I Choose You Page 6

  ‘What are we having? Curry or Thai?’ he’d shouted after him.

  ‘Fish and chips,’ Ray called back.

  Sonny had ended up huddling on the doorstep, waiting for him to come home.

  ‘Thought I ought to stay here. Didn’t think I’d be able to find it again,’ he’d mumbled when Ray returned.

  ‘Come in.’ Ray had pushed the heavy door open, and the two men had both shivered at the shock of the heat hitting them from inside.

  During those first few months, Sonny had stolen from Ray, verbally abused him and disappeared for short periods only to return, begging for a bed and some food. Ray always agreed. Sonny knew he had faith that he’d eventually come through the other side, and that was what kept him going. When drink wasn’t feeding his ego, Sonny was surprised at how much he enjoyed Ray’s company, and all the things they had in common. Ray was surprised to learn that Sonny had been a successful barrister once. His ego had got the better of him and he’d accepted a high-profile case where he defended a man who had murdered a young teenager. He won the case and the man went on to reoffend. The media attention was overwhelming, and he had turned to drink, abandoning his wife and family.

  Eventually, he stopped stealing from Ray, and only occasionally became verbally abusive when it all got too much for him. Their relationship began to shift from therapist and patient into an amicable friendship.

  In return for attending AA meetings, Ray would give him tasks to do during his working hours: making tea, cleaning, answering calls. As he progressed in AA, he added filing and greeting clients – a complete stripping down from what he had once been. Ray paid him, in the form of a free bed and board, all meals included. Once Ray was sure Sonny was following a rhythm, that he felt safe conducting his life with temptation around – for Ray told him this would always be present – Ray began to set him proper hours and the chance to earn money. When he failed to attend meetings and threw himself against the confines of his addiction, being pulled both ways, Ray gave him no tasks, and removed his routine from him.

  There were rules surrounding such privileges. Sonny was not permitted to drink alcohol while he was under Ray’s roof. But nights spent in the comfort of Ray’s home soon became favourable to him. This took time; he would insist on revisiting his old habits only to realise they were just that, and he would find they failed to offer him any joy or comfort. A short-lived euphoria wasn’t enough.

  Eventually, he told Ray he thought he was his son. Some months later Sonny was back to the work he used to do – his reputation as a barrister having never left him.

  Ray had saved him.

  When Sonny didn’t elaborate, DC Chilvers rephrased the question. ‘Did you use an agency, or did you find the Coe family yourself?’

  ‘The internet’s a wonderful tool.’

  ‘Can you tell us how you knew Dr Coe was your biological father?’

  ‘My adopted parents gave me the details of my parentage before they died.’

  ‘And what are the names of your adopted parents?’

  ‘Mr and Mrs Smith.’

  ‘Very droll. We’d like the real names and addresses of your adopted parents and any immediate family you have. Do you have a partner, Mr Travers? Any children?’

  Sonny knew Chilvers wasn’t going to let this line of enquiry drop, but he wasn’t about to reveal further details or talk about his wife and family. ‘Nadia and I have been separated for some time, and I think you already know that.’

  ‘We do know that, Mr Travers, but we still need all the details. For the tape.’ DC Chilvers stayed calm and stared at Sonny.

  ‘This has nothing to do with your investigation, and you are very aware that I know, on a professional basis, that these questions are totally irrelevant and simply designed to unnerve me. I’ve told you what I know, and I’d like to see my father now and get something to eat.’

  The two officers looked at one another.

  ‘It’s very interesting to us, Mr Travers, that you haven’t enquired about your niece since you’ve been here.’

  CHAPTER TEN

  THEN

  The vehicle reversed alongside Nathaniel as his dad turned the car in the driveway, and he saw Elise’s profile, white and stiff, like marble, as she stared straight ahead, Miles leaning against her and Buddy asleep in his car seat. Look at me, he pleaded silently to her. Turn and look at me, otherwise we’ll never get through this together. But she didn’t, and he watched his dad drive them away. He felt a certain amount of relief that they were leaving the awful scene; there were police everywhere, and flashing lights, made more prominent in the dark, heavy sky.

  Nathaniel had been asked to go down to the police station and answer a few questions, to verify he’d been at work when Ida was attacked. It was a tricky one, because he’d already lied and now he was going to have to give the police an explanation, and that was going to sound lame. The simple truth was that when he finished work and was free to go home, he would, on occasion, go to a café or bar and tell Elise he was working late. Their fractious home life was too much for him at times, and more recently he’d spent longer periods away. Elise’s increasingly temperamental state left him feeling drained and exhausted. Add an eight-year-old and a baby to that mix, and you had all the triggers for a nervous breakdown. The less time he spent at home, the better. But he realised now that there was no one guaranteed to corroborate his story, apart from the bar staff, and he hoped they’d remember him.

  Nathaniel was just about to get into the police car when he heard someone shouting at the back of Ray’s house. Nathaniel ran to the side gate and managed to get halfway down the gravelled path, where he was stopped by a police officer.

  ‘You can’t go in there, I’m sorry.’ The police officer pushed Nathaniel back.

  ‘She’s here!’ someone shouted further down the garden.

  ‘Let me see her!’ Nathaniel pushed against the officer, grabbing the man’s sleeves with his fists, then his adrenaline kicked in and he managed to shove him to the ground. He ran, spraying shingle everywhere, and found a small group of people crowded around the old coal bunker that was covered in ivy and lost amidst the rest of the garden.

  Someone else tried to stop him, along with the officer he’d shoved in the alleyway, and Nathaniel caught a glimpse of Ida’s sheet-white face. Everything slowed, the crowd parted, and people turned to look at Nathaniel as he lifted his face to the rain-filled, dark sky, and his emotions got the better of him. Ida was dead. His daughter’s body had been found. The silence wound its way around him like toxic gas.

  ‘There’s a faint pulse, I can feel a pulse,’ one of the officers said into the darkness. ‘Are the paramedics still here?’

  Everyone suddenly moved, and chaos ensued, as a couple of people went to fetch the paramedics. Nathaniel tried to break free but was restrained by two officers.

  ‘We still need to preserve as much evidence as possible, Mr Munroe. You can see your daughter once we’ve got her to hospital.’

  Nathaniel wasn’t listening. He was staring at Ida, lying on top of the coal in the bunker. She reminded him of the foxes he’d seen dead on the side of the road, discarded like trash. Her face was patterned with blood, stark against her white skin, her eyes open and staring, like she was already dead.

  In what seemed like a hazy few minutes, two paramedics carefully placed Ida on a stretcher and carried her to the front of the house and loaded her onto the ambulance.

  ‘Mr Munroe.’ Nathaniel turned to see a plain-clothes policeman standing behind him.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘DS Waterford.’ The police officer showed Nathaniel his warrant card. ‘What made you come back into the garden earlier?’

  Nathaniel frowned. ‘I heard someone shouting and wanted to see if they’d found Ida.’

  ‘Okay.’ The DS nodded, his hands shoved deep into his suit trousers.

  ‘Why do you ask?’

  ‘I didn’t know if you’d come back because you were looking for
something. That’s all.’ DS Waterford turned away and walked back towards the house. Nathaniel made to follow, but thought it was better to stay where he was. It would only get him into trouble.

  ‘Just find the person who did this,’ he growled.

  ‘Oh, we will,’ DS Waterford called over his shoulder.

  Police didn’t like journalists or lawyers – that was a fact, even in a situation like this – and Nathaniel knew he wasn’t going to get any sympathy, not after the number of unfavourable reports he’d written about them over the years.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  THEN

  Elise’s mind swirled as she drifted in and out of sleep, making her feel nauseous. She gripped the padded arms of the high-backed hospital chair she’d spent the night in, trying to steady herself against the sensation of moving. Dawn was just breaking through the curtains, highlighting the aftermath of yesterday’s awful nightmare, which was all so very real now. Ida had been operated on during the night, to relieve the pressure on her brain, and she was being kept in an induced coma. She was lifeless, a machine helping her to breathe, and Elise knew the reality of the situation wasn’t good, but giving up hope wasn’t an option.

  Elise reached out for Ida’s hand, silently pleading with her to squeeze her fingers, respond in some small way, give some sign that she was still present in the world, but there was nothing. Ida lay there, surrounded by machines and covered in wires. If only Elise hadn’t worked on Ida’s birthday, if only she hadn’t been persuaded by a colleague to swap shifts, if only she’d taken Ida out of school that day like her daughter had asked her to. The regret gripped her insides, and visions of what could have been but was impossible now tortured her already-tormented mind.

  ‘Has there been any change? I nodded off.’ Elise spoke to the police officer who was guarding Ida’s room.

  ‘Sorry, no. I’d have woken you.’ The DC whose name Elise couldn’t remember smiled sympathetically. She was the second one on guard since they’d brought Ida back from her scan. It was a comfort to know her daughter was being protected.

  DC Chilvers had asked to meet Elise and Nathaniel, along with Ray and Sonny, in the family room at the hospital; Elise had refused to go anywhere else in case things changed with Ida. The meeting was to be held at 10 a.m. In the early hours, Nathaniel had gone to visit Miles and Buddy, who were staying at his father’s house, to make sure they were okay, and had crept back into the hospital room to bring Elise some hot, sweet tea. They both sat in silence for a while, lost in their own thoughts.

  ‘I wish we’d ignored the leap year, celebrated her birthday another day like we normally do,’ Elise whispered into the artificially lit room, as they both stared at the lines on the monitor, the small reassurance that Ida was alive.

  ‘Would it have changed anything?’

  ‘Maybe not.’ Elise stood up and stretched out her back.

  ‘The police think the break-in and the assault are connected,’ said Nathaniel.

  ‘Well, that’s stating the bloody obvious.’

  ‘Did Ida say anything to you about any new friends she’d made recently?’

  ‘I’m just as baffled about who took those photos as you are. Maybe the police managed to get some information out of Alistair.’ Elise sat back down, a watchful eye on her daughter. ‘There’s obviously something she has or had that someone was after. Why else would they ransack her room?’

  ‘We should have been more vigilant about what she was doing online. Neither of us know if she was talking to anyone when she was shut away in her bedroom.’

  ‘Ida wouldn’t do that. She’s not like other teenagers – she isn’t stupid.’

  ‘Someone took those photos and posted them on her account, Elise. Did you find out what Ray was arguing with her about?’

  Elise yawned, exhausted but unable to sleep. ‘It was something to do with that family tree project she’s been doing. I can’t remember exactly what Dad said, but she wanted to go into his office and look for some photographs and he told her no. You know what he’s like about anyone going in there. He said he’d look for her, but Ida being Ida . . .’ Elise stopped herself, suddenly feeling guilty for talking about her daughter like that. She reached for Ida’s limp hand.

  ‘She hasn’t been contacting anyone she thinks we might be related to? Those genealogy websites have all sorts of cranks on there, claiming they know you.’

  ‘Good point, I’ll mention it in the meeting. I don’t think she argued with Ray – Miles is exaggerating, they just had a heated discussion about it from what I can gather.’

  Suddenly Elise stared at Nathaniel, eyes wide as she felt a flicker of movement from Ida’s forefinger.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘She moved. Her finger moved.’ Elise whacked her free hand on the button to call for a nurse as they both watched Ida’s pulse rate rising on the monitor.

  Both a doctor and a nurse came into the room, but Elise and Nathaniel’s hopes were soon dashed when they were told it was probably a nerve twitch, with the escalated heart rate due to changes within her body, and no one could tell at this stage if they were positive or negative. Elise wasn’t convinced. She’d felt movement, albeit small, and wanted to believe Ida could hear them, and was somewhere, holding on to her life.

  ‘I’m going to get back to Dad’s,’ Nathaniel said. ‘I want to be there in case the boys wake up. Miles took a while to settle.’ He kissed Ida, seemingly unable to look at his wife, who didn’t want to be comforted. He was helpless to bring about a miracle, and Elise knew as the fixer in the family he was feeling utterly useless.

  ‘Make sure you’re back for the meeting,’ she said as he walked towards the door.

  ‘I will.’

  Just before 10 a.m., Sonny slowly opened the door and crept in, causing another bout of tears to burst forth from Elise as he embraced her. It was the first time Elise had seen Sonny, and she had so many questions about what had happened. She couldn’t help feeling she was looking at a stranger.

  ‘Is Dad with you?’

  ‘Yes, he’s just getting us all some coffee. It’s been a long night.’

  ‘For all of us,’ Elise said.

  ‘Sorry, that was insensitive. Is there any more news on Alistair?’

  ‘No.’ Elise fixed her gaze on her almost unrecognisable daughter. ‘Do you think it was him you saw running through the garden?’

  ‘I’m sorry, Elise, I just don’t know. I’d hate to make a false accusation.’

  ‘Can you remember what he was wearing when you came back from work in the afternoon?’

  ‘I was in such a hurry, I literally dashed in and out. And whoever I saw outside last night could have been anyone – it was raining hard and the light was beginning to fade. I’m sorry.’

  ‘It’s okay.’ Elise paused briefly. ‘Miles said he saw you in the park when he went back to school for basketball. He called out to you.’

  ‘He couldn’t have, I went straight back to work.’

  Elise watched him for any signs he might be hiding something. Trusting anyone, even her own family, had changed overnight now that someone had tried to take her daughter’s life.

  Ray walked in before she could ask Sonny anything else, and she decided it was probably best to leave the questions until later, and see what the police had to say.

  Ray placed the coffees on the table and Elise stood up and embraced him. She’d never seen him looking so grey and tired. He was a large man, well built and imposing – totally unbefitting what people expected a psychiatrist to look like. He always wore trousers and a shirt, topped off with a panama hat covering the thin blond hair that reached his shoulders. During the winter months, he warmed up with a sweater, a scarf and occasionally a coat when it was particularly cold. Elise had often told him how he looked like a Colombian drug baron.

  She recalled now how different she was to her parents, and how for years when she was growing up, she’d believed that’s why her father had left. Elise had always felt
too grubby, common, unpredictable, and nowhere near as refined in her tastes as they were. Elise had rejoiced in the SodaStream, the TV Times and bright orange processed-cheese slices she nagged them to buy her. Ray and Ingrid had owned a decanter, meticulously read the Telegraph, listened to Classic FM and ate mouldy, soft cheeses. Even after her parents had separated and she split her time at both their houses, they would prepare a snack in the same way: cheeseboard, celery, grapes, relish and port, all on an antique silver tray, the only food either would allow in the sitting room. Elise just ate straight from the cupboard or fridge as her mother looked on disdainfully. But not once had she ever known Ray to be condescending or patronising towards her, and she had loved him for that.

  ‘You doing okay, kid?’

  ‘Yep.’ Elise fought back the tears as Ray squeezed her arms. ‘Let’s get going before I change my mind.’

  Drained and lifeless, they all made their way down the corridor to the family room, though Elise was reluctant to leave Ida. They sat down and sipped their coffees.

  Elise stood up and grabbed Nathaniel as soon as he walked in. ‘Shouldn’t we be doing something? Making some sort of appeal?’

  ‘Let’s see what the police have to say this morning, hey? I know you feel helpless but it’s best to let them do their jobs. They’ll tell us what we need to do.’

  ‘Their way isn’t helping Ida, though, is it.’

  ‘No one apart from the doctors can help Ida, Elise. All we need to do now is find out who did this. It’s done, there’s no turning the clock back, you just have to get used to it. Ida’s brain injury is so bad that even if she does wake up – and it’s a big if – she’ll never be the same again. Do you really want that for her?’

  ‘Don’t say that, don’t say that.’ Elise began to sob, the pain crushing her chest like she was weighed down in a pool of freezing water.

  ‘Come on, Nathaniel, that’s a bit much.’ Ray put his arm around Elise and tried to offer some comfort, but there was barely any to give.