Page 38 of Vengeance is Mine

‘No. I’ve come as quite a surprise to many people.’ I attempted a casual chuckle, but it sounded forced.

I could sense the revelation that I was Dominic’s daughter had unnerved him, so I quickly explained how I had only just found out, and I was on a mission to discover everything I could about the father I never knew.

‘Wow. And you only found out all this a week ago?’ he asked, picking up his latte and taking his first sip. ‘That must have been a shock and a half.’

‘You could say that. Do you mind talking to me?’

‘No. You’re his daughter. You have every right to know all about him.’

‘Thank you. You mentioned in your message that I might not like what you have to say.’

‘Ah. Yes,’ he said, looking down. He took a deep breath. ‘Are you absolutely sure you want to know?’

Suddenly, I was no longer sure. If he was going to tell me something that would convince me of Dominic’s guilt, then I would be forced to come to terms with it. Draw a line under everything and tell Clare Delaney I wanted nothing to do with him being released.

I bit my lip and thought. It wasn’t too late to stand up and leave the coffee shop. I didn’t have to know everything. But if I didn’t, I would have ‘what if’ running around my mind for evermore.

‘Yes. I need to know,’ I said quietly.

‘Right. Okay then. I met Dominic in the spring of 1997. I was fifteen, and he was seventeen. Both our grandads had allotments, and they tried to get us interested, but what teenager is interested in growing onions? We spent most of our time in his grandad’s shed reading magazines. We got on well to begin with.’

‘Did he tell you anything about his home life?’

‘He told me about everything. When you’re in a shed together for several hours each day with no television, you have to fill the time somehow. I knew his dad worked away a lot.’ He frowned as he remembered. ‘And his mother was a bit… I don’t know. I can’t remember his exact words, but they didn’t get on.’

‘What made you think that?’

‘He said she cried a lot. She’d be sat watching television in the evenings, and she’d just burst into tears for no reason. She’d fly off the handle over the littlest thing, like if he left a dirty cup in the living room or something. That’s why he spent time with his grandad. His mother couldn’t cope with him at home all day during the summer holidays. He didn’t call her Mum either. He called her Mother. I remember thinking at the time that it was a bit weird. I still call mine Mum, even at my age.’

I smiled. ‘So do I.’ I settled back into my seat.

‘Dominic was quite sad. I’d look up from whatever magazine I was reading, and he’d have this look on his face like he wasn’t really there. His body was, but his mind was a million miles away.’

‘Did you ever ask him about it?’

‘I’d ask him what was wrong, and he’d just say, “Nothing.”’

‘Did he like staying with his grandad?’

‘Yes. His grandad allowed him a can of beer in the evenings and let him stay up late. There were no rules with his grandad.’

‘Whereas there were with his mum?’

‘There were too many with his mum, by the sound of it.’

‘What about his dad? Did he mention him at all?’

‘No. Never. I thought he’d left them or died, so I didn’t bring it up. It was only when my grandad mentioned him that I knew he worked away a lot.’

‘Did Dominic ever mention taking medication?’

‘Fenadine? Yes.’

‘You know about Fenadine?’

‘Only what I’ve read about in the news. I didn’t know what it was called at the time I knew him. He did say he’d been given tablets to take. He said he suffered with low moods. I could certainly understand that, given how volatile his mother was.’

‘Did he mind taking the tablets?’

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