‘Kirsty …’ he begins, and stops as if thinking carefully about his next words. ‘Did you ever tell anybody, just in case itwastrue?’
I feel a burst of anger and whirl round to face him. ‘But it wasn’t true. I knew that. She was always lying.Always. About everything. I couldn’t believe a word that came out of her mouth half the time!’
His eyes search my face. ‘Even something like that?’
I hang my head. ‘I know how it sounds, but you didn’t know Uncle Owen. He was gentle. Kind.My dad’s brother.I didn’t believe her.’
‘And now?’
I think of the letter.I know about your dad.How would Adrian know anything about Uncle Owen? Unless she’d told him during one of their little chats. ‘She admitted she lied. Here, the other night. She said she’d been a foolish kid, wanting attention.’
He crosses his legs, his jaw set. ‘What if one of our girls came to you and told you something like that? Would you believe them?’
I gasp. ‘Of course! That’s different. It’s hard to explain. You didn’t know Selena. Not properly. You didn’t grow up with her. You don’t know what she was really like. I thought, when she came back, that she’d changed. But now this.’ I shake the note at him. ‘She was still lying. I could always read her. The way she was with Dean. She was hiding something.’
Adrian turns his chair away from me. ‘I’ve got to get on,’ he says. ‘Like you say, I didn’t really know Selena.’
‘But you’re judging me!’ I cry. ‘I can tell. It’s written all over you face!’
He takes a deep breath. ‘No. I’m not. You’re judging yourself.’
I’m just about to walk out the room when I remember my conversation with Evie. ‘Evie said something about you the other day.’
His head shoots up. ‘Me?’
‘She told me that Amelia had said to be careful of you. That you were possessed.’
He runs his hand over his beard. It’s getting out of control. I wish he’d shave it off. ‘Possessed?’
‘She implied they were scared of you. It worried me at first. But then I thought about it and realized she was referring to your breakdown, how different you were afterwards. And itwaslike you were possessed, for a while. I could see what she meant.’
His brown eyes look sad and I feel guilty. ‘What are you trying to say?’
‘I’m trying to say that out of context it sounds odd. Something to worry about. But, given your breakdown, it makes sense why they would feel that way. It’s the same with Selena. If it had been anyone else telling me their dad had abused them, thenof courseI would have taken it seriously. I would have alerted someone. But it was Selena.’
He turns back to his laptop. ‘You’ve made your point.’
‘I didn’t do anything wrong,’ I mumble, as I close the door behind me, wondering if I’m trying to convince Adrian, or myself.
I’m going to have to give the note to the police. It sits like a bomb in my pocket, waiting to explode.I know too much, remember. I know about your dad.I can’t get that line out of my head. I think of the night I saw Selena with a man in the driveway. Was it Dean? Was that when he first found her? Why didn’t she just tell me? I would never have given him a room if she’d warned me.
I know about your dad.
I’ll give Rachel the note tomorrow. They’re already looking for Dean. They might have found him by now. And it’s nearly teatime. Soon it will get dark. The clocks go back this weekend.
I’m in the kitchen, dithering, not sure what I’m doing. I can almost feel the note in my pocket, as if it’s on fire, burning my skin. I switch the kettle on. I’ll defrost a chicken. Make everyone a meal. Even Janice, if she wants one. She’s the only real guest here now. Nobody will want to come and stay when they hear about Selena. It’s bound to be on the news. Maybe it already has been. I suddenly think of Violet Brown, who lived here all those years ago, unable to do anything as her livelihood floundered and died. Maybe this placeiscursed.
I turn the dial on the oven. My hand is shaking. Delayed shock? I can’t get the note out of my head. I need to speak to Mum. She saw Selena over the years and is in touch with Uncle Owen. She might know.
I’m about to go and find her when I notice Julia hovering by the kitchen door. She gives me a half-smile. ‘Can I come in?’
‘Of course,’ I say. ‘Is everything okay?’
‘Yes. Nathan’s with the girls.’ She comes into the room. She looks attractive in a fitted blouse and indigo straight-legged jeans. She’s not trendy, not like Selena was, with her tight skinny jeans and her All Saints’ jumpers. Julia has more of a classic look. ‘I’ve just been to see Carol and Ruby. I wanted to check her over, after what you said at breakfast.’
‘Thank you. How is she?’
‘She’s sad and she understands her mummy is in Heaven,’ I feel tears at my eyes and blink them away, ‘but she hasn’t raged or played up. Although she has cried a lot, according to Carol.’
