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I reach for the phone in my back pocket. The police should be here any minute, but I’m terrified she’s going to get into the house before then. Louise knew Andy wouldn’t be here, of course; he presents the late bulletin these days, and doesn’t get off-air until eleven p.m. ‘Go home, Louise,’ I say shakily. ‘I didn’t touch your cat. I haven’t been anywhere near him!’
‘Liar!’
‘I’ve called the police,’ I cry. ‘Go home, or they’ll arrest you!’
‘Like I give a shit!’ she yells. ‘You’ll be the one going to jail, when they find out what you’ve done!’
Kit suddenly appears at the top of the stairs, rubbing sleep from his eyes. ‘Mummy, what’s the big noise?’
‘Ssssh, it’s OK,’ I say, forcing a weak smile. ‘Go back to bed, darling. It’s just some silly people in the street. Mummy will be up in a minute to tuck you in.’
‘Can I have a drink of water?’
‘I’ll bring one up. Go on, back to bed with you now.’
The pounding suddenly stops. I run into the sitting room and peer through the curtain, trying to see what she’s doing now. There’s no way in through the rear of the house; these terraced properties are all back-to-back with other homes. But I can’t stop her pouring petrol or something through the letter box. I bolt back to the stairs, and sit a couple of steps from the bottom, guarding my son.Let’s see how you feel when it’s someone you love.What if she tries to hurt Kit? She’s crazy enough to do it.
I press the knuckles of my hand into my mouth so he doesn’t hear me crying. This has been the worst day of my life. A final warning from Patrick, pending an investigation into the Vine debacle, and now this. How can Louise seriously think I’d kill her cat, just to get at her? I know she hates me, but what kind of person does she think I am?
The house is eerily quiet. I tense, waiting for thesound of breaking glass, for Louise to smash her way in. How long is it going to take for the police to get here? It feels like hours since I called them. Louise’s shouting probably woke the entire street. Someone else must have rung the police as well as me. It can’t take them much longer, surely?
The doorbell rings, and I nearly jump out of my skin. ‘It’s the police,’ a man’s voice calls. ‘Is everything all right in there?’
They do a full search of the area when I tell them what’s happened. But Louise is nowhere to be seen. Her car has gone, and if it weren’t for the empty black plastic bin liner caught on the railing outside our house, I could almost believe I’d imagined the whole thing.
I can tell the two officers are wondering the same themselves. They’re both men, one in his mid-thirties, the other about ten years older, and I’m sure they think I’m just hysterical. But I can still see Louise thrusting the dead cat at me, its head lolling sickeningly out of the bin liner. I can still hear the sickening thump as it hit the doorstep when she flung it at me. Bile rises in my throat again as I describe it.
They take notes, but even if they do believe me, there’s nothing they can do. I didn’t really expect anything else, though at least their appearance seems to have driven her away. And the incident is on the record. If she keeps it up, the officers say, I can pursue her for stalking and harassment. They don’t add, though I see it written on their faces:For all the good it’ll do you.
I’m still trembling when Andy arrives home close to midnight, just as the police are leaving. ‘What on earth’s happened?’ he exclaims, shocked to see the two officers. ‘Is everything all right? Is Kit OK?’
‘We had a report of a disturbance,’ the older policeman says heavily. ‘Your wife was very distressed. She says your ex-wife turned up on the doorstep with a dead cat.’
To my astonishment, Andy laughs. ‘That’swhy you’re here? I thought something terrible had happened!’
‘Andy!’
He ignores me, speaking over my head to the two officers. ‘I’m so sorry. It’s all a misunderstanding. I’ve already spoken to my wife. Our family pet just died, and she was very upset. She brought him here so I could say goodbye to him. I’m afraid Caz got the wrong end of the stick and overreacted.’
‘Yourex-wife,’ I snap, before I can stop myself.
I see the officers exchange a look with Andy. They don’t quite eye-roll, but it’s close.
‘You weren’t here!’ I protest. ‘She was going crazy, threatening me—’
The older policeman’s expression changes. ‘What do you mean, threatening you, madam?’
‘She said, “Let’s see how you feel when it’s someone you love.” It was the way shesaidit, Andy, like she really meant it. It gave me chills. And then she threw the dead cat at me. It was horrible!’
‘She wasupset,’ Andy says tersely.
‘She drove sixty miles in the middle of the night witha dead cat on the passenger seat!’ I exclaim. ‘Andy, that’s not normal behaviour, no matter how upset she is. She was ranting and raving in the street for an hour like she was having a psychotic episode!’
‘Look, I’m sorry we wasted your time,’ Andy says tightly to the two men. ‘This is clearly part of an ongoing domestic dispute, and we should never have troubled you. I do apologise.’
‘No need,’ the older policeman says. ‘Better safe than sorry.’
They return to their vehicle, and I hear laughter on the air. I doubt they’ll even file a report. Once again, Louise has got away with it.
