Free S is for Stranger by Louise Stone Page B

been a warm evening when they came to the door. I tried to take in what the young WPC was saying.’ I stopped now. ‘She was telling me my parents were dead. A car accident.’
    I gave Darren a sidelong look. He was frowning.
    ‘It wasn’t until the police woman had driven me to the hospital and I was asked to ID my parents that the tears came. After that, there was no consoling me.’
    ‘So, you were eighteen?’
    I nodded. ‘Yes, Faye, the cleaner, had brought me meals and tried to chivvy me along but, for two months, I wouldn’t speak to anyone. I realised now, it must’ve been hard for her too. My parents had been her family, and me, her daughter. I had no other family: we depended entirely on one another.’
    I felt old wounds reopening and I willed myself not to cry now.
    ‘Go on,’ Darren encouraged.
    ‘Well, walking along that night, heading to the union, I was amazed I was even at university. I had received my A-level grades in the midst of that bleak summer and I had barely registered the two As and a B. It had taken a lot of persuasion but, in the end, Faye had won: “It’s what your father would have wanted for you,” she had said.’ I paused. ‘She was right.’
    ‘So you’re walking to the union and do you ever talk to Bethany?’
    ‘Yes, eventually. I desperately wanted to join in the conversation but I was shy around her.’
    The October breeze blew across my face and reminded me of our conversation that night.
    ‘I remember she asked me if I was cold and she gave me her jacket.’ I gave a small laugh. ‘I remember her smile made me go weak at the knees.’
    ‘What exactly was so attractive about her?’
    ‘Well, even more than her physical beauty it was this strange power she had. It kind of left me wanting to be her.’
    ‘Later, did you feel jealous of her? Did she have something you wanted?’
    I stopped walking again and Darren turned to me, his face open. I wondered if I really could trust this man. I felt like I was talking about subjects that I shouldn’t admit to anyone, let alone a therapist working for the force. I wondered if this was somehow a leading question.
    ‘Yes, I was jealous of Bethany.’
    ‘Why?’ he pushed.
    When I didn’t speak, he said, ‘Sophie, I’m trying to make you remember and sometimes that hurts, I know.’
    ‘I was jealous of her ability to have people eating out the palms of her hands,’ I hesitated, ‘mainly me.’
    He nodded. ‘OK, so what else do you remember from that night? Anything?’
    ‘Yes, I asked her about her tan.’ We had started to walk again. ‘And apparently her father had paid for some expensive holiday for her and her mum, but he hadn’t gone. It was clearly a really sore point as she didn’t speak to me for the rest of the evening.’
    ‘Were you upset by that?’
    ‘Yes,’ I admitted, ‘ridiculously I was. I had only known her for all of five minutes and she already had me feeling guilty.’
    ‘So did you guys make up that night?’
    ‘Yes, I remember, on the way home, I hung back again. I was still wearing her denim jacket; it smelt floral, like the perfume she wore. She told me to keep the jacket and said she didn’t like to speak about her dad. She never went into why.’
    ‘What did you say?’
    I shrugged. ‘I think I apologised and I remember being relieved because that’s something we had in common. She didn’t like talking about her dad and I didn’t want to talk about my parents and the accident.’ I nodded, thinking. ‘Yeah, I felt good after that. Like I had found my soul mate. In fact, she was like the sister I never had. I needed her.’
    Darren nodded, gave a small smile. ‘Sophie, you’re doing really well.’ He pursed his lips before continuing, ‘So, you think your past is important in finding Amy?’ I nodded. ‘And I agree. What we need to do is find out why now. Why twenty years later?’ He waited for my confirmation. Again, I nodded. ‘OK, why twenty years later, you believe