Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
Giles
From his upstairs window, he watches the ambulance take Declan away.
It’s all fallen apart now; even after everything Giles has already fixed.
He’d made a huge mistake picking Leo and Ria to live in number three, but he’d believed in Leo; the man had given Moira extra time in this world, and that had meant everything to Giles.
It’s always been about Moira. His proudest moments, and his biggest mistakes.
As he continues to watch, Ria and Leo appear. She’s holding two large bags and loads them into her car while her husband watches from the doorway.
Even though it’s late, Giles only has a small window of time now.
When she’s driven off, he rushes over to number three.
He doesn’t expect Leo to be in a good state when he opens the door, but the man’s bedraggled appearance is a shock.
Ria has just left him, of course he’s not okay, and Giles feels a swell of sympathy for him.
Leo loves his wife, but we all have to live with the consequences of our actions.
‘What do you want?’ Leo says. ‘Ria’s going to call the police. It’s over, Giles.’
‘It doesn’t have to be,’ Giles says.
‘What? What are you talking about? Ria knows everything.’
‘But without a body, there’s no crime, right?’
Leo stares at him. ‘I . . . don’t understand.’
‘Come with me.’
Giles goes back to his house, Leo trailing behind. He leads him out to his garden shed and grabs two shovels.
‘No,’ Leo says when realisation dawns. ‘No, Giles. What the hell?’
‘This is the only way,’ he says. ‘We have to move Kimmy’s body. And we have to do it now.’
Leo protests all the way back to his house, but his words have no impact on Giles. Even when they scramble over the fence and into the undergrowth, Leo insists that this is wrong.
‘Nothing’s worse than what we’ve already done,’ Giles explains.
‘No! Stop!’ Leo grabs a shovel from Giles and throws it to the ground. ‘I’m not doing this. I’d rather lose my job and go to prison. Tell the police whatever you want. I won’t help you.’
With these words, Giles knows that it’s going to take a lot more than this to convince Leo. He’s going to have to do something he never thought he’d do, and it sickens him. ‘Sit down,’ he says.
‘What? No!’
‘Just sit, Leo.’ He waves his shovel. ‘Do you want to be free of me? To stop me being able to blackmail you again? Can you imagine what that would feel like, knowing your career is safe, your future secure? I’m assuming Ria would never tell the police what you did at the hospital.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Just sit, and I’ll tell you.’
Leo sinks to the ground, shaking his head. ‘What the fuck is this?’
‘Have you ever wondered why I’ve been so picky about who lives in Silverleaf? I mean, beyond just wanting to have decent neighbours?’
Leo looks up at him, his eyes narrowing. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘I loved my wife,’ Giles says. ‘More than any of this.’ He flaps his arms. ‘This was Moira’s dream. I designed Silverleaf for her, and she loved the short time she got to live in it. We were here months before anyone else moved in. It was great, just the two of us.’
Leo sighs. ‘Just say it, Giles. Whatever it is.’
‘Let me show you instead.’ Giles lifts his shovel and smashes it into the earth, right by Leo.
Leo jumps up and steps back. ‘What are you doing? This isn’t where Kimmy’s buried.’
Ignoring him, Giles continues digging; better to show Leo than tell him. It feels like he’s digging for hours, but then finally his shovel hits something hard. Giles burrows deeper, stepping back.
Leo peers into the hole Giles has dug, sees the misshapen body of a man.
‘What . . . what is that?’ Leo stammers. ‘Who is that?’
Giles leans on his shovel. His arms ache, and his head feels like it will explode. He never thought he’d ever have to do this.
‘That is the body of the man my wife killed.’
Leo’s jaw drops and he stares at Giles.
‘We’d only been living here for a few weeks,’ Giles explains.
He can’t bring himself to look in the shallow grave.
It was bad enough when he buried him. ‘There were no cameras or anything then; I didn’t think we’d need them.
I thought the security gate would be enough.
But it wasn’t . . . someone broke in. I was out, so Moira was on her own.
She was terrified. We think he was a burglar and that he assumed the house was empty, because he was shocked to see her.
But then he went for her. She was surprisingly fit considering her cancer treatment and she grabbed the first thing she could find, a marble fruit bowl from the table, and smashed it into his head.
He died immediately.’ Giles takes a deep breath.
‘She panicked and called me instead of calling the police. I rushed home and found him on the kitchen floor. We talked all night about what to do. Moira wanted to call the police; it was self-defence, after all. But I couldn’t let her last few months be dogged with dealing with that.
I couldn’t let that be her legacy, what people remembered about her. ’
‘Jesus,’ Leo says.
‘I know,’ Giles says. ‘But I didn’t kill anyone. I know I did a terrible thing covering it up, but I did it for my wife. You understand that, don’t you, Leo? Wouldn’t you have done the same for Ria?’
‘Why are you telling me this now?’ he asks.
‘I told you. To put an end to my hold over you. Now you have something on me. We’re even, Leo. I just need you to help me move the body. And Kimmy’s. To get them far away from Silverleaf. Please, Leo. I’m begging you.’
‘There’s something that’s been bothering me. I know what hold you have over me and Xander, but what about the rest of the neighours?’
He sighs. ‘Patrick is an old friend. We look out for each other. And Georgia just wants to belong here. At least, I think that’s why she went along with everything.
Eleanor and I . . . let’s just say we have a history.
And Rufus . . . he just wants to keep a low profile and for people to leave him alone. So . . . will you help me?’
Minutes of silence tick by.
‘Leo, please. We have to be quick. I don’t know how long it will be before the police come. We’ve got to make sure there’s no evidence that there were any bodies here. I don’t even know if that’s possible – but we have to try.’
Leo closes his eyes and exhales a deep breath. And when he opens them again, he gives a faint nod.