Chas may not have noticed the three men leaving but Edna did. She also noticed when Paddy returned alone.
"Would anyone like a cup of tea?" Edna broke the tense silence.
"Can we just go?" Aaron said pulling away from his mum and wiping his face one more time. His tears seemed to have stopped for now and he looked beyond exhausted. This should have been a cathartic experience, finally telling the secret he'd been keeping for so long should have freed him, made him feel lighter but he looked like the opposite was true. He looked worn down and sad and worst of all ashamed.
"Of course we can sweetheart" Chas said looking up at Paddy. She frowned when she saw he was alone.
"Where's..." Paddy shook his head at her, stopping her from asking the question. She looked confused for a moment and then they shared a look that spoke volumes. Edna knew what they were saying. She knew Cain's reputation, what he would do for his family and having listened to what they had all just had to she could only imagine what he was thinking, what he might do. An angry Cain was a disturbing thought and he was so much more than just angry. She could almost understand it.
When Aaron stood up from the sofa he swayed slightly for a minute and Paddy stepped forward to grab him. Aaron flinched away violently, then he immediately looked embarrassed.
"I'm sorry" he said.
"No, no it's fine" Paddy tried to respond. "Well not fine, but it's okay, well not...you know what I mean...it's..." Chas glared at him. "Right let's get you home shall we?" he finished lamely.
Aaron walked to the door on shaky legs, Chas at his side, not touching but keeping close. Paddy followed behind looking like a huge lost puppy. Edna saw them out and at the threshold Paddy turned to her.
"Thank you Edna, for everything" he said sincerely.
"I'm glad I could help" she said sadly and as he turned to follow the other two she put a hand on his arm drawing this attention back to her again. "Look after him won't you".
"I'm going to do my best" Paddy said back and she knew that he would. Aaron was lucky to have him, he needed people like Paddy in his life. Selfless and caring, someone who could show him that he was loved just as he was, with no ulterior motive.
She watched them walk away before stepping back inside her house and closing the door. The room seemed so empty now and it seemed darker. This was the place that had always felt safest to her, where she could be herself and relax but the thought of sitting on the sofa sent a chill down her spine. She had a feeling she would always associate it with one boy's pain and suffering now, would never be able to look at it without seeing Aaron falling apart and baring his soul. Maybe she should donate it to charity and buy herself a new one. She immediately felt guilty for thinking that, selfish for wanting to rid herself of that darkness knowing he never would be. If only he could be fixed so easily.
She made her way through to the kitchen and put the kettle on, the actions automatic, something she had done a thousand times allowing her mind to wander. She kept going back to when she had seen Paddy come back into the house without Marlon and Cain. Picturing the look Chas and he had shared when she'd started to ask where they had gone. She had her suspicions, in fact she was almost positive she knew where they had gone. Was it really any of her business, was any of it really? She didn't want to be seen to be interfering but could she really stand by and do nothing knowing what she knew. She had to do the right thing, the moral thing.
She ignored the kettle when it came to the boil, walking over to the phone and picking it up. She couldn't just stand by and do nothing while people got hurt, she knew what she had to do. She dialed the number without hesitation.
Sandra stood washing the pots. Sometimes it was nice to focus on the small tasks, on the things that she could do. Instead of all the bigger problems, the ones she didn't have a clue how to fix.
Would today be the day she finally plucked up the courage and left him for good? It would be a good day to do it really. It was the school hoidays and Liv was at her friends for a sleepover. She would have the whole weekend to get sorted.
She'd thought about it so many times. She'd even kind of done it a handful of times, packed a few bits and took Liv with her to stay at friends for a couple of nights. But she'd always known she would go back to him, that is wasn't permanent. Because she always gave in.
Things were okay between them, if she ignored his controlling behavior and the way he lost him temper sometimes, if she ignored the doubts she hid at the back of her mind.
At first she'd stayed because she loved him. Then because they had a child together. Later it was because she felt a responsibility to Aaron, she was the only mother he really had and if she left then it would just be him and his dad. That shouldn't be such a worrying thought.
But then Aaron left, and it was just the three of them. So things should have been better, after all Aaron had been the main source of their problems, hadn't he? But things weren't okay because for some reason once Aaron was gone Gordon had been even more short tempered, more controlling. It was as if without his son there he had no outlet for his frustrations any more and so he had turned it on her. She had always liked to think that she had looked after Aaron, protected him but now she was starting to wonder if it had been the other way round. But still she stayed. Because leaving was hard, and staying was easy. She told herself that no relationship was perfect, you had to work at it.
And that worked for a while. When it was just her that he got angry with. But just lately things had started to change, between Gordon and Liv, and it made her nervous. Gordon had always had a great relationship with his daughter, he seemed to adore her and Liv idolized him. But Liv was growing up, she wasn't the same sweet little girl she had been. She reminded Sandra so much of Aaron sometimes that it scared her. Aaron had always seemed to know what buttons to push when it came to his father and since he left it was like Liv had made it her mission to find those same buttons.
Sandra knew she wasn't perfect, that she hadn't always been the best mother but she tried her hardest to protect her children, and she couldn't deny that she'd not always done the best job of that with Aaron. But she was determined that wouldn't be the case for Liv. Wanting to keep her child safe wasn't odd,it's what all mothers did, even if the person she was protecting her from was her own father.
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. She grabbed a tea towel from the side and dried her hands on it as she walked towards the door. She contemplated not answering it. It was the middle of the day and that usually meant some annoying sales person trying to get her to buy something she had absolutely no interest in, but she somehow always ended up getting. She found it hard to say no. She was waiting for a delivery though so she didn't want to risk missing it. If she did that it would probably end up being delivered to a neighbours house and then she would have to go round and collect it later. That would involve making awkward small talk with people she barely knew, the thought made her shudder in apprehension. So she took the gamble and answered the door.
Two men stood on her doorstep. They neither looked like sales people or delivery men. Something about them made her uncomfortable.
"Can I help you?" she said. She had the door open but stood in the open space making sure they stayed outside on the doorstep.
"Is Gordon in?" the shorter of the two asked bluntly. He may have been the smaller of the two but he was by far the more intimidating looking. He was quite good looking in a rugged kind of way she decided, but there was a hardness to him, a sense of danger that actually added to his appeal if she was honest. She almost blushed at the thought, but thoughts of how jealous Gordon would be if he knew what she was thinking quelled any desire she was feeling.
"I'm sorry he's at work" she answered politely.
"And where's that?" he asked.
"I'm sorry but who are you exactly?" she asked then. As if she was just going to tell two strangers where her husband worked. This whole thing seemed very strange.
"It doesn't matter" he answered. "Are you going to tell me where he works or not?".
"No I don't think so" she said feeling brave. He just nodded as if expecting that.
"Fine, we'll be back later" why did that sound like a threat. Both men turned and walked away.
"What shall I tell him this is about?" she really didn't want these men coming back but if they were anyway then at least she could give Gordon some kind of hint as to why.
They both stopped and looked at each other before the same one who had spoken before spoke again.
"Tell him it's about Aaron" there was no warmth of any kind in his voice she noted. His words clipped and hard.
"Aaron?" she stepped outside of the house, concern for her former step son overriding her nervousness. "Is he okay?".
"Why don't you ask your husband?" he said and then they both turned and walked away.
She watched them go with a sinking feeling in her stomach.
What did he mean by that? What had happened to Aaron and what did it have to do with Gordon? What did they know? Who even were they? She had too many questions and no answers.
Except that wasn't really true was it? .She had an idea what this could be about. Just because it was something she didn't want to face didn't mean it didn't exist.
She was half way through packing her bags when she heard another knock at the front door. Surely they couldn't be back so soon, it had only been a few hours and Gordon was still at work. Although looking at her watch she knew he'd be back any time. Maybe it was him, maybe he'd forgotten his keys. She wasn't sure which would be worse. She looked out the window and was shocked to see a police car parked outside.
She left the suitcase open on the bed and went to answer the door, filled with trepidation.
"Mrs Livesy?" one of the two policemen stood on her doorstep asked when she answered the door.
"Yes".
"Is your husband in?" he asked.
"No I'm sorry he's at work" she said for the second time that day.
"Do you know when he'll be back".
"I'm sorry but what is this about?" she asked them, scared to hear the answer.
"I can't tell you that, we need to speak to him" the policeman was young and looked uncomfortable, but she noticed a hard glint to his eye, as though he didn't like whatever it was that brought him to their door. Maybe that was just her own guilty conscience reading too much into it though.
She hadn't noticed a car pulling up behind them so when her husband's confused face appeared behind the uniformed men she almost jumped out of her skin.
"Is everything okay?" he said in that easy, friendly way he always had.
"Mr Livesy?" the other officer asked.
"Yes, can I help you?" he still seemed relaxed and friendly but Sandra knew him well enough to read the tension in his face.
"We need you to come down to the station with us Sir".
"What an earth for, what's this about?" he asked, a little less friendly, a little more tense.
"Someone has made some serious allegations against you and we need you to answer some questions".
"What kind of allegations?" he sounded genuinely confused, it was very convincing.
Sandra saw the way the officer looked Gordon straight in the eye as he answered.
"Rape of a minor" and Sandra's world dropped out from under her feet.