Chapter 50
FIFTY
JUSTINE
After running through the housing estate and over a field, Justine pulled a twig from her hair.
The easy route would risk too many eyes on her.
Her only option had been to stick with the back roads, the single-track dirt paths and the woodland.
Her mission was to get to Pia’s without arousing any suspicion on the way.
There were no police. It was dark and the estate was quiet.
Anger and sadness competed for space in her thoughts.
Craig had cheated and it wasn’t the first time but Pia, her friend – how could Pia have done that to her?
She swallowed the shame in her throat. She knew exactly how.
Pia and Craig was different… or was it? She hated them and herself so much right now.
Simeon stood in the window pacing, the glow of the floor lamp creating a halo effect around his head. She ran up the drive, clinging onto her tablet in the hope that she could use their Wi-Fi. If there were any more messages, she wanted to read them.
She checked the time on her burner phone. It was getting later fast and she had an appointment to keep for midnight. Before knocking, she opened her tablet and, as expected, it instantly locked onto Pia’s Wi-Fi just like it had done in the past.
All debts must be paid in full, Justine.
I know that now. I failed you and I’m sorry.
There’s a house by the lake where the kids like to party.
You know the one, you do yoga on the opposite side.
Get Danny’s bag from upstairs in that house and bring it with you. Do this for Danny. See you at midnight.
She frowned as she knocked on the door and turned her tablet off.
‘Justine,’ Simeon said with a frown as he opened the door.
‘Is Pia in? I need to speak to her… and you. I need to speak to you both.’ Her hands shook uncontrollably. A confrontation seemed like a good idea while she was trudging from her car but now, she knew she was going to destroy Simeon and that didn’t feel good at all.
His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. He stared at her in silence before turning and walking towards the coat cupboard under the stairs.
She stepped in and closed the door, watching as Simeon mooched through the cupboard.
‘I can’t find my jacket.’ He pulled all the coats out, throwing each of them in turn into a heap on the floor. ‘My car keys are in my jacket.’
‘Is Pia in? Her car is outside.’
‘No.’
‘Simeon, what’s going on?’
He stopped and stared at her. ‘You damn well know what’s going on. The police are looking for you and they’ve taken Pia in for questioning. Where the hell have you been?’
‘A lot has been happening and I’ve only just found out. I’m so sorry, Simeon.’ She hated that such a gentle man was going through so much. He deserved more than Pia. He also deserved the truth.
Tears began to slip down her cheeks. All she wanted to do was make things right. She placed her tablet on the stairs and touched his arm. ‘Simeon, I’m trying my hardest to make things better. There is something I have to tell you—’
‘Found them.’ He dropped his shoulders and grabbed a jacket from the floor of the cupboard.
‘Simeon, please. Just stop. I need to speak to you.’
‘What is it, Justine? Which bit of my wife is at the police station and I need to be with her don’t you get?
This isn’t a good time. Whatever you and your family are involved in, you need to speak to the police.
’ He walked through the living room and grabbed his scarf.
‘You can do that now. A police car has just pulled up outside. Someone has been sent to watch our house in case you turn up.’
‘You deserve the truth, Simeon. Just give me five minutes.’ She couldn’t let him alert the police. She had somewhere to be, a truth of her own to chase.
He tilted his head. ‘Just tell me. I don’t have time for this nonsense.’
Justine blurted it out. ‘It’s Pia, she’s been having an affair with Craig. A great big affair that’s gone on for ages. I can’t believe it. I thought it was you who was having an affair with Craig.’
‘What the hell would make you think that?’
She pointed to his wrist. ‘You’re wearing his bracelet.’
Simeon held his wrist up and took the bracelet in. ‘So that’s who it belonged to. I found it in my office and thought one of the suppliers had lost it. I asked around, no one claimed it so I kept it. He must have lost it when he set up the accounting system.’
‘And it was stupid of me to think that, but I did because…’ She shook her head not wanting to share what she was thinking.
He scrunched his brow and his jaw started to slowly drop. ‘How do you know that Pia has been having an affair? That’s absurd. Are you just trying to make trouble because there isn’t enough of that in your life right now?’
‘No. I would never do that to you. Someone told me.’
‘Who?’
‘Craig. I’m sorry. He also knows what I did and I wondered if Pia could have seen or did you tell her?
’ Justine put her shaking hands into her pockets.
‘I kissed you, that was all and I said I was sorry but you didn’t have to go and tell Craig.
What was it, an anonymous message? My husband has always been a lying cheat with someone or another.
I just wanted to make him pay and as soon as I did it, I knew it was wrong and I know you love Pia and you’d never cheat like Craig.
Anyway, I thought you had the right to know about Pia.
’ Her mind had been thinking all sorts while she thought Craig had been having an affair with Simeon.
Simeon had rejected her back then and her thoughts had jumped to the idea that he preferred Craig more.
Justine could tell that she’d floored him with that revelation.
He took a few deep breaths and looked away. ‘I guess I’ll deal with all that later. Right now, I have to go and you’re holding me up. Why are the police looking for you? They didn’t say much? I need to know.’
‘I’m on the run. The police think I’m involved but I’m not. I need the chance to sort this before they take me in. I’m begging you not to tell the police that I was here.’
He let out a long, slow breath. ‘I just want all this to be over.’ He looked into her eyes.
‘If it’s any consolation I was flattered when you tried to kiss me but I’m obviously not like my wife.
I’ve always been faithful.’ He paused. ‘I don’t believe for one second you’re a dangerous fugitive, Justine.
You can leave out the back. It takes you onto a football field.
Cross it and you’ll know where you are.’
‘Thank you.’
His keys jangled in his trembling hands. ‘Go.’
She darted out of the back door. She loved her son with all her heart but it was time for him to face the consequences of his actions.
Sometimes being a parent was about making tough decisions.
She knew she’d been wrong to try to hide Danny’s laptop and she was wrong to make Danny lie to try to implicate Craig.
She didn’t have time to question her own morality over the past couple of days, all she had time to do was put things right.
At least she didn’t have to think about what Pia thought of her any more. Their friendship was over.
As she ran through the woodland, she realised she’d left her tablet on the stairs. She pulled the burner phone out of her pocket and tried calling Danny one more time but like all the other times, all she got was the dead tone.
It was almost nine that evening and midnight would soon be on her if the next part of her plan didn’t work out.
She had to get to the derelict house. After reaching the cover of trees, she stopped to feel for the paring knife in her pocket. She pulled it out and held it up against the moonlight. She had no idea what she was going to find at that house but she was prepared for anything.