Page 154 of The Jealous Girl

And I knew who I’d seen in the barn the night before Charlotte’s death.

My gaze shifted to Martin. The memory of him feeding Atlas the apple mixed with his medication flashed through my mind with sudden clarity.

‘I had to,’ Denise said.

My head snapped back towards her. ‘You?’

She looked at Martin, her lower lip trembling slightly. ‘I couldn’t risk losing you. Not again.’

‘Losing him?’ I glanced back and forth between Denise and Martin. ‘What do you mean?’ Ryan was the one they were afraid of losing to me, wasn’t he?

They exchanged a look.

‘What?’ Ryan asked.

‘I didn’t have a heart attack,’ Martin said quietly.

‘Presentation atypical for myocardial infarction,’ I said, repeating the words I’d read on Martin’s hospital discharge letter.

Denise and Martin stared at me in surprise.

‘You knew?’ she asked.

I nodded. ‘But I still don’t know exactly what it means. Or why you kept it from Ryan.’ I frowned. Or even what it had to do with any of this.

‘The doctors thought it was a heart attack initially,’ Denise said. ‘But, when they ran their tests, things didn’t quite add up.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Ryan asked.

‘We couldn’t risk you finding out your dad had recovered quicker than expected. If you had…’

‘He might have left,’ I said with a snort.

‘We couldn’t take that risk.’

‘That Ryan could have a life of his own? With me?’ I shook my head. ‘Was that really so bad?’

‘Yes,’ Denise said flatly.

‘Then, when you two got back together, Charlotte was so angry,’ Martin said, looking at me. ‘She demanded that we break you up. Threatened to expose the fraud if we didn’t. But Ryan was so determined not to let you go this time.’ Martin shook his head. ‘Even when we told him about the fraud, and about Charlotte’s threats…’

I turned to Ryan, my eyes welling with tears. He had wanted this. Wanted me.

‘Why didn’t she report you, when you failed?’ I asked.

‘She found another way to make us comply,’ Martin said.

‘Charlotte started making comments,’ Denise said. ‘Little ones. Ambiguous. But—’ She swallowed.

‘What comments?’ I asked.

‘“We wouldn’t want you to get sick again…”’ Martin said. ‘We never knew anything for sure, but⁠—’

‘You think Charlotte caused your cardiac event?’

‘David was here last week,’ Martin said. ‘He commented on the foxgloves being back. We’d had them a couple of years ago, but Charlotte had dug them out. Apparently, it had been David’s recommendation. He’d warned her that they were poisonous.’

A chill ran through my body.