Page 72 of Death Kiss

‘I don’t know. But can I keep it a secret for her? And if this all traces back to Sam… what does that mean? Then there’s you getting the cottage tip. And her injuries. It all pieces together and makes me want to scream.’ My heart is racing in my chest.

‘There’s only one way we can find out,’ Freddie says. ‘If you think it’s safe?’

Despite the flurry of thoughts and fears jumping around my mind, I have no question about that. ‘Kat’s safe. She’s never hurt me.’

Liam’s on the sofa with Kat tucked next to him while Freddie and I sit across from them. This flat has been a place of such joy for Kat and me, but now tension buzzes hard enough that my head aches.

I slide my phone across the coffee table, the picture on the screen.

‘I know it’s you.’ Maybe not the most eloquent way to say it, but the words being out in the open lifts a weight, no matter how many other dominoes it sets off.

‘Ellie—’

‘Don’t lie to me. Please. I can’t take any more lies.’

Kat looks at Liam, who sighs, holding her hand and squeezing.

‘Yes, that’s me,’ Kat says.

A wall of grief and anger rises in my chest. ‘Why? Why would you do that?’

‘Sam,’ Liam says. ‘It all started with Sam.’

‘So it’s true, you had something to do with his disappearance? How and why?’ I’m on the edge of my seat, voice loud enough that it sends Hamish skittering into another room.

‘Sam stalked me,’ Kat says, looking at her lap. ‘To get revenge for something I did, or didn’t do, I suppose, when I was a kid.’

‘He took Kat to punish us both. Then held us captive for days, starving us. He was going to let us die,’ Liam adds.

Sam? My Sam. Soft, gentle, slightly odd Sam? ‘But why?’

‘Liam and I first met as kids. His dad lives in a cottage on the estate. I saw…’ Kat freezes and looks at Liam, who gives her a nod. ‘I saw Liam’s dad and some other men abusing Liam and Sam and other kids.’

Her voice is shaky, and Liam runs his thumb over the back of her hand. ‘One day Liam’s dad went out, and we were playing in the woods. He brought Sam back with him and came after us. We were scared; he was going to hurt us, and I shoved him into the well. He died. And Sam blamed us when Liam got sent to foster care, and I went home, and we never told anyone.’

Imagining them as kids hiding that secret… fuck.

‘But why would he blame you?’

‘He waited for us to tell someone. Every day he waited to be saved, and never was. We don’t blame Sam for what he did.’ Kat’s voice is soft, and she looks cut up about it.

‘And you killed him?’

‘It was him or us.’ Liam leans forward. ‘And I wasn’t going to let him kill Kat.’

It feels like the floor is opening below me and swallowing me up. All the months of supporting me while knowing exactly what happened to Sam. Kat wiped my tears and helped me through a sea of lies. How do I come back from that?

Sam’s dead.

I’d long suspected it, deep down. But now it’s true. He’s gone, and I’m not sure I even truly knew him.

‘Did he use me to get close to you?’ I ask.

‘I’m not sure,’ Kat says. ‘I’m so sorry for lying to you. It all just snowballed.’

‘And the rest?’ Freddie asks. ‘The mask?’

Liam and Kat look at each other. ‘We can’t tell you any more.’