Page 88 of Don't Say A Word
I shake my head in disgust. ‘I know all about you. You had an affair with Max.’
‘How did you find out?’ Then she opens her eyes wide. ‘Did he tell you? Is he back?’
‘No! He’s not back. And never mind how I found out.’ I shake my head at her. ‘You’re just a common grifter. You followed Max to Brookford because he broke up with you. You bought thehouse next door so you could… What? Waltz into his life and blackmail him? Threaten to tell me everything? Refuse to leave until he gave you ten thousand pounds?’ I’m shaking so much I can barely hold it together. I cross my arms. ‘But Max wasn’t here, was he? He was in Zurich. So instead, you set the girls up. I told you where Holly would be that day, and you followed her. And then you saw them being stupid with the car, and you knew they weren’t going at speed. The car was barely moving. And you stepped in front of it knowing full well they’d seen you, that they would stop in time. But still you pretended that they’d hit you. You invented this whole accident so you could blackmail me. Because you want money. It’s all about money with you. Well, guess what? I’ve got money.’
I rummage through my pockets, pull out the cash I got from Max’s account and shove it at her.
‘There! Take it! There’s a thousand pounds.’
She smiles, takes it and turns it over in her hand. She flicks through the bundle, as if counting the money. There’s an old receipt caught between the notes. She crumples it and drops it on the floor.
‘You’re so sweet, you know that?’ she says, head tilted. ‘You actually think you can buy me off for a thousand pounds.’
‘Oh, don’t worry. I know it’s not enough.’ I dig out my earrings and engagement ring from my pocket. My hand is shaking. I throw them at her. ‘Is that better?’ I point at the jewellery on the floor. ‘There’s thirty, forty thousand pounds there. All yours. Take it and get the hell out of our lives. Get out of this dump of a house. Get out of Brookford. Just leave us alone.’
Slowly, her face cracks into a smile, and then she bends down, hands on her thighs, and laughs, and laughs, and laughs.
I am shaking. ‘What’s so funny?’
‘You! Kate! You are! You think I want your money?’
I shake my head. I can’t stop shaking my head, in fact. ‘I know you want money. You’ve been blackmailing me. You’ve already taken ten thousand pounds from me. And look at this place. You’re broke. Of course you want money. What, you want me to believe it’s not about money?’
‘I don’t want your money, Kate!’ She lifts her hand, still full of the cash I just gave her. ‘I mean, if you insist, I’ll take it. But I’m just fucking with you! I want you to be miserable. Don’t you get it? I want you to suffer.’ She moves closer. ‘I want you to leave. And I mean leave. Go back to London, to the sad little life you had before you met Max. Go and be a good little schoolteacher somewhere else. I couldn’t care less about your money or your stupid jewellery.’
I blink and look around the room. ‘I don’t believe you. You’re broke.’
‘Oh, that? I got it all from a charity shop. I wasn’t going to move all my nice furniture from London, was I? I didn’t expect to stay in here very long. And it served me well, in the end. You let me stay with you because you thought I was sad and poor and lonely.’ She sighs. ‘What a shame you threw me out before he got back. He would have been happy to see me there – in his house.’
‘I doubt it, somehow,’ I say. ‘Frankly, I think he would have run a mile. I mean, he did leave you. He did break it off with you.’
Her mouth tightens and she crosses her arms. ‘Because you made him. Because you cried. You told me so. Because you’re young and pretty and cute and you turned on all those charms to make him leave me. But I knew something wasn’t right. He loves me, you know. Max loves me. He wants me. He adores me. And when he learns what a sick trick you’re pulling on him, contacting lawyers and kidnapping his child, he’ll realise the mistake he’s made.’ She tilts her head. ‘When is Max back, by the way?’
‘Soon.’
‘He’s on an awfully long trip.’
‘They’re keeping him busy in Zurich.’
She looks at me sideways, eyes narrowed. ‘You didn’t kill him, did you?’
I swallow a swell of panic. ‘Why?—’
She bursts out laughing. ‘You should see your face!’ She chuckles, shaking her head. ‘Still. Something isn’t right. I can feel it. I’ve been calling him, you know. And texting him. He hasn’t replied to me.’ Again, that sideways glance. ‘Has he left you?’
I hesitate, just for a second, wondering if I should say yes. After all, that’s my story.That’s right. He’s left me. I haven’t told anyone yet. I don’t know where he is.
But then she says, ‘Nah. You would have told me. Still—’ she sighs ‘—I wish he’d come home soon.’
‘But I don’t get it,’ I say. ‘I told you I was leaving. You took the money I’d saved. Why wouldn’t you just let me keep it? Let me go ahead with my plans?’
‘Oh, sweetie,’ she says, which reminds me of how she speaks to Holly. ‘I don’t want you to leave with Holly. I don’t want you to get a lawyer and spread all these lies about Max just because your sister died. Boohoo, by the way.’
I recoil. ‘Oh, my God. You’re horrible. Did you even have a sister who died?’ I ask. ‘Or even a sister at all?’
‘Don’t be stupid. Of course not. But Max told me about your sister, so I thought I’d throw in a dead sister, too.’ She taps her finger on her lips. ‘What was her name again…? Sunny?’
I stare at her, speechless. ‘You’re just evil,’ I say finally. ‘And your fake sister’s name was Melody.’
