Page 37 of Behind Closed Doors
‘Grace, Grace,’ Millie cried, as soon as we were on our own, ‘Jack bad man, very bad man. He push me, he push me down stairs!’
I put my finger against her mouth, warning her to be quiet, looking around me fearfully. The fact that the cubicles were empty was the first piece of luck I’d had for a very long time.
‘No, Millie,’ I whispered, terrified that Jack had come down the corridor anyway and was listening from outside the door. ‘Jack wouldn’t do that.’
‘He push me, Grace! At the wedding house, Jack push me hard, like this!’ She bumped me with her shoulder. ‘Jack hurt me, broke leg.’
‘No, Millie, no!’ I hushed. ‘Jack is a good man.’
‘No, not good.’ Millie was adamant. ‘Jack bad man, very bad man.’
‘You mustn’t say that, Millie! You haven’t told anybody, have you, Millie? You haven’t told anybody what you’ve just told me?’
She shook her head vigorously. ‘You say always tell Grace things first. But now I tell Janice that Jack bad man.’
‘No, Millie you mustn’t, you mustn’t tell anyone!’
‘Why? Grace not believe me.’
My mind raced, wondering what I could tell her. By now I knew what Jack was capable of and suddenly it made sense, especially when I remembered that he had never wanted her to be our bridesmaid. ‘Look, Millie.’ I took her hands in mine, knowing that Jack would be suspicious if we were too long. ‘Shall we play a game? A secret game for just you and me? Do you remember Rosie?’ I asked, referring to the imaginary friend she invented when she was younger to take the blame for her own wrongdoings.
She nodded vigorously. ‘Rosie do bad things, not Millie.’
‘Yes, I know,’ I said solemnly. ‘She was very naughty.’ Millie looked so guilty that I couldn’t help smiling.
‘I not like Rosie, Rosie bad, like Jack.’
‘But it wasn’t Jack who pushed you down the stairs.’
‘Was,’ she said stubbornly.
‘No, it wasn’t. It was somebody else.’
She looked at me suspiciously. ‘Who?’
I cast desperately around for a name. ‘George Clooney.’
Millie stared at me for a moment. ‘Jorj Koony?’
‘Yes. You don’t like George Clooney, do you?’
‘No, don’t like Jorj Koony,’ she agreed.
‘He was the one who pushed you down the stairs, not Jack.’
A frown furrowed her brow. ‘Not Jack?’
‘No, not Jack. You like Jack, Millie, you like Jack very much.’ I gave her a little shake. ‘It’s very important that you like Jack. He didn’t push you down the stairs, George Clooney did. Do you understand? You have to like Jack, Millie, for me.’
She looked at me closely. ‘You scared.’
‘Yes, Millie, I’m scared. So please, tell me that you like Jack. It’s very important.’
‘I like Jack,’ she said obediently.
‘Good, Millie.’
‘But don’t like Jorj Koony.’
