‘I can’t believe that someone would try to blame us for this,’ she says. ‘That the police are trying to pin it on us. Just because they haven’t got any other leads. If I ever find out who planted those tools in our apartment, I’ll …’
Tim turns to look at her. All the light seems to have gone from his eyes and in its place is a dull hardness.
‘You’ll what, Lottie? What will you do?’
‘I don’t know,’ she says, taken aback. ‘Nothing probably. It’s a turn of phrase, Tim.’
‘That’s just it, isn’t it?’ he says. ‘No one ever knows what you’ll do. In the heat of the moment. When you insist you’ve got right on your side. I never know what you’re capable of either.’
‘What? Don’t be ridiculous. Look, you’ve had a hell of a day. I was there too, remember? Spent a night in the cells, on my own. I never want to go through that again. But there’s no need to take it out on me. We’ve got to stick together, Tim. They’re trying to divide and conquer, it’s a classic police technique.’
‘You’d know,’ he murmurs, under his breath.
‘What’s that?’ she says, even though she heard him quite clearly.
‘You’re no stranger to all this stuff, Lottie. Better at standing up for yourself. Fighting the good fight. Me, I’m no good. I’m not like you, not made that way.’
‘Oh, Tim,’ she says, leaning closer again to rest her head on his shoulder and giving his hand a squeeze. She feels him tense for a second so she moves away. ‘Maybe we just need to put this day behind us. Try and sleep. The police haven’t charged us with anything. It’s bloody outrageous that they dragged us both in like that. They had no right to question either of us. They just don’t have any other suspects. I don’t think they have a clue what’s going on, to be honest.’
‘Well, that’s not true, is it?’ he says sadly. ‘They found those tools in our apartment.’
‘It’s a fit-up, Tim. Someone’s trying to set us up, deflect attention away from themselves.’
He turns to her then, his eyes the saddest she has ever seen them.
‘Lottie,’ he says with a heavy sigh. ‘It was me. I took those tools. If anyone’s guilty round here, it’s me.’
She blinks, trying to comprehend him.
‘No, Tim. Don’t let them gaslight you like this. They’re trying to wear us down, get us to admit to things we didn’t do. I’ve seen it before, it’s how they work.’
He shakes his head again and then thumps his thigh in exasperation.
‘Listen to me,’ he says, raising his voice. ‘I’m telling the truth. I’m trying to tell you what I did. I need you to know.’
‘Tell me what?’ she says, her voice a whisper, frightened away by the force of his.
‘I took the tools and I hid them in the apartment,’
‘What? But I don’t understand. Why, Tim?’
‘I don’t know, do I? It was a spur of the moment thing. I just saw them one night as we were coming home. It was getting dark. You and Josh had headed inside already. At first, I was just annoyed that we had to walk past all that mess, see dangerous stuff left lying about, things that could hurt Josh.It made me angry. I’m not completely immune to all this y’know.’ She makes a gesture of consolation but he holds up his hand to silence her. ‘We’d been arguing. It was ruining the holiday, ruining everything. And I know you’ve always thought me weak. Too calm, too relaxed. That I don’t care enough about stuff, like you do. So I took them.’
‘But what were you thinking, Tim? I mean, what were you going to do with them?’
‘Nothing,’ he says, turning to her again and this time she sees something of the old Tim return to his face. ‘You have to know that, Lottie, believe that. I was going to put them back the very next day, maybe make a point to Tobias Woolf. But then the next morning, I realised that what I’d done could actually be seen as trespass, theft. It was so stupid, I started to panic. You know I have to be squeaky clean in my job.’
‘Oh Tim,’ she says, ‘I get it, I really do.’
He has tears in his eyes now, is desperately trying to cuff them away.
‘I wanted to show you, prove to you, that I wasn’t a walkover. I love you and support you. I’m so proud of you, Lottie. The way you stand up to people. Really I am. But this last week, it all seemed to be getting so out of hand. I was worried what you might do. In a moment of madness or anger.’
‘So you went ahead and did something yourself,’ she says with a lopsided smile.
He bows his head and tries a smile himself.
‘Yeah, I guess so. Pretty dumb, eh?’
