Danny is wearing black skinny jeans and a Nike jacket, a baseball cap on his head.
‘I knew it.’ Rachel controls her voice to stop it from shaking.
‘Have you told her how well we know each other?’ he asks Heidi, who scowls, dismissing him with a shake of the head. He walks to her side and slides his arm around her, all the while keeping his gaze on Rachel. ‘Me and Heidi go back a long way, since well before you ever met your husband, before he became Heidi’s.’
‘He wasn’t her husband.’
He sniggers. ‘That was most probably down to me. Tom wasn’t too happy when he found you’d been cheating on him, was he, babe? He should have kept quiet.’
‘Shut up, Danny,’ Heidi says, shrugging his arm off and stepping away from him.
Rachel is watching the pair closely. Heidi’s antagonism towards him has to work in her favour. If only she’d allowed Freddie to come. The unsent text is on her phone screen, in her pocket, if only she could somehow send it. Her mind is working furiously as she wills herself to come up with a strategy to get out of this situation. If she’s hurt, or worse, she won’t be able to get to her daughter.
‘Where’s Lara?’ She focuses her attention on Heidi, who is shifting around, watching Danny. She’s afraid of him too. ‘What’s going on? Is this to do with Tom? I know you sent the notes. My neighbour’s CCTV caught you on camera.’
Heidi looks off balance. ‘That’s why you cancelled the lessons. I knew something was up. It didn’t work. Lara came to my flat. She’s beginning to remember being there, I can tell, and even if she can’t remember, she has an innate sense of the bond we once had; she knows we were close and she still feels it. You won’t cut me out of her life, Rachel. Tom wouldn’t have wanted that.’
‘What do you know about Tom? Are you still in love with him, is that what this is?’
‘Put her out of her misery,’ Danny says. His voice is loud in the barn and Rachel shivers. If he’s unstable, who knows what he will do to Lara. It’s hard to focus on Tom when her daughter could be in danger. Heidi has deceived her, proved she’s a liar; how can she believe anything she says? But if Tom is behind all this, she needs to know what she’s dealing with.
‘Is he alive? Have you been pretending all this time? You have to tell me. Did you force him to write those notes to me?’ Her legs feel unsteady at the thought of finally knowing what happened to her husband. The thought is so enormous, it’s hard to comprehend it’s really happening. ‘Tell me first, though – is Lara safe? Is she here?’
‘Yes,’ Heidi says, ‘of course she is. She’s fine. I wouldn’t hurt her. She’s a great kid. Josh is too. They haven’t done anything wrong. The notes were just a little teaser, to unsettle you. Tom’s handwriting is something I’ve had loads of practice at – did you think I was going to let you get away with getting the guardianship and Tom double-crossing me over the new will?’
‘There never was a new will,’ Rachel says. ‘You know that. Just the wills Tom and I made together when Lara was born.’
‘I know. He went back on his promise to rewrite the will and leave everything to me. He drafted it up and then changed his mind. The bastard. He promised me the house. I should be the one living there, making those alterations, not you.’
‘I can’t believe you’re still harping on about that.’
‘It’s what I deserve. It must be hidden in the house somewhere. I bet you haven’t even looked.’
‘My solicitor told you there was no evidence of one. Is that what all this is about?’
‘I know it exists. The house should be mine. Can’t you see that?’
‘No. It’s always been mine, mine and the children’s. You took my husband from me, surely that’s enough?’
‘He was going to leave me, though, wasn’t he?’ Heidi laughs, a chilling sound. ‘I know you were stealing him back from me. Tom told me all about it. How he was having doubts about us.’ She kicks her foot against the ground.
Her sudden movement alarms Rachel. Heidi sounds deranged; who knows what she is capable of?
‘I want to see my daughter. Where is she? I need to know she’s safe. Please let me see her.’ Lara is her priority. Heidi’s grievances can wait.
‘Stop bleating. We’ll take you to her when we’re ready,’ Danny says.
A scream pierces the night.