‘There’s no easy way to ask this. But please be honest with me. Did you push Selena down the stairs?’
She’s staring at me as though I’ve just metamorphosed into an animal. Her obvious shock almost makes me want to laugh. Under other circumstances I would have. But I’m terrified of her reply. I’m holding my breath.
‘No. Of course not. Why do you ask that?’
She sounds genuine.
‘Amelia heard you arguing with Selena. Just before she died.’
Julia’s eyebrows almost disappear into her hair. ‘I wasn’t arguing with her. She was getting agitated with me. She kept asking me about the symptoms of ME and I said I thought Ruby didn’t have it. Then she turned nasty, said something about how she’d met up with Nathan earlier, but I shut the door in her face, not wanting to listen to her any longer. I thought she was acting oddly, to be honest. But now, with the Munchausen syndrome by proxy, it makes sense. She wanted me to validate that her daughter was ill.’
‘What? She asked you all this at five thirty in the morning?’
Julia looks down at her feet. My God, she’s lying.
She pushes her hair off her face. ‘I didn’t kill her,’ she mumbles.
‘Then what happened?’
She looks towards the door, as though worried we’ll be overheard. ‘I went downstairs to see where Nathan was. We’d rowed, as you know. I found him asleep on the sofa in the playroom. I was going back up when I saw Selena come out of her room. I’d woken her, she said. Then she started asking me about ME but I was angry with her. I knew, you see. I’ve known for years that she and Nathan slept together.’
‘What?’
‘I found out at the time. Nathan isn’t very good at deception. I didn’t realize who Selena was then, of course. I just thought she was some floozy he’d met when he was visiting his friends. I found text messages and read what he said about it being a one-night stand. So I decided not to say anything. I knew what we had was worth something. And then I came here and saw the way they were with each other and I knew. I mean, Selena isn’t a common name.’
She knew. All this time and she’d said nothing.
I obviously don’t know Julia as well as I’d thought.
I go to the sofa and sit down. I’m exhausted. She joins me. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine, just in shock. Carry on.’
‘I told Selena I knew about her and Nathan. I was pissed off and angry and I stalked off upstairs. She followed me. She came into my room, we argued. She told me about Ruby. I was furious as that was something I’d never guessed. She told me she’d already informed Nathan. I shouted at her to get out. We argued a bit more. And then I closed the door on her. I went back to bed and burst into tears. That’s honestly what happened, I promise.’
‘Did you tell the police?’ I ask, even though I know the answer. She had a motive. If she’d told the police the truth they would have whisked her down to the station.
She looks ashamed. ‘No … There’s something else.’ She lifts her eyes to mine. ‘When I closed the door on Selena I saw something in the attic. It was Ruby. I didn’t give it much thought. But when you said Ruby had overheard Selena and Nigel arguing and knew the truth about her illness, well, that’s when I realized …’
‘What?’
She sighs. ‘More wondered, I suppose. Kirsty, the last person to see Selena alive was Ruby.’
Is Julia just saying this to deflect suspicion from herself? But then I remember what Amelia told me. Ruby had been upstairs just before Selena was pushed.
I grab my inhaler and take three puffs. ‘Have you told the police any of this?’
Julia shakes her head. ‘No.’
I suppose she couldn’t, or her argument with Selena might have come out. ‘But Ruby wouldn’t have harmed Selena. She’s just a little girl. It was Dean. He’s a violent, nasty thug. It was him.’
She leans towards me and lowers her voice. ‘Did anyone see Dean that morning?’
I think back. It’s all a blur now. All I can remember is finding Selena’s body, the fear and horror that came afterwards. I’m hot with panic and fumble with the neckline of my jumper. ‘I don’t know. I don’t think so.’
Nobody suspected Ruby because everyone assumed she was in her room, asleep. Too ill and weak to climb stairs. But she was there. And she might have been vengeful and angry.
‘She’s a clever girl,’ says Julia, out of the blue. ‘She would have known what Selena was doing. Maybe even before she overheard her argument with Nigel. But Selena didn’t feed her properly. She made her weak. If Ruby hadn’t put two and two together before, it wouldn’t have taken her long once she was staying here. Especially if Selena made out she’d had that seizure when she must have known she hadn’t.’
