The Apartment - K. L. Slater Page 0,46

see Audrey there. She looks at her husband and back at me. ‘Milk, no sugar, I believe?’

‘Thank you,’ I manage, the china rattling in my hand.

‘What’s wrong, Mummy?’ Skye reaches for my other hand and I squeeze hers. For a little one, she’s so perceptive.

‘Mummy’s fine,’ Dr Marsden answers for me. ‘She’s just had a little shock, that’s all.’ He looks at Audrey meaningfully. ‘Local gossip-mongers at work again, I’m afraid.’

‘Oh no.’ Audrey puts down the tray and sits next to her husband. ‘People exaggerate, Freya. Please don’t take too much stock from idle gossip.’

‘I’d like to know what happened, though. For my own peace of mind.’ I look at Audrey, hoping to appeal to her woman to woman. ‘I hope you understand.’

‘It’s perhaps not the best time to discuss it, dear.’ She smiles at Skye, whose excitement has now disappeared and a worried frown has taken its place. ‘Suffice to say, the child’s mother was . . . very troubled.’

Dr Marsden nods sagely.

‘We did what we could, of course,’ Audrey offers. ‘To support her, I mean, with the little information we had. But I’m afraid help can only be given if it’s accepted.’

They’re talking in riddles, but I can’t do anything about that because I don’t want to frighten Skye by asking them to clarify the details. They’re admitting that something happened, but they’ve said it didn’t happen here. At Adder House.

Dr Marsden categorically said that . . . didn’t he? I fall silent. I don’t know what else to say.

‘Adder House is your home now, Freya,’ Dr Marsden says softly. ‘You mustn’t allow some fellow you don’t know to upset you in your own safe space.’

How can I just ignore it when someone as down to earth as Mark volunteers such shocking information with nothing to gain? And what about the woman’s comments outside the café?

I desperately want Adder House to be our safe space, but I need to know exactly what happened here eight months ago. I just do.

Mindful that Skye is taking all this in, I choose my words carefully.

‘So you’re saying that it definitely didn’t happen here at Adder House?’

‘Definitely not. But perhaps this is not the right time to discuss such matters in front of this little one, who’s all ears.’

Dr Marsden means well, but that way he’s got, of telling me what I ought to be doing or not doing, like he’s speaking to a child . . . it’s irritating. Audrey does it, too.

I force my mouth into a tight smile. ‘Perhaps we can talk about it again’ – I glance at Skye – ‘at a more appropriate time.’

‘It’s best not to trouble yourself with such thoughts.’ Audrey’s words sound clipped at the edges. ‘We prefer not to revisit upsetting memories if we can. Far better to look to the future, I find.’

‘True, true.’ Dr Marsden echoes her thoughts.

Easy for them to say. They’re not the ones in the dark here.

Audrey claps her hands. ‘Speaking of which, it’ll soon be time for our visit to St Benjamin Monks. Are you excited, Skye?’

Skye nods cautiously but doesn’t say anything.

I finish my tea, the weight of what I wanted to discuss still hanging in the air.

Skye seems subdued and fidgets on the sofa next to me. I stand up and thank them for the tea and agree to meet Audrey in the foyer at 10.10 a.m. when we’ll set off for the school visit.

The apartment door closes behind us with a dull thud and Skye runs ahead, skipping lightly up the stairs to the second floor. Her faint singing drifts down the stairs like a silver thread.

Sunlight dapples the polished wooden floor. I look around me and a warm, grateful feeling floods my chest, beating the worries back even if they don’t dissolve completely.

Whatever happened to that poor woman, it didn’t happen here. And it didn’t happen in our apartment.

That’s what I keep telling myself.

27

Back upstairs, we have about fifteen minutes until we have to leave for our visit to St Benjamin Monks.

I really didn’t expect nor particularly want Audrey to accompany us to school, but I can’t very well put her off when she’s been so helpful. Besides, it might be a chance to talk more about what Mark the builder told me and what the woman at the café alluded to.

I let Skye watch Beauty and the Beast on my iPad for a little while as I sit on the sofa next to her with my laptop on my knee.

It’s quite old