The Woman Who Lied(44)

Gina returns with the coffee and passes it to Emilia, then sits down again. ‘So, tell me everything. From the beginning,’ she says, clicking her pen and magicking a notebook out of thin air.

Emilia takes a deep breath and launches into all of it: lilies, bomb scares, being followed by a shadowy man at night with Louise, the seagull, the troll, the wreath, the open windows, and hacking Alexa, although she decides not to mention Jasmine, the mysterious concert tickets and the hoax call. She’d rather keep her daughter out of the paper. When she’s finished, Gina sits back open-mouthed. ‘Wow,’ she says. ‘That’s a lot. And all of these things happened in your books?’

‘All of them at some point or other, apart from the first bouquet I was sent. The lilies. I can’t remember my character, DI Miranda Moody, getting sent those. But she might have. The rest is mostly from my earlier books, the first four.’

Gina presses her pen against her cheek. ‘Can you tell me what your new book is going to be called and we’ll put in a bit about that too?’

‘Her Last Chapter.’

‘And what’s that about?’

‘It’s about a serial killer who inks his female victims.’ She tells her a little about the plot, without giving away any spoilers. ‘It’s also kind of a revenge thriller.’

‘Sounds creepy.’

Emilia laughs. ‘Well, I hope so.’

Gina studies Emilia, then adds, ‘You really do have a dark mind. Is any of it autobiographical?’

Emilia is thrown for a few seconds. She takes a sip of her latte before answering. ‘Well, not really, no.’ Heat creeps up her neck. ‘My character, Miranda, she’s very different from me. Older, stronger. Says what she thinks.’

She’s relieved when Gina turns away to continue scribbling in her notebook.

As she’s driving home, she gets a call from Jasmine.

‘Mum, I’m stressing out. I can’t find my PE kit. I thought it was in my locker, but I think I left it at Dad’s.’ Jasmine only has PE every other week.

‘Do you need it today?’

‘No, tomorrow. Can you please go and get it?’

‘Your dad will be at work.’

‘Kristin might be in. Please. I’ll get a lunchtime detention if I forget it.’ She can hear the anxiety in her daughter’s voice.

‘Okay. I’ll pop over and see if Kristin’s in.’ The last thing she wants to do is see Kristin, but she doesn’t want Jasmine feeling stressed about this with everything else going on.

‘Thanks, Mum,’ she says, sounding relieved. ‘Got to go. Bye.’

Kristin’s Mini is parked outside the house and Emilia pulls up behind it. She hopes Kristin can locate the PE kit quickly and she can be on her way. The street is quiet as she gets out of the car, a wood pigeon cooing in the distance. She makes her way down the familiar front path and knocks on the door.

Kristin opens it after the second knock. She looks her usual glamorous self, in a pair of jeans so tight they look like a second skin and a plunging pale-pink V-necked T-shirt. Her dark hair is gathered up in a high ponytail. Her blue eyes narrow when she sees it’s Emilia.

‘Sorry to drop in like this,’ says Emilia, before explaining about Jasmine’s PE kit.

‘Come in while I go and find it.’

Emilia follows her through to the hallway and into the kitchen. On the table is a clear plastic box of art supplies, and a Stanley knife lies on top of a huge piece of card. Kristin must notice Emilia looking at it as she goes over to it and starts packing it away. ‘I was just … um, making a card for a friend’s birthday.’

Emilia smiles politely.

‘Would you like a cup of tea?’

‘No, that’s fine, thanks, though.’

‘Oh, okay. Give me a sec. Let me just check I didn’t put it in the wash.’ She bends down and rummages through a plastic tub full of clothes. ‘It’s not here. I’ll check her bedroom.’

She leaves the room and Emilia sits at the table. She moves the Stanley knife to the side, wondering if Kristin has read Her Last Chapter yet. She remembers what Louise told her about Kristin questioning her about Jonas at her launch. First Ottilie, and now Louise. What is Kristin playing at? It was really inappropriate of her to quiz Louise when they’d never met before. Does Kristin really suspect that she and Jonas are having an affair?

And then her eyes go to the plastic box and her heart stops.

Pressed against the edge, its fake yellow hair spread out like butter, is the familiar face of a troll doll.





29





Daisy,

2005

Daisy had always been a firm believer in Fate, that people came in and out of your life for a reason. And that Christmas it became apparent why she’d had to end up at the same university as Ash.

It was ironic that after she had stopped looking for the Doodle Man, when she had … not forgotten exactly, that would never happen, but been distracted by infatuation, he appeared before her, like a mirage, like a gift.

‘I’m going to really miss you,’ Ash said, that fateful day, as they hung out in the student union. ‘But you’re still okay to come and visit after Christmas? It isn’t far from here. You could visit me and then my parents could drop you back here with me for the beginning of term?’