Page 60 of After the Accident
Emma:He shouted: ‘Youstoleit.’
It was true, I suppose… but it felt like he’d stolen from me, too. That the childhood memories I had of being on the island were no longer true. They weren’t family holidays for us to enjoy together – there was something going on under the surface that I’d known nothing about.
I said that I needed to put on some clothes – and there was satisfaction in making them wait as I went into my cottage.
My suitcase was still on the floor by the sliding doors in the kitchen and I grabbed a cardigan, before I stood and waited under the vents for a short while. It was cooler inside and my thoughts felt sharper.
I could have sneaked out the back and made some sort of run for it. Dad was in a wheelchair and Daniel couldn’t catch an arthritic sloth. I don’t know where I would have gone – but I wouldn’t have had to listen to them.
I thought about it.
I didn’t, though.
I went back through the cottage until I was on the lawn with Daniel and Dad. I told Dad I could take what I’d found to the police. I think they’d half thought I might have been going into the cottage to fetch the envelope – and the second of silence made it clear my continued disobedience wasn’t what they expected.
Dad said: ‘You wouldn’t,’ so I told him I absolutely would, unless he told me what was going on.
Daniel and Dad exchanged a look and it felt like they’d been talking while I was away. They didn’t need to say anything more because they had already decided.
Dad nodded to his cottage and said: ‘Inside.’
I felt like a little girl then, as if I’d been grounded. I was almost past him when Dad coughed and I realised he wanted me to wheel him inside.
It felt strange doing that. I had never pushed anyone in a wheelchair before and the chair would have been heavy, even without Dad in it. Those few seconds gave me the tiniest glimpse into what it must be like for someone who’s disabled. I had to open their front door, find something to wedge it in place, then go back and wheel Dad across the lawn, over the path and through the threshold. It would have taken me five seconds to walk by myself, but probably took at least two minutes to do everything. I was gasping by the end, not as fit as I thought.
A part of me pictured this life for Dad in future – and I knew it would drive him mad. Any novelty there might be because of the wheelchair would wear off the moment he had to try to get upstairs in his house. I wondered if they might shift the main bedroom to somewhere downstairs, or if he’d need someone to drive him around for a while. Or forever.
I felt sorry for him – but I was so angry, too.
Daniel hadn’t followed us in, so it was just me and Dad. He bumped himself into the corner of the table by accident and then spent a few seconds trying to turn himself around. By this time, he was getting frustrated with the chair as well as me. I felt power, knowing I could walk away from him because of his condition – but knew it would be awful to do that.
Geoffrey:I’ve read the transcript of what my daughter told you and don’t know what else to say, other than that there is no truth within it.
We did talk in the cottage that afternoon – but not about the things she mentioned. I said that I hoped we could get back on track as a family and that I forgave her.
I’ve considered legal action over her claims – but have decided that the weight of evidence against her statements should be enough to speak for itself.
I do not want to sue my daughter – and you are lucky in the sense that you are protected through her.
Emma:Dad told me that he and Daniel had money invested on the island, which is something I’d more or less figured out by that point.
I asked him why he had the fake driving licence, which is when he explained that Alan had opened accounts years before. After he died, the business’ money was stuck. Only Alan could withdraw, except that Alan was dead. It took him nine years to come up with a plan to get it – and, even then, I figured it was spurred on because of Mum’s condition and his resulting spending spree.
None of that was a surprise – but I suppose the barefacedness was. He was literally trying to do the thing I thought he was: rob a bank.
It also answered the question as to why Barak knew Daniel. Daniel would have come to the island a while before to try to claim the money. He’d have needed a car to get to wherever the bank was. Lander mentioned the fishing villages to the north, near the volcano.
Once Daniel got there and realised he needed an ID he couldn’t possibly have, he’d gone home and hatched the rest with Dad. Somehow, they had got hold of a fake driving licence – and here we were. They were all set to claim the money, except that Dad went over that cliff and everything was at risk again.
That’s when I knew for certain that Daniel had nothing to do with Dad falling. It was the opposite of what he would have wanted. He needed Dad to claim the money for the business.
I couldn’t help but think of what Lander had told me – that there were no branches on the street and that the Bank of Galanikos was almost a myth of an institution. It was only useful for people wanting to hide money.
I asked Dad why he needed a bank account on the island and that’s when he started scratching his arms. It wasn’t a casual brush, he was digging in his nails and raking them, to the point that I could see red marks. I asked if he was all right, but his head twitched, as if he had some sort of tic.
It was… frightening, I suppose. I didn’t know what to do and ended up hurrying across to him and trying to hold his hand. I kept saying ‘Dad’, but his eyes were glazed and his attention gone. I was ready to start shouting, to try to get him help, but then, from nowhere, he was back. His eyes zeroed in on me and he grabbed my wrist so hard that I could see the veins bulging in his forearm.
It hurt.
