Chapter 16
‘You bitch. You’ve been mouthing off about me to the guards.’
Sadie crouched at the side of the bed, half undressed.
She’d been changing into rainproof outdoor clothes with the intention of joining the search when he’d blindsided her.
The slap had caught the side of her jaw.
He must be truly mad to hit her where it could leave a mark.
Or did he no longer care? She should have kept her mouth shut.
But she’d felt she had to tell the guards, to speak the truth, to throw suspicion his way.
She had to get her thoughts in order. She needed time.
Now she felt isolated. The inspector had left the house and she hadn’t seen Martina, the young female guard. Thomas had probably sent her away.
‘Thomas, you have it all wrong.’
Another slap.
‘I never get anything wrong. You blabbed a pack of lies to them. I never hit you unless you deserved it, and you bloody well deserve it now.’
‘But Lily—’
‘Lily is sulking somewhere. You should have called me before you called the guards. Are you totally stupid or what? They’ve been crawling all over our property when they should be at Healy’s proving that Cameron killed his family and then himself.
I’m beginning to think he had the right idea. At least their secrets died with him.’
A tremor of dread shook her body. Had she been wrong about Caroline? Had Caroline betrayed her trust and told Cam, or even Thomas? That would make Thomas even more dangerous. No, she would never have done that. They shared too many secrets. But Thomas had mentioned secrets…
‘I’m sorry, Thomas.’
The kick came to her ribs and she curved into herself.
‘Sorry no longer cuts it with me. What did you tell the guards?’
‘Nothing, I swear.’
‘Then why was I quizzed about domestic abuse?’
Shit, she thought wildly. ‘Maybe… it has something to do with the murders. Or they wanted to find out if you knew anything about the Healys’ relationship.’
‘And how would I know? They were your friends.’
‘My only friends. You wouldn’t allow—’
‘That’s a load of bull, Sadie. You do what you want, get what you want, and then sit on your arse all day doing nothing.’
‘I wasn’t able to work after I had Lily. I had to have a fucking emergency hysterectomy, Thomas.’
‘Loads of women have that done. No, all you wanted to do was mollycoddle Lily and I had to work longer hours to support you.’
She sighed.
He heard it. ‘Are you bored with me, Sadie? Think you can do it alone? Without any money? Without Lily?’
She stared at him wide-eyed. ‘What did you do, Thomas? What did you do to her?’
He walked away, leaving her lying there in pain and fear.
All alone.