“I haven’t got it,” he said. “Why do you think I’m in this state?”
“And I know who you really are,” I said.
He looked at me from the floor and groaned. “Who?”
“Charles Williams. You staged a burglary at your own house, didn’t you? And ruined all those lives.”
He closed his eyes and muttered, “Please, could you give me another drink? I don’t feel well.”
I fetched a handful, the water dripping between my fingers. As I leaned toward him, he caught my cheek and some of my hair in his teeth and bit hard. Like a dog. I screamed and pulled back.
“I know who you really are, girlie.” And he kept on staring at me. “You were there, weren’t you? You were there that night. When my daughter was being suffocated. You were the girl on the doorstep.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I was holding my cheek. It felt wet. He’d drawn blood.
“Yes, you do,” he said, and his eyes flicked to my necklace. “That’s hers. I saw you wearing it on Friday night.”
My hand went straight to the chain. “It was a present,” I said, backing away.
“No, you stole it from Birdie. She always wore it—”
“No,” I said, but my voice faltered.
“You’re not very good at this, are you? Look, girlie, get me out of here and I won’t tell the police about what you did.”
I just stood there. It was surreal that he’d taken charge of the situation, lying there on the floor, tied to a chair. I felt like I was in a dream. But I pushed my nails into my hands to wake myself up.
“Shut up!” I shouted at him. “I didn’t do anything. I was eight years old. I just stood in the room while Stuart did it.”
“I don’t believe you,” he said.
I bent down so I was on the same level as his face but far enough away from his teeth.
“I don’t care,” I said quietly. “Phil knew. And Stuart knows. We all know you set the whole thing up.
“What are you talking about?” Charlie hissed at me. “Your brother set it up. He employed a junkie who stole to feed his habit.”
“He was made to do it. You forced Phil to fix it. Told him you’d make sure he’d go to jail for supplying drugs. And I’d be left on my own. You told him you’d turn the alarms off.”
Charlie’s eyes were bulging and he spat as he shouted, “Phil? Fucking lies! I had nothing to do with it! Anyway, he’s not around to tell anyone anything, is he?”
“How do you know that?”
“Can’t remember who told me,” he said but couldn’t meet my eye. “They said he was a piss head who drank his last drink. Look, I gave him a job, paid him a good wage. I was looking after him.”
“Of course you did,” I said. “Good old Charlie Perry, always doing someone a favor. People think you are a real sweetheart, don’t they? But you’re a coldhearted, greedy fake. You destroyed all our lives—mine, Phil’s, Stuart’s, and your daughter’s.”
“No one’s going to believe you, you little bitch,” he hissed. “But they’ll believe me. They trust me.”
I laughed in his face. And then realized he was right. I had no proof. Phil was dead. No one would believe Stuart. Charlie was going to brand me a monster. Of course he was. He’d seen the necklace. Do something, echoed round my head.
And I reached for the cling film and began to wind it round his mouth.
* * *
—
It took only half an hour to clean up the mess. A tenner’s worth of my time. I picked up Charlie’s bag and checked that the passport was in there. I should have thrown it in the sea but I didn’t have time. I needed to get home before Liam missed me, so I dumped it in a skip. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now.
We stop at Exmouth for yet another comfort break and I wait for Cal, crouching down by a wall out of the wind. Make myself small while I decide who I’m going to be when we get to Cornwall. The front I’ll put on before I disappear. And start cleaning again.
Seventy-two
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2019
Elise
Everyone was busy collecting and collating evidence, cross-checking statements, when Elise quietly backed out of the incident room. She closed the blinds in her office and eased off her shoes.
DC Chevening appeared round the door. “Sorry, ma’am. Is it okay to disturb you?”
“Yes, come in. What have you got?”
“I’m putting together the forensic documentation—we’ve just received the full report—but I’ve found something I don’t understand.”