Chapter 43
NOW
Late August
Friday
‘What happened with your mum?’ Ben asked as we clambered into his car.
I clamped my jaw closed.
‘Sorry,’ he said quickly. ‘You don’t have to answer that. It’s not my place to have asked.’
‘She left,’ I said suddenly, taking both of us by surprise.
I never talked about her. Why would I? She’d abandoned me.
‘How old were you?’
‘Seven.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Ben said.
I glanced at him, waiting for the rest. The questions. The blame.
What did you do?
Why didn’t she want you?
Love you?
‘That sucks,’ Ben said solemnly.
‘Yeah,’ I agreed. ‘It did.’
‘Did? Doesn’t it still?’
‘I got used to it.’
‘Did you?’ He looked at me doubtfully.
I hesitated. Could I honestly say yes?
‘I guess I just wonder if anyone could get over something like that. I mean, completely over it. It’s a cruel thing to do to your kid.’
‘She had her reasons,’ I said quietly.
‘She told you them?’
I shook my head. ‘Janine did.’
‘Janine?’ Ben scoffed. ‘Can you seriously believe anything she says?’
‘She’s been good to me,’ I replied defensively.
‘That’s what you call being good to you?’ Ben asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the police station behind us.
‘She’s just trying to figure things out.’
‘She practically accused you of causing Charlotte’s accident.’
‘She’s just being protective, trying to keep a step ahead of the police and what they might think.’
‘Yeah, because she tells them to think it.’
‘She wouldn’t.’
And yet, even as I denied it, I couldn’t help but wonder.
I’d always told myself that Janine’s words might seem blunt, but it was just her way. At least she cared enough to express an opinion, offer advice.
Unlike my actual mother.
Or my father.
But what if I was wrong?
Ben started the engine and flicked the indicator on. For a moment neither of us spoke.
Everything was so big.
So messy.
For the first time that I could remember, Janine’s opinion felt less important.
It was the police’s opinion that mattered. And, right now, that wasn’t looking good for me.
‘The police have the sales agreements,’ I said, breaking the silence. ‘They also found bank transactions transferring ￡5,000 right after each sale.’ I paused. ‘Into an account in my name.’
‘Your name?’ Ben darted a look at me. The car veered slightly, before he quickly adjusted. ‘How?’
‘I guess Charlotte set it up, but I don’t know how she managed it.
’ I shook my head. ‘It’s one thing to forge my signature.
She could have copied it from my employment contract.
Ryan insisted that, if I was going to work for Blackwater, I would be paid, even though he promised we would only be there a couple of weeks.
’ I shrugged. ‘Although I ended up staying for six weeks in the end.’
‘Hmm,’ Ben murmured. ‘Okay, so somehow in those six weeks, Charlotte figured out enough personal information about you to set up a bank account in your name.’
I turned and stared at him, a calming warmth spreading through my body.
‘You believe me? That the account wasn’t mine?’
‘Of course I do,’ Ben said without hesitation. ‘That’s not who you are.’ He shook his head. ‘And I should have known that instead of believing Charlotte’s lies two years ago. I misjudged you then. I won’t make the same mistake again now.’
I shifted my gaze to the road ahead, unable to speak.
‘The question is, how do we prove that to the police?’ Ben added.
I shook my head. ‘I don’t think we can.’ I let out a defeated sigh. ‘I’m in so much trouble. Maybe I should have gone to the police the second I found those sales agreements. Finding them for themselves makes me look more guilty. Especially as they realised I’d already seen them.’
‘How did you get those records?’ Ben asked. ‘Like you said, you were only there six weeks. But you had up-to-date files.’
‘I took them,’ I admitted.
‘Seriously, everyone just let you walk into Blackwater and take a copy of all their financial records?’
‘They didn’t exactly know I was there.’ I squirmed in the seat, the seatbelt suddenly feeling tight and restrictive.
‘You broke in?’ Ben’s eyes were wide.
‘I didn’t break in.’ I scrunched my nose. ‘I snuck in.’
‘How?’
‘At night.’ I swallowed. ‘Through the tack room window.’
Ben chuckled. ‘Seriously? They still haven’t got that fixed?’
‘Ryan said they had other priorities.’ I shrugged. ‘Two years ago.’
‘I bet they’ll be regretting that when they figure it out.’
My stomach plummeted.
I’d been so worried about the police discovering what I’d done, I hadn’t even thought about what Ryan would think. How disappointed he’d be in me.
‘Janine was definitely wrong about you,’ Ben said, disrupting my thoughts. ‘You are a hell of a lot stronger and more capable than she gives you credit for.’
I blinked. ‘You sound almost impressed that I snuck in and stole the Blackwater files.’
‘I guess I am,’ Ben admitted.
‘But it’s theft. It’s bad.’
‘You had your reasons.’
‘It’s still illegal,’ I pointed out. ‘And when the police realise it, they’ll arrest me.’ I frowned. ‘I don’t understand why they didn’t arrest me already, given everything they already have.’
‘Because none of it makes sense,’ Ben replied.
‘It makes perfect sense. I look guilty.’
He shook his head. ‘No, you look involved in something, but right now it’s not clear what that is.’
‘But—’
‘These are foals we’re talking about. It’s not like you created a fictitious sale for something that didn’t exist. The foals were bred, born and sold through the stables. Real horses. Real transactions. Regardless of your signature on the paperwork, other people were involved.’
I sank back in the seat. ‘Right, people who would have noticed my name was on the documents.’
‘And those payments to the account in your name could be skimming off the sale, or they could be commission or something. You stopped being an employee two years ago, so why would you be involved in Blackwater business and signing documents if you weren’t being paid?’
‘They can’t prove the transactions weren’t legitimate…’ The idea started to lodge in my brain. ‘Except they weren’t recorded in the accounts.’
Ben shrugged. ‘So, Blackwater were doing things off the books, that doesn’t incriminate you.’
‘It incriminates them,’ I realised.
‘They couldn’t arrest you, because they can’t prove you did anything wrong.’
‘Yet,’ I said, as cold dread swept over me.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘I told them about Atlas’s infertility.’
I clamped my hand over my mouth.
What had I done?
‘Okay…’ Ben said slowly. ‘That still doesn’t prove you’re guilty.’
‘But if we’re right… If those foals aren’t his…’
‘Then you still couldn’t have acted alone. At some point they’ll have to figure out Charlotte’s involvement.’
‘How? Even we haven’t been able to prove it, and we’ve been looking for the link.’ I banged my head back against the headrest. ‘And it’s not like the police can interview her and get her to confess. She’s dead.’
‘There has to be someone else involved,’ Ben said, grinding his teeth. ‘This is too complicated for Charlotte to have acted alone. Lineage is recorded and monitored. There’s no way she could have faked all the records herself.’
‘What about Martin?’ I asked. ‘The stables were in financial difficulties when I was there. They were struggling to make their loan repayments.’
Ben raised his eyebrows. ‘I didn’t know it was that bad.’
‘Neither did Ryan. He had no idea when I told him.’ I shrugged. ‘Martin kept it to himself.’
‘What about Ryan then? Maybe once he realised—’
‘He wouldn’t do that,’ I cut in quickly.
‘Well, the only other person is Denise, but she couldn’t have faked the records either.’
‘But a vet could,’ I said, jolting forward in the seat so fast the seatbelt braced against me.
‘Yeah.’ Ben ran his hand across his face. ‘Theoretically. But do you really think this extends that far outside Blackwater?’
‘I lied,’ I blurted out.
‘What?’
‘To Janine. I lied when I said I’d only stalked Charlotte on social media.’ I glanced across at Ben, stunned by what I was about to admit. ‘I followed her in person. In my car. Well, not my car, a hire car.’
Ben’s gaze darted rapidly between me and the road. ‘What did you see?’
I blinked. ‘Wait, that’s all you’re going to ask? You’re not going to comment on the fact I just admitted to stalking someone?’
‘Not someone. Charlotte.’ Ben shrugged. ‘I don’t blame you for doing that. In fact, I think it was brilliant.’
‘Huh.’ I shook my head, staring at him in stunned amazement.
If I’d confessed that to Ryan, I had no doubt that he would not have been impressed. He’d have disapproved. And probably been angry.
‘So, what did you find out?’ Ryan persisted.
‘She met with the Blackwater vet, David Harcourt. I watched her hand him an envelope.’
‘Okay, that could be interesting.’
‘At Corfe Castle,’ I added.
Ben shifted, his interest piqued. ‘Even more interesting. If it had been legitimate Blackwater business—’
‘They’d have met at the stables,’ I finished for him, eager for him to reach the same conclusion I had.
‘The vet’s involved,’ Ben said with a smile.