Olly took a knife from the kitchen drawer. It was the one Mum and Daniel used for chopping up onions. Iris wasn’t happy about the knife, but Olly said he only wanted to threaten him.
They found him. Josh. Right where Iris thought he would be. She saw the tent before she saw him. He was crouching down, making a fire. In the woods. He stood up when he saw Iris. Olly circled round and came in from behind Josh, then jumped him, holding the knife to his throat. Josh showed no fear. If anything, his hazel eyes glittered with amusement. He knew Olly wasn’t violent. He didn’t sense any danger. Iris was standing downwind of Josh, two or three metres away, but the familiar smell of his sweat reached her and made her feel sick.
‘The night Olivia was attacked—’ Olly growled; his voice was strange, not like Olly’s voice at all ‘—who did you sell the roofies to?’
‘I didn’t sell them to anyone.’
‘Who did you give them to, then?’
‘No one.’
‘For fuck’s sake, Josh! Stop pissing about.’ Iris thought she saw Olly push the knife harder against Josh’s skin, but Josh still didn’t look fazed. ‘You know what I mean. Who drugged Liv at your eighteenth birthday party?’
‘I did,’ he said.
Iris’s jaw dropped. She could see by the expression on Olly’s face that he hadn’t expected this either. Was Josh for real? ‘You drugged Liv?’ Iris could barely get the words out. ‘But why?’
‘She wanted it. She just needed a bit of encouragement.’ He had a sort of conceited grin on his face. His words were clear despite the knife against his throat. He even sounded like he was bragging. ‘Not everyone is as easy as you, babe.’
‘You mean you …?’ Iris couldn’t bring herself to say it.
Olly managed, though. ‘You raped her.’
It didn’t come out like a question. But Josh replied. ‘I don’t know if you could call it that. She didn’t put up much of a fight. She didn’t say no.’
‘You raped her, you bastard,’ Iris hissed.
Josh gave a little chuckle. ‘If you say so,’ he said. He still looked so confident, totally unruffled, like he’d forgotten Olly was holding a knife to his throat, like nothing bad could ever happen to him. Iris wanted to lunge at Josh and gouge his eyes out, but she clocked Olly’s face, as he looked at her over Josh’s shoulder. Olly’s eyes were flashing wildly and his face was all twisted. It was like he was warning her to stay put.
‘No way to prove it though,’ Josh continued, taunting them, his eyes locked on Iris’s. ‘Just like you can never prove it was me who shared your porn vid.’
It happened really fast. Josh pulled Olly’s arm away, turned round and pushed him hard in the chest with both hands, knocking him to the ground. Then he broke into a run, but as he passed Iris, he tripped over her foot and flew through the air, landing with a thud on a large stone.
Olly, who had leapt to his feet, pounced on Josh and rolled him over, then sat astride him. He plunged the knife into Josh, just once. Then he paused and let go of the knife, like he realized what he’d done.
‘Olly!’ Iris screamed.
Iris was frozen to the spot and could only watch, helplessly, as Olly lost it. Like, completely lost it. He grabbed the knife and pulled it out of Josh’s chest, then plunged it into him, again and again. It was the blood that finally galvanized her into action. She tried to hold back Olly’s arm as he thrust it into Josh’s body one last time. But she could see from Josh’s eyes that it was already too late.
They sat next to Josh’s lifeless form for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes. Olly cried. Iris put her arm round him, but shock prevented her from finding any words. She had a massive lump in her throat, but fought hard to swallow it down. Olly needed her to stay strong. She thought about the night he’d sat with her in the bathroom, his arm around her. The night she’d wanted to kill herself. And now, here they were, Iris with her arm around her brother, who had just killed Josh.
She replayed the scene in her head. So many ifs were racing around her brain. If Josh hadn’t tripped, he would have outrun them. If he’d denied drugging – and raping – Liv, he’d still be alive. If Olly hadn’t lost it. If Josh hadn’t been so smug, so sure that Olly wouldn’t hurt him. If she’d made Josh leave the knife at home. If only.
It started to rain as Iris and Olly were walking slowly home. Spitting at first, but then it poured. Iris saw Josh’s blood dripping from Olly’s sodden T-shirt and from the knife she’d taken from Olly and was holding between her thumb and her forefinger. It was like the rain was deliberately washing away the evidence.
Olly stopped next to the stream and washed his hands and arms. Iris took off her hoodie. It was wet and it was way too small for Olly, but he managed to squeeze into it. It had a bit of blood on the inside of the sleeve, where she’d put her arm around him. Other than that, Iris had no blood on her, but she washed her hands and face in the cold stream even so.
Finally, she found her voice. ‘Olly, we can’t tell anyone about this,’ she said, at the same time as Olly said, ‘We need to go home and get Mum to call Ian.’
Iris started crying then, tears that mixed with the rain coursing down her face. ‘I’m not l-losing you because of what he d-did,’ she said. ‘He did something to me that I’ll n-never forgive him for. And h-he has done something that’s just as unforgivable to Liv.’
‘Two wrongs don’t make a right,’ Olly said. His voice was wobbly and so quiet that Iris had to strain to hear what he was saying. ‘We have to tell Mum. Or Dad. And Ian. I killed someone.’
‘You killed a monster. A monster who ruined my lifeandLiv’s. We’re both slowly getting back on track. If … anything happens to you, Olly, I … won’t … be able … Please. Promise me.’
But Olly shook his head. ‘You haven’t thought this through,’ he said.
‘What do you mean?’ Iris asked.
