I’m keeping well clear but she’s threatening to phone my parents. To report the affair and challenge my degree. Do you really want everyone to know how you got your first? As if. I spent three years slaving for it.
So. For now I’m just trying to distance myself. To get back on track. I’ve told her to stay away from me. That I just want to get past the graduation, and then talk to my parents.
CHAPTER 69
THE PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR
‘Hello. Coffee break.’ Matthew moves quickly into the cubicle, pushing the door shut with his foot behind him. Both Rachel and Amanda are seated. Body language very tense.
‘The nurses mentioned on the door you were here so I got you a black, Amanda. That OK?’ He holds out a cup to her and notices immediately that her pupils are dilated.
Rachel widens her eyes and glances towards a trolley next to Amanda. There’s a phone on the top shelf. It vibrates with a text or message.
‘I didn’t know you were coming here.’ Amanda stares at him and reaches for the phone, which she puts in her jacket pocket. She doesn’t check the message. Is that Rachel’s phone? Is that what she’s signalling?
On the satellite call, Molly said Amanda had been caught using cocaine but had confessed to an addiction to sleeping tablets and other prescription drugs too. She blamed it all on the trauma over Sam. Molly also discovered she didn’t even have a degree （as her CV stated） – a baseline requirement for senior staff. Alone, she said she would have overlooked it, but in context it was leverage for the severance. The drugs were the main issue.
Matthew wonders what exactly Amanda’s using. He thinks of Sam’s murder just a few hours earlier. He considers an immediate dive to put her in a hold, but Amanda quickly pulls her bag on to her lap and reaches into it. She meets his eye as a warning. He stills himself.
‘Could you give us a minute, Matthew? We were just sorting out something private here.’ Amanda’s still looking at him and keeps her hand firmly inside her bag, clearly gripping something.
‘Actually I’ve asked Amanda to leave now.’ Rachel stands and moves closer to Gemma’s bed. ‘I’m very tired.’
‘I won’t stay, then. Just wanted to update that it’s all going well at the cathedral.’ Matthew pretends to check his watch. ‘I need to get back there, actually. Can give you a lift if you like, Amanda?’
‘I’ve got my own car.’ Amanda scrapes her chair backwards towards the wall so that she can see both Matthew and Rachel Hartley too.
Matthew sips his drink. ‘Where’s your husband?’ He keeps his voice steady as he looks at Rachel.
‘Taking a shower.’
‘Maybe you’d like to take a little break too. Join him? Get some rest?’
‘She’s going nowhere. Actually, can we change seats, Rachel?’ Amanda glances between Rachel and the window on to the ward. The blinds are down but Matthew’s hoping once the armed officers arrive, they’ll be able to make out movements through the gaps.
‘I’m fine here. I like to be next to Gemma.’ Rachel’s voice cracks and Matthew can see that her hand is shaking as she reaches out to take her daughter’s.
‘I said we need to change seats.’ Amanda’s head is jerking strangely, like a tic, and she takes her right hand, now holding a gun, from her bag and points it at Gemma.
Rachel lets out a horrible noise. Like an animal in pain. She then throws herself on to the bed, shielding Gemma’s body. ‘You stay away from her. You leave us alone.’
‘It’s going to be all right, Mrs Hartley. Let’s keep everything nice and calm.’ Matthew keeps his gaze fixed on Amanda, who moves into Rachel’s seat in the corner. It’s deliberate. She’s placed herself out of line of sight through the window to the ward and hence out of line of shot from the ward. She must have guessed about the backup.
‘Come on, Amanda. You don’t want to make this any worse. You don’t want to hurt anyone here.’ Matthew speaks slowly but Amanda won’t even look at him. It’s unlikely now that armed support will be able to get a clean shot when they do turn up. So he’s on his own. His mind’s in overdrive, trying to work out the least dangerous of his options.
‘You need to wake Gemma up.’ Amanda’s voice is cross suddenly, and still her head is sort of twitching. ‘I told you already, Mrs Hartley, I need to talk to your daughter.’
Rachel is crying now, still lying across her daughter’s form in the bed. Matthew thinks of Amelie and something shifts inside. He knows he’d do the same. Try to shield her.