Chapter 30
THIRTY
Now
My hand shakes as I stare at Declan. He’s not watching me but is engrossed in scraping mud off trainers that look brand new. ‘Say that again,’ I say to Johnny, edging back.
‘Declan Murphy. He edited the video that was sent to you. I can’t say for sure he’s the one who sent it – maybe he just cut something out.
He could have just shortened the clip. Anyway, he used software that was registered to him.
It’s amazing what you can find out when you start digging deep.
Nothing is truly anonymous these days. Do you know him? ’
I can barely hear Johnny’s words. I have so many questions, but none of them take shape. With Declan right near me, I have to be careful what I say. ‘Yes, I do. Um, that’s great news. Thanks for letting me know. Let’s catch up soon.’ I hang up before Johnny can say anything else.
And then I run.
‘Hey!’ Declan calls. ‘Ria!’
But I keep running. I’m still not as fit as I was before my attack, but I manage to get a head start before Declan comes after me.
He shouts my name again, but I don’t turn back – if I can reach the main road, I’ll have a chance. But this isn’t London, and the chances of anyone being around are slim.
It’s dark and I can barely see in front of me; there’s no time to put the torch on my phone.
Every second I have over Declan is vital, but I can hear him right behind me.
I push my body, demanding it to run faster than ever, but I’m already breathless, and there’s no way of telling how much further the edge of Silverleaf Heights is.
Twigs snap under my feet, slowing me down, and I fight with bracken and bushes.
It’s no use. Declan is right behind me, still calling my name, urging me to stop.
He catches up to me within moments – of course he does; Declan is young and healthy – grabbing my arm. ‘Ria? What’s going on? Why are you running? Who was that on the phone?’ He lets go of my arm.
Struggling for breath, I study his face. There is nothing menacing about him. He looks just as he always has. ‘Ria, have I upset you? Please tell me what’s going on.’
‘You sent me that video.’
Declan stares at me, his mouth open. ‘What?’
‘The video of my attack. It was you. I have proof, Declan. It was you who killed Kimmy – it must have been! And you tried to kill me because I saw you.’ My body trembles as I speak, and I scan the area, searching for an escape route.
‘No, Ria! Don’t say that. It wasn’t me! Why would I have hurt Kimmy?’
‘I know you edited the video – stop lying!’
He looks around and steps closer to me. ‘Stop saying that, Ria! Stop!’
I edge back, noticing the pained expression on his face. ‘Why would you kill her? What happened, Declan?’ I need to keep him talking while I work out how to get away from him.
‘I’ve . . . I’ve been helping you, Ria. Don’t you see that? You should have stayed out of it.’ He grabs the sides of his head and squeezes hard.
‘Declan, listen to me. Just tell me what you’ve done and . . . I’ll help you. We’ll deal with it together. I just need to know.’
‘Shut up!’ He lurches towards me and shoves me backwards.
I smash to the ground, landing on my hip. I stifle my scream.
‘Now look what you’ve made me do!’
Declan is volatile, and I need to try to get through to him. ‘I know you don’t want to hurt me,’ I say. ‘You . . . you got yourself into a situation and . . . panicked.’ I’m throwing anything I think will make sense out there.
He stands over me, shaking his head, then squats down. ‘Who was that on the phone?’
‘A friend. He told me about the video, Declan.’
His eyes widen. ‘What have you done, Ria?’
‘He won’t tell the police. Just let me go, Declan. I don’t care what’s happened – all I want is to get far away from here. You’ll never see me again, and no one will know you killed Kimmy.’
‘Liar!’ he shrieks.
I try to pull myself up, but Declan puts his hand out to stop me. ‘I was just trying to help you. They’re all sick, Ria. In here.’ He taps his head. ‘I’m the one who’s been helping you.’
‘Why did you send me that video, then? Why did you even have it? It doesn’t make sense.’
‘Shut up! Just stop talking!’
I kick out and try to jump up, but his reflexes are too fast and he grabs my leg, dragging me back down.
‘Why would you do that to Kimmy?’
I don’t expect him to answer, but he does. ‘She should have found a kinder way to end things,’ he says. ‘Then none of it would have happened.’
I stare at him. ‘What? But Kimmy was seeing Leo. Is that why you killed her? Were you obsessed with her or something?’
‘No!’ he yells. ‘Don’t say that!’
And with his words, I know. ‘Kimmy wasn’t seeing Leo, was she? It was you.’
‘’Course she wasn’t seeing Leo. That photo was a fake. She wouldn’t have slept with a married man.’
‘But she was married and slept with you.’
His eyes narrow. ‘It wasn’t like that. We loved each other.’
This should comfort me – the fact that Declan is capable of love – but it only makes me more frightened. I’ve cornered him, and he’s already killed once.
‘We were together for months. And then she ended it with no warning.’ He doesn’t look at me as he speaks, and the words flow from his mouth as if he’s talking to himself, letting out everything he’s kept trapped inside.
‘I took an overdose after she left me,’ he says.
‘I wanted to die. And guess what? She couldn’t even be bothered to come and see me.
’ He steps towards me and I brace myself for another attack, but instead he sinks to the ground.
‘That’s what hurt the most. More than her ending it.
If she’d just come to see me in hospital, then she’d still be here.
I just needed to know she cared about me.
Five months! Five months of my life. She could have shown me that my pain wasn’t all for nothing.
’ Tears flood from his eyes, but I feel no sympathy.
Declan is a murderer, and he’s unpredictable.
‘I’m sure she did love you,’ I offer, still desperately trying to work out how I’ll get out of here.
If I run, he’ll catch me. The only hope I have is to reason with him.
‘Please, Declan. Just let me go. Like I said, you will never see or hear from me again. I won’t tell the police.
I’ll delete the video – look.’ I scramble to pull my phone from my pocket, scrolling through it until I find Johnny’s message. I press delete. ‘See.’
‘Are you serious?’ he says. ‘I’m not an idiot, Ria.
Your friend has a copy of it. I know what you’re doing.
Pretending you’ll just disappear and I won’t have to worry.
You should have stayed out of it. You didn’t have to start investigating because you had some crazy hallucination.
I tried to warn you. But you just wouldn’t stop.
I was trying to help you, and you messed it all up!
’ He grabs fistfuls of his hair and winces.
‘You’re the one who planted that phone in my car. And lit those candles in my bedroom. You must’ve put the one in Eleanor’s house, too!’
‘I just wanted you to stop!’
‘Willow,’ I gasp. ‘That was you, too.’
‘I didn’t want to do that. I love dogs. But I had to do something to make you take it seriously. And it’s not like she died.’
‘But Kimmy did. She didn’t deserve that.’ It hits me then, like a punch to my gut. ‘And neither did Alicia,’ I say.
Declan stares at me, his eyes pooling with tears. ‘She should have stayed out of it,’ he says. ‘I didn’t want to hurt her, either. She seemed nice.’
‘You’re a monster! Think of Alicia’s mother! You’ve broken her heart by making it look like suicide. All those pill and wine bottles. Even if she doesn’t want to believe it, she’ll forever have doubts. And that’s what she’ll remember about her daughter, and she’ll always blame herself.’
He shakes his head. ‘I told her to stop contacting you, but she refused.’
Nausea bubbles in my stomach.
I kick out again and jump up, knocking Declan off balance. But once more he’s too quick and grabs my arms. ‘Why did you have to do this, Ria?’ he says. ‘I can’t go to prison.’
And the last thing I see is his fist flying towards me.
When I open my eyes, it takes me a moment to realise I’m in my house, lying on the kitchen floor, the tiles cold beneath my skin.
My arms and legs are tightly bound with thick green rope and I struggle to pull myself to sitting.
Pain courses through every inch of my body and I feel like I did when I woke up in hospital after my attack.
I don’t notice him at first, but Declan is sitting at the table with a glass of water, his head buried in his hands.
‘Let me go,’ I demand. ‘Now!’
He leans forward. His eyes are swollen and he looks like a terrified child.
The same look I saw on the face of the boy Peter Harvey hit at school.
But Declan is going to do whatever it takes to make sure I’m silenced.
‘I’m going to be a human rights lawyer,’ he says, seemingly oblivious to the irony of his career choice.
‘It’s what I’ve wanted since I was a kid.
I want to help people. There are people out there who need my help.
No one on my course cares as much as I do.
’ He closes his eyes. ‘I really like you. You’re not like everyone else around here.
I tried to get you to stop. But you . . .
you just wouldn’t let it go. And now what am I supposed to do?
’ Tears fall from his swollen red eyes. ‘I can’t let you tell the police what I’ve done.
’ He slams his fist on the table. ‘If you hadn’t remembered seeing Kimmy, none of this would have happened. ’
‘You tried to kill me,’ I remind him. ‘I was trying to stop you hurting her, but I was too late. What were you going to do, Declan? Just leave our bodies there?’
‘No! Before I could do anything, Leo came home, and I ran. Everything else was on him. I didn’t tell Leo to lie. I’m not the only one who’s had a part to play.’