“Sorry.” Markus let him go. “I just… well… you know what it’s like, with her. Not many do.”

“Yeah,” Gary said, feeling lost.

“Come in, come in.” Markus waved a hand. “I’ll make us some tea.”

“Why don’t I handle that?” Lauren said, and Gary knew this was it, she was getting it out of the way early. She’d said as much when they were discussing it. Whenever one of them had a chance, they’d create a distraction and the other one would grab the lockbox and the key.

“Are you sure?” Markus asked.

“Definitely,” Lauren said. “This isn’t about me.”

Markus shrugged. “Kitchen’s just through there. I’ll take mine white, two sugars.”

“Same,” Gary said.

Lauren walked down the hallway and Markus led Gary into the living room. There were lots of photos of Polly dotted about the place, making Gary feel like a real piece of dirt. That video was the only thing keeping Casey away from this man, from his daughter.

But what was the alternative, let her abuse Scott, go on abusing him, until he was penniless and gutless and a shell of his former self?

“I’m sorry, Scott,” Markus said, looking so earnest Gary wanted to scream.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

“I get it. It’s hard to talk about.”

That was especially true for Gary.

“Lauren said you wanted to meet with me,” Markus went on. “I couldn’t say no. In a strange way, I blame myself for letting Casey loose on the world. At least, when she was with me, I was the only one who had to suffer. My therapist says thinking like this isn’t helpful. But we can’t stop, can we?”

Gary wanted to punch the man in the face. There was something so self-congratulatory about his tone. Gary knew this was unfair. Casey had abused him, the same way she was abusing Scott.

Maybe Gary just wished she’d never left Markus, so, that way, Scott would never have met her. It was a cruel thing to wish on a man.

But Markus wasn’t his friend; Markus hadn’t saved his life. Scott had.

“No, we can’t,” Gary said. “But that’s the nature of–”

His words were cut off by a loud crash from the kitchen.

“Oh, for goodness’ sake,” Lauren said, artificially loud so Markus would hear.

Markus winced. “I better go check on that.”

Gary waited as Markus stood, offered a tight smile, and then left the room.

When he was alone, Gary sprung to his feet and walked over to the TV unit.

45

SCOTT

Scott wasn’t sure how many times he read the entries. He sat on the floor, next to the broken vanity unit. At first the words were blurry with his tears, but at some point he stopped crying; maybe it was around the third reread. He had to go over it again and again, trying to convince himself Natalie hadn’t written this, wouldn’t write this.

They were full of lies, with some truth sprinkled in. He had done impressions for his dad, during the late-night dinners, but this hadn’t turned him into a pretender. The football thing had never happened. And, clearly, Natalie had been having an affair with a woman.