The Secret World of Maya Alexander

Chapter 49

Darkness had fallen by the time the first call was made to Stephen Alexander, husband and assumed next of kin. He had looked at his watch three times and tapped his foot rhythmically against the shiny tiled floor as the unidentified number appeared on his screen. 17.56. 17.56. 17.56.

He had begun by correcting the officer when she informed him that she was phoning about an incident involving his wife. 'Actually, we are separated'. After the police officer clarified that they were still legally married, she decided she would share the information anyway. Found in the river. Not suspicious. Stable. Were the words his brain had held on to. He managed to push out a stagnant sounding sentence, which told the officer that she should probably call Maya's mother, Jackie.

The phone announced what once would have been a nice round and soothing figure of 18.00. Stephen looked only once at its face, before launching the electronic tormenter onto the kitchen floor of the small sterile flat that he was renting. It was soon joined in its broken pieces by shattered plates, and mugs, and whatever else had waited innocently upon each work surface at the precise moment  that the hijack took place.

Everything once in its place, now a heap of a mess on the floor. Walls splattered with whatever various vessels had held. Coffee. Olive oil. Salt. Sugar. Washing up liquid. Until the work surfaces were empty and the walls and floor were full. The tall strong figure of a man had nothing left in his empty fists as his knuckles hammered on those walls and spat blood amidst the coffee and sugar and apple scented washing up liquid.

He sobbed as he fell and joined the carnage upon the floor. He would not leave that spot that night. He would not rise to answer the door or for the house phone as it rang without relent. Nor would he visit the hospital ward. Instead, he would sit and watch the ticking tocking hand of the face on his wrist. Waiting for 06.00 am because a voice in his head told him that if he moved before that moment, Maya would be done for. He had poisoned her with his venom, and if he moved she would die.

Jackie was on her way home from some consultancy work in the Midlands when she took the call. It was a female police officer who shared the information as gently as she could. Maya was in hospital. She had been found in a river. She was stable but unconscious.

Somehow Jackie did not ask the circumstances which led to Maya being found in the river. She felt no need to. A painful memory of a secret shared hit her in the chest and she let out a helpless cry of guilt and shame. She did not tell Alice or Arthur or Sylvia about her guilty secret, as she undertook the difficult task of letting each of them know the news.

Of course Sylvia could not leave the children so close to Christmas and Arthur had arrangements with his own family, who were due to visit on Christmas Eve. So it was just Alice and Jackie making the long journey through the icy winter's night. They had tried to call Stephen but his phone went straight to voicemail. Jackie assumed he must be at the hospital. The roads were filled with lines of traffic delaying them in their endeavour to reach Maya's side. Jackie could not bear to think of Maya all alone and took what comfort she could from her assumption that Stephen was by her side.

Jackie contemplated if all those other cars on the road were just full of people in a rush to get home for Christmas. Or whether there was perhaps even one other car hastily seeking to get to a loved one in need. Did anyone else on that long road feel as angry as she did at all the selfish cars on their way to family and friends to celebrate the season of goodwill? Oblivious to those who might not get the same pleasure. Not only oblivious but getting in the way. Making things harder.

Alice could see the tension in Jackie's face through the frozen tears which had formed a glass over her eyes. She reached over and squeezed her mum's hand and whispered 'Maya's okay. She will be okay. She always is. She has to be.' Tears began to fall from Alice's eyes, as the last statement let out an obligation that they both knew was actually beyond their control.