The Price, page 24
We had £192,345 in the FundMyCause pot. I had £22,000 stashed away.
And now I had £18,000 more.
I did the maths. Our new total was £232,345.
We had done it. As the tears began to fall, tears of relief, of exhaustion, tears of shame and pride, fear and hope, I messaged George on the burner.
We’ve done it, we have enough. We have over 230 grand!
No, Clara, YOU did it. You did all of this. You have saved our baby
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
Clara
I hid the money with the rest, unable to fully process that I had forty thousand pounds just sat there in my wardrobe. I cleaned up my hand and got changed, desperate to get back to Tabatha and George. As I was about to leave, I heard noises from the street below; looking out, I saw two officers patrolling. If they saw me, I could say I had to nip home to collect some things, but, then, if one of those officers was Lee Sharman, he might tell Mantel and then Mantel might suspect it was me who was the thief. Even if he didn’t, the police might become suspicious as to why I was home. It was too risky. I had no choice but to lay low.
Moving away from the window, I sat on the edge of the sofa. Not being able to go back to my daughter was going to break my heart, but I needed to sit tight, stay in the dark. No one would think to look here unless I gave them reason to.
I messaged George.
I can’t leave the flat, too many eyes watching. Please update me every hour, I can’t bear not being with our baby
Good idea, lay low for a while. Come later. Clara, she is going to be OK, you have made sure of that. Tomorrow, we clean what we need to clean, and we get our daughter on that flight
Slumping back on the sofa, I grabbed a notepad and pen and crunched the numbers. If Philadelphia were happy to take 10 per cent in cash, we still had to get a lot of money through the banking system in a very short window. It would be difficult, and it would raise a lot of red flags, but what choice did we have? I would do it all tomorrow, banking some through Mum’s business account, saying that our café had an influx of people buying cake and coffee. I’d put another few hundred in as a cash donation for Tabs. I’d have to put some into my own account, and George’s, and the joint account and send it across. Small chunks of cash, three or four thousand in each. I knew doing it that way, I might not get caught. For us, it was a lot of money, but it wasn’t as much money as some banked daily. I had to hope no one looked hard enough.
I heard more voices, and moving quietly back to the window I saw two police officers walking past, likely the same two as before. They were shining torches, looking for anything out of place. One of them shone his beam up towards the flat, and I ducked away. I went to our bedroom at the back of the flat where I knew I couldn’t be seen, closed the door and turned on a lamp. I caught my refection in the mirror. Once, a strong woman had looked back at me, a woman I liked the look of. Now someone else was in her place, someone who carried guilt, shame, someone who knew one day that everything that had happened in the past few weeks would catch up. The weight of her actions this week would haunt her forever. She would have a heart attack at fifty, or a stroke at fifty-five. She would suffer indignity; she would pay her penance.
29TH JULY 2023
2 days until the deadline …
CHAPTER SIXTY
George
Sitting beside my daughter, I watched the total on the FundMyCause page grow. There was now over two hundred thousand, and it was still climbing. We had a buffer. Two weeks ago, I would have said this was impossible, and yet now we had a buffer. All because of Clara.
I messaged her updates but as the night wore on, her replies took longer and longer to come back to me, until, at just after four, she stopped replying altogether. I was glad she had managed to fall asleep. I wasn’t surprised. I couldn’t begin to understand how exhausted she must be feeling now it was over.
I hoped she was sleeping deeply, dreaming of our baby on her fifth birthday. A birthday she was now going to have, because of Clara’s courage. I had been a shitty husband, I’d let my girls down, but I wouldn’t waste this second chance.
My phone started to ring beside me, and I moved quickly so I didn’t wake Tabs, even though I knew I couldn’t. I saw it was DCI Mercer. I had been expecting the call since the assault on Mantel, but for her to ring in the night? Something was off.
I answered it in hushed tones. ‘Hey boss, listen, I know I did wrong, but I can’t talk—’
‘George, Mike has been assaulted,’ Mercer said interrupting me.
‘What? When?’
‘Last night.’
‘Shit, is he okay?’ I replied, my shoulders sinking.
‘He’s sustained a head injury. A fractured skull.’
‘Fuck.’
‘He’s going to make it, but he’s been properly banged up. George, what the hell is going on?’
‘Ma’am, I wish I knew,’ I lied.
‘Sorry to call so early in the morning. I know you two are close. I just wanted you to know. When I have an update, I’ll message.’
‘Thank you, Ma’am,’ I said, and she hung up. I kept the phone to my ear a little longer, stunned. Mike’s skull had been fractured. By my wife.
‘Fuck.’
Surely Clara didn’t know what she had done? Surely she was startled, had panicked. If she did know it was him, could I forgive her for it? Mike was our friend, my partner, a good man. She needed to tell me what happened, but I also didn’t want to wake her. She had been through so much and I was so torn. I loved my wife, but if she had hurt Mike intentionally … It was too much to get my head round.
An hour later, an hour of me waiting to know how Mike was, Clara messaged and I rang her back straight away.
‘Hey,’ I said. ‘You slept!’
‘Hey. I did, a little.’
‘Clara, Mike is in a bad way.’
There was silence for so long I was sure the line had gone dead.
‘Clara?’
‘How is he?’ she asked.
‘Not great, but he’ll make it.’
‘I didn’t want to hurt anyone, I’m so, so sorry. I was cornered, I didn’t know what to do. If I let him catch me then …’ She paused, took a deep shaky breath. ‘How do I recover from what I’ve done?’
‘First, you get on the phone to Philadelphia. You tell them we are coming, you pay a deposit or whatever they need and we get the ball rolling, starting with getting those flights booked. Then, when we are there, when Tabatha is well, we can work on the rest together. I’ll stay here, ring you every half an hour to give you updates. She’s stable, she’s sleeping. I’ll speak with the doctors here; tell them we’re ready to go. We are so close to finishing this.’
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
Clara
Being so caught up in the events of the night, I realized now that Mum didn’t know that Tabatha was in trouble. I wanted to tell her, I wanted her with me. But the police were looking for someone who had hurt one of their own. If she arrived so early and was seen, the police would want to know why I wasn’t with my baby. When I called, it was almost six in the morning.
‘Clara?’
‘Mum, something happened in the night. Tabatha has been hospitalized.’
‘I’ll be there in an hour,’ she said, her voice resolute.
‘No, Mum, I’m at the flat. Come here.’
‘OK, I’ll be right over.’
When Mum walked in, she rushed over to hug me and we both started to cry. When I gathered myself, I explained how Tabs had had a seizure but was now stable and under sedation. I told her how I’d left the hospital for one final hit on Mantel.
‘I’ve been stuck here all night. Stuck here away from my baby.’
‘You should have rung me last night,’ Mum said, holding me close again as I cried.
‘I know, Mum, I’m sorry, I just … the police were out in town. If they saw you and knew I was at home, they might have questions. I didn’t want to risk it.’
‘I understand. I’m here now. How close are we to our target?’
‘We have it.’
‘What?’
‘We have enough. We just need to finalize the travel arrangements.’
Taking Mum by the hand, I led her to the bedroom and showed her the stacks of money I had stolen, a massive forty thousand pounds, and we both just stared at it. This was blood money, but it was also money that was going to save my innocent daughter’s life. With Philadelphia being five hours behind, it was only just after one in the morning there, so we wouldn’t hear anything from them until at least 2 p.m. our time, and as soon as we did, we needed to be ready to pay the deposit the minute that call came. We went down to the shop and prepared a banking run, and Mum said she was confident we could put across as much as seven grand into the business account without raising any attention. I grabbed a shower and after that it was nearly time to open the shop and go to the bank. I took seven bundles of twenties wrapped in banking bands, and shoved them, along with the other banking cash and the paying-in book into my rucksack. I put another two in my pocket to bank in my own account, plus one for hers and two for George’s. In total, I had twelve grand of the forty from the flat. We would smuggle the 10 per cent deposit between us to America, and the rest, the few grand left, I would work out how what to do with later.
As I prepared to go off to bank the money and get back to my family, I walked onto the shop floor, and the urgency I felt, the hope that powered me, was stopped in a second. For Mum had opened the shop, and as I drew level with the till, I saw Henry Mantel.
‘Mrs Goodwin,’ he said. ‘Fancy seeing you here. I’m sure there is somewhere else you need to be? Isn’t there? I heard your baby is unwell?’
‘I had to get some things.’
‘I see. Well, I’m just looking around. Seeing if anything takes my fancy.’
‘I didn’t expect to see you today,’ I said, hoping I sounded relaxed, calm. Hoping the money in my rucksack wasn’t acting like a beacon for him.
‘I like a mystery, working out puzzles, catching a crook, that sort of thing.’
‘What?’
‘Books, I like those type of books,’ he continued. ‘How’s your fundraising going?’
‘We are getting there, thank you. Your donation has helped a lot.’
‘Just doing my bit,’ he said, smiling at me. ‘I kind of hope I find one that catches most people off guard.’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘A book, you know the type, all the arrows point to one character, and then you learn it couldn’t possibly be them, then you get that twist,’ he said, snapping his fingers and making me instinctively blink. ‘I like it when I’m smarter than other readers, seeing what other people refuse to see, you know what I mean?’
‘I’ll get my mum; she’ll be able to recommend a few. Excuse me, I really must be going. I need to get back to the hospital.’ I tried to walk around Mantel, but he wasn’t making it easy. As I managed to pass, he grabbed me by my arm, lifting it up and revealing my bandaged hand.
‘That cut looks nasty. How did you do it?’
‘Opening a box out back, the box cutter slipped.’
‘Ouch, you should really get that looked at, DI Goodwin.’
‘I will, thank you. I hope I was helpful to you last night?’
‘You were,’ he said, looking at me in a way that made me feel even more uncomfortable.
‘Good. I’ve got a few leads to follow up on. I’ll have more for you later, or tomorrow morning.’
‘Take care of yourself, Clara.’
Mantel didn’t go to the crime and thriller section, but instead turned and left. I was sure he was on to me.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
Clara
After I’d been to the bank, I headed back to the hospital where George and I sat quietly, holding hands. Even after everything we had done, it felt like the candle was fading, the wall paintings that were our daughter’s future life moments were beginning to recede back into the darkness. There was no change with Tabatha, she was still sedated, but a nurse told us she was already faring better. She wouldn’t wake, but, she might be well enough to fly. God willing. Mum was at the shop dealing with the team at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and at just after three, she called.
‘Mum?’
She was crying.
‘Mum? What’s wrong?’
‘It’s done. She’s in.’
‘When can we go?’
‘They are ready for her. They are just getting the flight details confirmed now. We should hear back soon.’
‘Thank you so much for doing what you have done,’ I managed to say without crying, despite the overwhelming sense of relief.
‘You did it all, love.’
I hung up and let the tears come. George hugged me.
‘What did she say?’
‘As soon as she’s safe to fly, we can go.’
‘Oh Clara, oh God,’ George said, as he too started to cry. A passing nurse heard our tears and came into the room.
‘Are you two okay?’
‘They are ready to receive her in Philadelphia. When might she be well enough to fly? What do we need to do?’
‘Let me get Dr Bhari,’ she said smiling.
‘Thank you.’
Dr Bhari came shortly after, and he agreed that despite the risks of moving Tabatha, it was now her best option. He informed us he had set up a call with the specialized travel operator who would support us on the flight, but as Tabs was now sedated and needing extra support, the cost would be much more. Fifteen thousand more. We looked at the page. As it had climbed to almost hit our original target, we could cover that extra money from what we had stolen. Again it would be tight, but we could do it. We’d agreed that Tabatha could be on a plane within twenty-four hours. I sank into a chair beside our daughter’s bed.
‘I didn’t think this would be possible,’ George said. ‘I didn’t think you’d pull it off.’
‘Neither did I,’ I admitted.
‘That’s not true, you knew you could do it. I should never have doubted you.’
‘It doesn’t matter now,’ I said, yawning though the words. ‘She’s going, she’s in.’
‘Clara, you should get some sleep. You need your strength for the journey.’
‘I might have to.’
30TH JULY 2023
1 day until the deadline …
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
Clara
‘Clara, wake up. Clara!’
I opened my eyes to find George standing over me in a panic. I shot up and looked over at Tabatha, but she was still asleep, the heart rate monitor gently passing time.
‘Tabatha?’
‘She’s fine.’
‘What’s wrong then?’
‘The shop.’
‘What about it?’
‘Clara, something’s happened.’
‘What?’
‘Clara, your Mum just called, it’s on fire. The shop is on fire.’
‘What?’ I said. ‘What, no – the money!’
I grabbed my shoes, put them on and ran out of the hospital towards the car. There was £28,000 in the flat. £28,000 we needed as our costs had already risen by £15,000. I needed to save it. But it was an hour’s drive. I had to hope I’d not be too late. As I left the hospital, I saw it was a little after midnight, it was the penultimate day to get my baby out of the country, if anything went wrong now, I didn’t know what I would do.
Driving as fast as I could, I hurried home and as I approached the town centre, I could see the orange hue taint the night sky.
‘No, no, please God no.’
Accelerating, setting off a speed camera on the high street, I raced towards the glow. I was only able to get so close; the road had been closed as firefighters worked to put out the flames. Black smoke billowed out of shattered windows at the front of the shop. Inside, the fire still raged. I ran towards the building, the heat of the flames forcing me back before I could be grabbed by a firefighter and pulled away. Close by, I heard crying, and saw through the gathered crowd Mum sitting on the side of the road, sobbing.
‘Mum, Mum,’ I said, shaking her. ’Did you get inside?
‘No, Clara, I didn’t. I couldn’t get in. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.’
I ran back towards the building, this time avoiding being grabbed. I went round the back and up the external metal stairs to the flat. I touched the front door to make sure it wasn’t hot and noticed it had been forced open.
‘No, no!’
I pushed it and as it swung freely I looked into my flat, my home, as thick black smoke engulfed everything.
Lifting my top to cover my mouth, I ran. The air was thick, hot, like a smog sauna. Flames licked the walls, the curtains were engulfed, everything was burning. Soon the floor would collapse, soon everything I had would be gone. I didn’t have a lot of time. Fumbling, blinded by the smoke, I ran into the bedroom and saw that everything had been flipped, the room was trashed. I prayed that whoever had broken in hadn’t found what they were looking for. I opened the wardrobe, to locate the bag that the money that was hidden in. Grabbing it, reassured by its weight, I ran through the flat and back outside, stumbling down the fire escape and rolling down the final few steps onto the gravel. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see, and I coughed so hard I was sick. I crawled far enough away from the building that I could no longer feel the heat. I was sick again, my body feeling like it was turning inside out as I vomited and gasped for air. I knew I needed help, but before that I needed to make sure it was all there. I opened the bag and looked inside. It was full of books. Upending it, the books fell onto the ground and I was confused – until I found a note at the bottom of the bag.
