The Son-in-Law (26 page)

Jessy refused to get up for these earliest sorties. She woke long enough to watch sleepily as he pulled on layers of clothes—most of them borrowed from Abigail—then gave a smug grunt before resting her nose back onto her paws.

‘All right for some, you dozy tart,’ sniped Joseph, one morning. He stepped out, teeth gritted against the blasts. As he climbed the slope, he felt oddly cheered by the flicker of a candle in Rosie’s kombi. She was an early bird, that woman.

Struggling to start the tractor, his mind was on the children. Theo and Ben seemed to like him. He didn’t imagine that they had forgiven him, but he felt more of a father with each outing. Scarlet worried him, though; she seemed terribly troubled. Sometimes she’d forget herself and smile at something he had said, but each thaw was followed by a freeze. Lester insisted that she was ‘conflicted’. Good old touchy-feely speak, that. Conflicted.

As he handled the final bale, crimson light unfurled like a glowing flag on the horizon. He cut the engine, fascinated by this dawn spectacle.

Abigail plodded across, carrying the pig bucket. She followed Joseph’s gaze. ‘Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning.’

‘There is something a bit sinister about it. Looks feverish, don’t you think?’

‘I expect you wish you were in a nice warm classroom, teaching a load of pimply teenagers.’

‘Believe it or not, I don’t.’ Joseph hopped off the tractor, blowing on his gloved hands. Abigail was wearing the usual khaki trousers, held up with nylon baling twine. She blinked at him through her glasses. ‘Message for you on the phone.’

‘Who is it?’

‘Some bloke. Must have called when I was out yesterday.’

Joseph trotted inside, peeling off outer layers in the narrow hall. Heat and comfort enveloped him as he stepped into the kitchen. The cat lay curled on a cushion by the range.

‘Morning, you great lummox.’ Joseph stooped to tickle him. ‘Why aren’t you out there catching rats?’

Digby stretched and stuck out his claws, shivering with delicious comfort. Joseph strode to the phone and pressed
play
on the answering machine. He smiled as he recognised Lester’s rumbling tones.

Ah, hello. It’s Lester Hardy here, calling for Joseph Scott. Um,
Joseph, could you please phone me? I’d like to talk about the way
forward. In case you’ve lost my number it’s . . .

Joseph glanced up at the clock. Dammit, far too early to call back.

Behind him, the kettle hit the range with a clatter. He spun around to see Rosie composedly making tea. All her movements were unhurried. She wasn’t ethereal or elfin; nor was she plump. She was . . . well, opulent.

‘Christ!’ he gasped, though he was pleased. ‘You crept up on me.’

‘I certainly did
not
. I walked in, like any normal person.’ She was wearing jeans underneath a russet skirt, her figure obscured by a baggy sweater. She looked like a rag doll, with bright cheeks and gypsy hair. There were ice crystals on her lashes.

‘I saw your candle,’ said Joseph, moving close to her. ‘Still dark, it was. Why d’you always get up at the crack of dawn?’

‘Habit,’ she replied, smiling placidly.

‘Habit?’

Her smile widened, made more mischievous by the crooked teeth, and he realised with a jolt that he’d come to delight in it.

‘Yes, actually. Habit. That is the perfect word for it. Are you going to break the rules and ask more questions? Because if you are, I warn you: I have plenty for you, and they won’t be pretty.’

He grinned back at her. ‘I’ll take that risk. What do you do at that time of the morning? Why don’t you come and help me feed those bloody animals?’

‘I sit.’

‘Sit and what?’

‘I just sit. That’s the truthful answer.’

Her skin glowed, smooth planes beneath a spray of curls. On impulse, he pressed the back of his hand against her cheek.

‘Warm,’ he said quietly. ‘How do you manage to feel so warm, when the world’s so cold?’

She met his gaze, and for a moment neither moved. Then, still smiling, she took a step away from him.

He dropped his hand and turned away, mortified, fumbling with mugs and coffee as he berated himself.
What the hell are you
doing, Scott? You don’t deserve to flirt with this woman, or any
woman. Ever again.
The glass jar slipped from his fingers and smashed, sending coffee granules and broken glass across the floor.

‘Hell,’ he muttered.

‘Joseph,’ said Rosie, ‘it’s okay.’

‘Look at the mess. Clumsy idiot, everything I touch turns to shit! Everything.’

‘I know who you are.’

He heard the words, but wanted them to be unsaid. ‘Where does Abigail keep her dustpan and brush?’ he asked desperately.

‘I know who you are,’ she repeated, putting a hand on his shoulder. ‘I went to visit Gus yesterday. His mother was all agog to tell me.’

Rosie knew who he was. She knew
what
he was: a man who couldn’t control his rage. A man who beat women to death. He needed to be out of the house, away from her. He strode into the hallway but was forced to pause there, pulling on his boots.

She followed him. ‘Are you running away from me?’

‘Yes.’ He tugged at the heavy door.

‘How much further do you think you can run?’

He hesitated in the old doorway, its stones worn smooth by the feet of centuries of farmers. A gust whipped into his face.

Rosie joined him, lacing her boots and pulling a shawl around her shoulders. Then she took his arm. ‘Walk up the lane with me? It’s always more sheltered there, between the walls.’

He allowed himself to be propelled towards the gate, past the bare-limbed sentinel tree with its lopsided sign. The farmyard puddles were solid ice. Even the stream had frozen over, rippled glass under a frosty rime. They negotiated the ford, stepping carefully along the band of cement that served as a bridge.

‘I shouldn’t have let Gus’s mother gossip,’ said Rosie. ‘I couldn’t resist. I’m sorry. Nosy Rosie they used to call me at school. That and Fatso.’

‘Nosy Rosie.’ Joseph almost smiled.

‘Well, I’ve lived up to my name. Mind you, she was busting to tell. Thought I needed warning, since I might be in danger from the psycho. She’s always taken a ghoulish interest, because of Gus knowing you and your wife. Your story wasn’t at all what I expected.’

‘No.’

‘I had you down as a broken-hearted guy . . . Maybe the wife got the house, and you had to live in a caravan. I even wondered whether your ex was a total bitch who was using your children as pawns. I assumed that was what your phone calls were about.’

‘Yes.’

‘In fact, you’re the bloke who divided this fair county. According to all the newspaper cuttings Gus’s mother has stashed away—and she’s got quite a collection—half of Yorkshire thinks you snapped under intolerable provocation and any red-blooded man would have done the same.’

‘And the other half?’

‘Um, the other half want to chop off your balls.’

Joseph sighed. ‘You can count my sister among the ball-choppers.’

Rosie fumbled in a pocket somewhere beneath her layers of clothing, found a pair of oversized mittens and shoved her hands into them. ‘Look up there,’ she said, using her teeth to pull the mittens up her wrists. ‘A patch of blue sky.’

‘Where?’

‘There.’ She pointed with her chin.

Joseph squinted critically. ‘That’s not really a
patch
, is it? That’s a tiny little dot. My mother would say it’s not enough to make a pair of sailor’s pants.’

Rosie considered this. ‘Yeah, well. I’ve known a few sailors, and believe me they wear big pants.’

They walked for a time in silence. As they breasted the crest of the hill, Rosie inhaled sharply. ‘What’s your sister’s problem? Why the ball-chopping?’

‘Marie.’ Joseph blew out his cheeks. ‘Marie, Marie. Ah, well . . . That’s a long story. Look, can we turn back? This has been very bracing and all that, but I actually can’t feel my feet anymore.’

‘Nancy boy,’ she scoffed. ‘Okay, about turn.’

They picked their way down the slope, crunching over ruts of frozen mud. ‘We used to be close,’ Joseph said finally. ‘Marie and I.’

‘Not anymore, obviously.’

‘She’s my big sister by three years. When she was nineteen she had a boyfriend called Jared. She was at college studying physiotherapy; dunno about him. I never liked his attitude to my sister. His teasing had a nasty edge to it. She was part of a big group of girlfriends who lived in each other’s pockets. They used to go out clubbing, do the whole dance-around-the-handbag thing. He made her dump them.’

‘She went along with this control freak?’ Rosie sounded disgusted.

‘Seems weak, doesn’t it? But Marie wasn’t a weak person—she was bloody-minded and nobody’s fool. Mum and I couldn’t understand it. Then she found out she was pregnant and moved in with him. His idea. Pretty soon she stopped seeing us. He bought her a state-of-the-art phone, took hers off her and monitored her phone calls. He even made her give up her course—said it was too physical, all that lifting might harm his baby.
His
baby, mark you.’

‘Your poor parents.’

‘Dad was too lazy to care, but Mum made him get off his backside and go round there with her. Jared stood in the doorway with his arms folded and told them both to fuck off and stop meddling. A week later we got the news that Marie had lost the baby. Mum waited for Jared to go out, then shouted through the letterbox until Marie opened the door.’

‘Was she hurt?’

‘Hell of a mess, face all swollen. She made up a story about falling over in the shower. That afternoon, after I got home from school, I went round and confronted Jared. He laughed in my face, and I hit him. I was in the boxing club, you see, so I thought I was a decent match for a weasel like him.’

‘But you weren’t.’

‘Nope. I ended up with a broken nose, a split lip and my pride in tatters.’

‘Didn’t you tell the police?’

Joseph shrugged. ‘It was me who’d gone round to his place, wasn’t it? I thought they’d just nick me for throwing the first punch.’

‘So what happened?’

‘For three years, we hardly saw her. Nobody did. Mum and I kept up a campaign to get her to leave, but it was us that ended up being rejected. What we didn’t understand was that Jared had reprogrammed Marie. She believed she didn’t deserve anything better. He’d belt her for no reason—one time he broke her jaw—and then he’d feed her crumbs of affection. She was a bit like a dog, just grateful for anything he tossed in her direction. She thought they’d be happy if only she could be good enough.’

Rosie was shaking her head. ‘I’m
hating
this guy.’

‘My sister was a tough cookie before Jared came on the scene. She wasn’t the sort to get pushed around. He turned her into a colourless, lifeless person.’

Rosie picked up a stone and spun it across a frozen puddle. ‘How did she escape?’

‘One night he said the fish she’d cooked was off. He decided she was trying to kill him, and worked himself up into a frenzy. Made her run a bath and get in, then held her head under the water. Her life was saved by a knock on the front door, which for some reason he answered. It was mates of his, come to collect him to go out to the local pub quiz. He just grabbed his jacket and left. Marie was only half-conscious, but somehow she got herself out into the street. She was a gibbering mess in a bath towel. Luckily, a passing taxi driver spotted her. Nice guy. He brought her home.’

‘I hope you called the police?’

‘Yes. Yes, we did. They were great. They arrested him. He lied, his friends lied, even his bloody mother lied. They all made out Marie was fixated on him. They said he’d broken off their relationship and she was a bunny-boiler.’

‘Medical records?’

Joseph shrugged gloomily. ‘She’d hardly ever been to the doctor—he wouldn’t let her, except during the pregnancy. When she did go she made up excuses for any injuries. So the doctor’s notes didn’t corroborate what she was telling the police. Still, they took it all the way to trial. I’ll never forget Jared smirking at me and Mum, in the public gallery. When Marie gave her evidence the judge put him behind a screen, but she was still so scared that she threw up into a wastepaper bin.’

‘Oh, poor girl. But he was found guilty?’

‘He got off.’

‘No! I just can’t understand that.’ Rosie sounded stunned. ‘It beggars belief.’

‘The jury were out for hours, but in the end they let him off on a majority. Seriously, Rosie, Jared was a hell of a good liar. He had this sort of reptilian charisma. He played his part to a tee—the decent bloke, hounded by a she-devil. It came down to her word against his, and I guess they wondered why the hell she’d stay in that relationship for three years if it was as bad as she claimed.’

‘Mm. They will have wondered that. Actually,
I’m
wondering that.’

‘We all did. She was so screwed up by him, so ashamed of being screwed up.’

‘He’s probably torturing some other poor girl at this moment.’

‘Probably. Years later, I came across him playing pool in a pub. I was an adult by then. I was sober, and he wasn’t. I managed to get in a good one-two before his mates knocked me down. This time it was
his
nose that was bleeding! We both got thrown out of the pub, but it was . . . um, anyway.’ Joseph tailed off as he realised how all this must sound to Rosie. Here he was, a man whose fists had killed, bragging about his prowess in a brawl.

‘It was well worth it,’ she said, finishing his sentence firmly. ‘I wish you’d given him more than a bleeding nose. I wish you’d given him a real hiding.’

‘Nothing to be proud of,’ he muttered.

‘Ooh, I don’t know.’

‘I still had the bruises when I met Hannah and Freddie for the first time. Hannah looked as though she’d swallowed a wasp when I told her I’d been fighting in a bar.’

‘Oh dear, that was
not
a good start. How is Marie now?’

‘She’s forty, never had kids. After two years of counselling, her personality came back—bits of it, anyway. She did a degree in social work and ended up managing a women’s refuge. She’s dedicated her entire life to fighting domestic violence, so she hates me with a passion.’