Page 40 of The One Plus One
‘Jess.’
‘Jess.’ He looked at the policemen. ‘Officers, does this woman actually need to go to the station? Because she’s obviously really, really sorry. And given the hour, I think the kids need to go home.’
‘She’ll be charged with driving without tax and insurance. Your name and address, madam?’
Jess gave it to Policeman Number One. She couldn’t muster a ‘sorry’ face. She was so cross with herself that she could barely get the words out. She watched him turn away and repeat it into his walkie-talkie. Whatever came over the airwaves seemed to satisfy him because when he turned back he looked at the kids and nodded.
‘The car is registered to that address, yes. But it’s registered under a SORN, which means –’
‘That it shouldn’t be driven on a public road. I know.’
‘You know. Shame you didn’t think about that before you came out, then, isn’t it?’ He gave her the kind of look that teachers reserve for making eight-year-olds feel small. And something in that look pushed Jess over the edge.
‘You know what?’ she said. ‘You honestly think I would have driven my kids anywhere at eleven o’clock at night if I hadn’t been desperate? You really think I just sat there this evening in my little house and thought, Iknow. I’ll take my kids and my bloody dog and just go and get us all into a whole heap of trouble and –’
‘It’s not my business what you were thinking, madam. My issue is you bringing an uninsured, possibly unsafe vehicle onto a public road.’
‘I was desperate, okay? And you won’t find me on your damned database because I’ve never done anything wrong –’
‘Or you just never got caught.’
Mr Nicholls’s hand landed on her shoulder. ‘Uh, Jess? I think maybe you should stop now.’
The two policemen gazed at her steadily. On the verge, Norman flopped down with a great sigh. Tanzie watched it all in silence, her eyes great hollows.Oh, God,Jess thought.All she sees around her now is chaos.She bit back her words, mumbled an apology.
‘You will be charged with driving without the appropriate documents, Mrs Thomas,’ Policeman Number One said, handing her a slip of paper. ‘I have to warn you that you will receive a court summons, and that you face a possible fine of up to five thousand pounds.’
‘Five grand?’ Jess started to laugh.
‘But you can go now.’
‘Fivegrand?’
‘And you’ll need to pay to get this…’ the officer couldn’t bring himself to say ‘car’ ‘…out of the police pound. I have to tell you there is a fifteen-pound charge for every day that it remains there.’
‘Perfect. And how am I supposed to get it out of the pound if I’m not allowed to drive it?’
She was testing his patience, she could see. But she couldn’t stop herself.Five grand.
‘You tax it and insure it like everybody else and then you can take it away. Or you pay a garage to fetch it. I’d advise you to remove all your belongings before the tow truck arrives. Once it leaves here we cannot be held responsible for the vehicle’s contents.’
‘Of course. Because obviously it would be way too much to hope for a car to be safe in a police pound,’ she muttered.
‘Jess –’
‘But, Mum, how are we going to get home?’
There was a brief silence. The policemen turned away.
‘I’ll give you a lift,’ Mr Nicholls said.
Jess stepped away from him. ‘Oh. No. No, thank you. We’re fine. We’ll walk. It’s not far.’
‘It’s three miles.’
Tanzie squinted at her, as if trying to assess whether she was serious, then clambered wearily to her feet. Jess remembered that under her coat Tanzie was in her pyjamas. Mr Nicholls glanced at the children. ‘I’m headed back that way.’ He nodded towards the town. ‘You know where I live.’
Tanzie and Nicky didn’t speak, but Jess watched Nicky limp towards the car and start to haul out the bags. She couldn’t make him carry all that stuff home. She wasn’t sure he could even walk that far in his present state.
