Page 85 of The Psychopath Next Door

‘Remember when Rose pushed that girl off the tower at nursery?’

‘What, when she was four?’

‘Yes. I know it was a long time ago, but don’t you remember how concerned we were at the time? About how she showed no remorse?’

‘She was four!’

‘You’ve obviously forgotten how worried about it we were. How we wondered if we were doing something wrong with our parenting. Don’t you remember how we talked to her about the importance of being kind?’

‘Of course I remember. And it worked. She’s been absolutely fine since then.’

‘Shewasabsolutely fine.’ I sighed. ‘Maybe I’m being stupid. But her behaviour has definitely changed recently. You can’t deny it. This incident with Henry, her bad temper, taking stuff without asking ...’

‘You really think that’s because of Fiona? You heard what Angela said. She’s a child psychologist. She knows what she’s talking about. It’s normal, Ethan. We don’t know what happened with Henry, and it’s completely normal for there to be conflict between me and her – though I’m going to do what I can to smooth things over. That’s why I took this week off work, so I can spend some time with her, show her I’m not a bad guy.’

‘That’s good. I’m really pleased you’re doing that. Maybe I could take a week off too, look after her for the final week of the holidays. Then Fiona won’t need to do any more childminding, Rose will be back at school, Fiona will presumably start her job – if it even exists.’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘Well, she never mentions it, does she? And she’s extremely vague if you ask her about it. Plus I searched for her name in relation to banking and nothing came up. I checked Google, LinkedIn, all the social sites. It’s weird. I’m not even sure if Fiona Smith is her real name.’

‘What?’

‘Iris is sure she knows her from somewhere.’

‘Right.’ Emma looked at me as if waiting for more.

‘She gets a bad vibe from her too.’

Emma laughed. ‘Oh my God. The woman across the road gets a bad vibe from her. We’d definitely better stop our daughter from seeing her.’ She picked up her fork again. ‘I am so tired of this subject, Ethan.’

‘So you’re not going to listen to my concerns?’

She sighed heavily. ‘Rose loves her. If we stop her seeing her – based on some hunch – then, well, if you think Rose has been difficult recently, you’ll be in for a nasty surprise. Because, believe me, she could be alotworse.’

‘We shouldn’t allow the fear of Rose’s moods to dictate our parenting decisions.’

This time the sigh was both heavy and deep. ‘We’re going in circles, Ethan. Look, if you bring me one piece of proof that Fiona is a bad person or a malign influence, then of course I’ll stop Rose from seeing her. In fact, if she’s done anything to harm Rose, I’ll punch her bloody lights out. But this is all starting to seem like a one-man witch hunt, and I don’t get it.’

‘But—’

‘Let’s change the subject. What vinyl is coming out next week?’

I had to laugh at that. ‘Wow, you reallyaredesperate to talk about something else.’

We finished our meal, paid the bill. Chatted about the shop and Emma’s job and some home improvements we wanted to get done before Christmas. We talked about Lola and the possibility of getting another dog, or even a cat.

I didn’t mention Fiona again.

We got off the train and decided to walk the rest of the way home, because it was such a warm evening.

There was a row of shops between the train station and the estate, all of them shut except for the kebab shop and the convenience store that sold, along with milk and bread and cigarettes, a selection of cheap alcohol. As we passed it, a familiar figure came out. Tommy.

He was carrying a flimsy bag, a six-pack of lager visible through the plastic.

‘You,’ he said when he spotted us, and I immediately got a feeling of foreboding.

He was drunk. Properly wasted, standing on the spot but swaying like he was being buffeted by strong winds.

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