The Schoolhouse by Sophie Ward

Author:Sophie Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

15

Isobel woke with her head pressed against the suitcase on her bed. It was dark. The floor was covered with fallen books and clothes. Hours, she had slept for hours and now it was late. She couldn’t risk leaving the flat at night, not without help.

She reached down the side of the bed for her handbag. The lavender vial from Brighton rolled onto the floor and she shoved it back into the bag before she had to think about her mother. She had three pounds in her purse. The rest of her cash had gone on the black cab she’d taken home. She didn’t have enough for another taxi but the minicab company would accept her signature on account. With a car waiting outside, she would feel safe enough to leave. She wanted to see Dan. Beyond that, she had nowhere to go.

She plugged the minicom in, pressed the pre-set button for the cab company and waited for the confirmation of her request.

She went back to the bedroom, took the sheets off the bed and put them in the laundry basket. She emptied all the bins, turned the boiler off and pushed a few more clothes into her bag. She thought of Dan in the hospital. She had let him get close to her. The familiar guilt burned in her throat and she swallowed hard.

She wondered if the policewoman from the library could help. Isobel worked hard to stop people seeing her clearly. To prevent them looking beyond her careful clothes and neat hair. DS Carter had seen her, though. It wasn’t that Carter had been kind, she hadn’t, merely professional, or that she believed Caitlin Thompson had been in the library; Isobel wasn’t sure she did. It was the way she had focused on Isobel without judgement or pity.

She picked up the diary she had been holding when she fell asleep. The pages were creased where she had lain on them. ‘So I will write this diary and then they will see.’ Sally Carter wasn’t going to save her. The residue of her childhood was powdered glass underfoot. Crunch, crunch, crunch. She could never escape.

The light on the minicom was flashing. Isobel shoved the diary into her suitcase and looked around. Already she felt far away, as though the things in her home belonged to someone else. She put the diary in her handbag, locked the flat, carried her bags and the rubbish downstairs and stood at the front door to make sure she could see the taxi. She left the black bin liner in the wheelie bin and walked over to the car. The driver got out and opened the boot when he saw she had luggage.

‘Airport? Station?’ He was careful to say the words clearly.

‘Hospital,’ Isobel said.

The driver pushed his lips together in an expression of sympathy. He had a small beard that bobbed about when he moved his mouth.

‘Which one?’ he asked.

PC Garvey had told her where Dan had been taken.

‘The Whittington,’ she said.

He nodded and they both got in the car.

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