Larry nods gravely. ‘I know.’
‘Did you ask my father to leave the clinic after that?’
‘I wanted to believe him …’
‘But you didn’t?’
He sighs. ‘It wasn’t just that. There were other things.’
Theo’s always known his dad could be a control freak and a bully, but he’d believed he was a brilliant doctor. His dad might have been a bit shit at home but in his job he helped change people’s lives.
‘Were there more complaints?’
‘Not of that nature, thankfully.’ Larry sips his tea.
‘But you said there were other things?’
‘Well, we just stopped … gelling, I suppose, in the months after the accusation. I think we wanted different things. Your father, as you surely know, is a very ambitious man. I … I suppose I wanted a quieter life.’ Theo senses there is more that Larry isn’t saying.
‘Did you keep in touch?’
He nods. ‘A little over the years. We’d end up at the same conferences. He met Marge a few times although he never brought your mother to those things.’
That doesn’t surprise Theo. His dad always liked to keep his work and home life separate, apart from the odd occasion his mum had to have some of his colleagues over for dinner.
‘I followed his career. I was pleased to see he was doing well. I hoped … I really hoped … that there had been a misunderstanding between Victor and the young woman.’
‘When was the last time you saw him?’
Larry narrows his eyes. ‘Ooh, let me think. It must have been a good fourteen to fifteen years ago now. Yes, that’s right, it was at a conference in the autumn of 2004.’
‘That would have been a few months after my mum died.’
Larry looks troubled. ‘Ah … he didn’t say, but I didn’t speak to him for long. We had a quick conversation, but about work.’
Bonnie decides she’s too hot on the sofa so jumps down and flops at Theo’s feet instead. He leans forwards to put his mug on the coffee-table. ‘Can I ask you something?’ he says. ‘And please give me your honest answer. Don’t worry about my feelings.’
‘Of course,’ says Larry.
‘Do you think my dad was inappropriate with that young woman? Do you think she was telling the truth?’
Larry’s face clouds. ‘Ah, well, that would only be my opinion. No charges were ever brought against your father, you have to understand that. And at the time I really wanted to believe him.’
‘I know … but do you now?’
Larry is silent for a while. Theo can almost see his brain weighing it up. Eventually he says, ‘We’ll never know for certain. But my heart tells me that the young woman wasn’t making it up. Whatever happened in the clinic that day, the woman really believed your father had acted inappropriately.’
Theo goes cold.
He’d come here for answers but now he has more questions than ever.
20
Rose
January 1980
I was so used to it just being you and me that it felt strange at first having someone else in the house, sharing our only bathroom, our small kitchen, having to be extra polite about which of the four TV channels to watch. It felt like having a permanent guest and it was hard to relax. I felt the same about our last lodger, Kay, and those feelings had never gone away. I hoped to get a job when you were old enough to go to school, but until then the only way I could earn money was by renting out a room in our home.