An anonymous tip-off to the police suggested a body had been buried somewhere at Liv and Brandon’s address. A name was also given, Drew Mason, who I’d registered as missing weeks earlier. Metre by metre, police searched the garden with ground-penetrating radar but found nothing. It was only when one of them spotted new concrete flooring in the incomplete orangery that they switched their search area. Their equipment detected a discrepancy in a void below the ground. Drew’s remains were recovered later that night.
Once he was formally identified, I played the shocked, grieving sister. I admitted in my police statement that I’d suspected Drew had been having an affair with Liv, but I hadn’t confronted either of them directly. I mentioned the flat he rented above a Turkish restaurant, where Margot and I had purposely left in the wardrobe the clothes she’d won in Liv’s eBay auctions.
Once the pipe wrench in Brandon’s boot was confirmed as carrying my brother’s DNA, he was arrested. Liv’s arrest followed a day later when Drew’s phone, SIM card and bloodied ring were discovered inside a studio locker. They were both charged with his murder.
According to my police-appointed family liaison officer, detectives believed that after Liv ended her affair with Drew, he bombarded her with messages professing his love, as discovered on the SIM card, which was actually Margot’s. But ‘Liv’ was adamant it was over. The officer went on to explain how they suspected Brandon had discovered the affair, and during a heated confrontation with Drew, he killed my brother. Together, he and Liv tried to cover it up.
Of course, Liv retaliated with her own accusations, claiming Margot and I were setting her up. She alleged Margot tried to run her over, but she had no proof, as I’d erased her evidence. Likewise when she said she had photographs of Drew’s body stored inside my chest freezer. No freezer or images were ever discovered.
Many questions remain unanswered, of course. Why had she and Drew never been seen together, not even by the staff who worked in the restaurant below his flat? Why was there no trace of Liv’s DNA in his room except on the wardrobe clothes? Plus Liv had alibis for some of the dates she and Drew were supposed to have met. And where were Margot and I?
Because one day, we simply vanished.
Perhaps Margot is right and the case won’t even make it to trial. Even if it doesn’t, we have done what we set out to do. Ruin somebody who was trying to ruin us.
I know what Margot’s about to ask before she says it. ‘Have you ever felt guilty for what we did to them?’ she begins. ‘Brandon didn’t do anything wrong. Neither did their kids.’
‘I’m surprised you’re standing up for him,’ I tell her. ‘Remember how he led you on and made a fool of you? He’s not entirely innocent, is he? In any event, yes, Brandon and the kids are collateral damage. But the kids are safe and living with their grandparents. And as for Liv, it was her or us. We chose us.’
‘We did,’ Margot says. ‘But thenyouchoseyou.’
‘You didn’t leave us much of a choice.’
‘There’s that “us” again. This time I assume you’re referring to you and Drew?’
‘Yes.’
‘But what did I do to you that was so awful?’
‘We’ve been through this before, Margot.’ I sigh.
‘Then tell me again.’
‘Before my niece was born, I really believed you’d changed. That you were no longer that self-centred woman I’d spent so much of my life trying to ruin. But from the moment Ellie arrived, you were taking her on TV shows and exploiting her in magazines, all because the fame you already had wasn’t enough. You treated her more like an accessory to further your career than a baby. How many times did you ignore Nicu and me when we told you that you were going too far?’
I feel Margot’s hackles rise.
‘And that’s it?’ she says.
‘You asked me to be her godmother, Margot. And part of that duty is to show her how to make good choices in life and stand against injustices that can cause suffering. Well, she was suffering because the person closest to her kept making terrible decisions about her welfare.’
She laughs long and hard and without any trace of humour.
‘You are unbelievable,’ she says. ‘Is that how you justify murdering me?’
Epilogue
Margot, The Last
Silence descends upon us. And when you don’t say anything, it triggers me.
‘Don’t ignore me when I’m asking you a question,’ I snap. ‘You really believe that was enough of a reason to kill me and steal my daughter?’
You don’t reply because you can’t. You know there is no justification for what you did to me.
I still feel sick when I think about the moment I was murdered. Ellie was exactly seven weeks old when I returned with her to an empty home after recording a TV show in London. I was putting her down for a nap in the nursery while you were downstairs letting yourself in with a key I’d forgotten you still had. I had only just become aware of not being alone when a figure suddenly emerged behind me and wrapped a plastic bag tightly over my head. I turned, and through a transparent section, I saw your face. But it wasn’t a version of you I recognised. There was a manic expression behind your wide eyes, your nostrils were flared and spit bubbles flew from your mouth. I fought back, God knows; I have never fought for anything as hard in my life.But I couldn’t overpower you. When you finally let go, I slumped to a heap on the floor, drained of life.
Briefly, I felt the presence of another – Drew, I assume – and then it was just you and me.
