“Where does she go?” I say, mostly to myself.
Alistair shakes his head. “I have no idea. But I think it’s time we phoned the police.”
CHAPTER 32
THE SISTER
Hello, Sister.
You know, not everything has gone to plan so far but I have to say, I am enjoying myself. There’s power to be found in knowing your target, watching and waiting, unseen and unheard.
You’re such a good sport, dear sister. So easy to play with. I mourn the loss of our childhood together. Imagine all the ways I could have tortured you when we were young. Perhaps I could have locked you in the cellar, and made you sit there with the spiders. I could have hit you with the broom handle if the floor wasn’t clean enough. I could have underfed you and made you search through the bins for a meal. But this is good too.
The part I enjoy the most is seeing you from afar, flailing around, visiting your mothers, driving along unfamiliar roads, not knowing what is still to come.
Me and my man are ready to take what is ours. You’re part of that, Faye. One way or another, I will get my revenge, and he will get what is owed to him.
You have no idea who he is, dear sister. You have no idea how close to you we really are. You’re so blissfully unaware of it. Blind to the people watching you.
He’s in your life right now.He knows you. He has been in your house.
I think you’re scared now, aren’t you? You should be. Your gut is slithering with worry, nothing adds up and it isn’t because of your disease, it’s because your senses are primed for the attack. I want you to be scared. I want you to be terrified. I want you to feel all the emotions that helped raise me and mould me into the woman I’ve become.
I can’t wait to watch you suffer.
Soon, Sister. Soon.
CHAPTER 33
FAYE
Back at home, Alistair helps me search the house and check all the windows and doors are locked. We replay the doorbell footage several times, to see if there are any details we’ve missed.
I watch my twin sister, trying to gauge what kind of mindset she’s in. Did she break in that day? There’s a possibility she may have walked around the side of the property and searched for an open window. But she looked so confused in the video, not at all like someone determined to break into a house.
Evidence gathered, I make the phone call to Cleveland Police. When I finally get through to a police officer involved in Claire’s missing persons case, they seem rather baffled by my story but ask me to email over the doorbell footage and say they’ll send an officer out to interview me tomorrow afternoon. It feels like an impossibly long time to have to wait, I’m itching to share my findings and regain some peace in my life, but I will have to be patient. And vigilant. Who knows what Claire Blackburn’s motives are for coming here? Who knows what she’s capable of?
A few hours later, Alistair reluctantly heads home after double-checking every room in the house.
“Are you sure you’re going to be all right?” he asks as we kiss goodbye on the doorstep.
“Yes, of course.” I hope my voice sounds more certain than I feel. “Life goes on.”
He makes me promise to call him if anything, absolutely anything, happens. I smile at him with reassurance as he drives away and then I close the front door. Now I’m alone in Palmer House, or at least I hope I am.
I know it’s time to tell Penny about everything that has happened. There’s so much to share, I have no idea where to begin. But as I’m working out how to explain everything, she beats me to it and calls me.
“How does lunch sound?” she asks. “My treat, tomorrow, at The Black Swan. The one with the really good scampi.”
“That sounds lovely. We need to have a chat.”
“Oh,” she says. “Is everything all right?”
I lie. “Yes, nothing too bad. I’ll explain everything tomorrow.”
“Bring Alistair,” she says, her voice filled with enthusiasm. “I want to meet him. It’s been ages now.”
“Okay,” I say, before thinking it through.
