Helen looked. She saw huge welts along the woman’s stomach, yellowing bruises all joined together like a painful daisy chain. Dee pulled her T-shirt up further. More of the same.
‘This is what he does to me,’ Dee said, her lip trembling, tears still on her cheeks. ‘This is what he does to me all the time … ’ She sat down again, head in hands, shoulders shaking uncontrollably. ‘They’re all over, all over … my, my body … ’
‘But if I remember, I thought you liked—’
‘Playing’s one thing,’ said Dee through her tears. ‘It’s fun, it’s consensual. But this … ’
Helen stared at her. She had never liked Dee. Always found her creepy and strange, lacking any kind of human dimension, any kind of connectivity. When they had sat down to talk, she had expected her to try something. But she had never seen this coming. And now she understood. It explained everything. The way Dee was, her character, her manner … all because of this.
‘I’m … I’m so sorry, Dee. It must be … horrible.’
Dee looked up, eyes red-rimmed. ‘Oh, you have no idea.’
‘And from your own brother … ’
Dee nodded silently. ‘Why … why did you come here, Helen? What did you want?’
‘I … ’ Helen was thrown by the question. She had almost forgotten. ‘It’s about Jeff. I just wanted you to know that … that whatever he was up to, I had no part in it.’
Dee looked at her sharply. ‘Do you know where they are now? What they’re planning?’
‘No.’
‘Oh.’ Her head went back down. The sobbing started up again. ‘Did you … ’ It was hard to make out the words through the sobs. ‘Did you want money — is that it? Money to say nothing about … anything?’
‘Well, yes, I suppose I did.’
Dee nodded through her tears. ‘Come here, get money, walk away and keep quiet.’ She sighed. ‘How easy.’ Another sigh. ‘How easy … ’
‘What d’you mean?’
‘Take your money. Fine. I don’t care. And walk away. You won’t say anything. I know. You’ve seen what he did to Jeff. You don’t want that to happen to you.’
‘No. Definitely not. I won’t say anything. You know me.’ Helen couldn’t believe how easy this was.
‘I know, Helen. Money buys your loyalty.’ Dee looked around the room, as if seeing it for the first time. ‘Money can buy anyone’s loyalty … ’
‘What d’you mean?’
Dee looked up, straight at Helen. ‘I can talk to you. We used to be close, once.’
Helen couldn’t remember that, but she kept listening.
‘It’s Michael. I want to … to leave.’
Helen shrugged. ‘Then leave. There’s nothing stopping you.’
‘Oh but there is, Helen, there is. He’s got all the money. I’ve got nothing. I have to beg him for anything I want.’
‘But he’s your brother, not your husband. I’d never stay with a man who did that to me.”
‘Doesn’t matter what he is. The fact is I can’t leave him.’
Helen sat back, thinking. A plan came to her. She leaned forward once more. ‘Dee, that money you mentioned. To pay me off. Where were you going to get it from?’
‘Michael’s account. Or the company account.’ She frowned as if the answer was obvious. ‘Why?’
‘How d’you get it?’
‘Internet banking. Transfer it to my account.’
Helen smiled. ‘Then why don’t you just transfer a huge amount for yourself and leave him?’
Dee looked like the idea had never occurred to her. ‘But … I couldn’t … ’
‘Why not?’
‘Because he’d find me … track me down and … like Jeff … ’
Helen thought again. This was her area of expertise. Getting money out of men. ‘Why not set up a new account and siphon funds off into that? Make it a shell company, some kind of subsidiary, a fake, and little by little take money from him until you’ve got enough to get away on?’
Dee thought about it, then shook her head. ‘It’s good, but … ’
‘But what?’
‘I want to get away now.’
‘What, right now? Today, you mean?’
Dee nodded. ‘This thing with Jeff, it’s … too much. Too far. I can’t stay here any longer.’ She leaned across the table, took Helen’s hands. ‘Help me. Please.’
‘Right,’ said Helen, her business head firmly on. ‘How much can you get out of his account in cash, today?’
‘Cash? I don’t know … not much. But he does have a safe in the house.’
A shiver of anticipation ran through Helen. ‘How much is in there?’
‘He usually keeps about … seventy, a hundred thousand in cash … ’
Helen could barely contain her excitement. ‘Then go and get it.’
A cloud passed over Dee’s face. ‘I can’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘He watches me all the time, never lets me out of his sight … ’ She fell silent. ‘He’s going out later.’
‘What time?’
She chewed her lip thoughtfully. ‘Seven. Tonight.’
‘There’s your window of opportunity, then,’ said Helen, holding Dee’s hand. ‘Here’s what we’ll do. This afternoon you set up a fake account. Make it at a high street bank with a branch you can get to. At seven o’clock you clear out the safe. Then, with your bag packed, come and meet me and we’ll take off and lie low somewhere. When a few days have passed and the new account has gone through, we walk into a branch of the bank and close the account, taking the money with us. How does that sound?’
Dee’s eyes were wide. ‘Can we do that?’
‘Of course we can. Cut me in and I’ll make sure it works.’
‘The two of us together?’ Dee laughed.
‘The two of us together.’
‘And you’ll … you’ll come with me?’
‘Course I will. Make a new start together. Just the two of us.’ Or just the three of us, thought Helen, including the money.
Dee was smiling. She had never looked more human. I’ve really misjudged her, thought Helen.
They arranged when and where to meet later that night, and Helen left the house elated. It couldn’t have gone better if she had planned it.
60
Well,’ said Deepak, watching Helen Hibbert leave, ‘she’s looking pleased with herself.’
Helen Hibbert got into a taxi. She had almost skipped towards it, grinning.
‘Doesn’t she, though?’ said Jessie. ‘Wonder what all that was about.’
Deepak had his hand on the door handle. ‘Let’s find out, shall we?’
‘Yes,’ said Jessie, getting out the other side, ‘let’s.’
They walked up to the gate.
Jessie’s headache, like the fog, had just about disappeared.
61
Marina opened her eyes to find herself in a strange bed in a strange room. She flung back the covers, began to panic. Then remembered.
Her brother, Alessandro. Jaywick.
She sank back down again. Closed her eyes once more.
Jaywick. She had driven here the night before, straight after going to the house. She shivered. The house. Her stomach turned over at the memory. She felt something in her hand, looked down. Lady, Josephina’s toy dog, clutched tight. Her knuckles were white, fingers locked stiff. She closed her eyes, blocking out the light. She had turned up on his doorstep and collapsed from exhaustion.
She remembered the drive. Jaywick never got any better. Just south of Clacton, it was originally a small town of 1930s prefab holiday chalets for Londoners to vacation in. Many of them had decided to move there permanently. The intervening years hadn’t been kind. Like a promising young starlet overtaken by career excesses, the original dimensions were still in place but the place was now a ruin. A very English shanty town, an Essex City of God. The chalets were all rundown, some derelict, their windows and doors smashed in and turned over to tramps and squatters. Crack dens thrived. Some owners had attempted imaginative home improvements — a caravan attached to the side of one house in place of an extension; a dormer window too heavy for the structure and forcing the lower floor to collapse. The streets were narrow, tarmac and concrete cracked open, decorated with massive waterlogged potholes, choked with weeds and shrubs. The houses crammed together. Here and there were decent homes, well-maintained attempts to hold back the decay, but it was like a swimmer going against the tide.