Page 59 of The Girlfriend’s Secret

That is an understatement, and the truth is, I have no idea how Joel has just done what he has. But he is strong and, more than that, he has a passion for making things right. That’s why we go so well together. That’s why we are not splitting up at all. But it doesn’t hurt that Liane now thinks we have.

Do you still want to do this?

I send that message to Joel and wait for his response, keen to hear and respect his feelings and not just have tunnel vision in my pursuit of bringing his mother to justice.

No going back now.

That’s his reply and it tells me all I need to know, so there’s only one thing left to say.

I love you.

He replies with the same.

Now it’s back to the plan.

As I wander around the house, looking at all the piles of cardboard boxes full of things that Liane has packed away, I cannot believe how she was the killer hiding in plain sight all this time. How I was in this house with her, hiding under the bed, worried that she might catch me because if she did, she would get angry, and shout, and maybe call the police. But the reality was that if she had discovered me hiding here, she most likely would have done something much worse.

Something she had already done before.

Something like take my life without hesitation.

Thankfully, she never got that chance. But it doesn’t mean she won’t get it in the future. That’s why I have to be careful. I’m playing with fire now. Having heard the true depths of craziness that exist in my boyfriend’s family, I probably should have just left them all behind. The second Scott told me about his mother and how evil she could be, I could have just bailed and never looked back. Moved on. Got a new boyfriend. One who didn’t have a psycho for a mother. Yet here I am, still with my current boyfriend and, right now, still trespassing in his grandmother’s home.

I never did like to take the easy option in life.

Because I stayed in that hotel room when Scott confessed to his mother’s real personality, and because I saw how broken that poor guy was about it all, I was the one who had to decide what happened next.

So I did.

FORTY-ONE

HAVEN

EARLIER – THE HOTEL

‘Hey, it’s me,’ I say after calling Joel and hearing his voice at the other end of the line.

‘Is everything okay?’ he asks, and I assume he is still under the impression that I think he was going for a walk when he left this hotel room, rather than what he has really been doing.

‘Not really,’ I admit. ‘Your brother is here.’

‘What?’ Joel cries.

‘I know you were meeting him downstairs in the bar for a drink,’ I say. ‘But I don’t care about that. We’ve got more important things to deal with. Can you come back to the room so we can talk?’

‘Erm, okay,’ Joel says, and then I hang up before nodding at Scott.

‘He’s on his way,’ I say, not that Scott replies. He goes into the bathroom and closes the door, and I wonder if he is going to be sick. I certainly feel nauseous after all he has told me, so I could forgive him for feeling the need to vomit. But he emerges a few moments later, still looking pale, but with no evidence of having been sick. I guess he just needed a few moments to compose himself. I hope he got them because the knock at the hotel room door tells us both that Joel is here.

‘What’s going on?’ Joel asks nervously, and he’s probably imagining all sorts of awful scenarios. Maybe he’s even imagining that me and his older brother are somehow romantically involved with each other and this is the part where I choose Scott over him. But while that would be bad, it’s not as bad as what is really going on here.

‘You need to sit down and listen to your brother,’ I say, taking hold of Joel’s hand before nodding. ‘It’s going to be hard, but it’s really important that you do.’

Joel looks at Scott, and while I know their sibling bond is a strong one, it’s about to be tested in a way it never has been before. What is about to happen in these next five minutes will push the brothers’ relationship to the brink.

‘What is this?’ Joel asks again.

‘Seriously, sit down first,’ Scott says, and he takes a seat on the bed before motioning for his brother to join him.