Chapters (50)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication Page
- Contents
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Ninteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Epilogue
- Letter From the Author
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
I sat down. All I could think about was what Charlie had said the night Sasha had come round for dinner. If you wanted to murder someone, the best way to do it would be to make it look like a drug overdose.
‘I think I’m going to be sick,’ I said.
Twenty-nine
Twenty-nine
Victor took me back to my flat in a taxi and escorted me up the stairs, huffing and puffing behind me and exclaiming loudly about how someone ‘should put a fucking lift it here.’
Sat down at the table with a cup of tea – three sugars – in front of me, Victor said, ‘Fucking hell, Andrew, talk about an attack of the vapours. I thought I was going to have to carry you to the cab.’
‘It’s the hangover,’ I said. ‘Low blood sugar.’ I sipped the hot tea, the sweetness bringing me back to life. But my heart was skittering, banging.
‘Whatever you say.’ Victor had found a can of Coke in the back of the fridge, which he cracked open, a little wisp of condensation rising and catching my eye. ‘So are you going to tell me what’s going on?’
I couldn’t meet his eye. ‘Finding out about Karen – that’s all it is. It’s such a shock.’
He scrutinised me. ‘So you knew your girlfriend had been to see her?’
‘I . . . Yeah. I didn’t want her to, but . . .’ I trailed off, unable to force the lie out.
‘Pretty shitty thing to do, if you ask me,’ Victor said. ‘Maybe I got you all wrong, Andrew. Maybe you’re not the decent bloke I thought you were.’
I couldn’t speak.
‘Anyway, I need to get home. The missus is cooking a special celebratory dinner tonight.’
‘All right. Thank you for, well . . .’
‘Yeah. Whatever.’ He smiled sardonically. ‘Better make sure I don’t piss you off, hadn’t I? Don’t want your girlfriend paying me any unexpected visits.’
I watched from the window as he headed off down the road, then sank onto the sofa, head in hands.
I hated lying to him, but I had no other choice, not until I had all this straight in my head. If I had told Victor that I hadn’t known about Charlie going to see Karen he would have started asking questions – questions which would lead on to me telling him all the things I had suspected her of, before Tilly had sprung to her defence, including setting him up. And if I told him that, he would go to the police.
I couldn’t have that, not now. Not before I had figured it all out. I couldn’t risk it. I loved her. If she was innocent and got the slightest hint that I suspected her of doing these terrible things, I’d lose her. No relationship could survive such an accusation.