This Girl, That Girl, page 11
She took a step back and shoved the brick into the glass until it caved in. Then she lifted her walking cane into the air and jabbed it hard into the remaining shards until they had all peeled away and fallen inside. She ran her cane along each of the four edges of the frame, sweeping away the last jagged pieces.
Now for the tricky bit. She dragged the old cast-iron chair under the window. This could go one of two ways. She’d either climb through successfully without injuring herself or she’d end up crashing down on to the broken glass, cutting herself badly and breaking her leg in the process. Then she’d be trapped in the locked summer house. She patted her back pocket to reassure herself that her phone was still there. Why was she even doing this? It was madness.
A familiar voice started up in her head. ‘You’ve started now, so stop catastrophizing and get on with it!’ Only this time, Scarlett wasn’t sure whether it was Rebecca’s voice she could hear or her own. She peered through the open space where the pane of glass had been and estimated the distance between the bottom of the window frame and the floor of the summer house. It was probably just under two feet, the height of a washing machine. She could do this. She knew she could. Besides, it was stupid to give up after going to all the effort of smashing the window.
She hooked her walking cane over the edge of the window frame, stood on the chair and, grabbing on to the sides of the frame with her gloved hands, put first one foot then another on the bottom of the frame until she was in a precarious crouching position. For one awful moment, she thought she was going to fall backwards on to the chair and the decking and break her neck. Then, having steadied herself, she groped for her cane and held it out in front of her, unfurled her right leg and lowered it tentatively down on to the carpet of broken glass and duct tape.
This had to be the most stupid thing she’d ever done, and she was bound to suffer for it later. She always did. But she’d done it now. She’d broken into the summer house, all by herself. A woman with ME and a walking cane.
23
Dee stared at the retreating figure of Trevor Cooper. For a few moments she felt frozen in time, almost as if he’d put some kind of spell on her. It couldn’t be true. Surely Lindsay wouldn’t do something like that? And yet how else to explain Gabriel Abiodun’s expensive customized crash helmet turning up on eBay after all these years? And if the helmet had been stolen, did that mean his leather jacket had too?
She went back into her office and closed the door. It had to be someone else. Someone who’d had access to the body. One of the part-timers, perhaps? But they vetted everyone so carefully and, besides, they never worked unsupervised.
Her mind strayed to Jake, but no, that was almost as unthinkable as it being Lindsay. Jake was as honest as they come. Dee put her elbows on her desk and rested her head in her hands. If anyone had told her earlier that day that something like this would happen, she’d have said there was only one thing to do and that was to go downstairs right now and talk to Lindsay, tell her what had happened. After all, the reputation of Fond Farewells was at stake. Who knew what Trevor Cooper might do next?
But if she did that, Dee would know straight away if this outrageous accusation was true. She’d see it on Lindsay’s face, she knew she would. Lindsay was pretty transparent. Dee didn’t think she could bear it if it turned out to be true. Stealing anything was bad enough, but stealing from the dead? Going against the wishes of his family? Jeopardizing the business?
Just then, she heard the door to the basement opening and footsteps running up the stairs. Dee got up and put her coat on. She would keep this to herself for now.
Lindsay stuck her head around the door. ‘Ready for a walk?’ she said. ‘I certainly am.’
‘Sorry, I’ve got a dentist’s appointment. I forgot to tell you.’
Lindsay grimaced. ‘Nothing horrible, I hope?’
Dee couldn’t quite look her in the face. ‘Just a filling.’
‘Oh no, you poor thing.’
Dee hung her bag over her shoulder, grabbed her car keys from the little dish on her desk and headed for the door.
‘I’m not sure how long it’ll take,’ she said. ‘I’ll let you know.’
Outside, she practically ran to the side street where she’d parked her car. It felt wrong, lying to Lindsay, but if Trevor Cooper was right, then Lindsay had lied to her, and to Gabriel Abiodun’s family. Lied about something a whole lot worse than going to the dentist’s.
It was, she supposed, inevitable that she’d find herself driving home. She had to talk to someone and, since she couldn’t speak to Lindsay, the next best person was her dad. Her mum would either overreact or she’d start telling her what to do. She never listened, not properly. In any case, her mum would be at work now, doing whatever it was she did in the planning and building department of Perth and Kinross Council.
She was on the third flight of stairs up to the flat when she remembered the thing between her dad and Mrs Kowalski. She stopped before the final flight and fished her phone out of her bag. The last thing she wanted was to walk in on them doing it. The very thought made her shudder.
Her dad answered after a couple of rings. ‘Dee? Everything all right?’
‘Not exactly,’ she said. ‘Are you free for lunch?’
‘Of course. Do you want me to come and meet you somewhere?’
‘I’m here now, in the stairwell.’
‘Oh, right. I’ll put the kettle on then.’
They sat at the kitchen table, each with a plate of cheese-and-tomato sandwiches and a mug of tea in front of them. Her dad hadn’t said a word the whole time she’d been speaking. Now, he leaned forward and folded his arms on the table.
‘That’s a serious accusation,’ he said.
‘What shall I do, Dad? I can’t just ignore it.’
‘No, love, you can’t.’ He took a sip of tea and frowned. ‘Is there any chance this Trevor Cooper might be bluffing?’
Dee shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. I saw the photo. You could quite clearly see Gabriel’s initials and the angel wings design. It was exactly the same as his tattoo.’ Dee pushed her plate to one side. ‘I’ve seen lots of dead bodies with tattoos, and I never usually remember the designs. But Gabriel’s stuck in my mind because it was white. I’d never seen a white tattoo before, and Gabriel was black, so it really stood out.’
‘And this Trevor says he’s bought the crash helmet and has it at home, yeah?’
‘Yeah. He said I could go round and see for myself if I didn’t believe him.’
Her dad frowned. ‘I wouldn’t do that, love.’
‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to. But I am going to have to speak to him again.’ She got up to throw the remainder of her sandwich away. ‘After I’ve spoken to Lindsay.’
24
Scarlett woke at 4.23 a.m., certain she’d heard something in the back garden, right outside her bedroom window. She sat up in bed. It had sounded like a scraping noise on the patio, almost like a shoe scuffing on the stone slabs. It was probably just a dream. Once, a while back, she’d been convinced that someone had rung the doorbell at six o’clock in the morning, but when she’d got up there was nobody there and no sign of anyone in the street. She’d told Rebecca about it later that day – they often used to chat about their dreams. ‘I think that means an opportunity is beckoning, but you’re not sure whether to take it,’ her aunt had said, and at the time that interpretation had seemed to make sense. Scarlett wondered what Rebecca would have made of her dream about the summer house.
She strained her ears. There it was again. Quieter this time, but worryingly like a footstep. She turned back the duvet and pages of her aunt’s manuscript fluttered to the floor. She must have fallen asleep reading it. She sat on the edge of the bed until her eyes had adjusted to the dark. Then she walked over to the curtains and gently hooked a finger around the outer edge of the one on the right. She only had a partial view of the garden from here, on account of the old tool shed, but there was nothing untoward in that bit of it she could see.
It must have been a dream then, or maybe a fox skulking about, nudging something with its snout. All sorts of nocturnal creatures were out there right now, scuffling and scurrying and darting about under cover of darkness. Foraging for food. Mating.
She was about to collect the fallen pages and get back into bed when a thin beam of white light caught her eye. But no sooner had she noticed it dancing on the periphery of her vision than it disappeared. Her body tensed. Was someone really out there?
She moved towards the bedroom door, her heart knocking painfully against her ribcage. She’d get a better view from the back door. She picked up her phone from the bedside table, almost dropping it, her hands were shaking so much. She wouldn’t phone the police yet, not until she knew for sure. It could be one of the neighbours, doing something in their garden. Although what anyone could be doing out there this early in the morning, she really didn’t know.
She groped her way to the kitchen. If she didn’t put the lights on, hopefully she would remain unseen. Then again, if she did put the lights on, it might scare them off and she could go back to bed. She hesitated at the switch. Maybe she didn’t want to scare them off. Not yet, anyway. Maybe she was curious to see what they were doing.
Admit it, Scarlett, she thought. You are curious.
She took a few more steps into the kitchen, inching her way to the back door. With her body still tucked behind the wall, she moved her head to one side and peeped out of the glazed panel at the top. She gasped. A figure dressed in black – a man – was moving steadily away from the house, walking up the left-hand side of the garden, as close to the tall hedge as he could get without actually brushing against it.
Scarlett edged out from her hiding place and moved her face closer to the window until her nose almost touched the glass. She followed the figure’s progress. Was this one of those opportunist burglars, working his way through the back gardens, preying on forgetful or careless homeowners who’d left a window open or a door unlocked? What was he planning to do next? Climb over the fence at the bottom?
She scrolled up for the home screen, was about to tap the green phone icon and dial 999, when the beam of light came back on. It was directly in front of the summer house now. He must have nipped across the lawn while she was fiddling with her phone. She stood, transfixed, as he stuck his head through the space where the window had been.
You won’t find anything of value in there, mate, she thought. Not unless you’re into freshly dug beetroot. He put a hand into his pocket and drew something out. Her mouth went dry. No, it couldn’t be. It wasn’t …
A few seconds later the door of the summer house opened and the man stepped inside. The beam of light swept from left to right. Scarlett narrowed her eyes. There was something familiar about the height and shape of this person.
The floor lurched beneath her feet. With trembling fingers, she dropped her phone on to the counter and stared in disbelief. Ollie had just let himself into the summer house at half past four in the morning with the missing key. The ‘one and only’.
She backed away from the door, heart racing. There was only one explanation. He must have taken it when he came round yesterday. But why would he have done that? If he’d wanted to look in the summer house, he could have just asked her. What on earth could be in there that he was prepared to creep around searching for, like a thief in the night?
Unless … unless he was looking for the same thing she’d been looking for. Was it Rebecca’s manuscript he wanted? He hadn’t sounded that interested in it when they’d spoken on the phone, and if he’d changed his mind about wanting to read it, he only had to ask her and she’d have given it to him.
She recalled something else about their conversation, something she hadn’t given any thought to before now. Hadn’t he offered to come round and clear the summer house out for her sometime soon, to get it ready for next year, even though he’d made a point of telling her how busy he and his men were with all the jobs people wanted done by Christmas.
Then another thought struck her. Her legs almost buckled beneath her and she had to grab on to the counter to steady herself. Perhaps it was her mention of the card from Gina that had compelled him to visit. He’d denied any knowledge of hearing Rebecca mention a Gina, but … maybe he was lying. Maybe he did know about their friendship. Maybe he’d known Gina, too.
Sweat broke out on the back of Scarlett’s neck and her stomach turned to water. She made it to the bathroom just in time to throw up in the toilet.
25
Dee’s dad knocked on her bedroom door. She was already awake and sitting up in bed with her laptop open.
‘Come in,’ she said.
He gave her a mug of tea, then stood with his back to the radiator. ‘I was just thinking. Didn’t Lindsay have a few problems raising the deposit for her house?’
‘Your mind’s on the same track as mine,’ Dee said. ‘She was a few thousand short, yes. According to Trevor Cooper, that crash helmet was worth about seven hundred pounds. And if she stole the jacket too …’
Her dad came and sat on the end of her bed. ‘Perhaps it was too much of a temptation,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to believe it of her, but …’
‘I don’t want to believe it either, Dad, but I’m afraid we might have to.’
‘When was Gabriel’s funeral?’
Dee pointed to the spreadsheet open on her laptop. ‘Sixteenth of April 2009. A month after Gina went missing. It was one of our first jobs.’
‘And when did she put the offer on her house? Can you remember?’
Dee thought about that for a moment. ‘I think it was round about the same time.’ Tears welled up behind her eyes.
Her dad nodded. ‘I wonder where she got the rest of the money.’
‘I always assumed her parents lent it to her.’
‘Neither of you were in a particularly good place back then. You had a lot on your plate, worrying about Gina and trying to get your business off the ground.’
‘I know, I was thinking that too. We were both struggling to keep it together.’ Dee raked her fingers through her hair. ‘I’m going to have to talk to her, aren’t I? I can’t put it off any longer.’
Her dad gave her a sad little smile. ‘No, love, you can’t.’
Dee sat at her desk and tried to psych herself up. It felt strange being in the office this early, but she’d wanted to be sure she was here first so that she could broach the subject as soon as Lindsay arrived.
She’d never been good with conflict, had spent most of her life avoiding it at all costs. But letting unprofessional, unethical behaviour go unchallenged was not an option. In any case, if she didn’t tell Lindsay about Trevor Cooper’s accusation soon, he would come back another time and end up telling her himself. One way or another, Lindsay needed to know what had happened.
When the door finally swung open and Lindsay came in, Dee took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She felt sick at the thought of what was coming.
Lindsay looked surprised. ‘Makes a change for you to be in before me,’ she said, shrugging off her coat and hanging it on one of the hooks outside the office. ‘Bad night?’
‘You could say that, yes.’
Lindsay came into the office and peered at Dee closely from under her eyebrows, as if she were a nurse checking for symptoms. ‘Is your tooth playing up?’ Then her expression changed into one of anxiety. ‘Oh no, we haven’t had another one of those reviews, have we? I’m going to take that whole section down. This is too much.’
‘No, we haven’t had another one. At least, I hope not. I haven’t actually looked yet.’
‘So what is it? You look really worried about something.’
‘I am, and you’re right in a way. It is related to those reviews.’ She clenched her toes. ‘I had a visitor yesterday. T. J. Cooper.’
Lindsay’s eyes widened. ‘What? Why are you only telling me this now? Who is it? What did they want?’
‘His name is Trevor James Cooper. He’s a friend of someone we buried.’
Lindsay frowned. ‘Who?’
‘Gabriel Abiodun. Remember him?’
Lindsay’s face went very still. She sat on the chair opposite Dee and dropped her bag on to the floor beside her. ‘Big black guy. The service was at Hollywood Bowl in Surrey Quays. It was years ago. Jake had to stand in as a pallbearer when one of Gabriel’s mates broke his wrist.’
Dee nodded. ‘That’s right. Remember anything else?’
Lindsay narrowed her eyes. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘We had to order an American-style casket because of his size and all the extras the family wanted in there with him.’ She frowned again. ‘What’s this about, Dee?’
This was it. She needed to say it.
‘Trevor Cooper has found one of those “extras” for sale on eBay. Gabriel’s crash helmet.’
Lindsay’s mouth dropped open.
‘He showed me a photo of it. He’s bought it. Says it’s in his hallway at home and we can go and look at it and see for ourselves. He knows it’s Gabriel’s because it was customized with his initials and a set of white angel wings. Just like his tattoo.’
Dee watched Lindsay’s face as her words landed. She didn’t look guilty so much as gobsmacked. No, she looked … devastated.
Tears stung the back of Dee’s eyes. This was Lindsay. Her best friend. The friend she’d known since primary school. The friend who’d always looked out for her and had her back. The friend she’d laughed and cried with. The friend she’d worked alongside for the past ten years. And, with Gina gone, the only person in the world, apart from her dad, that Dee truly trusted and loved. Hurting Lindsay, challenging her like this, was the worst thing she’d ever had to do.
