Page 48 of The Mistake
‘You’re deluded,’ Eve says, fury making her voice tremble in the still night air. ‘I can’t believe that after all this time you can’t see what he’s really like. Even after you know he cheated on you.’ She takes a step towards Natalie, her eyes never leaving her face. ‘He was with that other woman when you were crying at the bottom of the stairs. He was with her when Zadie was playing up at school and you had to meet the headteacher alone.’ She eyes Natalie with disdain. ‘Pete was withherwhen you called me, afraid of what you might do to your own baby.’
Natalie can’t speak, winded by Eve’s mention of that awful, desperate phone call. ‘No one asked you to be there.’
‘Yes, you fucking did!’ Eve shouts, drawing attention from a man who hurries past them into the emergency department, his head lowered as if to drown them out. ‘It was me you called, not Pete, because you knew he would never respond to you. It wasmewho took care of Erin when you couldn’t,mewho spent time with Zadie, when all she wanted was a little bit of attention and you couldn’t give it to her. It was me, every time, when it should have been Pete. So forgive me if you think I’m unreasonable for thinking he’s a complete piece of shit.’ Eve takes a breath, her chest hitching, but Natalie can tell she isn’t done yet, not by a long shot.
‘Pete should have been the one doing all of this. Pete should have been the one supporting you, not me,’ Eve says, quietly. ‘Pete should be grateful he even has a family like yours to come home to. He doesn’t deserve you.’
Natalie’s veins spark with something deeper than plain old rage. It’s the innate instinct to lash out and knock down whatever is threatening her family. ‘What is it that you want, Eve?’
‘I want you to see whatyouhave,’ Eve says, her voice breaking now. ‘If Erin was mine, I would take such good care of her, I would worship the ground she walked on, but you – neither of you seem to appreciate what you have. You need to wake up, Natalie, to the fact that you are lucky to have a healthy baby at your age – to have three beautiful kids, which is all I ever wanted – and to the fact that Pete will never give you what you deserve.’
‘None of this is my fault,’ Natalie says, the words tumbling out before she has a chance to process what she’s even going to say. All she knows is that she wants to make Eve hurt the way she is hurting right now. ‘It’s not my fault you don’t have a family, Eve. It’s not my fault none of your many,manyboyfriends want to marry you, and it’s not my fault you can’t have children.’ Eve opens her mouth, her face a bleached, sickly white in the glow of the street lamp overhead, but Natalie holds up a hand. ‘I’ve tried so hard to include you in our family, to make you feel welcome, and in return all you’ve done is try to turn me against Pete.’
‘I was trying to show you that you deserve better than him.’
Natalie laughs, a bitter brisk bark that hangs in the air. ‘Why can’t you just admit it? You were jealous, Eve, you always have been, even when I tried to make you a part of it, even when Pete told me you were obsessive and annoying, and that something wasn’t right about the way you were so fixated on our family. The way you were constantly looking for a way in.’ She pauses before she leans in close, so close she can feel Eve’s breath hitting her cheek. ‘I know what you did.’
What little colour is left in Eve’s face drains away and she swallows hard. ‘Natalie, I—’
‘You told Pete I knew I was pregnant. You told him I told you first!’ Natalie shakes her head, as Eve lets out a long exhale. She looks almost relieved, but Natalie is too furious to question why. ‘I trusted you, Eve, and you couldn’t even tell me my husband was lying to me. Does it make you happy? Knowing you’ve had a hand in destroying my marriage?’
Eve’s eyes narrow, and she yanks open the car door again. ‘I don’t think telling Pete you lied about your pregnancy is the nail in that particular coffin.’
Natalie pulls her hand from the door as Eve slides into the driver’s seat and shoves her key towards the ignition, fumbling it and dropping it into the footwell. ‘I will never, ever let you take Erin from me, do you understand?’ That look of relief on Eve’s face when Natalie brought up the pregnancy flashes in front of Natalie’s eyes, and she steps back, something dark and ugly stirring in her gut. ‘Where did you go, Eve? When you left the party after Pete’s speech? Where were you?’
Eve finally manages to get her key in the ignition and she guns the car into life with a roar. ‘I am not to blame for your family’s problems, Natalie. Instead of looking at me, perhaps you should be looking a bit closer to home. I think everything else that needs to be said has been said. Go back to your baby.’ Without another glance at Natalie, Eve speeds out of the car park, her brake lights flashing only briefly as she reaches the junction back out on to the main road.
Drained, Natalie leans against the street lamp, willing her heart rate to return to normal. She’s not going mad, she’s sure of it. The look of relief on Eve’s face just now – it was almost as if Eve had expected to be accused of something else, far worse than telling Pete a secret.Where did Eve go when she left the party? Natalie thought she went home, but then Eve was there when the police turned up, after Erin was reported missing. Did she hear thesirens and come back? Or had she returned prior to that? Natalie closes her eyes, thinking about Pete running back into the house, shouting that he’d found her. Erin, a tiny bundle in his arms, wrapped in a carrier bag.Oh, God.Natalie wraps a hand around the cold metal of the street lamp, keeping herself upright, the pavement suddenly tilting beneath her feet. Erin had been found inside a plastic Marks and Spencer’s bag. The same bag that Eve had brought to the party, filled with expensive wine.
Erin was found in the hollow tree, beside the woodland path.The woodland path leading from the back of Natalie’s house, all the way out to the village, to the street that Eve lives on. Eve uses that cut through all the time. And she would know about the tree – of course she would. Natalie’s hand goes to her mouth, and she’s surprised to taste salt on her lips. She’s crying again. Eve has been with Natalie on numerous occasions during the summer holidays when they’ve taken Emily and Zadie – and even Erin, this year – to the hollow tree for a picnic and to try and catch sticklebacks in the stream.
Natalie’s eyes go to the illuminated windows of the hospital, to the third floor where Erin is being looked after by the doctors in the ICU. She still doesn’t even know if Erin is going to survive the ordeal she’s been through tonight, and at this thought Natalie’s feet turn towards the building and she begins to run, back inside, back to her daughter. With every footstep, Eve’s words rebound in her mind.If Erin were mine I would take such good care of her.Eve has made it clear to Natalie that she thinks she is a terrible mother.Did Eve take Erin to prove that to the rest of the world?
Pete
Pete hurries back to the waiting room, his guts a roiling turmoil of fear, anger and frustration, but when he pushes the door open, there is no sign of Natalie.
‘I think she stepped outside for some fresh air,’ The police officer sitting in the corner says before Pete can ask the question, the smell of hot chocolate and antiseptic on the air making Pete’s stomach turn.
‘Is there …?’
The police officer shakes his head. ‘No news, not yet.’
Pete steps back out into the corridor, pulling out his phone and scrolling to Vanessa’s contact details. Unblocking her number, he dials, frustration flooding his veins when it goes straight to voicemail. He dials again, with the same result, but doesn’t leave a message. He thinks for a minute, scrolling across the apps on his screen when he pauses, his finger hovering over Snapchat. He never uses the app, only has it because Vanessa encouraged him to download it because the messages disappear once read. Now, he opens up the map in the app, to see Vanessa’s icon hovering over her flat in Montpellier Square.I could go there, demand to know if she was responsible for Erin’s abduction.He thinks of Erin, hooked up to all kinds of machines. He needs to be here, for her, for Natalie.But if Vanessa is responsible, I need to know.
Pete’s phone buzzes, his heart leaping as Emily’s name flashes across the screen. ‘Em? Everything OK there?’
‘Dad.’ Her voice sounds tired and thick, the way it does when she’s been crying. ‘Is Erin OK?’
‘Still waiting for news, sweetheart. Are you girls all right?’
‘Can we come to the hospital? Jake said he could drive us.’ Emily’s voice breaks and Pete feels his heart crack. ‘Eve left, but the police officer is still here and Zadie is frightened. I tried to get her to go to bed, but she just keeps crying about Erin, saying she’s scared she’s going to die.’
‘Stay there, Em. I’ll come home, get Zadie settled and then I’ll come back. Mum will stay here with Erin.’ Pete hangs up, promising Emily he won’t be long, and then pulls up the Uber app, thanking God that there’s a car just three minutes away.
As the Uber driver speeds towards town, Pete can hear his pulse pounding in his ears. He hasn’t felt rage like this for years – maybe ever. Erin in hospital, Zadie terrified, Emily crying. His family, hurting. He knows he should go straight home, wrap his girls in his arms and reassure them that everything is going to be fine – even though right now he doesn’t know for sure – but the image of DI Travis leaning in to tell him about the red lipstick on Erin’s blanket preys on his mind, and he clenches his fists, anger burning in his gut.Vanessa. He has to know, has to confront her, to watch her face as he tells her he knows what she did.
‘Excuse me, mate.’ Pete leans forward and taps the Uber driver on the shoulder. ‘Could we make a quick stop on the way?’
