"I think I should be asking you the same thing. You're not here to question me are you?"
"Oh, no, I am. I want to know why you are so set on sending an innocent man to prison... or to an early grave."
"I knew no-one would believe my word against a police officers. I think you should leave." Marie spat.
"Why, feeling cornered, are we, feeling defensive? Finally feeling your lies and deceit catching up with you?"
"This is harassment."
"Oh no, lady, I haven't even started. I have *seen* Jim's injuries. How do you explain those?"
"Nothing to do with me, you must know how clumsy he is."
"The iron....? We had a forensic medical examiner look at him and he told us that that injury could in NO way be self inflicted."
"Well it certainly wasn't me. Now I'd like you leave."
"Somebody HELD the iron down onto his back." Gina moved in closer. "Maliciously."
"You've got the wrong person Inspector." Marie spat. "I want to get some sleep."
"Sleep? The sleep of the righteous? Do you know what you are doing to Jim and June?"
"I wondered when *she'd* crop up in conversation."
"She and Jim love each other, what is so wrong with that?!"
"He's married to me."
"Only on paper. He stopped loving you a long time ago."
"Who are you to talk about love? I don't see a wedding ring."
"I know what it's like to be in love. And who are you to talk about the sanctity of marriage, Jim doesn't love you he is TERRIFIED of you. But I can't see why."
"Married to the job are you?" Marie sneered. "Another sad old tart like June Ackland."
"Do NOT turn this round onto me. And DON'T think I am scared of you, lady."
"Just because no-one will marry you, there's no reason to stick your nose into MY marriage. You're as bad as her."
"There's no getting through to you is there. You are sick, and evil, and if I have my way... you will never see your son again."
"You leave Ben out of this." Marie screamed.
"No child deserves a mother like you. Sonia had a blessed release."
"I love Ben... and don't you dare talk about Sonia like that."
"You don't know the meaning of love. Now you listen to me and you listen good. I don't know what is going on in that warped head of yours, but there's one thing for sure, you have picked on the WRONG people. Jim and June are loved by people who know them, and care for them, who know a lie when they hear one, and can yield more real power than you can ever imagine."
Marie reached out for the buzzer behind her head. "I'm going to report you to your Superintendent. You can't come in here and speak to me like this."
"I think you'll find Superintendent Okaro will back me every step of the way. You're on your own."
"Sleeping with him are you?" Marie sneered. "There's no sanctity to marriage in Sun Hill nick."
"Oh, there is, but only when it's real. Based on love, respect and trust. Not anger and mistrust and jealousy and fear. You can't mould the world to fit you, Marie. Try to learn that."
"Is everything OK in here?" A tall dark haired doctor walked in and switched the buzzer off. "Ladies?"
"Everything is fine." Gina said, glaring at Marie. "Just a bit disappointed, that's all."
"I want her out of here, doctor. She's harassing me." Marie glanced over at Gina. "She won't leave."
"Oh, I'm leaving. Like I said, I'm disappointed. I was hoping to find her on life support. Because, you know, I've always been... clumsy... around electrical items. Always pulling out the wrong plug." She turned and stalked away.
"Yes I think you should leave." The doctor's mouth fell open at her speech. "Are you OK Marie?"
Gina walked away, out of earshot, then leant against a wall, shaking. Near her, she saw a man in his mid to late thirties, looking lost. "Can I help you at all?" She asked.
"I'm..." He swallowed. "I'm looking for my wife. Marie Graham. I'm presuming you're here for her."
"I am... your wife?"
"Well... we're separated."
Gina's mouth fell open. "Separated... I..."
"Yeah I know." He rolled his eyes. "I heard about her latest victim... Jim isn't it... sounds a lovely chap. I spoke to him on the phone the other day."
"Jim's her husband..."
"And so am I. I was due back over here next week anyway, thought I could sort this out then... but then I got the phone call about Ben so I jumped on the first plane. Left the rig over in Spain."
"Oh my god..." Gina slumped against the wall. "So they're not... he's not..." She pulled in a breath. "Marie's with her doctor, can't see anyone right now... but I need to talk to you. Urgently."
"Well... I... how about we go to the canteen, I haven't eaten yet today, I'm starving."
"Sounds good to me... I've been running round all over the borough all day."
"Come on then, I'll treat you." The two made their way to the canteen where they both chose chips and a cheeseburger, along with two steaming mugs of coffee. He pointed to a quiet corner. "Over there?"
"Yeah fine." They made their way over to the table and sat down. "So you're still married to Marie I take it?"
"I am..." He nodded. "I didn't introduce myself properly. Steve Graham." He held out his hand.
"Inspector Gina Gold. Sun Hill." She shook his hand. "So how much do you know about what's going on?"
"All I know is that Marie has been in some kind of an accident and Ben is in care....
"That's the condensed version." Gina shook her head.
"I'm guessing this has something to do with Jim Carver." Steve munched quietly on a chip.
"Her new husband, or not as the case maybe."
"I pity any man that takes on Marie." His face flushed and he looked away.
"You're not the only one. Do you want the full story? Or shall I get your version first?"
"Just tell me what she's done to him."
Gina sighed loudly. "She *says* that beat her up - pushed her down the stairs. I don't believe it for a second. He's in custody as we speak."
"Oh my god... she's... doing it again..."
"What do you mean?!" The colour drained for Gina's face. "She's done this before?"
"I'd better tell you the whole sorry tale right from the beginning." He dropped his burger and sighed. "I first met Marie Cooper, as she was then, sixteen years ago."
"This isn't going to be pleasant is it? But if you can help an innocent man from going down then I'll listen."
"No, it's not pleasant. Well... it started that way. Believe it or not, Marie was, once, a very sweet, loving and giving woman. She'd had a baby - Sonia, at sixteen, product of a one night stand - she'd thought Sonia's father was in love with her but was taken advantage of."
"So you're not Sonia's dad then?"
"No... I am Ben's father... Marie and I met, fell in love, usual story, I willingly took Sonia on... everything was fine."
"But? I feel a big but coming on."
"Then she fell pregnant. We thought, yes, this is it, our life is complete. Her... the labour was horrendous, and after that, she was... never the same again. It took her months to bond with Ben, and she had such terrible depression..."
"Post natal depression. I've seen how it affects some women. It can be terrible."
"Yeah... well, I stuck it out, looked after Sonia and Ben, but... I was only young myself... I wasn't mature enough to handle it... after about a year, I walked."
"Are you a lot younger than her then?"
"Five years..." He sighed. "Anyway... we got divorced a couple months later, I moved away, end of story... or so I thought."
"Another but?"
"Four... five years ago, I'm back up in Liverpool working, and I run into her. She seems fine, she tells me she had treatment for the depression, she's got her life sorted out. We start seeing each other again, and Ben's back in my life, and for a while, it's magic. Then... then she asks me to marry her."
"So she hasn't been down in London that long then?" Gina looked up at him.
"No... no, just a year or so. So, yeah, I agree and we get married, and..." He stopped, gulped, wiped at his eyes.
"She's done this to you too hasn't she?" Gina said slowly.
"The moment, the day we got married I discovered the truth. That she wasn't better at all. That her time in the institution had made her worse, not better, and that she resented me, and Sonia's father and... all men, for making her life the way it was... is."
"She's been in an institution?"
"She was sectioned. After I left she got worse and starting hurting herself, Ben stayed with grandparents, nobody told me until years later."
"Is this the same sectioning and self harm that we have on her record down here, do you know? Or another case?"
"I don't know... I don't know anything... she... she started abusing me just a couple weeks later. Shoves first, and then, it became more systematic. I worked for a haulage firm, they had a secretary, she was convinced that I was having an affair with her."
"She's doing the same with Jim. She's convinced he's having an affair with this ex. Did you ever report this?"
"Not for ages. I put up with it... wanted to protect Ben." He swallowed harshly, gulped down some coffee. "Then she broke my arm, pushed me into a wall... and I couldn't take it any more. I went to the police."
"And? So that's why we couldn't find anything on her. We only checked local records."
"I made a report, but they didn't believe me. They thought I was covering up, that I was the abuser, and Marie did nothing, NOTHING, to put them right."
"That's wrong. They should have investigated." Gina shook her head.
"One did... a DC... um... Richards... she tried, but... in the end she couldn't help. I only had one option."
"The long distance driving?"
"Yeah... it got me away from her, but let me stay in touch with Ben. I wanted to take him with me, but I knew she'd... she'd turn everything around on to me and I would never see him again. She didn't like it, but I was... still am, sending money back..." He shook his head. "Then a year ago, I filed for divorce. But she never signed the forms, never gave her consent. She was refusing to let me go, refusing to let me get on with my life."
"About the same time she came down to London?"
"Yeah. She hated me so much she wanted to trap me... I'd met someone else..." He swallowed once more, and coughed. "So yeah, we're still married. So imagine my shock when Jim picks up the phone last week and announces he's Marie's husband. The poor bastard... he must have no idea..."
"I don't think he does. They... It was a whirlwind romance, if you can call it that. He was on the rebound. Her liaison officer when Sonia was killed... I don't know the details but they were married within weeks."
"She's like that, reel them in, trap them... like a spider with a fly. From what I know Jim sounds like a decent man, how can she hate him so much?"
"He's one of the nicest, kindest, gentlest men I know. And right now he's teetering on the edge of a breakdown. The woman she's accusing him of having an affair with is already in a clinic getting help. And they're my two best officers. Steve, I need your help..."
"Then you've got it. Contact DC Richards, Merseyside Police, and Dr John Allen - he was Marie's psychiatrist. And... come with me to see Marie. I can't face her alone."
"If they'll let me back in." Gina smiled wryly. "You witnessed me getting thrown out. I'd love to see that smug grin wiped off her face. And thank you Steve. You don't need to do this but you are."
"I'm not letting another man go through what I went through." Gina excused herself to make the calls, while Steve finished his meal.
***
Marie looked up as the door creaked open once more. As she recognised her husband's face, her own face fell.
"Surprise surprise." Gina smiled sarcastically.
"It's all falling down around your ears now, isn't it. Marie?" Steve moved closer to the bed. "All your lies catching up with you."
"What are you doing here?" Marie looked down at the bedclothes.
"What am I... I'm here for *Ben*. He's my son, remember."
"That's why you couldn't get out of the country fast enough."
"Don't accuse me of being a bad father. Don't accuse me of anything. You're the liar, you're the one with the problem... can I ask you this, have you just decided we're not married any more? Is that the way it is in Marie-world?"
"You abandoned me."
"I had to get away. You were killing me."
"You were sleeping with that cow from work."
"If that's what you want to believe, believe it. If it makes you happy. You barely said a civil word to me from the moment we got married. But still, I had to prove to you over and over that I loved you, and if I failed your impossible standards, out came the fists, the nails, or whatever you could lay your hands on."
"You never loved me. I was just the thing that provided you with a son and heir."
"I did love you. I loved you when I first met you, and when we married, both times. Despite everything you did, everything you said I just kept hoping you would be the Marie you used to be, before Ben was born. But it just wasn't going to happen, was it? You're stuck in this mindset now, resentful, bitter..."
"You don't know me at all. And what did you bring her back in here for? She threatened to kill me earlier."
"I've told her everything. About what happened up in Liverpool, put her in touch with DC Richards - remember her, and Dr Allen. Just tell me one thing, Marie."
"What?" Marie spat.
"What the hell did Jim Carver ever do to you? He *helped* you after Sonia's murder. His only crime was to love you."
"Like you did? And then have an affair with a colleague?"
"For God's sake Marie, just for once, see reality as it is!" He raged. Then he backed off. "Alright, that's it. I'm going to my lawyer."
"What for this time?"
"To do something I should have done a long time ago, when we first split. To get custody of Ben."
"No, you can't take Ben away from me. He's all I've got left."
"You've pushed everyone else away. No one can bear to be around you. I've met someone else, Marie. In Spain - I'm moving out there and taking Ben with me."
"No... Ben's staying here with me."
"No way. Not after DC Richards sends her report, not after I make a statement, not after everyone knows. Marie, there's just one thing you can do, one thing that'll stop you spending the rest of your life lonely, ill, miserable and full of hate."
"What's that?" Marie pouted.
"Face reality and get help." He stepped closer. "You do that, I'll let you have access to Ben. You don't, and... you'll never see him again."
"I... I..." Marie shrugged looking defeated.
"Marie... you know you can't go on like this." His tone softened. "You can get the best help. I know who you really are, and that is a very loving, sweet person. You can be that Marie again. But you have to stop pushing everyone away, you have to stop the lies."
"Isn't it all for the best, for him... to have the kind of mother he deserves?"
"He's my son..."
"Then you'll do what's right for him. Don't alienate him. He'll grow to hate you if you carry on like this... I saw him a couple of hours ago and he is worried sick about you... but also about Jim. He loves Jim."
"Jim loves him."
"Then don't do this... to either of them. Please, Marie... tell the truth."
Marie glanced over at Gina. "Drop the charges. He didn't do this."
................. on to Part Nine
Back to Homepage Review Back to Stories