Page 18 of The Family Across the Street
‘What?’ asks Logan stupidly.
‘Do I need to explain it again?’
‘No… no. How badly hurt is she? Will she be okay? Which hospital? When did it happen?’ He fires questions at her as his gut churns. I’ll kill him, I’ll kill him, I’ll kill him.
‘The doctors are hopeful she’ll pull through, and… It was… Um… a few days ago maybe,’ says his mother, sounding bored.
‘Days ago, and you only called me now?’ he practically hisses into the phone.
‘Yeah, well… I’ve been… I’ve called you now, haven’t I?’
Irritation runs through his veins at her wounded tone. It’s never her fault. She’s always only doing her best. ‘What hospital is she at? Tell me so I can call and… I need to get on a plane.’
‘Footscray Hospital.’
‘Have they arrested him?’ he barks.
‘They can’t find him.’
‘What?’
‘They can’t find him. Obviously, they’re looking for him – the police, I mean.’
‘How do they know it was him?’
‘Well, I mean, they don’t know absolutely but she’s in hospital and he’s gone and the neighbours said they heard fighting and you know… I told them I thought it was him. It’s always the boyfriend or the husband, isn’t it?’
‘I can’t believe this,’ he murmurs because he can’t. Patrick is a loser, but in the couple of times Logan has met him, he has never gotten a violent vibe off him. He’s tall and skinny and he seemed intimidated by Logan, which was how Logan liked it.
‘Okay, I’m tired of this conversation now. I called you because I know she would want me to. But the thing is that I need some money to get down to Melbourne. She would want me there. I’m her mother after all.’
Logan feels a scream rise up inside him. He brings a clenched fist to his mouth and bites down on a finger, breaking the skin and drawing blood just so that he doesn’t say, ‘No, she wouldn’t want you there. She hates you because you were a useless mother. Your only job was to protect your children and you failed.’
‘How did they know to call you?’ he asks, his voice strangled with fury.
‘Unlike you, she has me in her phone as “Mum”. I guess they thought that would be the best person.’ There is a pathetic hint of smugness in her tone as though having the title means anything at all beyond her biological contribution.
Logan takes a deep breath.
‘About the money…’ she says, and he hangs up the phone, hoping that she’s still speaking to dead air.
He sits quietly for a moment, breathing in and out, trying to formulate a plan. Wherever he was going and whatever he was going to do, nothing matters now except getting to Maddy. He needs to get to Melbourne.
‘Call Debbie,’ he says aloud, because she will know what to do first.
‘Hey babes,’ she answers, and he explains. ‘Oh,’ she says, ‘poor girl. Poor, poor girl. We knew that Patrick was no good.’
‘Yeah, and now I have to get down there. I have to take the parcels back to the depot and Mack is going to be pissed.’
‘You leave Mack to me. Now wait a moment…’ He hears the sound of her tapping on her computer. ‘The planes are full, babes. The earliest I can get you on one is tonight at eight.’
‘I need to get there now.’ He pushes at each one of his fingers, taking some comfort in the loud cracking sound his knuckles make. He cannot keep still.
‘Okay, just wait. You do the next delivery and give me a few minutes. I can call Terri, who I know from school. She’s a nurse there. Just give me a few minutes. There’s no point in running off to the airport to just sit there for hours going mad.’
‘Okay,’ he agrees, relieved that Debbie knows what to do, as she always does.
He starts driving, breathing deeply to calm himself, seeing his little sister with her wide smile, her delicate hands that seem to dance in the air when she’s explaining something that excites her. If he finds Patrick, he will kill him. He knows that. He really hopes the police find him first. Nightmarish scenarios run through his head, making him sweat despite the air conditioning. He takes two wrong turns.
