Williams sighs. ‘Everything he does lately is about you. He would never, could never, have imagined this would happen.’
‘Ah, I get it, the promotion was his doing? Well, I guess when you play sick games, it makes a lot of sense to have someone on your side. To take the hit for you when it all goes wrong, doesn’t it?’
He shakes his head again and I can’t help but think how I would like to slap his face repeatedly until it’s red raw and stinging like my raging eyes. Like his friend, he places his hand on the handle of the door and turns to me before he leaves. ‘How many people do you know just hand themselves in to the police for a life sentence?’
I knew it. ‘Jack.’
He leaves with Lawrence following quickly behind, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder as he passes me.
I stand alone in the empty room until the sensory light turns out.
25
‘Hi Sandy,’ I mutter as I walk into the house. ‘How’s your day been?’
‘I’m in here,’ she calls from the kitchen.
The smell of sweet biscuits is delicious and the scent leads me to Sandy.
‘Oh my word, what have you been up to?’ I ask, scanning the results of hours of baking spread across the granite worktops.
‘I just thought I’d bake something nice for dinner but I had spare pastry, so I made some tarts for pudding too. Hmm, then I decided to make some ginger biscuits and a cheesecake.’ She giggles, washing a large, plastic bowl in the sink.
‘And these?’ I ask, pointing to a stack of whoopee pies.
‘I have no excuse for those.’
She balances the bowl on top of a mound of draining dishes then rubs her hands down the sides of her flour-dusted apron.
‘Right, what would you like first?’
I wrap my arm around her waist and rest my temple onto hers. ‘You can always cheer me up, Sandy.’
‘Rough afternoon?’
‘You could say that. Okay, I’d like to start with a nice big fat wedge of this delicious-looking cheesecake, please.’
‘Tea?’ she sings.
‘Absolutely. I’ll put the kettle on.’
Unsurprisingly, the lethal combination of sugar, caffeine and the day’s events kills my ability to sleep. Rain pounds my bedroom window and wind gently rocks my curtains forwards and backwards. Images flash through my mind like storyboards, mapping my life with my dad, how I met Gregory, the bloodstains on the staircase, how Dad died, Lara’s visit to my house, the story she told me about Gregory’s past. Thoughts of the future and unanswered questions – what will I do with the house, will I continue to live with Sandy, will I accept my promotion – intermittently break my trips through the past.
A thunderous rap of the front door knocker startles me, echoing through the house. I bolt upright in my bed. I wait for a few seconds then the rapping comes again, longer and louder, once, twice, three times. There’s a sound like Sandy’s flicking the switch of her bedroom light, followed by soft footsteps and the creak of her door. Slipping into my silk kimono, I poke my head out to the landing.
Sandy holds a finger to her lip, where she’s standing at the head of the staircase. ‘Shh.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ I whisper.
We tiptoe down the staircase together, startling each time the floorboards creak. We reach the front door in darkness and the door knocker thuds again, making us cling to each other.
Sandy picks up two golf umbrellas and hands one to me.
‘What on earth am I supposed to do with this?’
‘It’s all I could think of.’
We each take one side, peering through the door curtain.
