he would remember her and might be willing to help. It would be almost impossible to get Ahmed Hakimi returned through the Tunisian courts. But there was another way; something she knew had been done before in this sort of case. It was a slim chance, it depended on luck and being in the right place at the right time. You wouldn’t want to pin your hopes on it, but it was worth a try.
Before she could find the number, there was a call from Monica at the front desk to let her know that Anna Pelham was in reception.
‘She hasn’t got an appointment but she says it’s urgent. Can you see her?’
Anna often dropped in unannounced though she always apologized for it. She rang up a lot too, but it didn’t bother Laura the way it sometimes did with other clients. Anna had had a rough time, was still having one, but she was determined not to be a victim any longer and to do the best she could for her daughter, Martha. Laura liked her for her guts and for never giving in to self-pity.
Anna had been putting on a brave face about Harry’s death threats but Laura thought she must be badly worried by them.
‘OK, no problem, I’ll be down in a minute.’ She picked up the Pelham file and went downstairs to the conference room where Anna was waiting for her.
‘I know I should have told you I was coming in, but my mind’s been all over the place. To be honest, I’m a bit scared.’ Anna smiled apologetically.
As usual, Anna was underplaying her own feelings and trying not to make a fuss. She didn’t often show signs that the divorce, or her husband, was getting to her, kept it all bottled up inside. For her to say she was ‘a bit scared’ most likely meant she was absolutely terrified. Laura guessed her self-effacing behaviour was the result of years of Harry’s abuse. He had conditioned her to stay quiet about what was happening to her in the hope of avoiding more punishment. Her own feelings were unimportant; she should keep her views to herself and take what she got without complaining.
Laura remembered how her own mother had behaved the same way, worn down to timidity and obedience by her domineering father, spending her life walking on eggshells, trying not to trigger another outburst.
‘I’ll get onto the police again; push them hard to take some action.’
‘That’s what I came to tell you. The police have been to see him. One of the neighbours rang me, she said they were at the house this morning. I thought you might be able to find out what’s happening.’
‘Of course I will. Did she say anything else?’
Anna shook her head. ‘I hardly know her. She only had my number because I once had to ask her to look after Martha for a couple of hours. She just said she thought I might want to know.’
Harry had discouraged Anna from talking to the neighbours, discouraged her from getting close to anyone or keeping up with her friends. He thought it best, Anna said, that they ‘kept themselves to themselves’. It was what men like Harry did; they isolated their victim, shrank their world so they rarely talked with anyone else, so they came to think the abuse was normal.
‘I’m worried what he might do next. I mean if they tell him I’ve complained about the threats, he’ll be really mad.’ Anna’s voice was shaky.
‘He’d be a fool to do anything with the police on his tail.’
‘I don’t think that will stop him. He does what he wants.’
At their first meeting, Anna had reluctantly told Laura what Harry had done to her for years. She had not wanted to give details but gradually Laura teased them out of her. Mental, sexual and physical abuse, he had ticked all the boxes. It had got worse after Martha was born.
‘When was the first time he hit you?’ Laura asked.
Anna’s face shadowed and she stared at the floor for a while.
‘Martha was three weeks old. It was a Sunday afternoon and we’d taken her out along the sea front when we ran into one of Harry’s business mates,’ Anna said, haltingly. ‘He made a big fuss of her, said what a cute baby she was. When we got home, after I’d put Martha down to sleep, Harry accused me of flirting with the man, smiling at him in a provocative way. I said that was ridiculous and then he punched me in the face. Just like that, no warning.’
Anna looked up from the floor, straight at Laura, suddenly worried. ‘I hadn’t done anything, really I hadn’t. The man asked me about Martha and I had to speak to him, didn’t I? I smiled at him, but it was just a normal smile, because I was happy to have such a lovely baby.’
The punch had split open both her lips. Harry had been sorry, terribly sorry. It would never happen again, he said.
By then, Anna was well aware of how sexually jealous her husband was. He was obsessed with details of her sex life before they met, made her write down all her previous sexual encounters in a small black notebook he kept locked in his desk.
Anna sat up straight on her chair, smoothed out the creases in her dress. She looked her usual immaculate self despite the stress she was under; careful make-up, manicured nails, smart clothes. She had every right to look a mess but she never did.
‘He liked me to look nice,’ Anna had told Laura. ‘Soon after we got married, he started telling me how to dress because he thought the clothes I usually wore were too slutty.’
Harry told her how to style her hair, how to behave and who she could talk to, which was hardly anyone; if she ever got it wrong, he would scream abuse at her.
‘I never knew what was going to upset him. He’d be OK one minute, then go crazy the next.’
As time went by, he hit her more often.
‘No matter how hard I cried in front of him, no matter how much I begged for him to stop hurting me and no matter how many times he said he was sorry and promised he’d stop, he never did.’ Anna’s voice was flat, desensitized.
Her words brought a vivid picture into Laura’s mind; her childhood self creeping out from her bedroom and tiptoeing down the stairs, listening to her father screaming at her mother, criticizing her, hearing her mother’s constant, feeble protest, ‘Don’t say that, darling,’ as she tried to placate him.
‘Is there any chance of getting him locked up?’ Anna asked.
‘No chance, I’m afraid. It would take an actual assault before that could happen.’
‘He’s done it often enough.’
‘The trouble is he’s never been charged and found guilty by a court.’
‘I should’ve reported it, I know that. But every time he was sorry and I thought that maybe if I could stop making so many mistakes, act better, not make him jealous, then it would stop.’
‘You didn’t make mistakes, Anna, he made you think you did but you didn’t. It’s what wife beaters always say – she made me do it.’
Anna nodded, took a tissue from her bag and blew her nose. ‘Sorry, Laura, sorry to make such a fuss. I’ll be OK in a minute.’
‘Let me talk to the police and find out what’s going on.’ Laura found the number in the file and called it while Anna waited. The officer she wanted wasn’t there and she left a message.
‘If we can persuade them to charge him with harassment, he’ll probably get bail but with a bit of luck there’ll be a condition that he can’t come anywhere near you.’ Laura thought for a second. ‘And we’ll press ahead with getting a non-molestation order from the family court to keep him away from you.’
‘Sometimes I think he’s watching the house.’
‘Have you seen him?’ Laura asked, worried.
Anna hesitated. ‘Maybe. I don’t know for sure. I get this creepy feeling like there’s someone out there. Martha gets it too.’
‘Is there anyone you could go and stay with for a few