What Alice Forgot - Liane Moriarty [144]
As he got closer, they heard him say, “Well, let’s say two mil. Does that sound okay? Excellent. Bye.” He snapped the phone shut with one hand and Alice wanted to say, Oh, Nick, honey, stop being such a wanker.
“Dominick, isn’t it?” said Nick, holding out his hand, as if Dominick were there to sell them something.
“Yes, hi. How are you?” said Dominick. He was about a head taller than Nick and looked like a gangly schoolboy next to him. Alice wanted to hug him, but she wanted to hug Nick, too. They seemed like boys dressed up in grown-up bodies.
“This must be pretty important for you to call us both down,” said Nick, an edge to his voice.
“Yes,” said Dominick, and there was an answering edge in his voice. “Madison threatened to stab Chloe Harper with a pair of scissors. She also cut off a huge chunk of her hair and pushed her face into a cake. I’m going to have to suspend her at least until the school holidays. I think she needs to see a counselor.”
“I see,” said Nick, and he seemed to deflate and sag. All the power had gone to Dominick.
“There must be more to the story,” said Alice. “She must have had a reason.”
“It doesn’t matter about her reason,” said Dominick (a bit snootily, Alice thought, for someone who was trying to be her boyfriend). “It’s unacceptable. And you can imagine how Kate Harper is going to react to this. She’s on her way to the school, too.”
So Chloe was the horrendous Kate Harper’s little girl. Well, there you go. That explained everything.
“We’ll have to—I don’t know—offer some sort of compensation,” sighed Nick.
“I don’t think money is the answer in this particular case,” said Dominick. Ke-pow.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Anyway, I’ve got both girls waiting for us in my office,” interrupted Dominick.
Alice and Nick followed behind him like naughty children. Alice made an “Isn’t this appalling” face at Nick, and he grimaced.
In Dominick’s office, Madison and another little girl were sitting on chairs in front of his desk. The little girl was sobbing in an outraged “I so deserve to cry” way, cradling something in her arms, and Alice saw with sick horror that it was a long, blond plait. She had bits of chocolate cake and cream and cherries smeared all over her face and school uniform and the shocking, hacked-off line of her blond hair stuck up over the back collar of her uniform.
“Oh, Madison,” said Alice involuntarily. “How could you?”
Madison’s face was dead white, her eyes shining with fury. She was sitting very still and straight with her hands in fists on her lap, the image of a little psychopathic killer brought into the police station for questioning.
“You’ve got some explaining to do, young lady,” said Nick, and Alice nearly laughed. He sounded like a man playing the angry dad in a bad amateur play.
Madison didn’t say anything.
“Do you want to tell your parents what happened?” said Dominick, sounding much more authentic.
Madison shook her head passionately, as if she were refusing to reveal state secrets to her torturers.
“She hasn’t said a word,” said Dominick to Alice.
The little girl dangled the blond plait in front of her, tears continuing to roll down her face. “Look at my hair. My mum is going to kill you, Madison Love. My hair is beautiful. It will take me years and years and years to grow it back. I will be, like, forty. You just did it because you’re jealous , and you haven’t even said . . .” Her voice quavered, as if she were overcome with the horror of it. “You haven’t even said sorry.”
“Okay, Chloe,” said Dominick. “Let’s calm down.”
“Madison, apologize to Chloe,” said Alice, in a grim, forbidding voice she didn’t recognize. “Right now.”
“Sorry,” muttered Madison.
“She isn’t!” wailed Chloe, looking up at Alice and Nick. “She’s just saying that! Just wait till my mum gets here!”
“Actually,” said Dominick. “I don’t think we will wait. I think Mr. and Mrs. Love can take Madison with them now.”
He squatted down in front of Madison so they were face-to-face.
“Madison, I’m suspending you from school as of now,” he said. “You can’t be a part of this