The woman shrugged. ‘She said she didn’t feel so good. She went to the loo.’
The dog escaped from Justine’s mother’s arms and ran through the hallway and into the living room. Gina and the PC followed. The voile that had covered the French doors at the far end was open. Gina ran straight to it and opened the unlocked door. The dog ran out and barked frantically at the back gate. ‘Sir,’ Gina called in the hope that she’d shouted loud enough for Brodie to hear.
He came running into the living room. ‘What’s happened?’
Gina pointed to the slide lock on the gate and it was unlocked. ‘Justine has run.’
‘She can’t have got far,’ he replied.
PC Masondo headed out to the garden and Gina followed. She ran with him outside the back gate and along the lane. There was just a long row of back gardens with a road at either end. ‘I’ll head this way, guv.’
PC Masondo ran in one direction and Gina ran in the other, trying to take in all the cut throughs between the shrubs and there were loads. Eventually, she reached the end of the path which led to a small road that led out of the estate, neatly hidden behind a row of garages. That’s when she spotted a bit of bloodied material tucked up against the kerb, the same bit of material that Justine had been pressing against her bloodied finger.
FORTY-EIGHT
JUSTINE
Justine’s heart rate was barely normal as she tore through the backroads and pulled into a dirt track only normally used by horse riders. She was safe for now but the police were going to arrest her. It felt like her tablet was screaming at her from the passenger seat to check it again but she didn’t have internet access. There had to be somewhere close by with Wi-Fi that she could tap into.
Leaving her car hidden away from her mum’s drive had been a paranoid move but now she knew it was the smartest move she could have ever made given what had happened. Plus the previous evening, she’d bought a burner phone and put all her important numbers into it. A shiver passed through her as she thought of that video and the horrible message her son had sent her. As soon as she got hold of Danny, she was going to march him to the police station herself. She now knew her son and husband had been involved in Kain’s murder. It wasn’t just the video, it was the hoodie that the police had questioned them about and all the things that were found under their bed during a search of the house.
There was a sickness in her family and she had no idea of its origins. Her son’s violent streak had been a shock to see. All sheknew is that she didn’t want any part of it. Her friends meant a lot to her and the right thing to do would be to find Craig and Danny and get them to go to the police but she couldn’t do that if she was in a police cell. She had no idea where Craig was which meant she had to find him.
The stupid burner phone had no internet access. All she could do was text and make phone calls. She couldn’t call Craig or Danny. The phone was shaping up to be pretty useless. She threw it into the glove compartment. Thoughts of Lindy’s disappearance ran through her mind and she was even more confused. Had Lindy seen the video and threatened to go to the police? How far would her son go to save himself and how far would her husband go to save his son? She slammed her hands onto the steering wheel and roared.
Forty minutes had passed and she’d pulled up in the middle of a rural road maze. There was a garden centre close by where she’d met up with Pia and Lindy a couple of times for afternoon tea. Flowerpots Nursery, that’s what it was called. The Wi-Fi code had simply been Flowerpots123, so easy to remember. She turned the car around in a clearing and began the bumpy ride back down the path. All she had to do was avoid the police.
She took a left and followed the windy road ahead. The woodland park came into view. She remembered taking Danny there all the time when he was little. There was nothing but trees, wildlife information signs and logs to sit on. Sirens blared in the distance. Her heart began thumping again. As soon as she reached the car park, she pulled in and drove right to the end, her bonnet edging under the trailing branches of a weeping willow. She waited for the sirens to pass. They were after her, she knew it. She was now a fugitive for the first time in her life. She opened the window and listened for any more sirens, but there were none. It was time to go. After pulling out, she took severalmore lanes until she reached Flowerpots Nursery. She pulled in and parked right behind a huge Range Rover.
After putting her sunglasses and woolly hat on, she jogged towards the side of the building, taking refuge on one of the many empty picnic tables. She glanced through the window to the restaurant and thankfully they had the bushiest Christmas tree ever concealing her presence. No one could see her. She breathed in and out until she’d calmed her breathing down.
With fingers that were getting cold fast, she turned her tablet on, praying that Flowerpots hadn’t changed their code, and presto, she was in. She set her search to incognito, activated her VPN and hoped for the best as she logged in to Facebook and Instagram. A virtual private network was just what she needed, so she thought. She wasn’t quite sure what it did really. Craig told her that it stopped people spying on you when you used the internet but he was always paranoid about people seeing what he’d been up to. She huffed. What he really meant was that she could never find out what he’d been up to.
Everything was taking an age to open and load. She stood and walked around the back of the building, eventually getting a better signal. She opened Instagram and checked Craig’s profile first – nothing. Danny’s – nothing. Pia – nothing. It wasn’t like Pia not to make her daily post. Justine searched through everything Pia had posted over the past week. Her daily yoga poses and kombucha promotions stopped two days ago. Given that her poor friend had ran into a crime scene the previous night, it was understandable. Justine felt sickened that she’d have to tell her about Craig and Simeon soon. No way should her friend not hear the truth from her. Again, she couldn’t help but wonder if their friendship would get through all this. As for Lindy, she’d never want to see Justine again. She glanced at Pia’s last post which was yet another promotion of her drinks range.
Sometimes a girl just needs herself and herself only. We have to be at one with nature so we can heal. We have to hear the trees blowing in the breeze, listen to raindrops trickling and nourish our bodies. Reach out, give nature a chance to cure you and while you’re at it, feed your gut.
Pia was sitting on a bed of orange and brown leaves in the lotus position. Whoever was taking the photo held a can of kombucha to the side of the frame. Craig’s bracelet dangled from the photographer’s wrist. It even had the little imperfection on one of the threads. She was in no doubt that it was Simeon’s hand and Craig’s bracelet.
Craig had caused all this. He’d failed to provide a secure life for Danny. All their arguments and his aggression had made Danny what he was now. It wasn’t all her son’s fault. She swallowed the lump in her throat. She hated herself because however bad her son had behaved, she couldn’t hate him, but she could hate Craig. She only hoped that when the police eventually caught up with Danny, they realised deep down that he was the product of a terrible father. The right thing to do would be to go back to her mum’s house and come clean about everything. Justine hoped that once she handed herself in and told the police that she knew nothing about the video, they would bail her and when the truth of her secret came out, Pia would forgive her.
Her body itched to leave but her feet were saying no. Palpitations came thick and fast. Handing herself in came with arrest, questioning and the removal of her freedom, albeit temporarily. She knew how that felt. As a teenager, she’d been locked up for two hours after being caught shoplifting, all because of the drink. Again, she thought of Kain and how her son was kicking the hell out of him. She didn’t want to be locked into a sparse, cold room not knowing how long she’d be there.She thought of her future. Would she be sent to prison for hiding Danny’s laptop? She saw all those faces staring at her in horror at what she’d apparently covered up. Would they all believe she didn’t know about the video? She gasped and tried to get control of her breathing. Torn by what to do next, she took a deep breath, hoping that it would quell the tension headache reaching across her forehead.
She clicked on Lindy’s Facebook account. Her profile had been tagged with posters asking people to look out for her. Word had already spread about her disappearance and she could see that Pia had made the first post.
The message icon popped up on her tablet.
As she was about to open it, a man in an apron holding a huge bin bag opened the door and stared at her. She screenshot a photo of the message and ran, knowing she could read it later. Right now, she had to find somewhere else to hide.
She jumped into her car and drove off as fast as she could until she reached the woodland again. She turned the tablet on and opened the photo. The sender had no name or profile photo but she knew who it was just by reading it.
I can’t believe you’re online. I’ve been trying to contact you for the past hour. I don’t know what to do anymore and I’m sorry for how badly I treated you. You have to meet me tonight. Something big is going on and I know you need the truth. This is me being honest with you. I’ve been sleeping with Pia and I hate myself for doing that but we’re past lying. Our family is falling apart. I have a lot to explain but nothing is what it seems so you have to hear me out. Please don’t speak to anyone, just come. I have so much more to tell you but Danny and me are in danger. It’s all to do with debts but I’ll tell you everything in person later. The police are monitoring our phones and computers but I’m using the VPN and a fakeaccount to send this message. I’m not staying at the address below; I will just be there later. I know you hate me now but do this for Danny. Like I said, it’s not what it seems. Delete after reading. X
It was as if the breath was sucked out of her body. She’d suspected that Craig had been cheating with Simeon. He had been wearing Craig’s bracelet. Her hands trembled as she thought of her husband and Pia. He had to be lying. They’d been friends for years and discussed every intimate part of their lives. Humiliation burned her cheeks. Pia, Pia, Pia – all she could think of was her pretty face laughing behind her back as she slept with Craig. She rubbed her watery, tired eyes. All she wanted in life was a family and a career. She thought she had it all and her husband had to ruin everything. As for her son… she had no words left. What wasn’t what it seemed? How could a video lie? Her stomach dropped. Maybe the video was a fake. She’d heard about deepfakes. That’s what Craig must have meant. Her head ached with confusion. She had no option but to do as instructed.
She read the address underneath the message and frowned. She knew she could drive to Fern Street and leave her car there and walk the rest of the way. If she parked any closer, she’d more than likely be into ANPR camera territory and the police would be on her in an instant. She read the last line of the message.
I’ll be there at midnight.
