He continued, ‘I think we need to just calm down. I’d like to suggest that we get the interview and the pictures out of the way, and perhaps then we can get a nice afternoon tea or ice cream?’
‘Sorry, Julius.’ Anna jumped on this immediately. ‘What pictures? What interview? What the actual fuck are you talking about, you git?’
Minnie was shocked. Perhaps Anna wasn’t so soft or so posh after all? But she was glad Anna seemed to be sorting it.
Julius replied, ‘I just thought it would be a lovely story – to tell everyone, after all these years of asking for their help to find her, to show that Florence is back where she belongs. The guys are all set up in another room up the hall.’
‘I can’t believe you’d do this; you are beyond belief. You’re a venal cur. That’s what my father called you when we split up and he’s right. You are toxic, Julius!’ Anna shouted at him.
Minnie stood up. Anna and Julius stopped squabbling for a moment.
She opened her mouth to speak to both of them. ‘I am Minnie. I’m not a story. I’m a person. Who is leaving now, to go back to my mum, who knows how to love me.’
And with that, she left.
Anna cried after her, ‘Minnie! Please!’ Then she turned on Julius, all guns blazing. ‘Why, and may I emphasize the FUCK, would you do that? You’ve ruined it, just like you ruin everything. Oh God, I’ve lost her again, and I didn’t even get to touch her!’ And with that, Anna started to weep.
By now, Thripshaw had entered the room, having heard the furore. He spoke directly to Julius, who was pacing up and down in exasperation.
Thripshaw didn’t hold back. ‘Well, Mr Lindon-Clarke, that went well, didn’t it? Truly, I’ve met some pricks in my time, but you, sir, are the full cactus.’
The Trial, London
Hope was on the phone to Minnie, in the fuggy anteroom where she was waiting with her lawyer for the trial to start. The couple of weeks since Minnie had met her birth parents hadn’t been easy, and now this.
‘Hi, Min. How you doing this morning?’
Minnie’s voice was wobbly on the phone. ‘Hey, Mum. Oh God, I wish I was there with you. This is so wrong.’
‘I know, but look, I can handle this; you need to look after you and Bean right now. What did Dr Chandra say?’
‘He wants me to stay put here in the hospital for another couple of nights, just to get my breathing sorted. They’re doing regular blood-pressure checks and I’ve got another echo this afternoon, but I’m OK and Bean’s doing OK, and Lee’s here. He brought me a Happy Meal in from Maccy D’s. I’ve got a free toy. Couldn’t be happier,’ she lied, then faltered, ‘Oh Mum, I can’t believe it …’
‘I know, Min, I know. But honestly, it’s best you’re not here anyway. There are tons of press outside. Cameras flashing everywhere. That’s me in the papers now, I reckon. They’ve got pics of the Monster at last.’
‘Yeah, the Monster. That’s you all right.’
‘I have to go now, Min. Remember everything I’ve told you. Stay gentle and keep in touch with me, OK?’
‘OK.’
‘And Min …’
‘Yeah?’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘I know, Mum.’
‘Love you.’
‘Love you too.’
‘Wawa forever.’
‘Wawa for always.’
‘Bye.’
‘Bye.’ And she was gone.
Hope took a very deep breath. She didn’t want to be in court in London. She wanted to be at the hospital in Bristol with her daughter.
Hope had instructed her lawyer that she wanted to enter a guilty plea. They’d been discussing it all for weeks, and her counsel were advising caution and patience in the hope that they might be able to mitigate in her defence in two ways.
Firstly, that allowance should be made for her state of mind when she took the baby, but considering that she had kept ‘the baby’ for eighteen years afterwards, they felt she would be on shaky ground with that.
Secondly, they believed that they could argue that Minnie/Florence (Julius had insisted she be referred to as the latter throughout the trial) had never experienced violence or cruelty or sexual assault, so that, in effect, her upbringing had been relatively normal, and that, in fact, there was a case to be made that she might well even have had a WORSE childhood had she remained with her original parents. Who had since divorced.
Hope had considered this very seriously as it could possibly help to reduce her sentence considerably; also, Minnie’s account of how broken the relationship was between Anna and Julius, as evidenced in their meeting with her, was saddening. Julius didn’t sound like a kind or good man. Hope believed it was absolutely true that Minnie had been better off with her.
BUT.
Minnie’s description of Anna prevented Hope from using this argument. Anna sounded like a decent person. Minnie liked her. Hope did steal her baby. She couldn’t add this dire insult to the already deleterious injury. Woman to woman, despite the evident benefit to herself, Hope couldn’t allow her team to use this argument in her defence.
She said a resolute no.
So, because she’d not pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, Hope missed out on the larger reduction on her sentence.
But Hope was fully ready to pay for what she’d done. And pay she would, if Julius had any say in the matter. He was ravenous for revenge.
Julius had wanted to arrive at court with Anna, hand in hand, but Anna refused to continue the façade, so she arrived very early and sat drinking endless awful coffees until it was time to go in. Everyone had agreed that neither Anna nor Julius would be called to testify, but that their victim statements could be used by the prosecution.
Julius wasn’t happy that he was going to miss out on
