Excellent Stacey has a discussion with Joshua The Fix : The Fix - Chapter Eighteen by Jacob1395

Background Stacey knows her son Joshua is innocent of killing a young woman, and when a jury finds him guilty, she's certain the police have made him a scapegoat. For a summary of what's happened in previous posts, please see author notes. ***************** 1st September 2022 ‘You never told me you were taking Susannah round to your dad’s,’ I say, as Joshua steps back into the hallway. I think back to the conversation Susannah and I had earlier, when Joshua was out getting fish and chips. ‘Susannah told me about it earlier.’ He’s just seen her off in an Uber, I’d said she could stay here tonight, as Joshua was, but she wanted to get back to her place. We’d spent a good two to three hours sitting out in the garden. I think we managed to polish off two bottles of wine. It’s not often I have a drink; I can feel it swooshing around inside me.   He frowns at me. ‘It’s no problem, is it?’ ‘No of course not, it’s just; she was asking me about my relationship with your dad earlier, it just bugged me a little bit. Things seem to be getting really serious between the two of you.' I make my way into the kitchen. Even though we ate outside, the kitchen still stinks of fish and vinegar. It’ll still be stinking in the morning, it’s why I only ever tend to have fish and chips when I’m out at a restaurant now, I can’t stand how the smell lingers around for ages. I pick up the last couple of remaining chips, scrunch the wrapping paper up left on the kitchen worktop and stuff it into the bin. ‘Yeah they are; I really like her. What did she ask you?’ he asks. I shrug. ‘Just general stuff, you know, like how we met, perhaps she was wondering how we ever thought we’d be a good match in the first place. If you look at it, we’re so unalike it’s ridiculous.’ ‘Well, you stuck it out with him for a good ten years so there must’ve been some spark there.’ He grins. ‘She seemed to get on OK with Chloe.’ My skin bristles, like it always does at the mention of my husband’s partner. I should be over it by now, but I can’t help it.  ‘Oh, did she?’ I ask. ‘Well, if you think about it, there’s not much of an age gap between them, which is pretty gross when you come to think of it. It’s taken me a long time to come to accept her as my new potential, step-mum.’ He rolls his eyes at the first part of his sentence. ‘I think Rachel still hates her. Honestly, you should still see the way Chloe fawns over dad; he’s not exactly some Greek God, is he? I really can’t see what it is she sees in him, it’s not like he’s the one with the money.’ I smile. ‘Well, Rachel was a real daddy’s girl, wasn’t she, so I can understand her animosity towards Chloe. But then I remember what your dad was like when I first met him. He used to make you feel as though you were the only person he cared about. It was the way he looked at you, with his eyes, the way he spoke to you, that’s what made me fall for him. Girls still go crazy for him, don’t they? When we were young, after we’d first got together, I couldn’t believe I was the one who managed to snare him. I never thought in a million years I was his type.’ Joshua pulls a face. ‘Right, well, on that note, think I’m gonna go up. You going to stay down here for a bit?’ ‘Might just catch the last bit of the news, I’ll be up in a sec,’ I reply. Joshua gives me a kiss on the cheek then heads back out into the hallway. I grab the wine glass I left on the side and throw it in the sink. I pad out of the kitchen and back into the front living room. As I sit down at the chair in front of the television and flick it on, I think back to the first time I met Daniel. We’d met at Ski resort in Switzerland; I was away with a group of friends, but the rest of the holiday, apart from the moments I was with him, are a blur. On our last day he’d given me his phone number and made me promise to call him the moment we were back in the UK. I shake the thought out of my head and focus on the last part of the news report in front of me. ****************** Characters: Stacey (mother of Joshua)  Lucie (foreman of the jury) Joshua (Stacey's son) Susannah (murder victim)  Rachel (Stacey's daughter) Daniel (Stacey's ex-husband)  Ruth (journalist)  Author Notes Stacey attended the last day of her son's trial and was devastated when he was found guilty of the murder of his girlfriend, Susannah, when she believes he is innocent. She is certain one of the jury members, the foreman, knows this too. Stacey is now desperate to prove her son's innocence. On her way out of the courtroom, Stacey spots the foreman and decides to follow her, following her to her home in Romford. Before Stacey has the chance to speak to her she collapses outside her front door. Stacey has a brief conversation with the foreman, Lucie, but before they can have a proper chat, an ambulance arrives and she's taken to hospital. In a flashback scene to a year before the trial, Stacey discovers her son, Joshua, is seeing someone after her daughter, Rachel shows her a post on Instagram. Her ex husband, Daniel has now urged Stacey to move on with her life and to forget about what's happened. Lucie tells her she will try to help her prove her son's innocence. In a flashback scene from over a year ago, Joshua tells her that he has started dating a girl called Susannah. Lucie's now agreed to contact a friend who might be able to help them. Stacey has now met with Lucie and her friend, Ruth, who agrees to help them look into the case; Ruth suggests to Stacey that she visit her son in prison; Rachel agrees to organise the visit. When they visit Joshua, Stacey is shocked to see he has a black eye and fears he's become a target inside prison. He also tells Stacey the court was right to convict him, but she feels there's something he's keeping secret from her and this pushes her to continue to fight for him. A flashback scene to a year ago has shown Susannah questioning Stacey about her relationship with her ex-husband. Ruth has now given Stacey an update and tells her she's discovered Susannah appeared to be in a good mood about something the day she died.

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