Downsizing (31 page)

“
But that’s just the point, sir,
she didn’t. Do you have another son?”

“
Yes, Billy. He’s seven. He was
playing with his brother when the accident happened. Why do you
ask?”

“
Because it wasn’t your wife who
called 999, but a terrified child who gave his name as Billy. He
said that his brother has fallen in a swimming pool, there was lots
of blood, and he couldn’t wake Mummy up.”

Noah’s knees buckled, and he had to lean
against the wall for support. “I don’t believe it!” he said softly.
“She wouldn’t.”

“
Wouldn’t what?”

“
Nothing. Are you sure it was
Billy who called? Could there have been a mistake?” Noah was
clutching at straws, and he knew it.

“
You’re welcome to listen to the
recording if you doubt my word, sir.”

“
No, no, I didn’t mean that. Thank
God that we taught both boys how to dial 999 in an emergency and
made them memorize their address.” Noah paused. “But they were at
their grandmother’s house and Billy doesn’t know that address. How
did you find them?”

“
We got him to stay on the line
while we traced the call. Very astute young man you have there. I
gather he could well have saved his brother’s life. But I’m
concerned about your wife, sir. If she couldn’t be woken up, I
wondered if there was something wrong with her as well.”

“
No,” said Noah in a steely tone.
“I can assure you that she’s in perfect health.”

“
Well then, I guess I don’t need
to keep you from your son any longer. I’m glad he’s all right. Make
sure you give the younger boy the praise he deserves.”

“
Don’t worry, officer,” Noah said
tersely. “You have my assurance that everyone involved in this
matter will get their just desserts.”

“
Right, I’ll be off then. Good
afternoon, sir.”

Noah took a moment to compose himself before
re-entering Josh’s room. Somehow he dredged up a cheerful smile for
his son’s benefit, but ignored Cassie’s stricken features
altogether. If he so much as looked at her right now, there was
every possibility he’d strangle her.

“
Right, champ,” he said to Josh.
“Are you ready for a story?”

“
Yeah!”

“
Okay, we’ll get to it in a
minute. Charles, why don’t you take Madeleine and Cassie home? They
both look exhausted. Where are the other two?”

“
I dropped them off with Rachel,”
Madeleine said.

“
Well, Charles, I’d be grateful if
you’d pick them up and bring Billy back here to see his brother. He
must be in a terrible panic. It’ll do him good to see that no real
harm has been done.”

“
Oh no!” Cassie finally broke her
silence. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. It isn’t sensible for
children to be around hospitals unless they have to be.”

“
Bring him here, Charles,” Noah
said in a tone that brooked no argument.

“
Noah.” Cassie approached him
tentatively and placed a hand on his arm. “We need to talk first. I
need to explain—”

“
Later,” he snapped, not looking
at her.

When Charles returned to the hospital an hour
later holding a frightened and bewildered Billy by the hand, Josh
had again drifted off to sleep. The doctor had been reassuring
about his chances of making a full recovery, but had told Noah that
he would need to remain in hospital overnight. Noah would stay with
him.

“
Hey, Billy!” Noah opened his arms
and his son hurtled himself into them, sobbing violently. “It’s all
right, champ, Josh is going to be fine.”

Noah stroked his son’s back and made soothing
noises, feeling as though he’d just been condemned to hell. He
thought of Maxine, and wished she could be with him. She would know
the best way to go about what he had to do next.

“
It wasn’t my fault, Dad,” Billy
said through trembling lips. “I didn’t mean for Josh to hurt
himself.”

“
I know that, Billy. In fact
you’re a hero. You saved Josh by calling 999.”

“
What!” Charles looked thoroughly
confused. “Surely that’s not right?”

Noah waved a hand to silence him, still
concentrating all his attention on his son.

“
Did I really save him?” Billy
asked, the glimmer of hope that broke through his tears ripping at
Noah’s heart.

“
Sure you did, and we’re all very
proud of you. Now, tell me exactly what happened.” Noah pulled
Billy onto his lap. He hated putting his traumatized son on the
spot, but it was vital to get to the truth while it was still fresh
in Billy’s mind.

“
Don’t worry, son, you’re not in
any trouble. Just tell Granddad and me what happened and everything
will be all right.”

“
Well, Josh and me, we were
playing gladiators round the pool, chasing each other with our
swords, and the loser had to jump in to save himself from the lion.
That was Spike. We dressed him up to look fierce, but he wasn’t a
very good lion because he wouldn’t stop wagging his tail.” Noah
nodded his encouragement when Billy’s words stalled. “I didn’t mean
to knock it over and make Josh step on it.” Billy was crying again.
“Then there was so much blood, and he looked surprised and fell in
and hit his head and—”

“
Just a minute, Billy.” Noah
exchanged a grim look with Charles. “What didn’t you mean to knock
over?”

“
The glass that was by the
pool.”

“
You and Josh didn’t put it
there,” Noah said with absolute certainty. “You know better than
that.”

“
It was Mum’s. She was sitting on
the deck, but her phone rang and she moved to the edge of the pool
to talk to Uncle Graham, I think it was.” Noah nodded. Mobile
reception was poor by the house, and she would have got a better
signal further down the garden. “She took her drink with her, and
when she finished talking she looked all pink and angry, like she
sometimes does when we’ve been naughty, and she said she was going
to lie down on the sun bed.”

“
She left her drink behind?” When
Billy nodded, Noah had to grind his teeth to prevent the
profanities that sprang to his lips from escaping.

“
I didn’t know that,” he cried
indignantly. “That’s why I kicked the glass and it broke. Josh was
behind me and he stepped on the sharp bits, yelped, and fell in the
pool.”

“
You’re doing really well, Billy.”
Noah held him a little closer. “What happened when Josh fell in?
You must have been very frightened.”

“
I was,” he admitted, wiping away
fresh tears with the back of his hand. “I screamed and thought Mum
would come. When she didn’t, I ran to try and help Josh. I
remembered what the teacher said at the swimming pool, about not
letting people’s heads fall in the water, you see.”

Noah and Charles exchanged an incredulous
glance. That a seven-year-old would have such presence of mind in
those circumstances beggared belief.

“
You remembered that,” echoed
Noah, too stunned to know what else to say.

“
Yes, and he wasn’t too heavy
because of the water. I put my hands under his arms and just pulled
as hard as I could.”

“
Well done, Billy,” Charles said,
his voice catching as he stood to ruffle his grandson’s hair. “Can
you remember what you did next?”

“
Yes. Mum was still asleep, and I
left Josh lying on the pool steps out of the water and went to
shake her. I pulled really hard, but she just groaned and told me
to go away and play. She wouldn’t listen to me, Dad, no matter what
I did, she just wouldn’t wake up. So I thought really hard about
what to do. Then I remembered about the phone and dialed 999. Mum
woke up when the sirens got close, and that’s all I
know.”

“
I am so proud of you, Billy.”
Noah hugged him close, and a gap-toothed smile appeared through
Billy’s tears. “Now, do you think you could run to the cafeteria
you passed on the way in and buy the biggest ice-cream the lady has
on sale? Get me one, too. I’ll be right there but I just want to
have a word with Granddad first.”

“
Sure I can.” Billy took the money
Noah offered him and scampered off. “Don’t be long, Dad,” he said,
poking his head back round the door, “or your ice-cream will
melt.”

Noah’s smile faded as soon as the door closed
behind Billy.

“
I don’t know what to say to you,
Noah.” Charles looked stricken.

“
There’s not a lot you can say.
It’s not your fault.” Noah dropped his head into his hands and
shook it from side to side. “What a fucking mess!”

“
I had no idea things had got so
bad with Cassie. She was drunk, I suppose.”

“
Yeah, I talked to her about it
recently, but she assured me it was under control. It’s my fault,
Charles, I knew she had a problem and chose to ignore it.” He stood
and paced the room.

“
Christ, when I think of what
could have happened to Josh if Billy hadn’t acted so quickly.” He
balled his fists, wanting to punch out his frustration against the
wall. “But that’s not the only problem I have now, is
it?”

Charles, to his credit, didn’t prevaricate.
“No, I’m afraid it isn’t.”

“
All right then, hit me with it.
What do you have to tell me about blood groups?”

“
I suspect you already know the
answer to your own question,” said the man whom Noah had come to
look upon more as a friend and mentor than a mere
father-in-law.

“
I think I probably do. For a
child to possess a rare blood group such as A rhesus negative,” he
said slowly, “one of his parents must possess the rhesus factor.
Isn’t that what they call it?” Charles nodded grimly.

“
And so the only conclusion I can
draw is that I’ve been used by your daughter as a scapegoat. My
whole adult life has been based on a whopping great lie. For Josh’s
sake I married Cassie, sacrificing everything that mattered to me.”
He turned and met Charles’s gaze full-on. “And now, to cap it all,
I’m being asked to accept that Josh isn’t my biological
son.”

“
I’m afraid that it very much
looks that way,” Charles said, resting his hand on Noah’s shoulder.
“What will you do?”

“
Right now?” Noah expelled a
ragged breath, barely in control. “Right now I’m going to leave you
with Josh while I go and eat ice-cream with my other
son.”

Chapter
Twenty-One

Cassie’s nerves were strung as taut as a bow,
but no one seemed to notice, or care. Her hands trembled—a sure
sign that she was in desperate needed of a drink. Drinking herself
into a state of oblivion would block out the awkward questions she
didn’t know how to answer and would buy her precious time. She
cuddled her torso, pulled her knees up to her chest, and shriveled
deeper into her sweater, aware that she couldn’t afford to let go.
Her family was watching her with suspicion, as though this was
somehow all her fault.

In the twenty-four hours since the accident,
all anyone spoke about was Josh and what a narrow escape he’d had.
She’d tried pointing out that children had accidents all the time,
but for all the attention her family spared her, she might as well
have saved her breath. She needed Graham almost as much as she
needed a drink. News of Josh’s accident had spread, and it would be
perfectly natural for him to call and see how they were all coping.
But he wouldn’t because his father had most inconsiderately had
another heart attack.

If blame for the accident was being allocated,
Graham must accept his share. Knowing that her mother would be out
the previous afternoon, and with Noah and her father at the tennis
club, she’d given in to his badgering and agreed he could come
over. Cassie hadn’t needed to ask why he wanted to see her, and
would have let him fuck her without putting up too much of a
protest, even though the kids were there and might burst in on them
at any time. In some respects that made it more
exciting.

When he’d phoned to say his father’s condition
had deteriorated and he couldn’t leave him, she’d been furious.
Once again her needs were being placed at the back of the queue.
She downed the rest of her drink in one go, but regretted it when
her head spun, and she lay down until the dizziness passed. All the
same, if Graham hadn’t blown her off the glass wouldn’t have been
empty, she wouldn’t have abandoned it, and the accident wouldn’t
have happened.

Ergo, it was all Graham’s fault.

Her few minutes’ rest had turned into half an
hour, and it was the sound of sirens that had woken her. When her
sluggish brain registered what had happened, her dizziness
returned, but this time it was occasioned by fear. She was proud
that initially her concern had been all for her child. The sight of
all that blood spreading across the turquoise surface of the pool
in ever widening swathes had terrified her. She’d really thought
Josh might die, but the paramedics were reassuringly competent,
assuring her that it looked a great deal worse than it actually
was.

Her mother, rushing home in response to her
summons, had been a tower of strength. Calm and capable in a
crisis, she soothed the near-traumatized Billy and took him and Amy
to stay with Rachel. It was when she joined Cassie at the hospital
and twittered on about calling Noah, that Cassie started to worry
about herself. Thank God they’d been unable to reach him for ages,
and he hadn’t seen the state Josh was in before the doctors patched
him up.