He was expecting an immediate row over Laura. A scene with DI Sanders.
‘It’s Alex,’ Rachel whispers. ‘He’s on the top of a car park, threatening to jump.’
‘What? And they’re showing that on live TV?’
‘No. Not live. But they’re showing pictures. He’s got a banner, Ed. And a loudhailer. He’s making demands. Saying things about Gemma.’
‘Gemma? What the hell . . .’ Ed moves deeper into the room so he can read the screen.
A rolling headline says, ‘Rooftop protest linked to coma student Gemma Hartley’。
‘He’s told everyone she’s pregnant, Ed. The whole world.’ Rachel is sobbing now. ‘Why would he do that? Why would he do such a horrible thing? Is this because we refused to see him? Ignored those notes?’
Alex sent a second note, asking for a paternity test. A ridiculous request. They gave the note to DI Sanders. She said not to engage.
Ed moves across the room to put his arms around Rachel’s shoulders – the chasm and confusion over Laura temporarily forgotten.
‘The absolute bastard. Why are the media allowing this?’
‘He contacted them through some campaign groups. Pro-lifers and fathers’ rights groups. He says he has a right to know if it’s his baby. He’s going on about wanting the test; he says we’re refusing to see him and the police won’t tell him anything either. He’s saying that he wants to bring the child up himself.’
‘The man’s completely off his head. This is monstrous.’ Ed feels furious. Also helpless. He was resigned to the possibility of Gemma’s news becoming public eventually. But not like this . . .
He glances at their daughter, silent and still in the bed. She has on the headphones that Rachel now uses to resolve their disagreement over whether Gemma can hear. They’re his expensive noise-cancelling ones. Rachel plugs them into her iPad, linked to a relaxation or meditation app, playing gentle sounds of running water. A soft breeze. It normally annoys him that Rachel still insists on this. He doesn’t think Gemma can hear. But at least they’ve stopped arguing about it and today he’s surprised to feel grateful for the precaution. He could not bear for his daughter, trapped wherever she is trapped, to know what’s going on today.
Just a week after someone sank a bullet in her leg.
‘Do we still need to talk about Laura?’ Ed’s staring at Rachel.
‘Yes. But not now. Not now. DI Sanders is dealing with all this first. Oh – what the hell do we do?’ Rachel’s tone is desperate. ‘Should we get a lawyer, do you think? Is there some way we can stop the media running this? Letting him say these things?’
‘I don’t know, love.’
‘What about Helen’s sister? She deals with the press all the time. Maybe she can advise us?’
‘No, no. We don’t really know her, do we? And we need to be careful who we talk to.’
But Rachel’s already taken out her phone and is typing.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I’m just sending a text to Helen. Telling her we need media advice.’
Ed lets out a huff of air. This is not favour territory. ‘What about the police guy? In their press office?’
‘I don’t like him. I’m not even sure I trust him, Ed.’
‘Well – I’m going to ring our lawyer. We need proper, sound advice, not favours.’ He stands just as the picture on the TV changes. There’s a close-up of Alex, sitting on the outer wall of the car park’s top storey. A headline says ‘These are not live pictures’。 There’s some kind of home-made banner strung out from the wall. The other channel’s pixelating it. But not this one. Ed leans forward to read it properly. Rachel follows his gaze and does the same.
‘A father’s rights’。
‘Why do they say it’s not live?’
‘They probably don’t want to get blamed if he jumps.’
‘Jumps?’ Rachel looks horrified. ‘You don’t seriously think he’ll jump, do you?’ She looks back at the screen. ‘No, no. He’s doing this for attention. To ruin Gemma’s life. Like when he came here and caused the scene. He’s just bitter because they split up.’
‘And what if he is the father?’ Ed looks at Gemma. ‘What if he actually did this to her?’
Rachel looks confused. ‘You’re just saying that because you don’t want to believe it could be Laura.’