Chapter 25 #2
‘What choice do I have?’
Giles walks to the window and peers through the blinds. ‘Do you know what Moira always used to say? She’d say there’s a solution to every problem, you just have to find it.’
Leo shakes his head. ‘What’s the solution here? If the police don’t turn up at the hospital, then someone else will call them.’
It takes Giles a moment to answer, and when he turns around to face Leo, he’s smiling.
‘I have someone who owes me a favour. Ex-police. He was forced out so I’m sure he’d be happy to help.
He can go to the hospital and question Ria, assure her that they’re doing everything they can to find this stalker of hers. ’
‘That will never work,’ Leo mutters. ‘And it’s criminal.’
‘No more so than what we’ve already done,’ Giles says. ‘Look, we’ve just got to come to terms with it and do what’s best for all of us. And that also means keeping quiet. About everything. Kimmy. Ria. All of it.’
‘This is mad,’ Leo says. ‘People will ask where Kimmy is.’
‘They’ll just assume she’s left Xander. No one will be surprised. Kimmy was always flighty. She never felt at home here, I could tell. And, like I said . . . she was having an affair.’
A lump forms in Leo’s throat. ‘How do you know?’
‘I know everything that goes on around here,’ Giles says. ‘Someone has to keep an eye on things.’ He gestures to Kimmy’s body. ‘The one time I didn’t see what was going on. And the security gate camera wasn’t working, for some reason.’
Leo finds this hard to believe. Giles knows something. And Xander probably does, too. He doesn’t trust Xander, or Giles, one bit. But he’s trapped in his own lie and there’s no way out.
‘What if Ria suddenly remembers the truth?’ he asks. ‘Have you thought about that?’
‘It’s your job to make sure she doesn’t. She’s suffered a terrible head injury, I think people around here would understand if she started saying things that seem a bit . . . crazy.’
Leo winces. Taking his silence for acquiescence, Giles smiles. ‘Good, that’s sorted, then. We stick together. Seems to me we have no choice. Funny how the two of us keep ending up here, isn’t it?’
‘Are you sure none of the others saw what happened?’ Leo asks.
Giles shakes his head. ‘No, I’ve spoken to them already, and everyone was asleep. And Declan was in the hospital. Poor boy.’
Leo had heard about Declan having some kind of allergic reaction to something and ending up in hospital.
‘So that’s settled, then,’ Giles says. ‘This goes no further than these walls.’ He gestures around. ‘And I’ve taken measures to ensure extra security around Silverleaf. Like I said, as early as tomorrow there will be cameras installed above every front door.’
‘Isn’t that overkill?’ Leo asks.
‘Not when it concerns the safety of all the residents,’ Giles says.
Giles is delusional. He’ll never pull this off. Leo finishes his whiskey, relishing the stinging sensation as it hits his throat.
‘We’ll get through this together, Leo. Okay? I’ve got your back, and I hope you’ve got mine, too.’
Leo doesn’t respond to this, but tells Giles he has to go.
Outside, he sees Xander getting out of his car and rushes over to him.
‘Hey, Leo. You okay? Giles told us Ria was hurt. So sorry. How is she doing?’
‘She’ll pull through,’ Leo says. And he wills this to be true with every inch of his being. He glances at Xander’s house. ‘Though I’m certainly losing sleep over it. How’s everything with you?’
‘To be honest, I haven’t slept either. It’s Kimmy.’
Leo feels like his heart has stopped. ‘What do you mean?’
‘She’s left me. She told me she was going out, and she never came back.’
‘But . . . how do you know she left you? Aren’t you worried something might have happened to her?’
Xander stares at his feet, at the expensive leather shoes that don’t mean anything. None of this luxury means anything. ‘Can I tell you something? Please don’t repeat it to anyone. Not even Giles.’
Leo’s skin burns. ‘’Course not.’
‘A while ago I found out Kimmy was having an affair. And I . . . I didn’t handle it well.
I’ve been . . . treating her badly,’ he says.
‘I’ve been . . . awful to her.’ He stares up at the cloudless sky.
‘I can’t believe I did this, but I’ve been pretty much keeping her trapped in the house.
’ He bites his lip, looking to Leo for empathy he will never get.
‘I just kind of lost my mind. And she was desperate to get out. Kimmy hated being cooped up like a caged bird. I could see her becoming a shadow of herself.’
‘How . . . how long?’ Leo asks, stunned by the words flooding from Xander’s mouth.
Xander looks down again, kicking at the paving on his driveway.
‘Weeks. She didn’t even want to eat in the end.
’ Tears trickle down his cheeks. ‘But I let her out that last night. I thought it would be okay. Giles had changed the code, and she didn’t know it.
Her face lit up at being let out. I don’t think I’d ever seen her smile like that.
But the whole time, she was clearly planning to run away. ’
Leo struggles to breathe. And as disturbed as he is by Xander’s words, he wants to hear everything. Needs to hear about Kimmy. ‘Why did you keep her trapped in your house? If she wanted to leave you, you should have just let her go.’
‘Because I felt ashamed.’ Xander looks away, towards the gate. ‘That she’d done that to me.’
‘You wanted to hurt her,’ Leo says. Was Xander the one who killed Kimmy, his own wife? And attacked Ria? Anger bubbles inside him. But looking at the pitiful and broken man standing before him, Leo is sure Xander wouldn’t be capable of going that far.
‘No, I love her. I didn’t want her to leave me.’
‘Are you going to stay here? Now Kimmy’s left.’
Xander shrugs. ‘I don’t want to leave this place.’
Leo stares at him. ‘What does Giles have on you?’
There’s a brief flicker of hesitation before he answers. ‘Nothing. What do you mean?’
‘You can tell me. Has he got something on you? Is that why you’ll stay here, even without Kimmy? Or is it something else?’
Xander looks up at the murky sky, his shoulders hunched. ‘He may be aware of some . . . tax issues I was having.’
‘What do you mean, tax issues?’
Xander shoves his hands in his pockets. ‘Giles found out that I . . . haven’t always been honest about my company’s accounts.’
‘Jesus, Xander. You can go to prison for that.’
And for hiding a body. Lying to the doctors about Ria’s attack.
‘How did Giles find out?’
‘Don’t you get it yet, Leo? Giles knows everything about all of us.
And I mean everything. He hand-picked us all to live here, and he wouldn’t have done that without knowing every detail of our lives.
Of us. What makes us tick. What our vulnerabilities are.
He promised us something with this place, but there’s always a price to pay. ’
Leo turns to Giles’s house, wondering if he’s watching them.
‘You should just get out of here,’ Leo says. ‘There are other houses.’
‘I like it here,’ Xander says. ‘Even without Kimmy. And there aren’t many better places to be. And everything will be okay if we keep on Giles’s good side. Be the neighbours he wants us to be.’
The thought of this sickens Leo, but in his gut he knows he has no choice.