Chapter 58
Fifty-Eight
EMILY
Everything in me goes absolutely still.
Rachel’s hand is trembling, but her eyes are sharp as glass and fixed on Lara, who is standing by the door. Lara’s face is set into a hard mask, and I’m amazed I can’t detect any fear.
The breeze gets up outside and there’s a faint rattle of rain against the porch. Under it all is the slow, terrible sound of someone breathing too fast. I think it might be me.
‘Put the knife down,’ Lara says again, her voice edged with steel. ‘You don’t want to do this, Rachel.’
‘My name is not Rachel. My name is Jane Guthrie.’
Lara flinches before blinking the reaction away. ‘I understand you’re upset, but you don’t want to make your life even worse than it is.’
‘The woman whose husband and baby your husband killed. And you’—her mouth twists—‘you knew all about it.’
I edge backwards. Step by careful step, angling my body so I can slide my phone into my right hand.
Lara’s eyes dart to my hands. ‘Don’t call the police yet.’ She is pale, but her gaze is still fixed on Jane Guthrie. ‘It’s not true, Emily. She’s lying.’
But if what Jane is saying isn’t true, then why would Lara stop me calling the police?
‘You’re delusional,’ Lara tells Jane.
‘Am I?’ Jane’s grip tightens. ‘I was there. I was in the car! I saw Tim, saw his face through the rear windscreen. He hit us from behind, not once but three times.’ Deliberately. Her voice cracks with emotion. ‘He just kept going until we were over the edge.’
I look between the two women, my mind spinning.
‘Lara?’
But Lara won’t look at me. She is still staring at Jane, a muscle twitching in her jaw.
I spring back, tapping my phone screen, but Lara shrieks, ‘Emily, wait!’
I blink at her, my thumb hovering over the call button. Faced with a knife and a crazed woman, why on earth would she stop me calling the police?
Lara swallows, eyes flicking once towards the door, then back to Jane. ‘I’ll level with you, OK? Tim told me it was a terrible accident. He panicked. He said he lost control—’
‘What Rachel’s saying is true?’ I whisper.
‘It was meant to scare Andrew, her husband,’ Lara says quickly. ‘That was all.’
Jane makes a curious sound, half laugh, half sob. ‘Scare him?’ she spits. ‘He took Andrew’s life. He killed my baby and left me for dead.’ She grits her teeth, and the knife wavers slightly, catching the light. ‘My life is ruined because of him. Because of you.’
Lara presses a hand to her forehead. ‘Tim said he thought . . . he thought your husband had stolen money from him. Tim was in deep financial trouble. They both were. He lost control.’
The room sways. My heart hammers in my throat.
‘You knew,’ I say. Not a question now.
‘I didn’t know everything,’ she snaps. ‘What was I supposed to do? Walk out? Give up my entire life with Tim? I’d never met Andrew or Rach—Jane,’ she corrects herself. It was something Tim confessed to me because we’d agreed there would be no secrets between us.’
Jane’s voice slices through. ‘You’ve both built your life on my family’s blood. What will your followers think about that?’
Outside, a car door slams, and Lara flinches.
Jane’s eyes widen. ‘Is that him?’
My legs are already moving. ‘I have to leave.’
‘No one’s leaving,’ Jane says softly. Her grip on the knife is still strong.
The front door opens and cool, wet air rushes in.
‘I’m home!’ Tim’s voice, too cheerful.
Lara steps forward, shrieks. ‘Tim, stop. Don’t come in.’
He sees Jane, the knife gleaming in her hand.
‘Rachel?’ he frowns.
‘She says it was her husband, her baby who died in the cliff accident,’ Lara wails. ‘Her name is Jane Guthrie.’
Tim frowns, peers closer at her.
‘Think long brown hair and heavily pregnant,’ Jane growls softly. ‘Think five years ago, three stones lighter and a wonderful future ahead of me.’
‘Christ,’ he says softly, colour draining from his face. He raises his palms. ‘It really is you.’
Jane face twists. ‘You remember me. Even though we only met once at the work Christmas party.’
Tim blinks. ‘Listen Rachel, Jane . . . whatever you think might have happened, you’re wrong.’
She jabs the knife at him and hisses, ‘I don’t understand how someone like you can keep breathing when my baby and Andrew are both in the ground.’
‘Jane,’ Lara says, her voice a little more upbeat. ‘Listen to me. We can fix this. We can give you money—’
‘Money?’ Jane laughs. ‘You think money can fix what you did?’
Tim’s eyes flick to Lara, then to me. He looks cornered, desperate.
There’s sudden movement, and then everything is happening too fast . . . the floor damp from the rain, the slightly open door, the smell of metal and fear.
‘You ruined everything!’ Jane screams. ‘You ruined my life.’
Tim lunges forward, his foot slipping on the wet wood. He tries to grab her wrist and misses. There’s a struggle, shouting, a strangled scream, and Jane jerks back.
For a second my brain refuses to name what I’m seeing. Tim’s mouth opens like he’s about to yell, but only air comes out.
Lara screams, and then I see. The knife is in his stomach, Jane’s hand still gripping the handle.
‘No,’ Lara wails. ‘No—’
Jane steps back, letting go of the knife, and Tim staggers, his eyes wide with shock, crumpling against the wall.
Lara drops beside him, pressing her hands to the wound, blood blooming through her fingers.
‘Do something!’ she screams at me.
I can’t move. I don’t know who is telling the truth. Who I should save.
And Jane stands there, swaying, her face slack.
‘He took everything from me,’ she whispers. ‘I’ve only carried on living to see this day.’
Tim’s eyes roll towards me, unfocused.
‘Emily!’ Lara gasps. ‘Call an ambulance! My phone’s upstairs, and I don’t want to leave him.’
I fumble for my phone, my fingers slick and useless. My hands are shaking so hard I almost drop it.
Jane backs away, her expression strangely calm. ‘It’s over now,’ she mumbles to herself. ‘It’s done.’
‘Stay where you are!’ I shout uselessly.
And then Jane turns and limps back out into the light summer rain. I don’t follow her. I just let her go.
Lara’s screams ricochet around my head as she calls Tim’s name, begging him to stay awake. The sound fills the house, raw and awful.
It’s the sound of someone who took the maximum risk, paid the price and lost everything.