Kathryn doesn’t say anything at first. She could be wrong. So wrong. But she has a feeling that she isn’t. ‘Is that why you got rid of Una?’
‘What?’ he splutters, looking at his sister with a perplexed expression. ‘You’re crazy, lady. I hardly knew the girl. If you remember, we only overlapped by a few days before I got the sack. The most I did to her was steal her breakfast.’ He hesitates, watching their faces. ‘What? Don’t judge me too harshly. I was starving and it was just there, in the kitchen under a tea-towel.’
Kathryn delivers her sucker punch. ‘Then why did I see you kissing? Just a few days before she died.’
Willow groans, her head in her hands. When she looks up there are tears in her eyes. ‘Why did you do it?’ she says to her brother. He opens his mouth to object but Willow adds, ‘I found Una’s phone.’
Something changes in Arlo then. There’s a coldness in his eyes and time seems to freeze. Suddenly he lunges at Kathryn, grabbing her by the throat and pinning her against the wall.
‘No!’ screams Willow. ‘Please! Arlo!’
Kathryn can hardly breathe. His hands are so tight around her throat and, despite Willow’s protests, he keeps squeezing her windpipe. She tries to kick and punch him but it’s no good. She can feel herself getting weaker. ‘You meddling bitch,’ he hisses, spit flying from his mouth and landing on her face. ‘Why couldn’t you have left it alone?’
Willow leaps on him but she’s so tiny he simply shrugs her off, like she’s an irritating insect.
Kathryn’s vision starts to recede, black crowding in at the edges of her eyes. This is it. This is how she’s going to die. She thinks of Ed and the boys. All the regrets of the last year bearing down on her. Now she’ll never have a chance to put things right.
Without warning, he releases her. She falls to the floor, like a ragdoll, clutching her throat, unable to believe he’s let her go. And then she sees why. Arlo is flanked by two police officers, one of whom is reading him his rights. ‘We are arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Una Richardson …’ Courtney stands in the doorway, pale-faced, her mobile in her hand and Vince behind her. Willow is on the sofa, sobbing.
A plain-clothed detective she recognizes as DS Holdsworth is suddenly kneeling beside her. ‘Are you okay?’ she asks, reaching out a hand gently and helping Kathryn up off the floor.
Kathryn doesn’t say anything. She just watches as Arlo is led out of the door, his hands cuffed behind his back. She can’t take it all in. It feels unreal, like she’s watching a police drama on TV.
Arlo doesn’t look back. All she can hear is Willow’s quiet weeping.
She clutches her throat. It feels sore.
‘I don’t understand,’ says Willow.
Suddenly Kathryn feels sorry for her: the girl had no clue as to what was going on. Willow’s head whips around and she spots Vince and Courtney in the doorway. ‘Why are you two here? Please,’ she says, as she looks from Kathryn to DS Holdsworth, ‘can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?’
45
Willow
The detective, who introduces herself as Christine Holdsworth, comes and sits beside me on the sofa. ‘I’m going to have to go to the station and interview Arlo,’ she says, her voice kind. ‘But I’m going to send a colleague here to sit with you.’
‘I don’t need anyone to sit with me,’ I cry. ‘I’m not a child.’
‘She can come and stay with me tonight,’ pipes up Courtney. She’s still hovering in the doorway with Vince.
Why do I feel like I’m the last to know what’s going on?
‘I’ll need to take statements from you all in due course,’ DS Holdsworth says. ‘I’ll be in touch.’
I nod, blinking back tears. Arlo a killer. I still don’t know if I believe it. Although the way he lunged at Kathryn tonight was so out of character it’s made me wonder if I know my brother at all. Christine Holdsworth stands up, dusting down her long dark coat as though the sofa contains germs – which, to be fair, it probably does. ‘Did you turn on the phone?’ she suddenly asks.
‘The phone?’
‘Una’s phone?’
‘Yes. I didn’t know it was hers. I found it …’ I get up and show her to the airing cupboard ‘… in here.’
She holds out her hand and, without speaking, I reach for the Jiffy-bag and give it to her, knowing that this evidence will help put Arlo away.