‘It’s the exact same paper I saw in the Devines’ house. It must have been Charlie who sent the note, who was spying on me, involving herself in my marriage. She’s always acted a little strange around Max and this explains it.’ Beth sat at the table in Cara’s shed, folding and unfolding the piece of paper before her.
‘From the moment she crashed our street party, I think Charlie Devine has been hell-bent on sabotaging all of us. Your marriage.’ Alex looked at Beth. ‘And your business.’ She looked at Cara.
‘And what about you? What of yours has she ruined?’ asked Cara.
‘I’m still working that out,’ muttered Alex.
‘I still don’t really understand why she would hate us so much. We’ve really done nothing to her,’ said Cara.
‘Who knows why people do anything?’ Alex shrugged. ‘The question is, what do we do about it?’
The women stood in silence. The normal sounds of Cuthbert Close filtered through the open door of the shed: the wind whispering through the trees. A whip of birds taking flight. The woody music of a bamboo wind chime. A leaf blower squealing in the distance. The muted beep of a truck reversing, several streets away.
A car door being banged shut.
Slammed. Too firmly.
Beth flinched. ‘Who’s that, I wonder?’
In a neighbourhood like theirs, there was a distinct difference between a car door being shut, and one being shut in anger. There was a pitch to it that made you stop and listen for what would come next.
This one was heavy and angry.
Cara, Alex and Beth were still. Next came hurried footsteps, raised voices, and not happy raised voices. Frightened ones. Panicked.
‘What the hell’s going on now?’ groaned Alex. ‘Haven’t we had enough trouble for one day? This is Cuthbert Close. Nothing ever happens here!’
‘I think we’d better go investigate,’ said Cara grimly, leading the way out of her garden and into the street.
The first thing that hit Beth was the stricken look on Charlie Devine’s face, and, in contrast, the sheer joy on her daughter’s as she hugged a man Beth had never seen before.
‘Looks like Daddy’s home,’ said Alex, under her breath.
‘That’s the Primal Guy,’ said Beth in disbelief.
After all the newsletters, and everything Cara and Alex had told her about the man, Beth anticipated a Chris Hemsworth-style man-mountain, not this slightly dishevelled and puffy-looking fellow, with his shirt half untucked and nothing more than thongs on his feet.
‘I’ve missed you so much, Daddy.’ Talia clung to him tightly.
‘Me too, baby girl. Me too.’ He kissed her head and they rocked together in the middle of the Devines’ front garden.
‘Ryan, you know the deal. You need to leave now.’ Charlie Devine stood with her arms folded, her lips set in a line. ‘I’m serious. You need to go.’
‘Mum, no!’ cried Talia. ‘He’s only just arrived.’
‘Talia, we’ve been through this.’ Charlie’s voice was steely.
‘Why can’t you give him a second chance? Why do you have to be such a bitch?’
Beth’s hand flew to her mouth.
‘Talia,’ said Charlie. ‘Come inside. Ryan, I’m going to call the rehab centre to let them know you’re here. But you have to go back. You know that.’
‘No need, baby-cakes. Look at me. Perfectly fine.’ Ryan spread his arms and started to put one foot in front of other. Two feet from his wife, he stumbled and fell towards her. Instinctively, Charlie’s hands rushed to shield her face.
‘Look, mate.’ Alex strode over the grass. ‘I think you better leave, or I’m going to have to call the police.’
‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who are you?’ slurred Ryan. Up close, Alex could see his pupils were like pinpricks, his eyes riven with angry red veins.
‘My name is Alexandra O’Rourke and I’ve spent more time in a courtroom than you have in a gym. If this woman is asking you to leave her property, then you must, or you’ll be charged with trespass.’ She held out her phone and made a show of starting to dial.
‘Please, Alex. Don’t. I want my dad to stay. I need him.’ Talia clung to her father.
‘Talia, I’m sorry but your mother has asked him to leave and I think she knows best,’ said Alex.
‘She has no idea,’ spat Talia. ‘I hate her.’
Cara stepped closer to the teenager and was about to speak when she felt a tug on her arm.
‘Mummy, stay away from her.’ It was Poppy. Where had she come from? She must have followed Talia onto the street when she heard the commotion.
‘Darling, it’s fine. Just go back inside.’
‘Don’t go near her,’ Poppy whispered.
‘Who? Charlie?’ Cara took her daughter’s hand.
‘No. Her.’ Poppy pointed and Cara followed the direction of her finger … straight to Talia, who was now speaking quietly and urgently with Charlie and Ryan.
‘What do you mean?’
But Poppy’s lips were clammed shut.
Suddenly, it clicked. It was shocking and almost incomprehensible but it somehow made sense.
Cara knelt down. ‘Did Talia cut your hair? Did she threaten you?’ She clasped her daughter’s hands. ‘Don’t look at her. She won’t hurt you. Look at me.’
Poppy’s eyes were troubled. ‘She told us that she’d made her cat kill Henny and that if we told anyone what happened, she’d get her cat to kill all the pets in the street.’ The little girl’s voice wobbled.
Cara felt winded. There was a pressure in her chest. Her mind was a storm of thoughts and feelings. How? How could Talia do such a thing? And why?
Cara squeezed her daughter’s hand and rose to her full height.
‘Talia,’ she called, and the teenager turned to face her, releasing her grip on her father’s arm. ‘I think there’s something you need to tell us about Poppy’s hair, about what happened earlier.’
Talia’s eyes narrowed. ‘I told you what happened. I didn’t see anything.’
‘I heard you on the monitor. Poppy didn’t want you to touch her. She was scared.’
‘Talia.’ There was a tone of warning in Charlie’s voice, but also something else … fear. ‘Talia, what happened to Poppy’s hair? You need to tell the truth.’
‘The truth?’ Talia turned on her mother and the look on her face was one of pure loathing. ‘You know the truth.’
Charlie inhaled and took a step back. ‘Oh, Talia, you didn’t, did you?’
‘I’ve always thought I’d make a good hairdresser, and I think little Poppy agrees with me. Short hair suits her, doesn’t it.’ Talia folded her arms, triumphantly.
‘But you let the boys take the blame,’ said Alex. ‘That’s just horrible.’
Talia wheeled around. ‘What would you care?’ she burst out. ‘You’re never around for them anyway. Why did you even become a mother? That poor little Noah. I feel sorry for that kid. Even when he’s telling the truth, no one believes him. I mean, think about it, what would a kid want with a diamond ring? Did you even stop to think about that for one minute?’
‘Talia, stop,’ said Charlie.
‘That was you,’ said Beth. ‘You took my engagement ring and planted it in Noah’s bedroom?’
‘Well, let’s face it, Beth. It’s not like you’ll be needing it for much longer. I saw you kiss that young guy. It’s disgusting. You’re old enough to be his mother,’ she hissed.
‘And that’s why you sent the note …’ said Beth.
So it wasn’t about Max after all. It was about me.
‘I sure did.’ Talia nodded with satisfaction. ‘I mean, how could you do that to your family? To your kids? Your poor family, having to eat those disgusting quiches every night. I loved putting that thing in the bin.’ She turned to Ryan. ‘Seriously, Dad, you would have puked.’
Beth recoiled. ‘I don’t understand, Talia. Why would you take it if you didn’t want it?’
‘Because I knew it would make you feel good. I had to get you to like me so that you would hate her. And you fell for it, hook, line and sinker. My dad’s the Primal Guy! Of course I wasn’t going to eat the stupid quiche.’ She shook her head at Beth. ‘You did it for you! Seriously, all you women think only about yourselves. You don’t give your kids a second thought, do you.’ She whipped around to face Charlie. ‘Do you, Mum. You really don’t give a shit about me.’
‘That’s absolutely not true,’ said Charlie, her voice breaking. ‘I moved here for you. For us. To give us a fresh start. To get away from all the chaos …’
‘That’s such bullshit,’ Talia exploded. ‘You never even stopped to think twice about me.’
‘That’s totally unfair,’ Charlie cried. ‘The way we were living was so toxic. It was a complete lie. Your dad was out of control, and I had to get you out of there, away from him … You were getting caught up in it too.’
‘But he’s my dad.’ Talia flung herself into her father’s arms and sobbed into his shoulder, causing him to stumble backwards. ‘Daddy, I want to come with you. I’ve been working so hard to make you proud of me. I did it all for you.’
‘Did all what for me, baby girl?’ He took her chin in his hands.
‘Got rid of them for you, Daddy.’ She thrust a look in the direction of Cara, Beth and Alex. ‘They were moving in on our turf, and you know what we always say, the main threats are the ones you never see coming, except I did see this coming, so I did something about it.’
Cara felt winded. What was Talia talking about now? Surely not … ‘You lit the fire in the shed, didn’t you? You could have killed someone.’
Talia gave her a disdainful look. ‘To be honest, I’d hoped for a little more damage. But, whatever.’ She shrugged. ‘My friendly local council was more than happy to talk to me … They take food poisoning extremely seriously.’
‘So, the complaint to the council came from you too?’ said Alex.
Talia folded her arms. ‘For a lawyer, Alex, you’re not exactly careful with your words, are you now? The internet is forever, didn’t you know. That’s what you adults are always telling us.’
Charlie took a step towards her daughter. ‘Talia, I understand that you’re upset with me, but I want you to apologise now. These women are not our enemies. They’ve done nothing wrong.’
Talia turned to her, eyes streaming with tears. ‘And I did nothing wrong either—’ her voice broke ‘—but I lost everything.’