Chapter 58

The corridor was bustling with people of all ages, either huddled in groups, disappearing into side rooms or queuing for vending machines.

Heidi Cole was sitting on a solid wooden bench in the corner, the back of her head resting against the wall. Behind her sunglasses, her eyes were closed but she remained alert for tell-tale signs that she’d been recognised as a Passenger.

Conversation between friends often stopped when they passed her or she’d hear the rustling of a hand inside a pocket to grab a phone that would begin recording her. If her eyes were open, she would have seen today’s onlookers clocking her, glancing away, then taking a sneaky second peek.

She would not have tried to stop them; she’d grown used to the attention over the last six months. Besides, there were worse things that could happen than having her image appear on social media. She and two other Passengers knew that better than most. Even if she had wanted privacy, she would not get it today. It was her fourth court appearance and the day of her sentencing.

Her mother Penny broke the silence. ‘Are you okay?’ she asked.

‘Yes, why?’

‘Because I’ve barely heard a peep from you all afternoon.’

‘I think I’m all talked out to be honest. I’ve pleaded guilty, now I just want this to be over.’

‘You just need to be a little more patient. You had to let your solicitor do her thing and explain your, oh, what’s it called?’

‘Mitigating circumstances.’

‘Yes, them. Fingers crossed the magistrate will be sympathetic and not want to make an example of you. She looks friendly, doesn’t she? I still think you should have pleaded not guilty though.’

‘And gone to trial? It’s not fair to put the kids under that level of scrutiny after what they’ve been through. Besides, I’d be saying I did nothing wrong and they’ve heard enough lies from their dad to last them a lifetime. They need to know that they have at least one parent who will step up and admit when they’ve done wrong.’

‘The Crown Prosecution Service had no right in charging you. How can this be in the public interest?’

‘Because I’m still public property. If the CPS hadn’t acted, they’d be accused of bias.’

‘Why are you always defending them?’

Heidi shook her head. ‘I’m not, but Mum, I did it; the world knows I did it. I was a police officer who blackmailed her husband and accessed highly sensitive data on a police computer for my own ends.’

‘I don’t care. That bastard husband of yours deserves every bit of misery you put him through. He should’ve been sent to prison for marrying another woman. In my eyes, a slap on the wrist and a suspended sentence isn’t justice.’

‘You have to let it go. What’s done is done. I’ve moved on and I don’t recognise that scorned ex they keep portraying me as in the papers.’

Suddenly, a shadow alerted them to someone’s presence. They turned to look up, and both were surprised to see Sam.

‘Heidi, can I have a moment …’ he began.

‘Speak of the devil,’ snapped Penny clambering to her feet. ‘You can bugger off and leave my daughter alone.’

‘It’s okay,’ Heidi replied.

‘No, it’s not.’ She jabbed at Sam’s chest with her finger. ‘You’ve destroyed her life, her career …’

‘Mum, you’re causing a scene,’ continued Heidi, rising to her feet.

‘Look.’

Penny glanced around her. The corridor had become hushed as spectators watched husband and wife together for the first time since the hijacking of their vehicles. Some brandished phones and others used their glasses to record what they were witnessing. ‘Go on, mind your own business,’ Penny chided and tried to shoo them away.

‘Just give me five minutes, then I’ll go away,’ Sam continued.

Heidi pointed to an empty side room further along the corridor. ‘Over there.’

As the door closed behind them, she removed her sunglasses and took him in. He hadn’t put the weight back on that he’d lost throughout the period she was blackmailing him. His temples were greyer and his receding hairline and balding crown had almost connected. She noted the plain, silver band on his wedding ring finger. Throughout their marriage he had

refused to wear a ring, claiming he wasn’t a jewellery kind of person. She assumed he had told Josie the same thing. Now they were apart, he only had one wife to answer to and she assumed he was placating her. When he saw her eyes upon it, he moved his hand behind his back.

When Heidi looked at Sam, she didn’t see the man she was once in love with, only the one who had wounded her so deeply. All conversations since their release from their vehicles had been through lawyers. She knew that one day they would come face-to-face again but she wouldn’t have invited it. Now he was here, it wasn’t as awful as she imagined. She felt nothing for him.

‘I’m sorry to just turn up but you wouldn’t answer my calls or reply to my emails and I didn’t want to say this through our solicitors. But it’s important you know how sorry I am. I never meant for any of this to happen.’

‘You know what, I’ve come to understand that I don’t think you meant it to happen either. You’re not a bad person, Sam, you’re just a stupid, selfish, gutless one.’

‘That’s fair,’ he replied.

‘How is Josie?’

‘She’s okay; a bit weak these past few days, but doing well. The scar is healing and she finished her final round of chemo on Monday.’

‘I’m glad. And you and her?’ It felt peculiar asking her husband about the woman in his life, but it didn’t upset her.

‘We’re working on it. We’re in therapy.’

‘Wow,’ laughed Heidi, ‘you really are a new man, aren’t you?’

‘When all this is over, she would like to meet you, properly this time.’

‘I’m not sure …’

‘It would mean a lot to her. I think she just wants to reassure you that she didn’t know anything about you. And I know you don’t owe me anything but it would mean a lot to me too if you’d consider it.’

‘Let me think about it.’

‘Thank you. Have you heard anything about your job yet?’

‘No, they’ll wait until sentencing before they announce when the disciplinary procedure begins. But it’s a certainty they’ll sack me and I’ll lose my police pension.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘I take full responsibility for what I did.’

‘We secured another contract last week to refurbish council offices in Halifax. So I’ll make sure you don’t go short.’

Heidi didn’t thank him. She didn’t want his guilt money, but with her suspension without pay, she was reluctantly reliant on his earnings until she found something else.

‘The kids seem to be getting on with their new half-brother and -sister, at least that’s what they tell me,’ she said.

‘They are. The same can’t be said about mine and Josie’s two though.

They haven’t forgiven me for only talking about our Beccy and James when I was trapped in the car.’

‘Give them time. They need to get to know you properly, all of them do.

Kids are usually much older than ours before they discover their parents are human and can let them down. All four of them have had to learn that lesson from not just one but both parents and at the same time and in front of their friends and the whole world. You were never really there for them before the hijacking. Now you can be honest and be the dad they deserve.

In the end, they’ll forgive you.’

‘And you?’

‘And me what?’

‘Will you forgive me?’

‘I already have.’ She glanced around the room. ‘Look where being angry has got me.’

‘What’ll you do next?’

‘I’m not sure.’ Heidi shrugged. ‘The best-case scenario is that I’m given a suspended sentence and a community service order. I’ve had offers to do some consultancy work for private detective agencies, public speaking and even some research for TV documentaries. I’ll wait and see. Anyway, I’m likely to be called back in any minute so you’d best go.’

‘It was good to see you.’

Heidi didn’t reciprocate. Instead, she slipped her sunglasses back on before opening the door. ‘One last thing,’ she added. ‘Make sure you look after Josie, okay? She deserves a better husband than I had. You have a second chance with a good woman. I hope all that we went through has changed you as much as it has me.’

‘It has,’ he replied, before turning around and disappearing into a crowded corridor.