3

By the time Kate turned over, all the other beds were empty. She hadn’t even heard the contestants leave.

Liz entered the room “Made you some tea. Are you all right? You look a little peaky. Not like you to fall asleep again.” She put down the cup and felt Kate’s forehead. “No temperature though.”

“I’m fine.” Kate lifted the tea and took a long swig. “Thank you for this. And I wasn’t sleeping.”

“You were praying, then.”

She refused to rise to the derisive tone. “Yeah, I was.”

Liz eyed her. “Why? I mean, what’s the point? He doesn’t listen.”

“Just because the answer isn’t always yes, doesn’t mean He isn’t listening. Did your parents always give you everything you wanted?”

Liz shook her head. “No, because then you’d be a spoiled brat and never appreciate what you do get.”

“Exactly. And God’s given us so much; we have an awful lot to be thankful for.”

Liz nodded. “This forgiveness thing you keep going on about?”

Kate nodded. “I can explain again if you like.”

Liz bit her lip and then nodded. She sat cross legged on the bed beside Kate.

Kate willingly shared the gospel with her, explaining how Jesus died to save everyone and how it costs nothing more than accepting the gift of forgiveness.

“What’s the catch?”

“No catch.”

Liz shook her head. “There has to be. I mean, come on, all that for nothing. You could kill someone and get away with it.”

“Not from earthly justice, but the Bible says in first John that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The gospel of John also says for God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

“Maybe I’ve done stuff that can’t be forgiven. What if I really, really mess up and do something illegal? Something so bad that the courts would instantly lock you up and throw away the key?”

“No one falls that far. If you truly repent—that is, admit what you’ve done because you’re actually truly sorry, and you promise to try not to do it again—then yeah, He’ll forgive you. You may still have to face consequences of your actions, but you are forgiven.”

The tannoy sprang to life. “Will all housemates please go to the lounge?”

Liz groaned. “Already? Maybe we can talk more later?”

Kate smiled. “I’d like that.”

“I’m sure they did that on purpose because I was interested in what you were saying.” Liz flounced out of the room.

Kate glanced at her cold tea and followed slowly. Being summoned before lunch was never a good thing. Normally they had the morning to do whatever they wanted as downtime, before the public-chosen activity in the afternoon.

One rule of the house was first names only. No one knew anyone’s surname or knew each other outside of the house. At least that was how it was meant to work. Unfortunately in the case of Kate and Silas, they had a past neither of them could avoid. They’d both made the producer, Mr. Horner, aware of it on day one, and all agreed they should just get on with things and not discuss it. She’d upheld her end…until last night, at least.

She eased into the chair she’d adopted as hers and glanced around the room.

Silas was missing.

Good. Maybe the nasty piece of work had been thrown off the show after last night. Or he’d done the decent thing and walked. She really didn’t want to spend another day under the same roof as that slime ball Silas. She sucked in a deep breath, taking back that thought. It wasn’t very Christian of her. She was far from perfect herself.

Mr. Horner strode into the room. “Good morning, everyone. Glad to see you’re all here. Thank you for stopping whatever you were doing.”

“Apart from Silas,” Hank said. “He wasn’t in his bed this morning.”

“We’ve turned off the live feed for the next little while. When it goes back on there will be an hour’s delay to allow us to edit what’s being aired.”

“Why?” Hank demanded. “Surely the whole point is it’s not edited.”

“Things have changed. Silas is dead.”

Kate sat stunned. He’d picked on her, bullied Liz, and constantly fought with Hank. Kate had wished him gone, but…dead?

Perhaps she’d misheard him. “Sorry? Silas is what?”

“Dead. He killed himself last night.” Mr. Horner continued bluntly. “He hanged himself in the boot room.”

Shock tied Kate’s stomach in knots. She knew Silas, and he wasn’t the sort of person to take his own life. Not without reason. It had to be one of the people sitting in this room with her who’d driven him to do such a thing. Unless it was down to her, and that fight they’d had last night had pushed him over the edge. Kate broke off the thought that was almost too awful to voice, even if just to herself.

Mr. Horner gazed long and hard at each of them. “So, three things are now happening you need to be aware off. First off, the police are coming this morning to interview all of you. Second thing. The boot room is off limits, so we’re adjusting the set as from now. The only access to the garden is through the doors here. And the third thing. We have a new housemate joining this morning. They will be here in the next little while.”

“You’re replacing Silas, already? Seems a bit harsh if you ask me.” Paul’s eyes widened as he played with Kate’s foot. “Can we have someone pretty this time, maybe?”

She scowled and shifted sideways, moving her feet out of his reach. “You’d like that too much. But it’s a valid point. How can you just replace him like that?”

Mr. Horner stared at her, the pointed look making her skin crawl. “We’d always planned on someone new joining today.”

“The extra bed in the blokes’ room, I assume.” Liz grinned. “Bad luck Paul. He still might be cute though.”

Kate shook her head in despair. “Why are the police involved? I thought you said it was suicide?”

“The coroner isn’t convinced and has marked it as a suspicious death. The police, by default, now have to be involved. We’ll explain away Silas’s absence, so any mention of his death will be edited out. However, we’d rather you didn’t discuss it too much. We know it’ll be unavoidable, hence the hour delay on the live feed. The police will be using the diary room for the interviews. Any footage from there will be kept by the police. All the footage from last night will be handed over to them.”

“All the footage?” Paul asked. “Even the boring, every day stuff you don’t air. Like the bathroom?”

“All of it,” Mr. Horner responded firmly.

Kate wrapped her hands tightly around her middle. She couldn’t believe this was happening. “Wait a second. You’re still broadcasting? Why? I mean, if the cops are coming and the coroner’s suspicious, then that means that one of us sitting here is a potential murderer. You should take us off the air at least.”

Mr. Horner shook his head. “No can do.”

“What about this public voted activity?” Hank asked. “Surely you’ll cancel that now.”

“It’s still going ahead as planned since the vote took place last night. We need you all to play to give us something to broadcast tonight, as there won’t be a live show. The winner will be able to choose dinner and drinks for everyone. Attendance is mandatory. The cops will be here in around an hour. And be nice to the new bloke. We’ll be watching.”

Kate sighed. “Shame you weren’t watching last night. Things might have turned out differently.”

Mr. Horner raised an eyebrow. “You mean Silas wouldn’t have attacked you or he wouldn’t have died?”

“Both,” she shot back. “I’m just grateful Roj was there last night and stopped him. But someone else should have done something long before it got that far. And before you tell me I should have walked away, I tried. Three times.”

Mr. Horner pointed to the bag on the floor. “Make up Silas’s bed for him.”

Paul baulked at that. “You’re kidding right? Would you want to sleep in a dead man’s bed before it was even cold? I’ll make up the empty one. That is what it’s there for.” He grabbed the bag and headed out quickly.

Mr. Horner turned and strode to the door. “We’ll let you know when the police arrive. I suggest you all be honest with them. The sooner they clear this up, the sooner we can get back to normal.”

Kate sighed. “Normal? There is nothing normal about this.” With a sinking feeling, she realised that after last night’s fight with Silas, if his death did turn out to be murder, she was suspect number one.