Page 85 of Guilty Mothers
She pushed down the handle and bolted out of the front door. Despite the trembling in her legs, she reached the gate and flew through it. She turned left and began to run. She had no plan except to keep moving until she found somewhere to hide.
She was out of the house; she was free.
She didn’t stop. Maybe she should knock a door. But who would believe her? She was crying, shaking with fear.
She heard Logan call after her.
She didn’t stop. She had to knock a door. She had to make someone understand what was going on. Vera at number ten would help her. Three more steps and she’d be at the gate. She could hear Logan behind her. Running, calling her. Just another couple of steps.
The front of her flip-flop caught on a raised slab. She staggered and fell.
She cried out as a strong hand grabbed the back of her neck.
‘Nice try, Mom,’ Logan said with amusement in his voice. ‘Scream once and I’ll break every bone in your body,’ he continued as he lifted her from the ground.
She looked desperately around the street, but there wasn’t a soul in sight.
‘Come on now, Mom – let’s get you back home,’ he said, pulling her right arm up behind her back to force her back to the house.
Her eyes stung, and more tears fell as she realised the futility of resisting. She was being returned to prison, and she knew it was only going to get worse.
As helplessness engulfed her, she just hoped that the inevitable beating would be bad enough to be her last.
FIFTY-FIVE
‘What the hell?’ Penn said as he turned the car into Sycamore Drive and saw Logan strong-arming his mother along the pavement.
On closer inspection, Logan appeared to be helping his mother back to the house. A limp in her left leg indicated she’d taken a fall. Yet there was something in his brain telling him that his glance back at the road had given Logan a chance to adjust his hold, and his first impression had been right.
‘Tiff?’
‘Yes, I saw it too.’
Penn stepped out of the car and approached the two of them. Logan’s hand was now firmly on Olivia’s elbow, offering support.
‘Everything okay?’ Penn asked, looking to Olivia, who wouldn’t meet his gaze. Her whole body seemed drained and shrunken.
‘We’re fine. Mom just went out to post a letter and fell on the way back. Damn flip-flops. She will insist on wearing them all the time.’
Penn was growing more uneasy as Olivia nodded while staring at the ground. She had the air of a woman twenty years older.
‘Logan, may we speak to your mom alone?’ he asked as Tiff moved forward to support Olivia on the other side.
‘I’m afraid not. She’s not up to it. She hasn’t been well, and now with this fall…I’m sorry, but I just need to get her inside and make sure she’s okay.’
Penn blocked his entry through the gate. ‘I’m sorry, Logan, but I really must insist.’
Logan’s expression changed in the face of an authoritative voice challenging him. The fire in his eyes showed how quick he was to anger. But Penn was not prepared to back down this time. Something about this woman was broken.
‘You have no right to insist. She’s done nothing wrong. She briefly knew some guy who fell in the lake. It’s not a crime, so can you kindly get out of my way, so I can get her safely into the house?’
Despite talking to Logan, Penn had been watching Olivia’s body language. Although she hadn’t yet lifted her head, there was a new tension to her body, despite the trembling he could see in her legs. She was definitely listening.
‘Step aside, Logan,’ Tiff instructed in a voice Penn hadn’t heard before.
‘Absolutely not,’ he raged, grabbing his mother’s arm even tighter. ‘And once I get Mom settled, I’m making a formal complaint about the conduct of?—’
‘Okay, Logan, you leave me no choice,’ Penn said. ‘Olivia Dench, I am arresting you on suspicion of the murder of James Nixon. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’