Hannah batted his hand away from her. ‘I didn’t say you could touch me.’
‘Like mother, like daughter.’ He cast Hannah a sleazy look.
Hannah grabbed the full gin balloon and tossed the contents of the drink into his face. Gina only hoped that she’d seen everything of Samuel Avery that she’d need to see and that any friendship with him would be over. The darts players had stopped and the pub was silent.
‘Come on. Time to go.’
Gina recognised the girl behind the bar. Leslie Benton. She’d spoken to her earlier in the week when she came to interview Avery. Her mouth was ajar and her braces were in full view. She threw a beer towel at the bar. ‘He touched me too. I want to make a statement.’
Gina knew this time he wasn’t going to slip away. His time had come too. It was the perfect end to the day. Hannah’s gaze flitted between Avery, Gina and Leslie before she stormed out of the pub.
Chapter Seventy-Three
Cass lay on the ward, eyes closed as she kept recounting what had happened in the basement. Why her? All she wanted was a friend and Kerry had come back into her life. At first, she’d wanted to know why they were all so cruel to her and why Kerry had allowed it to happen when they had been so close. Now she’d never know.
Kerry had money and she couldn’t imagine her sticking around to be with a husband who didn’t care in a town where her parents were about to be exposed as murderers. She recalled the look on Elvis’s face as she’d told him she wanted him to go. He was bad for her. Deep down, she thought people could change as she hoped Kerry had, but Elvis had kept such a dark secret from her and she knew she’d never be able to forgive him. The call he made on his way to the hospital, telling her the whole truth about what he’d done had shocked her to the core. She hadn’t stopped thinking about that poor schoolgirl since.
She reached for her neck and swallowed. The pain was getting worse. No one was coming for her, no one wanted to be with her; she was definitely one of life’s loners. Maybe that’s how it would stay.
‘Cass?’ She felt the breeze of someone pulling the curtain back a little.
‘Kerry?’
‘I’m so sorry. I can’t believe what they did to you.’ Kerry hurried to her side and placed a hand on her arm. She pulled the sleeves of her sweater up and a tear trickled down her cheek.
‘Thank you for coming.’
‘I had to come.’ She paused. ‘I don’t know what to do, what to say.’
Cass yelped a little as Kerry leaned in to embrace her and then she flinched. It hurt, everything hurt. Her heart hurt and her mind was all over the place. All she knew was that people deserved second chances. She’d lived through her ordeal and she felt like a warrior. She’d survived and she’d lived to tell the tale. There were moments that she thought she didn’t want to live but after being so close to death and accepting that her time was over, she’d never felt so alive. ‘Everyone deserves a second chance.’
‘I don’t know how you can still want to be anywhere near me after all that has happened. I won’t let you down, Cass.’
Cass smiled, clapped her hands twice and clapped Kerry’s and then her own again in a little clapping sequence they learnt in junior school. Kerry laughed through her tears. They’d both lost a lot and they could both start again.
‘Hurry up and get better. We have so much catching up to do.’
‘We do.’ Cass lay back down with a smile on her sore face. She had her flat, she had a job and she had a friend – that was a start. Those women at work were going to see a new side to her once she was well enough to go back. Through all that pain came a strength she never believed she could ever possess.
Epilogue
Two days later
‘Mum,’ Hannah called as she let herself into Gina’s house.
Gina remained seated at her kitchen table, staring out at the squirrel feeder nailed to the fence as she dwelled on the conversations she’d had with Marianne Long and Charlie Carter. At least the families could now start planning funerals and lay their loved ones to rest. A squirrel perched on the nut feeder. Gracie ran through the house and straight into Gina’s arms.
‘Hello, chicken. It’s so lovely to see you.’ She kissed the giggling child’s forehead.
‘I’ve been to Cadbury World, Nanny.’
‘Gracie, come with Mummy a moment.’ Hannah put some cartoons on the television. ‘Here, you can have the chocolate buttons. Mummy just needs to speak to Nanny for a minute.’ She came back into the kitchen and pulled out a chair. ‘I guess he’s been charged. Sam?’
Gina nodded. ‘I told you he was a bad one but you wouldn’t listen.’
‘I’m sorry, okay.’ Hannah’s face was beginning to redden, just like it always did when she was stressed.
‘Where were you when I was trying to get hold of you?’
