Simon Lelic - The Child Who

‘No. Honestly. It’s fine. I’d like to see.’

She narrows her eyes at him. ‘Now you’re stalling.’

‘I’m not. What kind of place are you looking for?’

‘You are. Just a flat. Three bedrooms, if I can.’

‘I’m nervous. That’s all. Three bedrooms sounds okay.’

She smiles. She is not beyond feeling nervous herself. ‘Two,’ she says. ‘It will probably be two. I’d like a garden for Rupert but it seems like a frivolous expense.’

‘Rupert?’ Leo turns. ‘Rupert’s still alive? But she must be…’

‘…on her last legs. That’s what I mean. I have my doubts, actually, that she’ll make it to moving day. That’s why I’ve never mentioned her to Ellie.’

‘You should,’ Leo says. ‘She’d be pleased.’ He shakes his head again at the never-ending wonderment.

‘Either way,’ says Megan, thinking once more about the flat. ‘There’ll be a spare bedroom. In case you ever… I mean, if anyone ever…’

She flushes. She turns away. She does not even pause to see whether Leo has reddened too.

Her husband, after a moment, clears his throat. ‘I’m up here a lot, as it happens. You know. For work.’

Work. It is how he has been referring to it since she asked about it. He is, in Megan’s opinion, belittling himself with the term.

‘How’s that going?’ she asks.

‘Oh,’ he says, ‘you know.’ He does not think she genuinely wants to hear.

‘Tell me. Please.’ They reach a roundabout and Megan swings the car the way they have come.

‘Slowly,’ Leo says. ‘The campaigning part, I mean. But we’ve made a nuisance of ourselves, got some backbench support. Lib Dems, mainly.’ He shrugs. ‘But still.’

But still indeed. She thinks of Leo’s father. She wonders if Leo realises how proud Matthew would be.

‘And Karen? She’s working with you?’

Leo nods. ‘Karen’s involved. She’s a big part of it, actually, especially after her experiences with… I mean… Given her experience.’

‘With Daniel.’ Megan says the name and, for the first time she can remember, she does not shudder.

Leo looks at her. ‘That’s right. Also,’ he adds, ‘a barrister I used to work with. He was involved with Daniel’s case too. And there are others. Other lawyers, other therapists, a judge. It helps that it’s people who work with the law who are arguing that the law is an ass.’

‘And the pro bono stuff?’

Leo’s face shines. ‘It’s good. I mean, Howard’s been great. He’s retired now but he was the one who helped me get it all set up.’

‘You work with kids, you said? Just kids?’

‘Exclusively. Which means I travel a fair bit. Around the south-west mainly. Also, here.’ He gestures at the North Circular. ‘Believe me, there’s plenty of work. Hardly anyone specialises in it, you see. No one’s qualified to. Which is frustrating enough in itself.’ He finishes with a shrug.

‘You do look tired, Leo. Are you eating properly?’

Leo purses his lips, as though to snip off a smile. ‘When I can,’ he says. He seems to consider for a moment. His expression hardens. ‘It sounds heartless, probably,’ he says. ‘But Daniel: what happened to him. It will help. In the long run. I won’t let it not.’ There is a hint of a challenge in his tone. Megan does not rise to it.

‘Not heartless, Leo.’ She indicates, turns, glances. ‘Never that.’

They have been parked, by Megan’s estimation, for thirteen minutes. If they leave it any longer, they will be late.

‘Leo. We should go.’

Her husband stares at the shopfront, as though the coffeeshop signage were something outlandish.

‘Leo. It will be fine. I promise.’ Will it? Does she?

Leo turns to her. ‘I shouldn’t be here.’

‘What?’

‘I shouldn’t have come. It’s not fair. She should have warning.’

The thought has occurred to Megan too. More than that: it has nagged at her, like a child growing fitful in the back seat. What if I ruin it? she keeps thinking, the very thought that stopped her telling Leo from the start.

‘Don’t be silly,’ she says. She opens the car door before she can stop herself.

‘Megan. Wait.’

She shuts it again.

‘What should I say to her?’

‘What?’

‘When I see her. What should I say to her?’

She would dismiss it as a foolish question. But she knows, having been there, that it is not.

‘She’s studying, you know: catching up,’ Megan says. ‘She wants to be a lawyer.’ She slightly overplays her disdain. ‘So you could tell her, for starters, to get a proper job.’

Leo, clearly, does not get the joke. He is staring again; working himself, she can tell, into a state.

Megan checks the clock again. She sighs. She says, ‘Leo,’ and taps her watch and then gestures through the windscreen towards…

Her daughter. Their daughter. Standing in the coffee-shop doorway. And it is clear, now, why Leo is staring so. She has been here, too. On the brink. Toes to the edge. Dazzled by the thing before them and praying – not quite believing – it is really real.

Their daughter. His daughter. Searching now, stepping now – and finally spotting them.

Both.

‘Go.’

He does not move.

‘Go. Leo!’

She leans. She opens his door. ‘Go,’ she says again. ‘Go ahead.’

Because she was right that this was right. She can see, with her own eyes: her daughter with her hand across her mouth; her husband, standing, trying to, hauling himself up by the door frame of the car. He takes a step. She does. And Megan watches as her family comes together.

RUPTURE

THE FACILITY

Love and thanks, as ever, to my unfailingly supportive family and friends. For their help and insight during the research and writing of this book, I owe a debt in particular to Sandra Higgison, Darryl Hobden, Andy Hood, Hanne Stevens and Amanda Thornton. Without their collective generosity, in terms of time and expertise, I would still be staring at a blinking cursor. Thank you, equally, to all at Macmillan, Penguin, the Zoe Pagnamenta Agency, Andrew Nurnberg Associates and Felicity Bryan Associates. Emma Bravo, Kathryn Court, Sophie Orme, Zoe Pagnamenta, Maria Rejt, Tara Singh and Caroline Wood all deserve an extra special mention.

I would like, as well, to detail here the books that have most informed and guided my research for The Child Who : Blake Morrison’s heartbreaking, exceptional As If ; Gitta Sereny’s The Case of Mary Bell , as well as her astonishing series of articles about the James Bulger case published in the wake of the resultant trial in the Independent on Sunday Review (and available now as appendix to the aforementioned book); Alex McBride’s fascinating and entertaining Defending the Guilty ; and, finally, Infant Losses, Adult Searches by Glyn Hudson Allez, a devastatingly insightful analysis.

Last, and above all, I would like to say thank you to Sarah, my wife, and to my two sons, Barnaby and Joseph: for being there, and for being who they are.

‘Three possible candidates for the Granta U.K. class of 2013 are Ned Beauman, Joe Dunthorne and Simon Lelic. Lelic’s three novels are breakneck, intelligent ’social thrillers’ that even invade my dream-life.’

‘Could this be Lelic’s breakthrough book? It deserves to be.’

‘Quietly excellent legal thriller.’

‘An excellent psychological crime thriller from one of the genre’s rising stars… Zest, fresh perspective, insight and often quite beautiful writing, something you rarely see in populist thriller fiction… Lelic’s gift is for immediately unsettling the reader. Just who is narrating this? Who are these people? Where is this going? This wrong-footing isn’t just gimmicky, however. It’s an essential thread in the weave of this excellent novel… Much of the joy of this book is about the disorientating nature of Lelic’s story-telling… bewitching.’