‘Shut up with the blubbering, for heaven’s sake. Pull yourself together.’
She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her hoodie and glanced around. An elderly man with a walking stick passed her.
‘Are you still there?’
She kept her eye on the man as he shuffled past. ‘Yes. I’m just cutting through Windsor Close at the back of the police station. The press are everywhere. I don’t know what to do.’
‘Say nothing. Do nothing. Just go home.’
She hung on to the call, neither of them ready to end it. A breeze caught her hair and sent a shiver down her neck. It might only be lunchtime, but it felt as though night was looming fast. The weight of the message she’d received was bearing down hard. ‘Have you heard anything from Penny?’
‘No.’
‘I have. She’s not using her own phone.’
‘I know her spare phone was missing. I told the police about that. That’s the one she used to cheat on me with that bastard.’
A cat jumped from the fence behind her, making her flinch.
‘What was that?’
‘Nothing. Just a cat.’
‘You really heard from Penny?’ He paused. ‘What did she say?’
‘Bear with me. I’ll read it to you. “The truth has to come out, you know it does. I just need some time alone, to think, but I’m okay. Keep your phone on, I’ll be in touch soon. Don’t worry about me and don’t tell anyone I’ve contacted you.” I shouldn’t have told you. I didn’t even tell the police.’
‘Whatever. We don’t need to involve the police any further than we need. She’s totally losing it.’ She heard his lips slap before he continued talking. ‘Shit. That can’t happen. I wonder if she’s been in touch with Isaac, telling him the same crap.’
‘Do you think she might have?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe she never sent the message. Or maybe she’s going mad and playing with us. Too many maybes.’
Cherie swallowed and checked up and down the street again. Every window looked dark. Behind that darkness, she imagined eyes watching her. ‘Could Isaac have sent the message?’
‘There’s something you don’t know. No one knew apart from me, Isaac and Penny. Penny has slowly been falling apart so Isaac threatened her. He told her that if she talked, she’d be the next person to see the insides of a coffin and I stupidly backed him up on that one. I didn’t mean it but we needed to shut her up. It was just an empty threat, nothing more. You know I wouldn’t hurt Penny, don’t you?’
The thoughts of Marcus threatening his wife like that ran through Cherie’s mind. She also knew them all too well. People don’t change that much. She doubted she’d changed either and that was the scariest part. ‘I don’t know anything any more. You basically both threatened to bang Penny up in a coffin?’ Darkness began to swell and a few drops of rain fell onto her nose. She glanced up at the windows, from one end to the other, then around and around until she lost her footing and stumbled. Her breathing quickened.
‘If you think I’d do that you can just do one! Don’t call me again.’
‘Wait, don’t you dare hang up on me.’
She paused and kept the call open.
‘Imagine if sweet, loving Christian knew exactly what you did? Imagine your children’s faces when they see their mummy for who she really is. You’d never see them again – ever. Shut the hell up. You say a word and I will make sure the world knows exactly who you are, just maybe you’ll see the insides of a coffin next.’
Her gasping became deeper but she couldn’t get enough oxygen. The world was fading. She slid to the ground, cowering and shaking as she ended the call. She needed it all to go away. Maybe she could run. She could go home, pack a bag and get on a train to anywhere. She could empty their savings and start again somewhere. Her children would be better off without her anyway.
She shivered and cowered until the panic passed. This wasn’t new. All those years ago, she had panic attacks, but time heals and she’d said goodbye to them long ago. Like an unwelcome friend, they were back. Her phone beeped. She read the message.
I’m joining the kids at my parents’ house. Don’t call me, don’t message. Sort yourself out. C.
He’d left her. There would be no chance of him verifying her whereabouts when the police rang. She only hoped that he hadn’t woken up when she’d sneaked out of the house to confront Alex one last time. Her thoughts flashed back to what the teen boys said on Saturday night, about there being a person watching them from afar. She hadn’t imagined the person at the back of the squat when she’d left Alex, the one loitering in the long dark coat. She glanced around again, gaze flitting left and right, up and down, then back again.
She would now have to go back to the house and be alone with her thoughts. Maybe it was for the best. She glanced at the message she thought was from Penny. It had to be her. Marcus was wrong. That threat from Isaac had made her run away. It had been weird with Penny not being at the dinner party. Their annual Halloween get together had always been a reminder of the secret they were keeping and the high stakes involved in cracking but now it was more than a reminder. Each one of them was under threat. They’d successfully scared Penny and now they were working on her.
She hit reply on Penny’s message. It was time to do the right thing, regardless of the consequences. She replied.
