* * *
—
Elise pulled up outside the Eastwoods’ little house as Cal practiced penalties with a friend in the front garden.
Dee came out and stood in the doorway. Watching her.
“Can we talk?” Elise said as she got out of the car.
“Sure. Come in. Play nicely, boys.”
They sat down at the kitchen table, opposite each other. Dee fiddled with her necklace while Elise took her jacket off.
“I think you used to be called Diana Golding,” she said.
And Dee nodded slowly.
“Nobody’s called me that for years. Mum named me Diana because she loved Princess Di—she still had an old video of the wedding when they cleared her last flat,” she said, not taking her eyes off Elise. “It was in the box I was given. No video player. Just the tape. Anyway, I stopped being that girl a very long time ago. When I was eight.”
But she came back, didn’t she? Dragging all her baggage behind her.
“Charlie Perry did a similar thing, didn’t he?” Elise said, watching her cleaner for a reaction. “He stopped being Charles Williams the crooked businessman when he fancied a fresh start down here. When did you realize who he really was?”
“Not until I read it in the paper,” Dee said. “When his real name came out at the inquest.”
Elise looked for the lie but didn’t find it in the fragile eyes across from her.
“Stuart Bennett didn’t tell you when you went to see him?”
Dee’s mouth flew open.
“We know you went to see him the week before the festival,” Elise cut her off. “But why? Why did you want to see him?”
“I . . . I knew he’d been in touch with my brother, Phil, before he died—I was told he’d been at a vigil for his death—and I just wanted to talk about Phil. I loved him so much when I was a kid—he was my hero but I was put in care and couldn’t find him again when I was old enough to look. That’s what we talked about—Stuart didn’t tell me anything about Charlie.”
“Did you know Stuart came down to Ebbing the weekend Charlie went missing?”
Her eyes widened. “No. He knew I lived here but he never said anything about coming. Did he see him? Charlie said he’d seen someone, didn’t he? He told Liam that in the van. It could have been Stuart.”
“Stuart says he saw him at the festival,” Elise said.
“Did he have anything to do with his death?” she whispered.
“No. There’s no evidence that he was there when Charlie died. Stuart says he didn’t even speak to him in the end.”
“But it must have frightened Charlie,” Dee said. “I’m glad. I’m sorry but Charles Williams was a terrible man. Nobody here knew—they all loved Charlie Perry. I did until I realized who he really was. He was always so nice to me. Some clients don’t even say thank you but he took the time and spoke to me like I was someone, not just a cleaner.”
Dee looked at her rough red hands. “But he was a fraud, wasn’t he?” she said. “Pretending to be someone he wasn’t. That’s what they do, con men, isn’t it? Put it on, to trick you and rob you and wreck your life without a second thought. And I’ve heard he was still doing it. To Toby and Kevin. He’s ruined so many lives. Including my brother’s. Phil drank himself to death in the end. He was so eaten up by what he’d done all those years ago.”
“Charlie used him to set up the burglary, didn’t he?” Elise said.
“That’s what he told Stuart. Poor Phil. He was just a kid. And frightened. Out of his depth.”
“He never knew you were there that night, did he?” Elise said. “That Stuart took you with him?”
Dee looked at Elise, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
There was silence in the kitchen. Then the thud of a football hitting the wall outside.
“Not until Stuart told him when he went to see him in prison. Stuart said he was absolutely shattered.”
“And what about you? Were you shattered?”
“I was only eight. I told myself it was like one of the horror films I used to watch with Phil. I could pretend it wasn’t real. I was so young. I put it away somewhere I couldn’t find it. But then it all came back. Here, where I thought I was safe from my past.”
“But it’s all over now, Dee,” Elise said as if to the child Dee had been. “We know how Charlie died.”
Dee’s chin trembled and her hands wove a knot of fingers.