After the End by Clare Mackintosh

Author:Clare Mackintosh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2019-06-24T16:00:00+00:00

twenty-three

Leila

Leila stands outside the court. Soon, she will have to go inside and take her seat in the old, quiet courtroom, and they will hear the judge’s decision and know for certain what will happen to almost-three-year-old Dylan Adams.

They are all out here. Max Adams, and his legal team; Pip, with her barrister. Together, yet separate, clustered in low voices and nods on opposite sides of the court gates. Leila should join the hospital team—she is, after all, on their side—but she does not want to talk about the case. She has found it hard to hear today’s evidence. She has found herself swayed by the conviction of Max’s doctors, and by the evidence of Professor Greenwood and his impressively equipped establishment. She stands by her recommendation, she knows they are doing the right thing by Dylan, and yet she cannot help but wonder what if . . .

So she stands in the middle of the two groups, by the heavy bollards that separate the pavement from the road. She wishes Nick were here, and then, to punish herself, she pictures Nick with his family, with his grown-up children, and the wife Leila knows is a research scientist.

Max Adams is smoking. He took a cigarette offered by one of his lawyers, and now he is closing his eyes and drawing in the nicotine like it’s oxygen. Leila has never seen him smoke before. She wonders what it has done to him, the last few months. If he’s lost weight, if he sleeps, if he has nightmares, like she does.

They have been here for four days. Every day the newspapers have led with the story of Dylan Adams and his fight for life, his warring parents, the doctors arguing their case. Every day the photographers have followed Leila and Pip and Max and the legal teams from car to court, and from court to car. And every morning, Leila has seen the previous day’s photos captioned in the tabloids.

Battling to hide his emotion, Max Adams arrives for the second day of the case.

Mum Philippa wore a fitted trouser suit and left her hair loose for the hearing.

Dr. Leila Khalili is Iranian.

They have listened to the written evidence of seventeen doctors, they have picked over every argument presented by every legal team, and still Leila has no idea what Justice Merritt will decide.

She is about to go back inside when she sees a familiar figure, hurrying along the pavement. She squints—surely not?—but her eyes are not deceiving her. Leila walks toward the figure.

“Surprise!” Habibeh is grinning broadly. She is wearing her good coat, and the head scarf Leila knows she reserves for special occasions. It is purple and green, with gold thread running through it. Her arm is tucked into Wilma’s.

“Don’t worry, love, we’re not here to bother you. Your mother wanted to see the sights, and we thought we’d pop by to give you a bit of moral support.”

“And lunch,” Habibeh adds. She hands Leila a complicated arrangement of square boxes, clipped together and finished with a metal handle.

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