Ken said, ‘I’m sorry,’ but Vivien did not relent. ‘Go away,’ she said, looking from Janet to Elise. ‘Get in your car and piss off and don’t come here again. You’re not welcome.’
Elise burst into tears and ran back to the car.
‘Vivien,’ Ken remonstrated.
Janet, stung, turned and walked away.
‘Oh, sweetheart,’ said Janet, ‘she’s mad with grief. She doesn’t know what she’s saying. She’s just lashing out. Come on, I’ll take you home.’
‘Can we go to Gran’s?’
‘Gran’s?’
‘Please. I want to go there. You could go back to work.’
‘I’m going nowhere,’ Janet said.
‘I want you to.’ She turned her tear-stained face to her mother. ‘I want things to be normal again. There’s nothing you can do now anyway, is there?’
‘I can be around.’
‘I know but you don’t have to be around all the time. You’ll be home tonight.’
‘I don’t know,’ Janet said.
But Elise seemed set on it and Janet felt like a spare part after half an hour sitting with her mother and daughter. Finally she stood up, said maybe she would call into work, just for an hour or so, if Elise still felt OK about it.
‘I do,’ Elise said, ‘I want you to.’
Dorothy arranged to take Elise home once Ade and Taisie were back.
‘I am sorry,’ Janet said as she was going. She kissed Elise’s head. ‘For all of it. Listen, it will get better. It might not seem like it now but it won’t always feel like this.’
Janet rang and left a message for Ade, telling him that Vivien had lost it, that Elise had sent her back to work and that she’d be home later. ‘Be gentle with her,’ she added, still aching for her daughter.
Gill said two words when she saw Janet in the office: ‘Go home.’
‘I’m fine,’ Janet said.
‘You’re on leave, go on.’ Gill tipped her hand towards the door. ‘You should be with Elise.’
‘It was Elise who sent me here, and I’ll be back there like a shot if she so much as whistles, but there’s no point in me sitting there twiddling my thumbs when she’s happier with her gran.’
‘How is she?’ Gill said.
‘Gutted, totally.’ Janet felt the pressure rise in her chest. ‘Vivien, Olivia’s mother, had a go at her. But this is what Elise wants.’
‘She’s made a statement?’ Gill asked.
‘Yes, this morning.’
Gill looked at her, apparently coming to a decision. ‘We could do with you. We’ve a double murder now as well, two bodies from the warehouse fire, young couple from Nigeria shot.’
‘Good God! Just give me something to do,’ Janet said, ‘please. Where are we up to with Kavanagh, with the Perry twins?’
‘Mea culpa,’ Gill said.
‘Really! They confessed?’
‘Singing in harmony and all consistent with the forensics,’ the boss said. ‘We’re about to get full statements, if you’re up to another round with the delightful Noel?’