‘Who did?’ She didn’t answer. He thought they’d lost the connection. ‘Vicky? What about the other car? Have you called the police?’
‘They didn’t stop.’
‘Have you called the police?’
‘No. They just kept going, Mike.’
‘We still need to report it. We can claim, even if they didn’t stop. That car’s your livelihood.’
‘I don’t want to report it.’ Her voice was edgy. She carried on speaking, her voice lower. ‘It was a warning, Mike. Another warning.’
‘What?’
‘From the gangs. Because of you.’
Mike felt like his head was going to explode. ‘Oh, for Christ’s sake.’ He couldn’t think where to go with this and he hated the stream of fear in her voice. ‘Look, will it start?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Where’s the damage?’
‘The back, the driver’s side.’
‘Try it. If it won’t start I’ll come and get you in a cab.’
He heard her breathing, then the sound of the engine turning over.
‘Have you got lights?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Check the brakes.’
‘Fine.’ Her voice trembled.
‘You feel all right to drive?’
‘Yes.’
‘Okay. Any problems ring me back. Come home and we’ll talk.’
* * *
It wasn’t so much a talk, more of a rant. And Vicky didn’t even wait until the kids were out of earshot like she usually did. Laying into him about the risk he’d taken.
‘Vicky, wait.’ He held up a hand to stop the barrage of words. ‘It was an accident, that’s all. A road accident. Some prat too young to be behind the wheel, or off his head.’
‘It was a silver car,’ she said.
Mike wanted to laugh. ‘There are thousands of silver cars.’
She stared at him. Her lip trembling.
‘A BMW?’ he demanded.
She hesitated then said yes. He thought she was lying.
Megan was calling. ‘Mummy, Mummy.’ Wanting help getting her toy cooker out. The noise was a little drill in his head. Vicky was ignoring her. Kieran sat in the corner, zoned out.
He softened his voice. ‘You’re shaken up.’
‘Don’t try that,’ she snarled.
‘What?’
‘I know what happened, you weren’t there. First they break in and rob us, now they follow me.’
A dart of dread pricked in his belly. ‘They were following you!’ He couldn’t help the ridicule in his tone, didn’t know how else to deal with this fantasy.
‘They must have been.’
‘No.’ He shook his head.
‘They’re dangerous, Mike. They want to stop you. They drove us off the road.’
‘Mummeee!’ Megan began to scream.
Vicky’s face was all screwed up, her eyes shining, the glint of tears. ‘Next time they could kill us.’
‘Vicky.’ He couldn’t reason with her. Maybe when she calmed down. He turned away, went to pick up Megan, who was bawling now and kicking at the plastic cooker. ‘Here.’ He hoisted her up on to the crook of his arm, her face all wet and snotty. He got a tissue, wiped her face, turned her for a cuddle.