Page 125 of The Jealous Girl

‘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.