Sophie Hannah: The Wrong Mother

‘What did you find in the bathroom, Jonathan?’

‘They were dead in the bath. Both of them. And there was… a lamp. That was also in the water. Amy’s night light. And the book Encarna had been reading.’

‘They’d been electrocuted,’ said Simon gently.

‘Yes. Amy was… lying on top of Encarna, still in her school uniform. It was soaked. I thought it was an accident,’ Hey sobbed. ‘The lamp fell in, and Amy, seeing Encarna was in trouble, must have grabbed her, tried to pull her out, and because the bath was set into the floor, so damned low… She must have tried to pull her out, she’d grabbed hold of Encarna’s arm. I had to prise her fingers off.’ He shuddered. ‘She was only five! In that split second of panic, seeing her mother dying, she wouldn’t have known that by putting her hands in the water she was risking her own life! She wouldn’t have meant to kill Encarna either, not really-a five-year-old doesn’t know what it means to kill someone.’

Sam tried not to picture the events Hey was describing. It was hard.

‘You wanted to believe it was an accident,’ said Charlie. ‘But you didn’t. Not deep down. You suspected that, however briefly, Amy had meant her mother harm. At the very least, you feared it. You feared she’d pushed the lamp into the water deliberately.’

‘No.’ Hey’s eyes were wild. He ran his hands through his hair repeatedly. ‘No, no.’

‘No? Then why not call an ambulance, if it was a tragic accident? Why bury their bodies in the Brethericks’ garden?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t know why I did it.’

‘You don’t have much self-confidence, do you, Jonathan?’ said Simon. ‘In spite of your professional success. You thought the bodies you’d taken such care to hide might be found one day-because it would be just your luck, wouldn’t it? And you had to protect Amy from people knowing what she’d done. You stripped her so that she too would look like a victim, if someone found her and Encarna.’

Hey looked as if he might faint. ‘Yes,’ he breathed.

Charlie took over. ‘Everyone knows murderers aren’t stripped naked and buried. Victims are. You removed Amy’s clothes to convince yourself as much as anyone else: that it might have been an accident. That Amy and her mum were having a bath together, perhaps, and the night light fell in. Was that the story you’d planned, if the bodies were found? Jonathan?’

‘Or did you plan to pretend Encarna killed both of them?’ asked Simon. ‘A family annihilation. Your wife took her inspiration from your work, that’s what you could have told everyone, and you buried the bodies to protect her reputation. If you’d said that, no one would have suspected it was Amy you were really trying to protect.’

‘I don’t know,’ said Hey. ‘Maybe.’

‘Did Amy ever tell you she wanted to kill her mother?’ Sam asked.

‘You know enough now. I’ve told you enough.’

Sam thought of the e-mails to Amy from Oonagh O’Hara. How’s your mum? Is your mum okay? Oonagh had asked that question, or a version of it, at the end of every message. ‘She told him,’ he said to Simon and Charlie. ‘She told Oonagh O’Hara too, and Oonagh told Lucy Bretherick.’ That had to be the secret Lucy had forced out of Oonagh, that Oonagh had felt so bad about revealing. ‘That’s why you killed Lucy.’ Sam wasn’t sure he was right until he saw Hey’s face.

‘What sort of child would say such a thing?’ Hey spat, his sadness overlaid by a vicious, contorted hatred. ‘Everyone thought Lucy Bretherick was an angel. Would an angel say that to a father about his own child?’ He didn’t wait for an answer. ‘Let me tell you what Lucy was really like. Encarna and I couldn’t stand her. She was a bossy show-off, an irritating, insensitive, arrogant, self-satisfied… creature. Her parents had made sure she was in no doubt about her importance in the world, made her believe she was better than everyone else. She was repugnant! Oh, I tried, I really did. I tried so hard to like her, for Geraldine’s sake. I so wanted it to work for us as a family. But it never would have, I can see that now. Your children have to be your own.’

Simon felt a coldness inside his bones. ‘What happened on the day Geraldine and Lucy died?’ he asked. ‘You were at Corn Mill House. Because of the diary?’

Hey nodded. ‘Geraldine had finished translating it. She was terrified I’d be angry with her and kept saying I shouldn’t read it, but I wasn’t angry. She was in tears. I ended up comforting her. Nothing in the diary surprised me-it was just more of what Encarna said all the time. She’d written some horrible things about Lucy, about wanting to hit and punch her. I managed to persuade Geraldine that she didn’t really mean it, that she was just sounding off.’

‘When was this?’ asked Simon. ‘What day?’

‘Why?’ Hey was impatient. ‘It was the first of August.’

Less than a fortnight ago, thought Sam. Was it possible?

‘Carry on,’ said Simon.

Unexpectedly, Hey smiled at him. It was a humble smile, as if he was grateful to be allowed to talk. ‘There were several references in the diary to Amy’s night light.’

‘We know. We’ve had it translated, all of it.’

‘Geraldine didn’t understand one of them. She didn’t understand why Amy would have crept up on Encarna in the bath and shouted, “I won’t get electrocuted but you will.” ’ Hey made an anguished noise, then apologised. ‘I deleted the last part of that sentence, of course. Once Geraldine was dead.’

‘Tell us about Lucy,’ said Sam.

‘We didn’t know she was there. She came up behind us, we were talking… The angel eavesdropped on our conversation. I lied, told Geraldine I had no idea what Amy might have meant-I said it meant nothing to me. And then Lucy piped up, “Amy says she’s going to kill her mummy.” She looked pleased with herself, as she always did, as if she expected praise. Geraldine was furious. She told Lucy not to be rude and nasty, but Lucy wouldn’t shut up. She said Oonagh O’Hara had told her that Amy had said she was going to kill Encarna by pushing the lamp into the water next time Encarna was reading in the bath. The only reason Oonagh’s still alive is because I couldn’t see a way to get to her.’

Charlie nodded. ‘So you had to kill Geraldine and Lucy. Because they knew. They knew Amy’s secret, and you had to protect your daughter.’

‘I’d have killed Lucy with my bare hands, but I… cared about Geraldine, as I’ve said. I didn’t want to upset her.’

‘So you made your excuses and left,’ said Simon. ‘You went in search of a drug, something to knock them out.’

‘I couldn’t have killed Geraldine if she was… awake. I’m not a killer, Simon.’ There was a plea in Hey’s eyes. ‘I just couldn’t have done it. You were right. I went to see my… what was the word you used? Scrote? It’s a horrible, demeaning word, by the way. You shouldn’t use it.’

‘Thanks for the tip.’

‘I saw Billy. He gave me what I needed and told me what to do with it. When I went back to Corn Mill House later that day, Lucy apologised to me. She said she’d been fibbing. Geraldine was so relieved, so pleased to see me.’ Hey’s face lit up. ‘I’ll never forget that. She said, “Thank God! I was so worried about you.” Her eyes were red, and so were Lucy’s. They never usually fought, but… Geraldine had obviously given her the telling-off of her life.’

‘What happened next?’ asked Charlie.

‘Nothing.’

Nothing? The man’s incredible, thought Sam.

‘I made us all a drink. I put GHB in Geraldine’s and Lucy’s.’ Hey met Simon’s stare. ‘I didn’t want to, but… Lucy never fibbed. That child was obsessed with telling the truth. If even I knew that, Geraldine must have known it too; she might have started to wonder if Encarna and Amy were really in Spain.’ He coughed. ‘I’d rather not talk about the next part.’