Chapters (93)

Becca Fischer is saying everything like a question, Katherine realises, looking for validation from an ugly kid. ‘Not stupid,’ she whispers.

Becca smiles again, a smile that makes Katherine want to melt into the ground and fly into the sky at the same time. ‘Fancy walking round the field with me?’ she asks.

A walk with Becca Fischer. Her suggestion. Maybe this is going to be a special birthday after all.

December 2021

Chapter 10

Beth

Even though it’s only a five-minute walk from school, Beth breathes a sigh of relief when she crosses over the south circular and reaches the green expanse of Clapham Common. Luna has been straining on her leash since they left Nightingales, desperate for her morning run, and Beth’s arm feels like it could be ripped from its socket at any moment. She leans down, unclips the lead from Luna’s harness and watches her energetic fluffball zoom after two squirrels. The pair of them dart up a tree, leaving Luna staring forlornly, her front paws resting against the rugged tree trunk in hope.

Beth takes another breath, then picks her feet up into a run, immediately falling into her usual rhythm. It’s been a long weekend, a busy Monday, and she needs this today. Saskia finally took the MyNeighbour post down on Sunday afternoon, but not before it had attracted over a hundred comments. A few were kind – other women commending her bravery – but most were derogatory. Plenty of the vitriol was aimed at the victim, taunts about a drug addict leech like him being better off dead, that he was doing society a favour et cetera. I don’t know why you bothered, love. But there were at least a dozen that targeted her. Some of them mirrored her own discomfort. A man’s dead and you want praise? Disgusting. But it was a different kind of message that got under her skin. Hey, sweetheart, where do you live?

The video was the worst though. Watching herself lean over the man from her crouched position, touch his filthy exposed arm as she tried to find a pulse. Without the benefit of adrenalin, or purpose, it had made her feel sick, and even more furious with Saskia. She was also horrified that someone had been watching her – the man she saw probably – but prioritised catching the saga on their smartphone rather than coming over to help.

At least there didn’t seem to be any comments from that other squatter; no accusations or threats. She’s spent the whole weekend trying to convince herself that his silence is proof that he was just reacting in the heat of the moment, shouting before thinking because he was half asleep, half drunk, and had just found out his mate was dead. That it’s all over now.