Page 49 of The Girls in the Lake
There was a long silence as he tried to come to terms with this. His wife began to sob.
‘We should have checked on her, Bill, why didn’t we? We let her down.’
He sat next to her, pulling her close. ‘We haven’t checked on her since she was eleven, Ange, why would we? She’d already messaged to say she was home and safe. You don’t expect your teenage daughter to drop down dead; no one expects that.’
‘I don’t know the exact reason for Tamara’s death at this moment. I’m afraid I’m going to have to do a full forensic post-mortem. I’ll be able to tell you exactly what happened once it’s completed.’
Angela was shaking her head. ‘I don’t want you to cut my baby girl up. It’s bad enough she’s dead.’
Bill kissed his wife’s cheek. ‘We don’t have a choice. The doctor has to do her job. We need to know what happened. I can’t bear the thought that she might have been lying there for hours needing help and we didn’t hear her.’
Beth spoke, her voice gentle. ‘I don’t think that your daughter suffered too much. I think it was quite sudden judging by the way she is lying on the floor. It looks as if she collapsed, where you found her. If she’d lain there suffering, she would have tried to move, to reach a phone, to call out to you. The bedcovers would be messy where she’d tried to pull herself up. There is nothing to indicate that she did.’
She stood up, hoping this assumption was the right one. Secondary drowning was painful; inhaled water causes airway muscles to spasm. Fluid can then build up in the lungs, which causes trouble breathing. It would have been excruciating for a short time, but they didn’t need to know that. Regardless of what she told them, they would spend the rest of their lives blaming themselves for not being there, when in reality even if they had found her straight away it was highly likely she would have been dead before she hit the floor. All the money or love in the world couldn’t change what had happened.
‘I’ll be in touch; I really am so very sorry for your loss.’
There was an even older woman hovering around in the doorway to the lounge. At first glance Beth would have said grandmother, but then she realised the woman had a uniform on. A housekeeper maybe? Whoever she was, her eyes were as red-rimmed as Angela Smythson’s and it was obvious she was very close to the family. As Beth passed her, she smiled and whispered, ‘I’m so sorry.’
Then she was striding towards the open front doors, walking down the steps towards her car, inhaling the crisp autumn air and clearing her mind, expelling the emotions she’d just absorbed from the grief-stricken family. If she didn’t, they would hang around inside clogging up her mind, and she couldn’t afford to lose focus. A third girl had died as a result of being in that goddamn lake and Beth was determined there would not be another death.
Fifty-Five
Beth made a detour on the way to the hospital; Josh had looked beside himself and she hadn’t felt as if she could comfort him. It wasn’t supposed to be this way: she loved him but would not be made a fool of. The only person who could answer her questions and put her mind at rest one way or the other was Jodie. She turned into her street once more. This time Josh’s car was nowhere to be seen. It was likely that he wouldn’t be leaving work for many hours yet. She questioned herself before she got out of the car.Should you be doing this?She didn’t know. All she knew was that she wanted a straight answer. She could deal with the consequences once she knew what was happening. Wearily, she knocked on Jodie’s door, a part of her hoping that she wouldn’t answer, tempted to turn around before she could get the door opened.
‘Beth, what are you doing here?’
‘Sorry to bother you, have you got five minutes?’
The door opened further and Beth stepped into the narrow hallway. It smelt of vanilla cupcakes as she followed Jodie into the cosy kitchen and Beth couldn’t help but envy how homely it felt. Painted pale lemon with cream shaker-style units, there were fairy lights and bunting everywhere.
‘You have a lovely home.’
Jodie laughed. ‘It’s not much, but I like it. I’ve made the most of what I have I suppose.’
Beth smiled at her. ‘That’s all we can do, isn’t it? Make the best of what we have.’ She noticed the row of prescription bottles and the plastic container marked with days of the week.
‘So, what brings you here?’
The question echoed in her head.
‘I, erm. It’s a bit awkward really. Things have been a bit strained between me and Josh. He hasn’t been coming home and I wondered if he’d decided to come back to you.’
Jodie looked at her in wide-eyed horror. ‘Oh, God. He didn’t tell you, did he? He’s such an idiot at times.’
‘Tell me what?’
‘It’s my fault. I was the one who got in touch with him. I wouldn’t have, but I really had no one else to ask. It’s a bit sad when you have to ask your ex to give you a hand.’
‘I don’t understand. Are you two sleeping together again?’
‘No, absolutely not. I – I have leukaemia and ended up in hospital after almost overdosing myself. They said I couldn’t come home unless I had someone to keep an eye on me. Josh was the only person I could think of who wouldn’t mind me looking a state and feeling sorry for myself. I didn’t expect him to say yes. I did hope he would because I’ve spent too long stuck in hospital. I was being selfish. I wanted to come home. I don’t understand why he didn’t tell you though?’
Beth shrugged; neither did she. ‘Oh, Jodie, I’m so sorry to hear that. That must be so awful for you to cope with all alone. Of course Josh should help you out. I’m so sorry, there was me thinking you were sleeping together…’
Jodie laughed. ‘We didn’t sleep together much when we were married and we’re definitely not sleeping together now; his stuff is in the spare room. Go and see for yourself, there’s nothing to hide. What an idiot.’
‘He can be. Tell me, how are you doing?’
