Page 44 of The One Plus One
Before he could answer, the boy sloped past, rubbing his eyes. His face was still swollen, and now coloured an impressionist palette of purples and yellows. He gazed at the pile of holdalls and bin bags in the hall and said, ‘Which of these are we taking?’
‘All of them,’ said the little girl. ‘And I packed Norman’s blanket.’
Jess looked at Ed warily. He made to open his mouth, but nothing came out. The entire length of the hallway was lined with battered paperbacks. He wasn’t sure why that surprised him.
‘Can you pick up this bag, Mr Nicholls?’ The little girl tugged it towards him. ‘I did try and lift it earlier because Nicky can’t pick stuff up right now but it’s too heavy for me.’
‘Sure.’ He found himself stooping, but stopped for a moment before he lifted it.How was he going to do this?
‘Listen. Mr Nicholls…’ Jess was in front of him. She looked as uncomfortable as he did. ‘About this trip –’
And then the front door flew open. A woman stood in jogging bottoms and a T-shirt, a baseball bat raised in her hand.
‘DROP THEM!’ she roared.
He froze.
‘PUT YOUR HANDS UP!’
‘Nat!’ Jess shouted. ‘Don’t hit him!’
He lifted them slowly, turning to face her.
‘What the –’ The woman looked past Ed at Jess. ‘Jess? Oh, my God. I thought someone was in your house.’
‘Someoneisin my house. Me.’
The woman dropped the bat, then looked in horror at him. ‘Oh, my God. It’s – Oh, God, oh, God, I’m so sorry. I saw the front door and I honestly thought you were a burglar. I thought you were…you know who.’ She laughed nervously, then pulled an agonized face at Jess, as if he couldn’t see her.
Ed let out a breath. The woman put the bat behind her and tried to smile. ‘You know how it is around here…’
He took a step backwards and gave a small nod. ‘Okay, well…I just need to get my phone. Left it in the car.’
He edged past her with his palms up and headed down the path. He opened and shut the car door, then locked it again, just to give himself something to do, trying to think clearly over the ringing in his ears.Just drive off, a little voice said.Just go. You never have to see her again. You do not need this right now.
Ed liked order. He liked to know what was coming. Everything about this woman suggested the kind of…boundarylessnessthat made him nervous.
He walked halfway back up the path, trying to formulate the right words. As he approached the house, he could just hear them talking behind the half-closed door, their voices carrying across the little garden.
‘I’m going to tell him no.’
‘You can’t, Jess.’ The boy’s voice. ‘Why?’
‘Because it’s too complicated. I work for him.’
‘You clean his house. That’s not the same thing.’
‘We don’t know him, then. How can I tell Tanzie not to get in cars with men she doesn’t know, and then do exactly that?’
‘He wears glasses. He’s hardly going to be a serial killer.’
‘Tell that to Dennis Nielsen’s victims. And Harold Shipman’s.’
‘You know way too many serial killers.’
‘We’ll set Norman on him if he does anything bad.’ The boy’s voice again.
‘Yes. Because Norman has been so useful, protecting this family in the past.’
