Read The Backs (2013) for Free Online Page B

enough to think that, if she survived, we’d be able to just go back to normal.’
    ‘But it’s not that simple, is it?’ Goodhew said quietly.
    It was a small and obvious statement but enough for Jimmy to relax a little. His gaze again settled on Goodhew and this time his eyes focused properly, as he dropped his hands into his lap. When he spoke, his voice sounded more natural. ‘I’ve been holding on, waiting for everything to improve – or at least settle down.’ His expression softened further. ‘I don’t mean I’ve been holding on instead of leaving her. Gen and I are in it for good. I mean I’ve been holding on waiting for it to get better, but instead things are only worse.’
    ‘How?’
    ‘Gen couldn’t return to work. She tried, as soon as she was physically well enough, but just imagine it. A paramedic turns up daily at situations other people hope they’ll never have to face . . . loved ones collapsing in the street, road accidents, assaults. She and her partner Derrick had been called out to a suspected accidental overdose. They arrived at the house, found the front door was ajar, and Derrick went on in. Gen couldn’t step over the threshold. She just froze. He called back to her, told her it was safe, that he needed her help with the patient. But she couldn’t move. Derrick then brought the kid out and they treated him on the doorstep, kept quiet about it too, but it wasn’t the only time it happened, so eventually she left.’
    ‘And now? Does she still work?’
    ‘Yes, part time at Addenbrooke’s. She has to work, as she can’t stand being on her own anywhere, even at home. She now can’t walk down a quiet street, says she feels it closing in on her . . . starts feeling convinced that she’s being watched. We were still having good days together, fantastic days sometimes, even though we always seemed to pay for them with huge lows descending afterwards. We were coping, that’s the point. Then we heard how Greg Jackson was up for parole.’
    The years between the attack and now must have ticked by so slowly at times, and yet Goodhew could see how the release of Jackson would feel as though it came upon them in an instant.
    ‘Gen
sees
him all the time. She looks up and he’s there, watching her – by the bus stop, at the end of our road, in the supermarket. It’s becoming impossible. Our real life has disappeared, left us behind. It’s just over there,’ he glanced to the right, ‘where we can’t reach it but can still see what might have been. I realize I need to find something more I can actually
do
about this.’
    ‘And this is why you’ve contacted me? If Jackson’s been making contact in any way, you can report it. Harassing your wife will break the conditions of his parole.’
    ‘I want you to help.’
    ‘No, you just need to contact the police. I don’t understand why you think I can do anything.’
    Jimmy took a deep breath. ‘I can’t contact them. I don’t believe her.’
    ‘Because she’s making it up, or you think she’s imagining it?’
    ‘I don’t know. Really, I don’t. She claims she saw him three times in the first couple of weeks after his release. Initially I thought maybe she’d made a mistake, or I put it down to one of those unfortunate coincidences like going on a first date and running into your ex. But by the third time . . .’
    ‘Did you suggest she should report it?’
    ‘Of course, but she suddenly became upset – hysterical really, I suppose. She kept repeating that it was
too late
and I
wouldn’t understand.
I tried to make her tell me but in the end we had this massive row and I stormed out. When I came back home she was very subdued, she’d clearly been crying a lot and I suppose she’d just burnt herself out. She’d convinced herself that Jackson was coming for her, and that he held her responsible for his conviction.’
    ‘Hers wasn’t the only evidence.’
    ‘No, but she was the only witness to put him there at the