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‘Get your hands off her!’ Millie cries.
Stacey reaches awkwardly for her bag as her husband literally pulls her away from her friends. ‘It’s fine, honestly. If you could just give Archie a lift home—’
‘You fucking thug,’ Millie hisses at Felix.
‘I don’t think you’re helping,’ Harper mutters.
Millie suddenly lunges forward and grabs Felix’s left hand, the one gripping Stacey’s arm. With a sharp twist, she snaps his little finger back. There’s an audible crack, and Felix bellows in pain and releases his wife.
‘Oh, my God!’ Harper exclaims, clapping her hand to her mouth as Felix reels backwards. ‘I think you broke his finger!’
‘Have youseenthe bruises on her arms?’ Millie demands.
There’s a sudden commotion on the other side of the pool. People are standing up, pushing back chairs, crying out in alarm. A whistle blows. For a moment, Stacey thinks it’s because of the altercation with Felix.
There’s a splash as someone dives fully clothed into the water.
And then she sees the small white body floating facedown in the pool.
chapter 31
millie
Harper is the first to react. Kicking off her sandals, she dives fully clothed into the water, covering the width of the pool in a couple of strokes and reaching Archie before the lifeguard has even got near. She clearly knows what she’s doing: she approaches him from behind and supports his head cleanly above the surface as she brings him to the edge of the pool where I’ve run to help. Several other swimmers assist her in lifting the slight boy out onto the concrete.
‘She’s a doctor,’ Harper says, as people crowd around me. ‘Give her space.’
Archie isn’t breathing.
I check for a pulse, and don’t find one. Placing the heel of one hand on the centre of his chest at the nipple line, I start compressions, careful not to crush his ribs. When he still doesn’t start breathing, I tilt his head back and lift his chin to open his airway before pinching his nose closed and covering his mouth with mine to create an airtight seal.
People are gasping and sobbing around me. Someone has dialled 999 and calls out that the emergency services are on their way. I give two one-second breaths as I watch for Archie’s chest to rise, then thirty more chest compressions before repeating the cycle.
Two breaths. Thirty compressions.
Two breaths. Thirty compressions.
From the corner of my eye, I see Peter climb out of the pool and start to towel himself dry. He watches me compress Archie’s chest with interest.
Two breaths. Thirty compressions.
Archie’s a poor swimmer. While Peter and Harper’s two little boys were larking about in the water, ducking each other and diving in from the side, Archie flailed in the shallows. I don’t need to ask how he ended up facedown in the deep end of the pool. It’s written all over my son’s face.
The storm that’s been threatening all summer.
Two breaths. Thirty—
Suddenly Archie coughs back into life, water streaming from his mouth. I roll him over onto his side in the recovery position, his top leg and arm bent to help prop him up, his head still tilted slightly back to keep his airway open. Someone proffers a thick towel, and I wrap it around his shoulders to keep him warm as he starts to go into shock.
Felix kneels beside me on the wet concrete in his expensive suit, fear sharpening his cheekbones to white blades. ‘Archie, Dad’s here,’ he says, touching his son’s shoulder. ‘You’re going to be OK, Archie. I’m here. Everything’s going to be OK.’
He strokes his son’s wet hair back from his face, his little finger jutting at an unnatural angle from his hand. It’s not broken: I only dislocated it.
I glance around, looking for Stacey. She’s still standing over by the sunloungers on the other side of the pool, her handbag tucked neatly beneath her arm as if she’s at a cocktail party. Shock affects us all differently: I’ve seen as many people burst into giggles as into tears when I tell them someone they love is dead.
The paramedics arrive, and seeing them suddenly galvanises Stacey into action.
She flies to Archie’s side, refusing to let go of his hand as the medics wrap him in blankets and load him onto a stretcher. Felix has to put his arm around her and gently pull her away so the paramedics can do their job.
