‘You weren’t there, Gemma.’
I don’t appreciate him blaming me. I have always been there for him. I wipe my teary face and I can’t help the words that come out of my mouth. ‘We’re leaving. Go, be with Quinn.’ I have to get away from Ethan, Quinn and Jasmine’s bag, now. The blue plastic catches my eye again, sending waves of nausea through me. She’s haunting me at every turn and I’m scared she’s about to catch up with me.
As I go to leave, he’s out of his chair. He stumbles towards me and clamps his hand on my wrist. He’s hurting me and I know he won’t let go. I shiver because I see the fire within him. Ethan has never hurt me before but he starts dragging me through the house as I try to dig my heels in. I can’t stop him. I no longer know the man in front of me or what he’s capable of.
Forty-Eight
Quinn
She lies in the middle of the floor of her studio with the letters thrown around her, staring at all the storyboards she’s drawn for the Klara project. That contract was going to change her and Harry’s life. Everything in life she does is for her precious boy. If he’s turned against her, nothing matters anymore.
It’s dark. With only the light from her computer screen, she already sees too much. She sees her lies, her crimes and everything bad she’s ever done. Her wrongs surround her, reminding her of what a bad person she is. She thinks of Dorette and what she did. The only person who ever believed in her was that woman and look how she ruined that. She thinks back to the car accident that took her mother and she shivers. If Dorette had never helped her, Dorette would be here too. She’s poison to everyone around her and now she’s hurt Gemma. The way Gemma spoke to her in the car has run through her mind since she got back. She needs to talk to Gemma but she can’t face her yet.
‘Mum,’ Harry calls from behind her locked door. Diggerty lets out a half-hearted bark. Zoe has turned the vacuum off, and Quinn hears her saying bye.
Her son knocks but she can’t answer him. He’s the only good thing left in her life and it’s only a matter of time before the darkness within her takes him too. She drags the bottle along the floor and holds it to her lips. Another swig of vodka slips down her throat.
‘Mum, I’m really worried now. I’m sorry for the things I said last night but we have to deal with them. You can’t run away from this.’
She can and she will. She can stay in this room forever and never come out. Maybe if she drinks herself to death, she won’t have to face what is outside that door – Harry’s disappointment in her and the fact that what he knows is only the tip of the iceberg. What he doesn’t know is that on the night Dorette fell to her death, Quinn had been in Dorette’s office, arguing with her mentor.
Dorette found out that Quinn had stolen her ideas because her darling son Harry had told her. She couldn’t blame him, he’d been excited, especially as Quinn had received so many offers to produce it as an animation. Quinn begged Dorette not to tell anyone and offered to share the money with her. Dorette’s publisher had already dropped her, they weren’t interested in what she had to offer, but Quinn had worked on Klara, built the world in a more colourful way with her amazing illustrations. Dorette should have been grateful but the woman had shouted, telling her that she couldn’t have Klara because that character was hers, that even if she failed in that project, she didn’t want Quinn stealing her ideas.
‘Mum.’ Harry knocks again and, once again, she ignores him. She’s in too much pain to face what she did.
Quinn had then followed Dorette to the balcony room, where they continued to argue but Dorette was a woman who couldn’t be reasoned with.
A flash to seeing Dorette lying dead on the slabs hits her and she feels her stomach lurch slightly. She stole that notebook from Dorette’s office, and she knows there will be more evidence in that house – evidence of all her wrongs. She also knows that Gemma suspects her because Gemma caught her stealing that notebook. Morgan saw it in her bag. As for Gemma, none of this changes how Quinn feels about her. She has always loved her, but she knows Gemma will never want her. She’s even lost the right to be her friend now.
‘It’s over, Harry,’ she says with tears slipping down her face. Very soon, everyone is going to know what she did and Harry will never want anything to do with her ever again.
Forty-Nine
Gemma
‘Ethan, let me go. You’re stressing the baby.’ As we leave Clover House, he finally stops gripping my wrist and he’s walking away from me like he’s on a mission.
He glances back. ‘Come on, Gemma. Keep up. You want the truth, you’re going to get the truth. Let’s start with Quinn.’
I hurry to the end of the drive and he’s walking so much faster than I can. He’s forcing me to face Quinn, which is unforgivable, but regardless, I can’t turn back. I’m hungry for a huge dose of truth and I want it straight from their mouths. I’m more cautious than Ethan with my tiny steps across the lane. Zoe must have passed Ethan on Quinn’s drive because she’s once again on the path with her cleaning supplies, ignoring me again as she charges past.
I flinch as I catch sight of Ray staring at me. He shakes his head slowly. ‘Go home, Gemma.’
‘Ethan,’ I call as I ignore Ray and continue down Quinn’s drive. My legs are like jelly because all I can hear is Ethan pounding at her front door, shouting over and over again.
‘Open up, you lying bitch.’ He kicks her door, and Diggerty barks.
I don’t need this. ‘Ethan, stop it. You have to calm down.’
‘I don’t have to do anything. You’re leaving me, remember? I owe you the truth, I know that.’ His pupils are dilated. I don’t know why he couldn’t have told me the truth back at Clover House. I feel sick at what Ethan has done but I feel sicker from seeing the scrap of Jasmine’s bag. What the hell was the bag Jasmine was wearing on the day she vanished doing behind my aunt’s fake wall? I’m lightheaded as my head fills with thoughts. The girls – I need to get them out of here.
I’m hoping that Morgan and Cora are snuggled up watching TV, oblivious to what’s going on out here. Ethan sways a little and leans on the door. He’s a mess. This place has ruined us and I don’t think we can go back. I miss past Ethan and I don’t recognise the version of him in front of me.
Ethan almost topples onto Harry as Harry opens the door. Diggerty runs out. ‘Er, hello.’ Harry scrunches his brow.
I grab Ethan’s arm and draw him towards me. Thankfully, Ethan doesn’t fight me doing this. ‘I’m so sorry, Harry. We should leave.’ This quest to show me the truth that Ethan has dragged me on isn’t worth upsetting poor Harry over. The best thing I can do is leave. The snow falls heavier now which worries me. I don’t know how long I have to safely leave Clover Lane. Diggerty jumps and barks before eating snow.
‘Harry, where’s your mum, please?’ His tone has softened. It’s as if Ethan realises he’s talking to a child. That’s past Ethan, the one I love or loved.
