“Friends,” said the officer with a smile before leaving to join his colleague in the vehicle. Mimi watched dully as the car moved off, taking John away to be processed. Then a figure appeared at the gateway, staring after the car in shocked dismay.
“Anna! Thank God you’re okay.”
“Mimi.” Anna looked desperate and confused. “What’s happening? Why are you here? Where’s John?”
“Come inside.”
“Don’t invite me inside my own house.”
Mimi froze in her tracks, surprised by her friend’s unusually assertive tone.
“What was that police car doing? Where’s John?”
“John’s been arrested.”
“What? Why?”
“Because he’s an awful man, Anna. Wasn’t it you who called them?”
“No. It was Liam.”
“Liam?”
“Oh, I asked him not to! I have to go to him. I have to tell them it’s a mistake.”
Mimi reached out for Anna’s wrist, stopping her from racing out to the street.
“It’s not a mistake. He does mistreat you. He’s…mesmerised you. You need to get away from his influence.”
“Who the hell are you to tell me—”
“He doesn’t care about you. He just wants the baby, for some reason.”
“You don’t—” Anna stopped, her eyes wild, moved closer to Mimi and sniffed. “Oh my God. I can smell him on you. You! You’ve been having an affair with him. Oh my God, I’m so stupid!”
“Anna, calm down.” Mimi dragged her friend up the steps to the porch. “Listen to me. This is why you have to get away from him. We both do. I don’t want him, Anna. But he forced me.”
“What? Are you saying he’s a rapist now?”
“I…think I am. Yes.”
Anna sat and leant her head on a pillar. It was impossible to miss her wanness, the air of exhaustion about her.
“We have this chance to get away from him,” murmured Mimi. “To go back to normal.”
Anna stood up and faced Mimi, her shoulders slumped in defeat. “There’ll never be a normal again. Not after John. I have to see him, Mimi. You can’t stop me.”
“I wish I could—” Mimi began, but she was interrupted by a peculiar noise, partly a hiss, partly a fierce clicking, coming from the doorway.
It was Luana.
“Go to him,” she urged, her tone so harsh and guttural it was barely human. “You go to him now.”
“I’m going to,” Anna said.
“Help him. Or there trouble. Terrible, terrible. Go to him.”
It was beyond Mimi’s power to prevent Anna’s flight from the house. She watched the girl go and turned to Luana.