“I told you. I did it. I put the pillow over his face.”
Kayleigh tried to make herself sound like a woman in a film she’d seen once with Marlene. Her grandmother had taken them and had chewed toffees all the way through.
The rustle of the sweet papers had made it difficult to hear and even now Kayleigh didn’t know why the character in the film had said she’d killed the man in question. It had been with a knife, rather than a pillow. But she could remember the hard way the actress had sounded and her unrepentant facial expression.
So Kayleigh tried to copy that too even though she still felt shaky after the lawyer’s probing questions and patronising manner.
“Why?” asked Alice, who was sitting next to her. But she said it in a nice way. One that almost made Kayleigh want to tell the truth.
“It was like I just said to your posh lawyer friend. I did it for you. I remembered the name from when we talked on the beach. Uncle Phil, you’d said. Then I heard you arguing with your husband about him. I could see he was still upsetting you so I decided to do something about it because you’ve been good to me. Garth found out where he lived from your mum – he pretended he wanted to send a get well card – so I made him drive me there.”
It sounded real, even to her.
Alice leaned forward and took her hands. Was this what it would be like to have a real mum who loved you? “Kayleigh, sometimes when we care for someone, we try to protect them. I think … I think you have learned to care for Garth and that you are protecting him now.”
“Why?” Kayleigh heard her words ring out sharply. “Why do you think that?”
“Because my son told me what really happened.”
Kayleigh felt cold even though Alice’s hot hands were still there. “Then he’s lying.”
Alice leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes briefly before opening them again. Her mascara was smudged, Kayleigh noticed. Marlene had taught her a good trick to deal with that. “You can’t buy someone’s love, Kayleigh,” added Alice softly.
Standing up, Kayleigh kicked the table. Shocked, she looked down at her foot as though someone else had done it. “I’m not. How dare you say that?”
“Because I understand.” Alice looked away. “I tried to buy my husband’s love by flattering him when we met. I told him that I liked the same kind of books he read and the same kind of music. I also made him want me even though …”
Her voice tailed away but Kayleigh knew what she meant. “Even though you didn’t fancy him?”
Alice gave a half-smile. “Something like that. The thing is, Kayleigh, that you have to be honest. Otherwise, the lies will eat you away.”
Kayleigh thought about Mr Brown in the classroom with the woman who wasn’t his wife. Were his fibs eating him away? It hadn’t looked like it.
“Don’t you want me to save Garth from going to prison?” she demanded disbelievingly. “Blokes on my estate get loads of money for doing that.”
Alice shook her head. “Not if my son really did it.” Then she looked away but not before Kayleigh saw a tear slide down her cheek. “If anyone should go to prison, it ought to be me.”
“No.” Kayleigh reached out for her. “You’re a good person. You gave me a home. You took me in and I … I wasn’t truthful to you. I stole something.”
Alice looked sad. “I know.”
“But it wasn’t what you thought. I stole a frame to buy my fare home ’cos I gave the money you gave me, to Callum.”
Alice frowned. “I don’t understand.”
So Garth hadn’t told her then.
“He’s my brother. Half-brother really. He saw me in the centre and said I had to get him some money. He’d just come out of prison, you see, and he was in trouble again.”
Kayleigh felt sick. Alice was looking at her in a way that suggested she despised her. “So you helped him burgle our house?”
“No. I didn’t know he was going to do it. But I did give him the name of the house. I’m really sorry.”
Alice was shaking her head. “It doesn’t matter any more. Not compared with this.” Then her voice hardened. “We’ve all done things we shouldn’t have done, Kayleigh. And yes, if I’m honest, I would rather you went to prison than my son. But I also know that I would never be able to find peace in myself if you took the blame. And nor would Garth. So if you really love him, you’ll tell us what really happened.”
Kayleigh hesitated. She’d told her story so many times, to the police and to that lawyer, that she could almost feel that pillow in her hand. Hear the old man’s mewing as she pressed it down over his face.
“I don’t know,” she said, turning away. “I don’t know nothing any more. I can’t properly remember.”
When she came out, Daniel was waiting in the interview waiting room with Garth. So too was Brian. Daniel’s face was stone. “I told you not to let that girl into our house.”
“Daniel.” Brian’s tone was mildly reproachful. “Recriminations aren’t going to help.”
“Aren’t they? What will help then?”
“Shut up, Dad.” Garth enveloped her in a big hug. “Mum’s had enough to cope with all these years.”
Daniel stood up and began pacing round the room. “I don’t know what to believe any more.”
Phil Wright got me pregnant, Daniel! It was on the tip of her tongue to say so. But now they were face to face, she began to doubt her earlier resolution to come clean. It might only make things worse. He might not believe her. Or he’d think even worse of her than he did already.
“Calm down everyone.” Brian had his lawyer voice on. “We all need to take stock here and …”
He stopped as the door swung open. Alice’s heart began to thud. Paul Black wasn’t looking at her. He was addressing Brian. But he wanted to look at her.
She just knew it.
“A new witness has come forward,” he said.
Alice’s heart quickened. Garth, she noticed, looked scared. “Someone saw what happened?”
“Not for the recent incident.” He still faced Brian. “For the complaint which Mrs Honeybun made about an alleged rape twenty-three years ago.”
Alice’s heart caught in her throat.
“Who?” she asked hoarsely. “Who?”
Finally, he turned to her. “We’ve been making our own enquiries; interviewing people who knew the Wrights. A Mrs Patricia Cross was their cleaner at the time. She saw what happened and she’s prepared to testify that Phil Wright abused you. She also claims she was bought off by the man and that it’s been weighing on her conscience for years.”
“But I didn’t see anyone,” Alice began to say, just as Daniel interrupted.
“Great. But how’s that going to help my son? You’ve got to see that he’s just pretending to have smothered Phil Wright out of a misguided sense of loyalty towards this girl.”
“I did …” began Garth.
“Don’t say anything,” said Brian quickly. Then he turned to Daniel first and then Alice. “If I’m not mistaken, this new piece of evidence might make all the difference. Whoever murdered Phil Wright could argue they did so out of loyalty to the rape victim.”
He coughed delicately. “Especially if the victim is the mother of the accused. The tape isn’t enough on its own because Phil Wright is a sick man. It could be argued that he made his confession when he wasn’t of sound mind.”
Alice groaned.
“No. It’s not as black as it sounds. Now we have a witness, the tape assumes greater significance. The two pieces of evidence combined, might be enough to reduce the sentence. Substantially.”