Page 49 of The Dead Ex
I don’t hear the rest of it. I smell burning. Feel dizzy. I need to get under a table. Quickly.
Voices come in and out.
‘What’s wrong with her?’
‘She’s faking it.’
‘I don’t think so, sir.’
‘Catch her, Sergeant.’
16
Scarlet
‘Sure you didn’t grass us up?’ Dawn had demanded after the police brought her back.
Scarlet made a sign on her chest. ‘Cross my heart and hope to die.’
Mum used to do that when she was at something called a ‘convent school’. It was one of the few things she’d told her about her childhood. It upset her too much to say more, especially when Scarlet asked why she didn’t have grandparentslike some of the others in class. So she’d learned to keep quiet.
Once, though, she’d found a photograph in Mum’s bag. It showed a little girl in a red spotty dress and blonde hair in a bouncy ponytail. A smiley man stood on one side and a woman with curly yellow hair stood on the other. A black-and-white dog sat next to them. There was nothing on the back.
‘Is that you?’ she’d asked.
‘Yes.’Mum’s voice had been quick and hard, the way it was when she pretended to say something that didn’t matter but did.
‘I like the dog.’
Mum’s voice melted. ‘He was called Charlie. We used to go everywhere together.’
‘Who are the other people?’
‘No one.’
This was the quick, hard voice again.
‘But how can someone be no one?’
‘They’re nothing to do with you or me. OK? It’s not important. Justleave it.’
If it wasn’t important, why did the photograph go everywhere with Mum in her red velvet bag? But Scarlet kept that question in her head because she was a good girl. It’s what she did best.
Scarlet had kept quiet after the prison visit too. She just didn’t feel like talking in the car on the way back to the house. So Camilla with the shaggy fringe did it instead.
‘Don’t be too upsetby your mum. It’s not easy for her, being away from you. Just as I know it’s not easy for you either, love. But the Walters are good people. They’ll look after you.’
That isn’t true, Scarlet wanted to say. She almost told her then about the two fridges and the shouting and the having to leave the house early so Mrs Walters could get rid of them. But if she did that, she might get into even moretrouble.
‘Just make sure you stay on the right side of the law from now on,’ added Camilla. ‘There are still things they can do even if you’re under ten. They might put a child curfew order on you. Do you know what that means?’
Scarlet shook her head.
‘You can’t be in a public place between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless you’re with an adult. Or you might get placed under the supervision of a youthoffending team.’
The traffic lights were red. Scarlet could feel the socialworker’s eyes on her. She looked away, out at the street. A girl about her age was walking along, holding a woman’s hand. Her heart lurched.
‘When will they let Mum get out of prison?’ she whispered.
