‘Did you see the other messages leading up to that one?’
‘No, I didn’t. The police had just been and I waited in the car until they left. I was panicking and I couldn’t get hold of you.’ She paused. ‘Did you make Danny do something? Do you know about all this? What’s going on with you and our son, Craig?’
‘I can’t say.’
‘You know something, don’t you?’
‘Look, it’s nothing. Just keep that laptop away from the police.’ He frowned and ran a hand through his mussed-up hair. ‘I’m being framed for Kain’s murder and the murder of another man, and it looks bad. I had some cash that I kept for emergencies. I am not using my car or contract phone. Until I work out who is behind all this, Danny and I will stay in hiding.’ He stared at her. ‘You need to watch your back.’
‘Is that a threat?’
‘No, whoever is trying to set me up might try to hurt you. Tell the police you’re scared. Keep staying at your mum’s. Don’t talk to anyone or tell anyone you’re staying there and don’t tell anyone you’ve met up with me or I’ll tell them you’ve been helping me to stay on the run. What is it, aiding and abetting? They’ll charge you, so just stay quiet. I will get to the bottom of all this.’
‘Why did the police have your hoodie?’
‘I don’t know. I told you; I’m being set up. You have to believe me.’ He looked away.
He was definitely lying. It felt like she was being played and she didn’t know who or what to believe. Craig had lied to her for ages and he was still lying to her by not telling her the whole truth. He’d always ignored or neglected her when he worked away. Did he ever really work away or did he use that time to hook up with other people? Her mum always said he was no good but she didn’t listen. She said,you can’t turn a compulsive liar into a good husband, and having a kid with him won’t fix things.She decided not to believe her mum. She wished she’dlistened now because she didn’t trust a thing coming out of Craig’s mouth but he had their son holed up somewhere, so she had to do her best to keep him onside. ‘Please just tell me where Danny is.’
‘No.’
‘Can I just see him or speak to him?’
‘He doesn’t want to talk to you.’
‘Why?’
‘Because you keep badgering him. I’m giving him a bit of space to breathe and you think he killed Kain, don’t you? He can tell.’
‘I don’t know what to believe any more. Please.’ She started choking up. All she wanted was to talk to her son, get the truth out of him and protect him. If someone was setting Craig up, would this person use her to get to him or was he nothing more than a fall guy? Or was he just a liar? ‘You’re right about one thing, when this is over, I do want a divorce. He can have you. Actually, I bet he doesn’t even want you because look at you, Craig. You’re pathetic.’ She stared at him. ‘You make me sick. I hate you.’ She reached down and untied Pixie.
‘But—’ He clenched his fists and the moon’s light caught the veins in his temples throbbing.
It was time to make her escape. He wasn’t going to tell her where Danny was and he was angry. She stood and sprinted as fast as she could, dragging Pixie along. He was right behind her, his pincer fingers pressing into her shoulders. A thought flashed through her mind, one of her husband and Simeon together. Her husband giving his bracelet to him. Craig stumbled to the floor and let go. ‘You’re disgusting, you know that?’
He didn’t need to respond. She knew she was right and Craig knew that his world was about to come tumbling down on him in more ways than one. Once this was over, she was going to grovel like hell to Pia and Lindy to make things good between them.Maybe she and Pia could support each other through the hell of their shared experience of being cheated on.
‘You say a word about seeing me tonight…’ He stood up straight, brushing his hands together to get rid of all the dirt he’d just fallen in.
‘And what?’
‘You will never see us again. I will do anything to protect Danny.’
‘You mean to protect yourself?’
‘Both. Don’t underestimate the lengths I will go to, Justine. Was it you who decorated the apartment?’
‘What are you talking about? What apartment?’
‘Don’t give me that, you must have followed me. Are you setting me up? Getting Danny to lie like that came a bit too easy, didn’t it?’
‘What? You think I murdered Kain? Get real.’
‘Innocent little Justine.’ He paused and smacked his lips together. ‘I know what you did.’
‘What?’ She scrunched her brow.
‘You think I’m stupid, don’t you? I’m not and I don’t care but there are others who will care about what you did and it will blow your pathetic life apart.’ He laughed. ‘I will find a way out of this but you, I will make sure you get nothing when all this is over. You will never see Danny again because, guess what, he already hates you for leading the police to me and making him lie, and he chose to come with me instead of staying with you. Why, because you’re a piece of shit and he knows exactly what you’ve done. I told him everything and he chose me. That hurts now, doesn’t it, Justine?’
