An Impossible Dilemma: A Psychological Thriller Novel (18 page)

Chapter 23

The next couple of weeks were chaotic. Stephanie still wasn't able to work, and with Hector gone, we were two people down. Emily remained off school and the demand at the clinic had the appointments booked up solid. However, we somehow managed to muddle through.

I suspected I’d never totally get over losing baby Jonathan, a name I’d chosen to convince myself he was indeed Jon’s son. And in the dead of night, I prayed Jon had been waiting for baby Jonathan, so he wouldn’t be alone.

Emily didn’t know about the baby; she’d had enough to deal with in recent months without having to understand the death of a baby brother as well. She would be back in school by next Thursday and I hoped Steph would be back on board by then too.

Seven of Emily's classmates were coming over the next day for Emily's sixth birthday party, and I had lots of girly finger food, pink cupcakes and jelly to prepare on top of everything else. I'd cheated and bought a birthday cake from the bakers in town, which I planned to pick up in the morning.

I’d left Stephanie on the floor of the snug, wrapping gifts for tomorrow’s game of pass the parcel. In her utter boredom, she’d promoted herself to event organiser, using her ample time to plan all the entertainment for eight six-year-old girls and their optional parent or guardians.

We had a variety of fun party games set up. She'd also bought a piñata and filled it with lots of tooth-rotting goodies and had even bought Emily a new outfit off the Internet, a pretty white broderie-anglaise dress with blue ribbons and some white slip-on pumps to match.

As I finished mixing the batter for the cupcakes, I looked up and Alex was standing in front of me. I almost shot through the roof.

"Oh, Alex." I blew out dramatically and laughed, one hand steadying myself on the bench, the other on my chest.

"Sorry, I just wanted to show you this." He placed a small item on the bench and I bent towards it. When I realised what it was, I felt the room go topsy-turvy.

It was a tooth.

"What the …" I couldn't continue. My mind raced and my heart partially stopped.

"A tooth," he said, mistaking my reaction for confusion.

"Have you just lost it?" I said. Amazed at how calm I sounded.

He laughed. "No, it's not mine."

"Oh. Where's it from, then?" How I kept my voice so steady was anybody's guess.

"I found it in the sty."

I cocked my head to one side and screwed my face up. "The sty?"

He nodded.

"How did it get in there?"

"No idea."

"How strange. Leave it there and I'll show it to Frank later," I said, doing my best to appear calm.

"Okay." He headed for the door.

"Maybe it's a pigs tooth?"

"No, don't think so. It has a filling," he said over his shoulder as he left.

I took several deep breaths, my mind racing. We'd cleaned the sty thoroughly and thought we'd removed everything, but obviously not. This one fucking tooth could have the whole mess crashing down around our ears. I had no idea what we could do about it.

I finished the cupcakes and placed them in the oven, before picking up the tooth and wrapping it in a tissue. Then I went upstairs to find Frank.

I knocked on his door.

"Come in."

"Only me," I said, as I entered his room.

Frank was sitting by the window on a white wicker chair, reading a book.

I perched on his high bed. "You'll never guess what."

"Tell me."

"Alex found this." I leaned towards him and passed him the tissue-covered tooth.

"Oh dear," he said, folding the tissue up again.

"He found it in the sty. I suggested it was one of the pigs’ teeth but he pointed out it had a filling."

"It's okay. I'll tell him it's mine. That I lost it a while ago over there."

"Do you think he'll believe that?"

"Why not? He'd surely believe that before he'd believe we'd fed someone to the pigs."

"I guess."

"Don't worry, lass. I'll sort it."

"I hope so. This is all we need."

***

The party was a roaring success. Seven hyperactive guests and the birthday girl all had a wonderful time.

At the end of the day only Kaylie, Emily’s best friend, remained and they both went up to Emily's bedroom to play while we waited for Kaylie’s mum to arrive.

I heard a terrible scream above the sound of the vacuum cleaner and thought I was hearing things at first. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could, bursting into Emily's room.

Kaylie lay on her back, screaming, with Emily sitting astride her. Emily was hitting Kaylie repeatedly in the face.

"Emily!" I screamed and grabbed her arm, lifting her off Kaylie, whose face was bright red and a trickle of blood ran from her nose.

"What's got into you?” I shrieked, shaking my daughter by the arm, trying to shock her into calming down.

But Emily was furious. She kicked and squirmed, trying to get back to Kaylie.

Kaylie sobbed, "She-hic-told me-hic-to give her-hic-my hairslide. When-hic-I said-hic-no, she-hic-hit me."

I shoved Emily towards her bed—she’d calmed down slightly. Then I picked Kaylie up from the floor and carried her from the room. "Stay there, Emily, and don’t move until I come back," I snarled.

Emily's face was twisted into an ugly vision of pure evil—I'd never seen anything like it before.

I slammed the door.

Down in the kitchen I sat Kaylie on the draining board, wiped her face with a flannel and rested it on her bloody nose. "Hold that there a sec," I said, and bent to get a towel from the bottom drawer.

Her sobs had more or less stopped.

I wiped Kaylie’s face on the towel, then brushed her hair, re-fastening her hairslide.

"Are you okay now?" I asked.

She nodded.

"How about a bowl of ice-cream or some sweeties?" I said. "Your mum should be here soon."

She shook her head. "No, thanks." A triple sob escaped her.

"I'm sorry Emily hurt you, sweetie. She must be very tired. She's not normally like that, is she?"

Kaylie shook her head. She'd calmed down slightly, her face returning to a near normal colour.

"Come on, let's get you down from there."

The doorbell rang as I placed her on her feet. "This must be your mummy."

Kaylie escorted me to the door and as soon as she saw her mummy, she began to sob again.

"She's had a fight with Emily," I explained. "I don't know—best friends one minute and fisticuffs the next." I grimaced.

"Kaylie. You mustn’t fight with your friends," her mum scolded.

"It wasn't me; it was Emily."

"Never mind. You were here as a guest and it was Emily's birthday party. Where are your manners?" her mother said.

"Oh, don't blame her. Emily's extra tired. It'll be forgotten by next week," I smiled, knowing in my heart that my daughter had been the aggressor. "Okay, Kaylie, where's your bag?"

I felt terrible playing Kaylie's attack down, but Emily had already got enough bad press from the stealing. I couldn't bear for them to know she'd tried to rob her friend and beat her up when she wouldn't hand over the goods. However, I knew Kaylie would probably tell her mum everything as soon as they got to the car.

I walked back up to Emily's room and found her sitting on the floor, her back against the bed, arms folded in defiance.

"What was that all about, Emily?"

She shrugged.

"Oh no, I'm not having that. You know exactly what you did and if you don't tell me, there’ll be no TV for a week.

"No, Mummy. It was an accident."

"Rubbish. I saw you punching Kaylie in her face. She's your best friend," I said, shaking my head.

"No, she's not!" she said stamping her foot.

"Where has this come from? I've never seen you so nasty."

"I'm not nasty,” her top lip curled, showing her little teeth.

"Oh, really? I'll leave you to think about that. I don't want to set eyes on you until I have my nice little girl back."

"I am your nice little girl," she yelled.

I got up and walked to the door, closing it behind me.

"I'm your nice little girl!" she yelled again, and began banging on the back of the door.

I held it closed until I heard her move away, then I walked downstairs, unsure of what I'd witnessed, and where the hell it had come from.

Frank and Steph wouldn’t believe me when I told them what she’d done.

Frank had been at the neighbours for the duration of the party. Although he adored Emily, the thought of another seven just like her was enough to send him into cold sweats. Steph had stayed for the entire party, and had done Emily proud with the effort she’d put into the party games. Afterwards, she went to drop a couple of Emily's friends off at home and planned to collect Frank on her way back.

An hour later, Emily walked into the lounge and sat next to me on the sofa. I put my magazine down on the coffee table and turned to look at her. Frank and Stephanie were now home and buzzing around in the kitchen.

"Well?" I said.

"Sorry, Mummy."

"What happened?"

"I got angry."

"You're not kidding. But why?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

"What about what Kaylie said?"

She looked away.

"She said you told her to give you her hairslide and when she wouldn't, you began hitting her."

Still nothing from Emily.

"Is that true, Em?"

She nodded. "I wanted it. And it's
my
birthday."

"That doesn't give you the right to take her belongings and beat her up, does it?"

Nothing.

"Does it, Em?"

"No."

“No! I can't believe you did it. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I definitely wouldn't believe it."

"Sorry."

"I think you need to apologise to Kaylie, not me. She was very upset, and I don't blame her."

Chapter 24

I waved across the playground to Kaylie's mum and she turned her back, and flounced off in the direction of the classroom.

By the time we got there, several of the parents were standing in a group, obviously gossiping, and  avoiding my gaze. I was worried how Emily would feel, but she didn't seem to notice anything untoward. I hoped it was just the parents acting like a bunch of bitchy schoolchildren. I could handle that.

I shook my head at them as I left the classroom.

The day flew by. It was great to have Stephanie back on board and we had a fun day in the clinic. We finished early and I dropped Stephanie off at the dentist, where she was having a crown fitted to her broken tooth, while I went to collect Em from school.

I knew as soon as I entered the classroom that there was a problem.

Mrs Farnworth abruptly ended her conversation with a middle-aged man, and headed towards me.

"Mrs Lyons, did you get my message?"

"What message?" I was frantically looking around the room for Emily, but she wasn't there.

“Emily had some kind of outburst this afternoon. We were playing games on the school field when she attacked several of the other children because she was losing."

"Where is she?"

"With Mrs Jackson. I had no choice but to remove her from the class. We couldn't calm her down. She even tried to attack me."

"I'm sorry," I said, shaking my head. "I need to sit down for a second."

"Yes, of course. Can I get you a glass of water?"

"No, thanks." I pulled a child's plastic chair down off the top of the table and sat heavily onto it, marginally concerned it wouldn't hold my weight, but it did.

I couldn’t understand what was happening to my sweet little girl.

I didn't stay there for long. I couldn't bear the sly glances from some of the other parents. I wanted to yell at them, but that would just add fuel to the flames.

I knocked on Mrs Jackson's door and she opened it almost immediately.

"Ah, Mrs Lyons, come on in."

Emily sat at a desk off to the side of the room. She began to cry as she saw me. I held my arms out towards her.

Mrs Jackson, tight-lipped, indicated I sit. "I take it you've heard what happened here this afternoon?" she said, as Emily climbed onto my knee.

"Yes, I spoke to Mrs Farnworth."

"Well, I wasn't there when it all occurred. However, I did see Emily immediately afterwards and I must say I've never seen such rage from a young girl."

"I don't understand it," I said.

"Well, apparently this isn't the first time. We've had a number of parents insisting Emily is kept away from their children."

"What? That's nonsense. How can you do that? All kids fight and are best mates again two minutes later."

"We have a zero tolerance policy at this school, Mrs Lyons, and besides, this wasn't a couple of children having a squabble. Emily kicked, bit and scratched several of our children and even some teachers."

"Come off it. She's five years old."

"Six," Emily said.

"Six then, it's not as if she could do much damage."

"That's not the point. Besides, she could do a lot of damage to another six-year-old."

I shook my head and took a deep breath. "Okay, so what do you suggest?"

"I am suspending Emily for the rest of the week. She's welcome to come back in next Monday if she's willing to apologise to the children
and
Mrs Farnworth."

"You're kidding? Suspended! She's only six!"

"Not the point, Mrs Lyons."

"Come on, Em, we're going." I stood up, shaking my head. “See you next week then.”

Stephanie was sitting on the wall of the dental surgery when we arrived. "Thought you'd forgot about me," she said, smiling.

"No, I'll tell you what happened when we get home." I hadn't said a word to Emily since getting in the car.

She was also very quiet.

"Hello, Em," Steph said.

"Hello," she said, and glanced out of the window.

I shook my head at Stephanie and she made an 'o' shape with her mouth, then winced.

I smiled. "How's your tooth?"

She opened her lips for me revealing teeth which were back to normal.

"Gosh, you'd never know it wasn't real," I said. The crown she'd had fitted made her smile complete.

"I know. I'm really pleased with it." She glanced into the mirror on the sun visor.

As we pulled up outside the house, Emily shot out of the car and ran inside, heading for the stairs.

"Not so fast, miss. You have some explaining to do," I said.

I walked through to the lounge and sat down on the sofa. Emily skulked in behind me and leaned on the arm of the chair opposite.

"Well?”

"They wouldn't throw the ball to me," she said.

"That's no reason to …" I sighed, tired of repeating myself. She wasn't learning anything from the lectures and punishments. "You know what? Why bother. I can't deal with this right now. Just go to your room. Go on, get out of my sight."

"Fine then!" She stomped up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door. The kind of attitude you’d expect from a teenager, not a little girl.

"What's she done?" Steph whispered, as she sat down.

"She's had another temper tantrum and attacked a load of kids,
plus
her teacher this time. I don't know what to do with her. I'm out of ideas."

"When's she back at the hospital?"

"Next week, although it's nothing to do with that."

"How do you know?"

"Because … I don't know, but why would it be?"

"Dur! She has an illness affecting her brain, and this is not normal behaviour for a six-year-old, Vic. The illness must be a huge factor in it."

"Maybe, but the doctor didn't say anything when I told him about the stealing. He agreed it was probably because of Jonathan."

"Maybe they don't know it is connected. It's a rare condition, right?"

I nodded. "It does make more sense, I guess. If she really can't help herself, like she says." I shrugged.

"Can't you give them a call and ask?"

"There's no point. She's suspended from school anyway. I'll keep her home till after the hospital."

"I bet it's that—it's got to be. She's a good girl and this so unlike her. She's taken on the demeanour of a thief and a bully."

As she said the words my stomach leapt into my chest.

A movement to the side of me caught my eye. Frank stood there, and from the look on his face I could tell he'd heard what Stephanie said and seemed to be having the exact same reaction as me.

"Frank! Are you okay?" Steph jumped to her feet and guided Frank to the chair, her arm around his shoulder. She looked at me, her eyebrows furrowed.

Frank sat down. "I—I'm okay," he said.

"You don't look okay," she said. "Can I make you a cup of tea?"

"That would be nice, lass. I just need to catch my breath."

"Do you want one, Vic?"

I nodded. "Please."

Frank met my gaze as Stephanie went through to the kitchen. "Do you think we caused it?" I whispered. Although it was an open-plan room, Steph was far enough away that she couldn't hear us.

"I don't know, lass."

"Think about it. She began stealing after we gave her Shane's Proteum. Everybody knows he was the biggest thief around. Then Hector—he definitely had anger issues. And now Emily is attacking people."

"It does seem strange."

"Steph thinks it may be connected to her illness, and that also makes sense. The other could be a coincidence."

"Maybe."

"But you don't think so?"

He shook his head. "No, I think she's got the worst traits of both of them."

We sat, absorbed in our own thoughts until Stephanie brought the mugs of tea through.

"What happened today, then?" Frank said.

"Emily has been suspended from school for attacking several of her classmates. She said it was because they wouldn't throw the ball to her. We're back at the hospital again next week. Maybe, as Steph said, it could be connected to her illness. I'll ask Doctor Wilson," I said, but in my heart of hearts, I knew different.