Things have been better between us lately, but that’s probably down to us seeing each other less rather than being moreemotionally aligned. Our absence from one another’s lives has taken away our conversation and therefore a reason to bicker. It’s more of an Elastoplast to cover the cracks than a solution. But when I do see him, he appears happier and less angry than he has been, and he’s stopped taking out his petty frustrations on me.
I look up from my phone as Margot returns from the bathroom. Her expression isn’t the same one she left wearing and the atmosphere has chilled by several degrees. Liv has picked up on it too.
‘Everything okay, Margot?’ she asks.
‘Yes.’ A smile arrives a second too late.
‘Only you look a little flustered,’ Liv adds.
Liv’s phone rings before Margot replies. Liv makes her excuses and leaves the garden to answer it.
‘What’s wrong?’ I whisper.
Her eyes follow Liv back inside the house until she is out of sight.
‘I found something in the bathroom,’ she hisses.
‘What?’
‘An envelope. A padded envelope. In the bin.’
‘What kind of padded envelope?’
She cocks her head to one side and raises her eyebrows, waiting for me to play catch-up. My own eyebrows arch when the penny drops.
‘Yes,’ she continues, ‘thatkind of padded envelope. Same brand, same printed label with my name and address on the front.’
‘What was inside? Did you look?’
‘It was empty and folded in half.’
‘Perhaps she found it outside. Maybe it came out of your recycling bin during the high winds at the weekend and ended up in her garden.’
‘I don’t throw them away, remember?’ she fires back. ‘The police told me not to.’
‘There has to be an explanation.’
Margot folds her arms and throws herself back into her seat.
‘Well, the only one I can think of right now is that I am having coffee in the garden of the psychopath who’s stalking me.’
Chapter 41
Margot
Predictably, glass-half-full Anna is jumping to BFF Liv’s defence.
‘It’s just not in her to ...’ She trails off.
‘Stalk someone? Send them hate mail?’
‘Well, yes. She’s a good person. She has children.’
‘And so does Rosemary West, but I don’t hear anyone calling her mother of the year.’
‘You’re being silly. Liv’s the furthest thing from a serial killer.’
‘Are you not just scared to admit you might be a very poor judge of character?’
