Teddy strains against her seatbelt in the back. ‘What’s the hold up, babes?’
Pauline doesn’t reply. Instead she holds Audrey’s eye contact. The moment stretches on, until at last Pauline clears her throat and speaks.
‘I know who you really are.’
36
The car ride to London mostly passes in total silence.
For the first few minutes, Teddy and Ivy try to ask questions – what’s going on? What did Pauline mean? What happened with the passport? – but Audrey and Pauline both refuse to speak. They exchange looks but neither of them says another word until they pull up outside Teddy’s apartment building.
Audrey stops in the foyer to greet the security concierge by his first name. Pauline watches carefully as this old woman she doesn’t really know asks after the man’s wife and newborn. She reaches for a hug as they pass. It is very Audrey, thinks Pauline.
Or it would be very Audrey, if Audrey were really Audrey.
Upstairs, they file into Teddy’s oversized living room and take a seat, the energy around them edgy and confused. The room feels too big, everyone sitting too far away from each other. Pauline wants to reach out and hold all their hands, but there’s too much distance, too much she doesn’t understand. Instead, her gaze moves from Ivy to Teddy, landing on the woman she knew before today as Audrey Swift.
But she’s not Audrey Swift, is she? There is no Audrey Swift. None who is a part of The Lottery Winner Widows Club, at least.
This eighty-something woman sitting across from her, her back straight and tall, her white hair pinned back – her real name is Audrey Meredith Woodbead.
She watches Audrey carefully now, as the older woman takes a deep breath.
‘So,’ she begins, then pauses. ‘Actually, I’m going to get a cup of coffee. Does anyone else want a drink?’
‘Let me,’ Teddy says, standing up and crossing the room.
There is more silence as Teddy jabs at her fancy coffee machine, slotting pods and positioning mugs. Audrey stares at the ceiling, fiddling with her fingers, as the machine hisses into life. She’s nervous, Pauline suddenly realises. She’s never seen Audrey nervous before. But then, she doesn’t know this woman at all, does she?
How many times has she openly lied? How many times has Teddy pointed out she’s a sociopath?
‘Here,’ Teddy returns with a tray, handing out steaming mugs that, one by one, they each immediately put to one side with disinterest.
‘Audrey?’ Pauline nudges after another moment.
‘I just need to pop to the loo—’ Audrey starts to stand up.
‘Audrey!’ The sharpness in Pauline’s tone stops her.
‘OK, my darling, OK!’ Audrey says, sitting back down. ‘Though you forget I’m over eighty; my bladder isn’t what it was.’ She takes a deep breath. ‘My surname – as you now know – is not Swift. Or, at least, itwasSwift a long time ago, before I got married. My real surname is Woodbead and has been for fifty-seven years. My real name is Audrey Woodbead.’
‘What?’ Ivy shakes her head, her face slack and baffled. ‘I don’t understand, why would you give us a fake name?’
Audrey doesn’t reply. She’s still looking directly at Pauline. ‘And my husband was Harold Woodbead, as you now know.’ She dips her head but maintains the eye contact. ‘But you probably mostly knew him as Harry.’
Pauline stares back. After a moment, she whispers, ‘Handsy Harry.’
Teddy looks between Pauline and Audrey. ‘She knew your husband?’
‘I did,’ Pauline confirms, swallowing. ‘I looked after him at the care home, where I work.’ She pauses. ‘Didwork.’ She sighs a big, shaky breath. ‘Harry was a resident there for many years. He died at Christmas.’ She swallows again. ‘I knew he had a wife – we all knew he had a wife – but we only ever heard about Mrs Woodbead from Harry. She never visited. Neither did his two daughters. He didn’t talk about them often, not about any of them. He said there had been a falling-out – a family rift.’ Pauline shakes her head, remembering something. ‘You said this,’ she wheels on Audrey. ‘You told the truth! That day my children, Tilly and Seb, turned up here and wanted to know who you all were’ – she shakes her head again, unable to look at Audrey anymore – ‘you told them I’d worked with your husband at the care home and that’s how you knew me. I thought at the time it made you a good liar.’
Audrey says nothing.
After a moment, Pauline continues, ‘And when Harry died, I was the one who found him and called an ambulance.’ She swallows again. ‘And the police, since it was unexplained.’
‘I did go to the care home once,’ Audrey suddenly speaks. She directs her words at Teddy but she’s still talking just toPauline. ‘The day I dropped him off. But I suppose you weren’t on shift.’
Ivy shakes her head in pure confusion. ‘I don’t . . . So why . . .’ Ivy can’t find the right words.
