‘I-I don’t know.’ Which is true. I have no idea what Teri has done to her. For all I know she’s threatening to boil a rabbit if Holly comes home with me.
‘Is your stepdaughter unsafe?’
‘Yes! Please come.’
A beat. ‘Is your stepdaughter being held against her will, Mrs Price?’
‘I don’t know! I want you to come and get my stepdaughter out of that house.’
‘We have a car on the way.’
I go outside and wait, pacing the pavement. Five minutes later, which is interminable really, a car pulls up.
I rush to them and try to open the car door even before they’ve stopped. Two uniformed constables get out. They introduce themselves as PC Watts and PC Michaels.
‘Please. She’s in there,’ I tell them, pointing. ‘She’s in that house. She won’t come out.’
‘What’s your stepdaughter’s name?’
‘Holly.’
‘And she’s sixteen years old?’
‘Yes. Can you get in there, please?’
‘Please calm down, Mrs Price. We’ll go and have a talk with Holly.’
They walk up to the front door, and I stand right behind them. One of them, the taller one, asks me to take a step back, and I do as I’m told. They ring the doorbell. This time, Teri opens right away.
‘Hello, officers,’ she says, frowning, like she has no idea why on earth two uniformed policemen would show up at her door. ‘How may I help you?’
They show her their ID and introduce themselves. ‘Mrs Price tells us that her stepdaughter, Holly, is here with you?’
‘Yes, that’s right.’ Again, that baffled expression. God, she’s good.
‘May we see her?’
‘Certainly. Why don’t you come in?’
She steps aside to let them through. I push between them to make my way inside.
‘I’d rather Kate didn’t come in,’ Teri says. ‘It’s just that Holly doesn’t want to see her.’
In another universe, one day, I will kill this woman myself.
‘Any reason why?’ they ask.
‘She’s afraid of her.’
‘That’s a lie! Holly?’
‘Mrs Price,’ PC Watts says, ‘if you don’t calm down, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.’ He turns to Teri. ‘Could I have your name, please?’
‘Certainly, it’s Beatrice George.’
‘She calls herself Teri,’ I say.
‘But I go by Teri,’ she tells PC Watts, as if I hadn’t spoken.
