‘Oh, Sarah.’
‘I had no choice. We made a pact on the night he…I could stay here if I never talked about what happened. I made him add my name to the deeds of the house in return for my silence.’
‘Did he agree?’ Juliette was beginning to see how clever Sarah had been.
She nodded. ‘I needed something for Daisy. She’s the innocent victim in this.’
‘So are you.’
‘No, I’m not. Because I manipulated you. When you moved in, I reached out to you because I needed to tell someone else without Richard knowing. He murdered my sister. He threatened to murder me and Daisy if I didn’t help cover for him. He murdered his father too.’ Sarah told Juliette about Jack. ‘He’s a psychopath because of that man.’
Juliette disagreed. ‘He has his own mind. He didn’t have to take after his father.’
‘I suppose not, but he’s still a manipulative, arrogant, evil, twisted killer. Although I was at fault too. I put the idea into his head that you knew too much, that we had to talk to you and then you suggested we meet for dinner and?—’
‘Why didn’t you just leave?’
‘Because I wanted justice for Louisa.’ Tears dripped down Sarah’s cheeks. ‘I couldn’t leave her out there a minute longer than necessary. I was horrible to her and she deserved so much better. When I first came to work here as Daisy’s nanny, I had this mad idea that Louisa had abandoned me. When she came to live here with Richard, we fell out as she became distant, wanting to spend all her time with him. I realise now it was his way of controlling her. But I-I’m afraid to say I wanted to hurt her and I wanted her life. I wanted to live here in luxury with a handsome man and I wanted Richard for myself. So I slept with him. It was okay at first butthe longer I was here, the more I could see what he was doing to Louisa. And yet I still didn’t help her. I was a terrible sister.’
‘He’d obviously manipulated you too,’ Juliette said.
‘He was so nasty to her, but I couldn’t see what he was doing. Until one day, I saw him adding drugs, sedatives I think, to Louisa’s drink. He said he’d been doing it for years, to keep her under control. I pretended I thought it was a good idea, but I hated it.’
Danny stirred. Juliette cried out but his eyes closed as quickly as they had opened. She squeezed his hand, thankful to feel its warmth.
‘What about Daisy?’ she asked Sarah.
‘It’s her I did this for and yet I’m going to lose her now.’ Her voice was quiet, defeated. ‘But I had to do it.’
Juliette knew what she had to do too. ‘It was self-defence, Sarah.’
‘No, it wasn’t and you know?—’
‘Itwasself-defence.’ She stared at Sarah ensuring she understood.
Sirens in the distance alerted them there was help on the way. Juliette looked down at Danny who was regaining some of his colour. She glanced fleetingly across the room where Richard lay next to a puddle of his own blood. His skin tone was already turning grey.
‘You had no choice,’ she went on. ‘He was going to tie me up and kill me, then Danny. Okay?’
A silence fell on the room, the only sound laboured breathing. A little girl appeared in the doorway.
‘Auntie Sarah, I heard something and I woke up.’
Sarah rushed to sweep Daisy up in her arms. ‘Come on, poppet, back to bed. There’s nothing to be scared of.’
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
If it wasn’t for them needing an ambulance straight away, Juliette and Sarah might have had more time to talk things through. But both men were bleeding on the floor and despite one of them being dead and the other groggy after regaining consciousness, two paramedics tried their best to revive Richard, to no avail. He was pronounced dead on the scene. The police then arrived in their droves.
Now it was nearing eleven o’clock the following morning. Juliette was sitting in the living room, curled up in a chair. Still in shock, she was trying to piece it all together. She’d gone with Danny to the hospital, where two police detectives had taken a statement from her, plus a short one from Danny as he waited for stitches in a gash at the side of his head.
They’d arrived home in the early hours. A police cordon had been set up at the front of White Oaks, anofficer on guard at the front door. Despite the late hour, several police vehicles were in the lane.
They were due to start digging soon. Juliette shuddered just thinking about it. She was dreading hearing the news, knowing that Louisa could be found at any minute.
Danny popped his head around the door and came into her.
‘Hey, how are you feeling now?’
