‘Morning, guys,’ Kim said, stepping into the squad room.
She glanced at the Tupperware box, positioned between the two desks.
‘Good call, Penn, and a lucky escape for you all.’
No one argued. She was pleased to see that Penn’s time away from the office had been well spent. It was time to get things back to normal, or as close as she could manage. Her own downtime had been spent listening to her feelings being presented to her by someone who wasn’t too wide of the mark. She’d managed to turn the conversation with Ted to small talk after making it clear she wasn’t going to discuss Symes any further. He had finished his second coffee and left with the offer that even though now fully retired, his door was open to her at any time. It hadn’t needed stating.
‘Okay, catch-up from yesterday. We know there’s a lot of folks out there trying to take the gay out of people. We also know that although Jamie never joined Exodus, Sarah did. We also know that Sarah handed over her child right before deciding to list herself on every dating website. Given her parents’ assessment, it was a bold move, as Sarah was repelled by her own sexuality.’
‘A rebellion?’ Stacey asked.
‘Go on,’ Kim said.
‘Well, what if all her life she’d dreamed of a family, a husband and children and then the reality didn’t equal the fantasy? Maybe she met a guy, she liked him and he was like the picture in her head, they had sex and she fell pregnant. Perhaps she told the father and he wanted nothing to do with either of them.’
‘Illusion shattered,’ Kim said.
‘Exactly. So she goes on with the pregnancy, has the baby and it’s not what she thought. She’s still running away from her true self and finally realises what she is and that she can’t change it.’
‘But why go so hard?’ Bryant asked.
‘How long you been off the smokes now?’
‘Seven years, three months, two days and nine hours but who’s counting.’
They all laughed.
‘Okay, say someone told you that cigarettes were no longer harmful and wouldn’t give you a bad cough. What would you do?’
‘Smoke the bloody lot of them.’
‘Exactly. It’s like Sarah decided if she was gonna be gay, she was really gonna get out there and do it.’
‘Makes sense,’ Kim said. It was as though she’d finally accepted who she was and had vowed to make up for lost time.
‘We also learned from Charles Stamoran at Exodus that there’s a facility or a clinic called Change, located somewhere in Bridgnorth.’
‘Change what?’ Penn asked.
‘Exactly. Mr Stamoran wouldn’t say much about the place except that Exodus Plus used it as a referral system for those people for whom abstention was not an option.’
‘You think Sarah went there?’ Stacey asked.
‘Exodus referred her. Maybe they can help with the identity of the father.’
‘What’s the difference between Exodus and this Change Clinic?’ Penn asked.
‘Exodus focusses on abstention. Their theory is that you can live a wholesome, fulfilling life if you choose not to act upon your desires. The Change Clinic claim to be able to remove those desires completely.’
‘You’re saying this Change place actually professes to be able to change your sexuality.’
‘So the website says,’ Kim offered. She’d been checking their website the previous night in bed while sleep had eluded her.
‘Ooh, hang on, maybe they have a special spell they cast on people. Perhaps they have wands and cloaks and pointy hats.’
‘You been watching Harry Potter again, Stace?’ Bryant asked.
‘Or maybe it’s a surgical procedure,’ Penn offered. ‘Perhaps they find the source of it in your little toe on the left foot and they chop it off.’