In any event. 10.
Caroline held her mobile to her ear, the reception fading for a moment as she slightly turned away from the one signal hotspot she seemed to have found in the farm. She wished she had taken Raff up on his offer to use the landline. Kate's voice picked up again and Caroline listened carefully.
"She's fine." Kate was answering Caroline's most pressing question, which of course was about the welfare of Mia, this morning. Caroline missed them both already and she hadn't been away a full 24 hours yet. "She was asking for you when she woke up and was most unimpressed when I told her you had something important to do. She's okay now though, since she realised that Lawrence is home, he hasn't chucked her out of his room yet, so I would say that everything is fine here." Kate assured. "What about there? What about Gillian?"
"Ahhhhhhh, I wish I knew more, but I don't think I do." Caroline sighed, feeling suddenly exhausted. "They wouldn't let us see her last night of course. Raff and I spent hours trying to find out what was going on and then Mum and Alan turned up with Calamity. It was a bit of a circus, to be honest. I'm surprised they didn't lock us all up." Caroline attempted a little light humor, as was her way.
"What's going to happen then?" Kate asked, her question filled with her real concern.
"We still don't really know. They haven't charged her with anything yet. Natalie said that due to the serious nature of the case they can keep her in longer for questioning before they have to decide, with the CPS, if they have enough evidence to charge her. If she is charged then she'll have to appear at the magistrates court in the next few days. Natalie will do anything she can to get bail." Caroline explained. The solicitor that she had called was an old friend from Oxford and Caroline trusted that she would do whatever she could to get Gillian home as soon as possible.
Kate nodded, unseen. "But did they say why? Why has she suddenly been arrested after all this time? It's not usual is it?" Kate pressed.
Caroline had her suspicions, she had tried to get the answer to the same question from Raff last night and when she had realised that he was as clueless as she, Caroline had made some inquiries about Robbie and discovered that he had been hanging around the farm again and that he and Gillian seemed to be "getting on well" as Raff had put it.
Caroline had warned Gillian at every opportunity that any relationship with him was a disaster waiting to happen and usually Gillian agreed with her, except for those occasions, from time to time when he would show up again, when Gillian was feeling lonely or pissed or just horny and the inevitable would happen. What usually followed was a brief attempt at togetherness before Gillian faced the truth of the situation and got rid of him again. They were on and off, as people put it, though more off than on, as a rule.
Caroline hadn't realised that he was back on the scene again, she had probably been a little distracted by her own relationship, she decided guiltily.
"I'm not sure." Caroline said. "Natalie said that Gillian barely spoke last night."
"Shock perhaps." Kate remarked.
"Maybe." Caroline agreed, though darker thoughts had plagued her mind all night, keeping her awake on the lumpy farm sofa. What if Gillian had decided that she had hidden the truth for long enough? What if she decided she would just tell everyone what she had done? It didn't bare thinking about.
"Do you want me to come over?" Kate offered, uncertainly.
Caroline shook her head and started to decline. "No, there isn't anything you can..." She could almost hear Kate's disappointment and her quiet acceptance. This is what Caroline did. She took control of a situation, she dealt with it, independently. It was one of the things John had loved her for most. Whenever he got into a mess, she had been there to get him out, to deal with it for him. No nonsense, no support needed. Her instinct even now had been, that Kate being here would merely be an added complication, something she would have to manage. It needn't be that way. Kate wanted to be there for her, wanted to be part of this strange, extended "late in the day" family and Caroline needed to allow her to be.
"I mean, maybe...I don't know yet, I'm waiting for Natalie to call back. Perhaps, if I'm going to stay, you could come over...if you're not... doing anything else?" Caroline stumbled over the words.
"No, that would be fine, I could drop Mia at mum's. Anything I can do... I would just like to be there with you..." Kate said sincerely.
Caroline smiled adoringly. "Thank you. It means the world." She admitted. "But perhaps you could bring Mia, she could keep Calamity company, Ellie is away with friends and Raff is out of his mind and trying to keep this place going. Mum and Alan have been trying to entertain her but between you, me and the gatepost, I think she is a little much for them."
"If you think..." Kate agreed.
"And if you could speak to Lawrence, let him know what's going on, that we might not be around much until we know exactly what's happening." Caroline had been about to ask to speak to him herself but it felt right, letting Kate do it.
"Sure. I'll let him know." Kate told her confidently, things between herself and Caroline's youngest having much improved since the first time around, due in part to Mia's ability to charm the young man and ultimately wrap him around her little finger.
Xxxx
When Kate arrived at the farm later that day, Mia was beside herself with excitement, having stored up quite a lot of energy in the car on the journey, she now wished to offload all of it on to Caroline, as the blonde unbuckled her car seat and scooped her out of it. The small high pitched squeal that the little girl made into Caroline's shoulder as she squeezed her with a surprising strength, was shrill but adorable.
"Hello my sweetheart." Caroline sang as she returned the squeeze.
Kate wandered around the car to watch the pair and to grin kindly at the other little girl that had let go of Caroline's hand.
"Hello Emily Jane." Kate said softly, bending a little to her level.
"Good timing." Caroline said around the little body that still clung, like a koala baby, to her body. "I think Calamity was beginning to get a little bored of my company."
Mia released Caroline enough to look down at her sometime playmate, happily. "Mia come to play!" She announced.
Calamity smiled despite her attempts to appear extremely grown up during the very serious situation she had sensed was occurring.
Caroline placed Mia onto her feet on the ground before Calamity and witnessed the two girls reach for each others hands as they left behind the grown ups and made their way back indoors.
"Raffs working with the sheep and Mum and Alan have gone for a lie down..." Caroline began, stopping to take Kate's hand in hers and flashing her a brilliant smile. "I'm glad you're here." She admitted easily.
Xxx
"They want to speak to Alan." Caroline stated to the audience that had encircled her as she answered the call on her mobile. "They said they would send a car but Natalie told them that I'd bring you in."
Alan nodded slowly, he had feared but expected that he would be called on again for his account of what had happened.
"Well can they do that? Make him re-live all of that again? He gave a statement at the time, I don't see what asking again all these years down the line is going to achieve, he won't remember anything more. And he's not a well man, Surely Caroline...?!"
"I know all of that mum, but there isn't any way to avoid it. They need to go back over the case. It's probably just a formality, they have received some new information and they have to be seen to investigate." Caroline attempted to reassure.
"What new information?" Alan wanted to know.
Caroline froze, wondering how she could phrase things in the most positive light. "I...a new statement has been made to the police...claiming that Gillian admitted to ...being involved in ...Eddie's death."
Alan began nodding before Caroline could finish.
"Well, that's no secret...we all know she was there...they can't have her for that!" Celia said.
"It's more than that Mum." Caroline insisted quietly.
Celia looked at Alan, then Kate, then back to Gillian. "Wellll...we knew she...Alan knew about it...at the time. Gillian found him...Eddie...injured...but alive. She saw the state of him, he probably would have died anyway before an ambulance could get up here, or if not, he'd be one of them vegetables, what kind of existence is that? She did him a favour...she put him out of his misery, which is what he wanted anyway!" Celia explained.
Caroline looked perplexed, frowning deeply and now rubbing at the creases in her brow.
"So, you knew...have known for...how long? That there was more to this...that Gillian was more involved than she said?" Caroline demanded.
Celia shrugged. "Alan told me about it before we got married, we didn't want to be stumbling into any skeletons in each others closets."
Caroline dared to hope for a moment that this was all it was. That perhaps Gillian would admit to having "finished him off" in some act of mercy. Perhaps that was all she had admitted to Robbie.
"Is that what you are going to tell the police then Alan?" Kate asked as Caroline still struggled to process the new information.
"I don't know." Alan said. "I mean...I lied for her last time...I had my reasons then and I would do same again." He defended.
Kate nodded with an understanding smile.
"But if she's telling folk what really happened...then they'll know that I'm lying...then...well...I could get into trouble for that, I suppose?" He asked uncertainly. Looking to Caroline now, who had stopped pacing and was ready to speak to him.
"Right." Caroline said. "You should try and stick as close to what you said before as you can, don't give them anything they don't ask you directly about, you should probably try and act a bit dithering, you know, like you don't understand their questions and that your memory is dreadful and just avoid answering anything that could incriminate either of you."
Alan nodded. "I can do that, I think...play the confused old man card..."
"I don't believe this!" Celia threw her hands in the air. "That girl." She shook her head despairingly. "Just when you think there can be no more trouble..."
"We can chat about it on the way, it's best to get it over with sooner rather than later." Caroline said as she picked up her coat and her heavy bunch of keys. Caroline stepped to Kate, putting her hand to Kate's arm. "You'll be alright here with the girls?" She checked. "And Mum?" She said looking a little more uncertain at this part.
Kate nodded confidently. "I will. You go."
Caroline turned to Alan. "Are you ready Alan?"
"Not really love, but we better do as you say." Alan said, with his brave face.
Celia picked up her coat and set out after the pair, through the door.
"No." Caroline said firmly. "I'll take him."
"He's my husband, I have as much right as anyone to be by his side, Miss high and mighty..."
"Happen Caroline's right." Alan spoke up now, at Celia's shoulder. "I won't be able to concentrate if I'm worrying about you waiting around for me, you should stop here, look after the little ones and explain to our Raff when he gets back."
Celia looked as if she might argue. "Well I, I should be there...shouldn't I?"
"Caroline will look out for me and you'd only be sat in one of those plastic chairs drinking coffee from a machine when you could be sat here with a decent cup of tea." Alan reasoned. "Please Celia." He added.
Celia pulled him in to her tightly, her arms wrapping around him for a moment before she released him.
"Be careful on the road. And make sure you tell them if you feel any discomfort, the slightest twinge..." Celia pointed at Caroline. "Tell them he has a heart condition and if any harm comes to him I will make sure they are held accountable, I'll sue em, they'll be the one's up for murder!"
"Yes Mum, I will Mum. Won't be long Mum." Caroline assured kindly..
Xxxxxxxxx
They'd had him in the interview room for a good hour. It felt like longer. Caroline had paced the corridor like so many before, she wondered how much of her time was spent in corridors, at school, in hospitals and now this place, how many hours? And just when it felt like the walls were closing in and she was about to go and raise hell with the desk Sargeant again, there he was.
Looking older than ever before, looking frail, looking crushed beneath some heavy knowledge, looking so tired that no amount of sleep could remedy it. Caroline felt, not for the first time with Alan, her heart fill with a deep affection, he was so good, like Gillian had said, there was something etched right through him, he couldn't be separated from it. He, of all people, shouldn't have to suffer this.
"Could you take me home, Caroline?" He asked unassumingly.
"Of course." Caroline agreed, hurrying ahead of him to hold the heavy double doors open and let him through before her.
He nodded gratefully and his head hung again as he made his way out of the station.
When they were both buckled into Caroline's car but before she started the engine, she sighed, her hands clutching at the steering wheel. Caroline wanted to question him as she would one of the boys, what had happened? What exactly had they said? Take her through it, don't leave anything out.
"I knew he was a bully." Alan said. "But...the things they said he did to her...I didn't know...I would never have let her stay there with him...if she'd told me..." His eyes were huge, desperate.
"She knew that...that's probably why she didn't say..." Caroline said, her voice raw, full and scratching.
"If I'd have known...guessed...I would have killed him myself." He said firmly, looking Caroline hard in the eye's, a promise.
Caroline nodded. "We'll get her home." She vowed, before finally starting the car.
Xxx
A/N-More very soon, thanks for the support and feedback xx