I looked down in shame.
‘So, you took the secret passage?’
I nodded. ‘I went to bed. I didn’t hear or see anything more until the next morning when I head Mrs Harlow screaming.’
‘And Mr Weiss was asleep in bed?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you didn’t hear him get up?’
‘No.’
‘Was he beside you when you woke up?’
‘No.’
‘I see.’ Randolf pondered for a moment, his finger poised on his lips. After a moment he asked, ‘How is your book coming along?’
I blinked. ‘Er… fine, yes.’ A rush of adrenaline pounded though my veins. Why was he asking me this?
‘You see, we received some evidence back from Miriam Weiss’s laptop.’ He stared me dead in the eyes. My heart pounded as I waited for him to continue.
‘We found that she had been contributing for a number of years to an online forum… one dedicated to discussing your writing.’
My brain glitched as it refused to compute.
‘Mimi?’ I said dumbly.
‘That’s correct. You two must have had quite the relationship for her to dislike you so much that she’d spend her free time gossiping about her sister-in-law online with a bunch of strangers.’
A memory flashed of the day in the pool room, before Tristan was shot, when I had been typing out an email to the ghostwriter. But I hadn’t actually sent it until later. No… I had looked for the draft, but it wasn’t there anymore. She must have emailed it to herself. She must have done it that day in the pool room. But I had seen Jeannie on the site… Perhaps they were both in on it. That would make even more sense, they disliked me enough… maybe one got the other involved.
‘Did you know about the website?’ Randolf asked.
‘Yes,’ I replied.
‘Did you suspect it to be anyone you knew?’
‘Yes, I– I thought it was Jeannie. The first time I used the secret passage, I saw that she was on the forum. She doesn’t know that I saw her, I haven’t said anything to her or… or to my husband.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I don’t want to hurt him. I don’t want to drive a further wedge between them when she already thinks it’s my fault.’
‘What’s your fault?’
‘Everything. That I took her son away from her. That we don’t have enough money. I ruined things by being tooworking-class, not enough of a go-getter. That it’s my fault we are moving to Australia… I never know what she’s going to do next. And I fear now that I have told you this, she will find a way to make me pay. That she will make sure we don’t get to Australia.’
He looked at me for a moment. ‘I see. Mrs Weiss, is there anything else you’d like to tell me?’
‘No,’ I answered forlornly. I’d already said far too much.
22
SLAY BELLS RING
23rdDecember 2025
