soon.’

She looked at him, and what she saw was a boy not much younger than she was herself; a boy who had seemed the perfect son for Liz and Jim; a boy who had been much loved by those good people. And, seeing the look on his face now, she saw a goodness there, and for one split second she was actually made to wonder if Alice was lying.

But then she recalled the evidence of her own eyes, and she quickly dismissed that fleeting instinct. The truth was, Adam had hurt Alice. That was what she had witnessed, and Alice had been terrified. She was the one who got hurt. She was the one in distress. She was the one who carried the bruises.

Moreover, from what she had learned through various sources, Maureen reminded herself that Adam had come from a violent background, while Alice’s family were decent, God-fearing people, whose only mistake was making a wrong judgement.

‘The truth is, Adam, you hurt a terrified nine-year-old child. She was screaming for you to let her go, and you wouldn’t. I have to believe what she’s told me, and what I saw with my own eyes.’

She looked at him, at his soulful expression, and the way he kept glancing at Alice as though warning her. It only confirmed her belief that he was a bully and a liar.

Maureen held on tight to the girl. ‘I’m sorry, Adam, but from the little I know, I believe you must take after your father.’

‘
I’m nothing like him
!’ Her cutting words ignited a fury in him. ‘Don’t you ever say that!’ He took a step forward, his anger focused on Alice. ‘She’s the warped one, not me! She never wanted me here. That’s why she’s done this … to make me look bad. To get rid of me!’

When Alice clung harder to her, Maureen slowly backed away from Adam. ‘I’m calling the pub to speak to Liz and Jim,’ she said coldly. ‘You can explain yourself to them!’

‘Maureen, I’m not lying,’ Adam pleaded with her. ‘Please … you have to believe me. If one of us is lying, it’s her! I never went near the dolls! And I did not deliberately hurt her. She was fighting me because she didn’t want me to bring her down to tell you the truth.’

Maureen was already halfway down the stairs, with Alice clutching onto her. ‘Stay away, Adam!’ she warned him. ‘After what I’ve seen, I don’t blame Alice for wanting you away from here!’

When they were out of sight, Adam stood at the top of the stairs for what seemed to him a long time, though in fact it was only a matter of minutes.

Realising that he might be sent away, he was frantic. Liz and Jim were bound to believe Alice over him, and why shouldn’t they? Alice was their flesh and blood, after all. Maybe Maureen was right; maybe he did take after his father. Maybe he really was a monster in the making.

He could hear Maureen on the phone. ‘No, she’s OK now. I’ve got her down here with me and Harriet. No, he’s still upstairs. I don’t know … but I’ll keep an eye on things until you get here.’

On hearing that conversation, Adam could see no alternative.

He went into his room and collected his hessian bag from inside the wardrobe. He filled it with the basics, together with a complete change of clothes and a spare pair of boots.

Next, he took out all his savings, which he had in a jar under the bed. After transferring all the money to one of his clean socks, he stuffed the sock into the deepest crevice of his travel bag.

The money was not a vast amount – well-earned from his paper round, and other odd jobs – but it had filled the jar, and now it would help him get by until he decided what to do.

For now though, he must be quick. He needed to be out of here before Liz and Jim got back.

Quickly, he checked in his mind that he had enough for his immediate needs.

I’ll need to get a job
, he decided as he hurried about his business. He’d lie about his age. No one would guess he was not yet fourteen. Everyone always said he was tall for his age.

He now collected the most important item of all: his mother’s box, which he withdrew from under the wardrobe and carefully placed in the bottom of the bag. He had an idea for keeping it safe. Taking a pen and paper from the chest of drawers, he pushed them into his pocket.

Shortly after that, he crept softly down the stairs, and out of the house at the back. He had no idea where he might end up, or if the authorities would catch up with him and put him in care again. He desperately hoped not. He had no intention of going back to the children’s home. He longed for the day when he would be out of their jurisdiction; when he would be free to do as he pleased. But that was many long months away yet.