Beyond Kidding by Lynda Clark

Author:Lynda Clark
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fairlight Books
Published: 2019-10-08T14:33:51+00:00

16

Talking’s becoming more and more of an effort. The kitchen tap’s dripping and I desperately want to go over and try to turn it off. I’m pretty sure the constant drip, drip, drip is what’s causing my headache. Maybe I should get my bag of wrenches from under the sink...

‘Weren’t you worried they’d come after you?’

As if I have a bag of wrenches. I doubt I have a wrench singular, never mind a bag of them.

‘They who?’

‘The police.’

My headache intensifies. I vaguely recall a weird old cartoon where the main character’s forehead vein would grow huge and pulsate and threaten to kill him. That’s exactly how this feels right now.

‘Even if they did,’ I say, gritting my teeth against the pain, ‘it would have been way after all that, wouldn’t it?’

Like, maybe more around the time they found out I’d claimed a child that wasn’t, that couldn’t be, mine.

*

Rob tried to avoid talking to Bellamy after the press conference by ducking into the toilets and spending an age in a stall, pretend-crying just in case anyone was listening. When he came out, rubbing his eyes vigorously to make sure they were suitably red, Bellamy was still there, broad and constant as the Major Oak. There was no escaping it.

‘All right?’ said Rob, unsure what protocol was for this sort of situation.

‘You were very brave,’ said Bellamy, clapping Rob on the shoulder so hard, his knees almost buckled. It was like being clubbed with a caber.

‘Thanks.’ Rob looked down at his shoes.

‘Now, I don’t want you to worry yourself looking for Brodie’s birth certificate.’

‘Oh?’ Oh. Oh shit.

‘We’ve got a team on it. All we need is Karen’s maiden name.’

‘Karen?’

‘Your wife.’

Shit. Of course. ‘Smith.’ Stroke of genius.

Bellamy looked at him for a long time. His eyes were large and blue and unblinking. Rob held his gaze for as long as possible, but eventually he had to look away, had to break the connection, and he almost blurted: ‘I made it all up, it’s not true, none of it!’ but before that could happen, Bellamy blinked and gave a curt nod.

‘Very well then,’ he said. ‘Might take them a while, but, well, y’know...’

And he winked and walked away, leaving Rob propped against the toilet door, weak-kneed, unsure what just happened.

*

I look at her out of the corner of my eye. She’s biting her bottom lip, brows drawn together. Did she pick up on it, that little breadcrumb I left for her? Bellamy’s wink.

That wink’s kept me up at night. A wink. Why would he wink unless he was in on it? But then, I don’t know him. He might be a winker. You know, one of those guys who just winks whenever he’s said anything vaguely pleasant, like you won’t realise the pleasantness is directed at you unless it’s accompanied by an ocular cue. I’ve never winked, because I worry people would think I was coming on to them. A winking pervert, that’s what I’d look like. Not Bellamy. His wink was kind, inclusive.

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