My Mother, the Liar by Ann Troup

Author:Ann Troup [Troup, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2018-01-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Charlie had slept badly. His neck was stiff and his back crunched like it was made of gravel when he tried to move. Amy was still curled up comfortably in the double bed, emitting gentle, girlish snores. Charlie had spent the night wedged into a small tub chair, with his feet up on the bed and only his jacket to cover him. He was getting too old for all this. The clock told him it was time to move the van again.

He woke Amy and told her he would be back soon, and to meet him in the breakfast room.

After moving the van a few spaces, and feeding yet more money into a parking meter, he found his phone, switched it on, and dialled his mother’s number. She picked up on the third ring.

‘Charlie? Is that you?’ She sounded worried, even a bit frightened.

‘Yeah, it’s me,’ he said, the full extent of how guilty he felt making him sag against the van. ‘Look, I’m sorry about what I said yesterday.’

‘It’s all right, love, you had every right to be angry, but you understand why I kept quiet, don’t you?’

He guessed he did, but it still irked him that she had believed it. ‘Yeah. We’ll talk about it another time, OK? I found Amy and before you ask, she’s all right, but she went to see Rachel.’ He explained that Rachel was in hospital and that Amy had visited her there. He left out the part about being arrested; he’d had enough grief already.

She didn’t say anything for a moment. ‘What about you, have you seen her?’

‘Not yet. I’m going this morning.’ He heard her take a sharp intake of breath. ‘I have to tell her, Ma – you know that.’

‘Think about it, Charlie. She’s lived with that knowledge for nigh on twenty years. It ruined her life. She lost you; she lost Amy. She lost everything. How do you think she’s going to take it? It could tip her over the edge. Imagine what it would have been like for you if you’d had to live with that knowledge for all that time. It would have driven you mad. Don’t you think it would be better to leave things just as they are?’

Her words stymied him for a moment. He had been so clear about her need to hear the truth, about his need to set things straight. Maybe his mother had a point – he knew from personal experience the damage that could be done by a lie. He had spent ten years in prison as an innocent man over lies. How much worse would it have been if he’d spent those years thinking he had committed a crime, enduring the knowledge of it, and had then found out it had all been a mistake?

His mother was right. He would have gone out of his mind. Would the truth make Rachel’s life easier, or worse? ‘OK, Ma, I take your point. I’ll think on it. We’ll be home later.

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