Background
Lisa has just received the message that her wealthy mother, who had tried to stab her at her home in Scotland, is at the police station in Chelmsford, waiting for Lisa to arrive.
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There was silence in the car for a few minutes while they both thought about Lisa's parents waiting for them to arrive at the station. Alan just wished he could keep on driving and take Lisa back to his flat as they'd intended, but that fantasy was now out of the question. The very thought of her mother being anywhere near would turn what should have been a wonderful experience into a total disaster. He had to take her to the station, and get the meeting with her mother over and done with.
He looked over at Lisa and told her everything would be okay, but his words fell on stony ground. Lisa was petrified at the thought of seeing her mother again. She knew how domineering she could be, and Lisa was sure her mother would somehow convince Eve that she was a wonderful mother, just as she had done with the police in Glasgow the year before.
Remembering back to that night, she inwardly shuddered. The beating from her mother, nearly being raped, and ultimately, the humiliation when nobody believed her, all had stamped an indellible image in her brain of mistrust and resignation. Her mother always won, as far as Lisa was concerned. She felt, in her heart of hearts, that for whatever reason, she would end up having to go back to Scotland with her parents.
She imagined her mother at the station, the picture of respectability, convincing the police that she was a perfect parent, and how it was actually Lisa who had the problem.
Fortunately, what Lisa feared couldn't be further from the truth. Her mother had done the same thing she'd done on the phone prior to Lisa's arrival in Chelmsford. She'd blown it.
When she and Lisa's father had first arrived, even Eve, who had been briefed by Sergeant Wilson as to how nutty the mother was, didn’t think she was too bad. That was, until she started showing her true colours. The couple had left the station for an hour or so when they were told Lisa wouldn't be there for a while, and everyone sighed with relief.
Eve assumed they had gone to have something to eat because they'd been at the station for quite a while before she managed to contact Lisa to tell her that they were there. When they eventually returned, Eve could smell drink on the mother’s breath, and her speech was slightly slurred. The father seemed to be okay, but he didn't say much, not that he had much of a chance. Eve tried to imagine what it might be like being a teenager stuck in a house with the woman, and she began to understand what Lisa must have gone through. No wonder she had run away…
As they approached Chelmsford, Alan could feel Lisa getting more and more uptight. Nothing he could say would convince her that her mother wouldn’t get her own way. She was obviously petrified at the thought of seeing her.
When they arrived, he turned off the ignition and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.
“Do you want me to be with you when you see your parents?”
Lisa stared at him in amazement. She knew he was probably as frightened of her mother as she was, and how difficult it must have been to offer. The very fact that he had, gave her renewed strength.
“No, it's okay. Eve has promised me I don't have to see her alone, and I like the idea of you being out here waiting for me, just in case.”
Alan looked at her, a puzzled expression on his face.
“Just in case what?”
She smiled, realising that he didn't understand.
“Just in case you have to rescue me again!” she answered with a nervous laugh.
He reached over and kissed her before she got out of the car.
“Don't worry, I'll be right here waiting for you…”
When Lisa walked into the station, she looked around the reception area nervously. She expected to see her parents waiting for her there but was relieved to find out they were nowhere in sight. As soon as Eve found out Lisa was there, she came straight out to get her.
“Thank goodness you’re here, Lisa. Your mother's been driving us nuts!' she joked.
Eve couldn't have picked better words to greet Lisa with because she was confirming she was on Lisa's side, and Lisa mentally needed all the allies she could get. Eve suddenly realised that there was a missing component.
“Where's Alan?” she asked, feeling as though she was looking at half a picture.
'I told him to wait for me in his car. He doesn't want to meet my mother again - once was enough..' she replied nervously.
Eve took Lisa's arm and teased her.
“Got the getaway car organised then?”
Lisa looked embarrassed and turned to explain. Eve laughed at her serious expression.
“I'm just kidding!”
Lisa wanted to laugh, but she was too uptight. She was having second thoughts about coming face to face with her mother.
“I don't know if I can go through with this, Eve, I'm sorry.”
Eve took her arm, and tried to reassure her.
“Nonsense! You’ve got nothing to worry about,” she cajoled, as she guided Lisa down the hall.
She was determined Lisa wouldn't leave until she'd faced her mother. Concerned at her uncertainty, Eve decided to take her into a spare interview room and give her a little pep talk before taking her through to see her parents.
“You don't have to be scared of your mother here, Lisa. We're all behind you, and we are here to help. You're just going to have to stand up to her,and get this out of the way,” she coaxed.
She just hoped what she was saying to Lisa would give her the strength to go through with the meeting. It did. Lisa pulled herself together and took deep breaths. She knew Eve was right, but it didn't make it any easier to cope with.
“Where are they?” she asked Eve, standing up with a determined expression on her face. She just wanted to get it over with.
“I've put them into the interview room we were in when you came in before. I thought it would be easier for you to talk to them in familiar surroundings.”
Lisa looked relieved, and followed her along the corridor. When they reached the door, she turned to Eve, her expression still apprehensive.
“You're coming in with me, aren't you, Eve?”
“Do you really want me to?” she asked gently.
Lisa nodded, and Eve was touched by Lisa's belief that she needed her by her side before she could face her own mother.
“Then I'm right beside you,” she said, and opened the door…
There were still four chairs in the interview room left from the day before. Fortunately Lisa's parents were unaware they could be viewed from a room next door through the one way mirror positioned in the centre of the far wall. If they had been, perhaps Fiona Collins would have behaved a little better. She was rattling on about how disgracefully they had been treated since they'd arrived, while Lisa's father paced the floor like a caged animal. At last he couldn't take listening to his wife any more. He jumped to his feet with such force - he nearly knocked over his chair.
“For God's sake, shut up, woman!” Donald shouted at her.
Dave Wilson, who was observing them from the room next door, couldn’t decide who looked more surprised, the father for his sudden brave outburst, or the mother for receiving it.
“Don’t you tell me to shut up, you useless old man. Look at you - you're pathetic! If I hadn't stood my ground earlier on, we wouldn't even be seeing Lisa. You were no use at all!”
Lisa's father looked suitably reproached, and put his head down. He knew he would suffer for his momentary act of bravery, and was beginning to regret it already. Dave looked at his watch and wondered where Lisa and Eve had got to, because he’d had enough. He’d been sitting there since he'd been told Lisa had arrived at the station, and now he was getting bored watching her weird parents.
When Lisa walked into the room, Eve was at her side, and they all remained speechless for a couple of seconds until the father got off his seat, somewhat more gently than before, and came towards Lisa to hug her. Lisa responded to her father's embrace and hugged him back, but mother and daughter refused to make eye contact.
When Lisa and Eve sat down, only then did they look at each other.
Her mother spoke first, but not to Lisa. She turned to face Eve.
“Am I to take it from you being here... we're not allowed to see our daughter alone?”
Eve stared back at her, determined not to lose her cool.
“Your daughter has requested I be present, Mrs Collins. May I remind you, this is not a formal interview.”
“Well I would like to speak to Lisa on her own, thank you. So, will you please leave us alone?”
Eve was irritated by Fiona's tone.
“Exactly what bit of 'your daughter has requested that I be present' are you failing to understand, Mrs Collins?” she asked.
Lisa's mother looked furious.
“How dare you talk to me like that? I'll report you to your superior!”
Eve smiled acidily back at her.
“That, Mrs Collins, is your prerogative, but I must warn you, 'my superior' is already considering pressing charges for the unnecessary waste of police time you’ve caused by giving false information to both ourselves and the Argyll & Bute police force."
“Go girl!” Dave Wilson muttered under his breath, when he saw the look on Lisa's mother's face. She looked as though she was going to explode, and turned to her husband with a look that could kill.
“Donald - DO something! Are you going to let her get away with talking to me like that?”
Lisa's father shrugged his shoulders.
“I don't know what you expect me to say, Fiona. You’re the one who spoke to the police. What exactly did you say to them?”
This was not going the way Fiona Collins had expected at all. Lisa had obviously told them a load of lies and turned them all against her.
In an effort to regain her composure, she started reeling off all the fictitious abuse she had supposedly suffered at the hands of her daughter and Alan, until, at last, Eve stopped her by holding her hand up in the air, like a policeman stopping traffic.
“You're wasting your time, Mrs Collins, and, regrettably, ours as well. We all know you were not assaulted, in fact, as we understand it, you were the one who was doing the assaulting.”
Eve struggled to keep her tone professional. The woman was a real pain in the ass.
“Secondly” she continued, interrupting the stream of protests coming from Lisa's mother's mouth.
“There's the small matter of supplying your own pills as evidence to the police in Dunoon, and claiming that they were drugs left on the premises by Alan Turner, all of which turned out to be fictitious. We don’t appreciate our time being wasted, Mrs Collins.”
Fiona was beginning to go red in the face. Eve was on a roll.
“Thirdly, your claim to have been robbed turned out to be a pack of lies. We understand that all your jewellery, with the exception of your everyday pieces, is kept at your bank in Glasgow.”
Lisa's mother started to look uneasy.
“It is also my understanding from our enquiries that you haven't been to your bank since you returned from holiday a month ago when you deposited your jewellery in your box there. Do you want me to go on, Mrs Collins?”
Lisa looked at her mother's face and nearly burst out laughing.
“But that boy abducted her! I have witnesses who saw….”
Again Eve interrupted her.
“That brings me to your fourth allegation, Mrs Collins. You claim that Lisa is only fifteen, is that correct?”
She put the copy of Lisa's birth certificate on the table in front of her.
“This document shows quite clearly that Lisa is now seventeen years old, and she has every right to go wherever, and with whomever she pleases with, or without, your permission. Do I make myself clear, Mrs Collins?” She added with a sugary smile.
Dave Wilson was nearly wetting himself behind the mirror. He had always thought Eve had the makings of an excellent officer, and she had just proved it again. By now Lisa's mother was on her feet marching towards the door.
“I'm not staying here to be insulted! Come on, Donald, let's get out of here. They're all mad!”
“I thought you were anxious to speak to your daughter, Mrs Collins…” Eve called after her, unable to resist having the last word.
Fiona was already gone, her husband silently following behind her. Before he left the room he put his hand on Lisa's shoulder.
“I'm sorry, Pet,” he said, and thrust ninety pounds he’d foraged from his pockets into her hand.
He looked into her eyes and then, shaking his head at the sadness of it all, dutifully followed his wife.
After they'd gone, Eve signalled a victory sign to the mirror behind Lisa, who seemed to be dazed by everything that had just gone on. She couldn't believe that it was over. Without opening her mouth, she had just watched her mother shot down in flames. Everything Eve had said had been so right. She felt truly free. She could go wherever and with whomever she liked, and there wasn't one thing her mother could do to stop her. As she sat absorbing this new found freedom, the door opened and Alan was shown in. He sat down beside her in Eve's empty seat and took her hand.
“You okay?” he asked, thinking from her expression that it must have gone badly.
Lisa looked up at him and smiled the smile of someone who had just been set free. Set free from the chains of a smothering, destructive love.
“She's gone!” She said, still unable to believe it.
When Alan saw the radiant smile on her face, he felt relieved. He'd been more worried than he’d admitted.
“I know, I saw them leaving. That’s why I came in. I’ve got to say, your mother didn't look very happy,” he added, with a touch of satisfaction.
Lisa didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She still couldn't get over how stupid her mother had looked after Eve had finished with her.
“She really has gone!" she kept saying, much to Alan and Eve's amusement.
Alan squeezed her hand, glad that it had gone much better than either of them had expected. It was wonderful to see Lisa smiling again.
“What did she actually say to you?” he asked, confused as to how it had all gone so well.
Lisa shook her head
“Nothing! That’s just the point. She couldn't get a word in edgeways thanks to Eve. She was magnificent...”
Eve was enjoying the flattery, but thought it best to interrupt.
“It would seem that Lisa's mother was more interested in making a point, than actually seeing her daughter - so I put her right on a few things and now, well, as Lisa says, she's gone.
Lisa got up from her chair and gave Eve a hug.
'Thank you so much, Eve - you were brilliant. I've never seen my mother rendered speechless before. It was nearly worth coming, just to see that!”
Eve hugged her back, glad that she hadn't let her down. She smiled back at them from the door.
“My pleasure. I have to admit I rather enjoyed it!” she added smugly.
Sadly, their happiness was going to be short lived. Fiona Collins was about to come back into Lisa and Alan’s life again. It would be a day neither of them would ever forget...
