Page 66 of The Temp

‘It’s not funny, Sandra,’ Daisy rages, blood rushing to her cheeks. She has got a short fuse, after all. ‘Your precious baking-genius daughter stabbed her boyfriend and your expert veg-cutting eldest was going to help her cover it up.’ I feel the room swirl, the sensation making me bilious. There’s only one way she could know all this – she was standing outside Zelda’s door that night for a lot longer than she let on. ‘It’s been all over the news,’ Daisy adds for good measure. Right, she thinks Frank is the Limes Park victim. But why this sudden anger? Tom rudely asked her to leave this morning and I suppose I went along with it. But is she really that vindictive?

‘No, that’s complete bollocks,’ Zelda gulps. ‘Look, Mum, I’m gonna level with you.’ Mum folds her arms in readiness, lips pursed. ‘While you were in Portugal, I dated a guy, Bella’s ex-personal trainer, who turned out to be a bastard. We had a fight and he disappeared, that’s all. Did me for two thousand quid.’

‘Two thousand pounds? Oh, you idiot,’ Mum barks and Zelda reddens, humiliated, hurt.

‘Disappeared?’ Daisy scoffs. ‘Dead more like.’

‘No, Daisy, he’s very much alive. In fact, I got a text from him this morning.’

‘Where from, the morgue? We all know he’s the Limes Park victim. That’s why the police came round to Bella’s fishing for information.’

Mum looks as if she’s about to have a heart attack. ‘Is this true?’

Closing my eyes, I run a hand through my hair. ‘No,’ I say, ‘Frank isn’t the Limes Park guy.’ Daisy opens her mouth to protest when I blurt, ‘They’ve identified the body. It’s Liam Cooper. Look it up on your phone, Daisy.’ Daisy’s face pales. She didn’t know.

Chapter 60

‘Liam Cooper?’ Mum’s on the edge of her seat. ‘That young layabout you went out with and wanted to marry?’

‘Yes, Mum,’ I say wearily.

‘He’s dead? How?’ Mum’s eyes are round and wild.

I run a hand over my face. ‘I can’t go into it now, Mum.’

‘Frank may still be alive,’ Daisy pipes up, and Mum’s eyes rocket towards her. ‘But I’m telling you the truth, Sandra. They left him for dead in the garden.’ Zelda and I steal an anxious glance at each other. This is more than PTSD and hemophobia.

‘Okay, we had a fight,’ Zelda swears. ‘All couples do. Yes, it got a bit heated but I didn’t attack him.’ I look at Zelda who has her hands behind her back and I know that she has her fingers crossed. ‘Daisy’s confused, maybe because of the blood loss.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with my brain, thank you very much. I know what I heard.’ Daisy looks at me with such loathing, that I can almost feel the pain physically, like a vapour of hatred seeping through my skin and squeezing my heart. ‘You thought he was dead and just left him there, didn’t you?’ Yes, yes, yes!! We did. It’s all true.

‘Now you’re being ridiculous,’ Zelda snorts.

‘Bella,’ Mum says, clearly upset. ‘Please tell me none of this is true.’

I put on my best poker face. ‘Of course, it’s not true. Zelda’s right. It was a lovers’ tiff. I went round there. Frank was alive and well,’ I lie, ‘Honestly, Daisy, I don’t know where you…’ But my voice is lost in the sudden cacophony of their brawl. Daisy is contradicting Zelda – Zelda is telling her she’s hallucinating, imagining things.

Mum is on her feet now, towering over Daisy, demanding answers.

‘Fine,’ Daisy yells. ‘Your perfect daughters almost killed a man, Sandra.’ My heart crushes. I don’t think I can move. ‘They’re murderers.’

We all fall silent. Mum looks at us, a slight tremor in her hand. ‘She’s talking nonsense. Bella?’ Holding my chin, I nod, mouth, she’s not well. ‘I’ll excuse you this time because I know you’re suffering from PPI.’ I bite my lip, sealing in a nervous laugh. ‘But I’d like you to take that back, please.’

‘Dream on, Grandma,’ Daisy scoffs. A thump against the wall snatches my attention, followed by drilling. They must be putting up shelving or pictures.

‘Right, that’s it. I want you to leave,’ Mum says, pointing at the door. I think it was the grandma reference that did it. ‘I won’t have malicious lies spread about my daughters,’ she yells above the noise. ‘Come on, get out.’ But Daisy just sits there, a wry grin playing on her lips. ‘Come on. Out.’ Bang, bang, BANG. ‘I said out.’ Mum goes to manhandle Daisy but she won’t budge. ‘Get out, get out, get out,’ Mum shrieks at the wall, veins in her neck protruding.

The noise next door suddenly stops dead. Daisy shuffles to the edge of her seat, injured hand aloft, and unzips her handbag. She’s fishing around for her keys, thank goodness. ‘I’ll need to move my car,’ I say wearily. ‘I’ve blocked you in.’ But instead of leaving, she pulls out a tube of sweets, pops one into her mouth and settles back into her seat, arms folded. ‘Oh, Countdown,’ she announces, parking the sweet on the side of her mouth. ‘Put the volume up, Sandra. Me and Mammy used to love this, even though she was useless at it.’

‘What kind of person are you?’ Mum whispers. ‘My daughter takes you in, puts a roof over your head, food in your belly, and this is how you repay her?’

‘I’m not a charity case, Sandra.’ Daisy sucks on the sweet loudly. ‘Bella was at a loose end. I helped her out.’ She looks at me, eyebrow raised. ‘In more ways than one.’ Sweet mother of God. My lovely temp has been possessed by Satan. I fold my arms, glance at my watch. Where the hell is Tina? What’s keeping her?

‘This has gone far enough,’ Zelda interjects.

Mum throws her hands up in the air. ‘Call the police, Zelda.’ Zelda and I exchange glances. The police? After what Daisy has accused us of? I don’t think so. We didn’t kill Frank, but Zelda did stab him and we failed to call 999. Linda said that’s conspiracy to murder. We’ll get locked up if Frank decides to give a statement, especially with Daisy’s testimony. ‘Well, don’t just stand there like two bloody statues.’ Mum’s voice makes me jolt. ‘Oh, for God’s sake, if you want a job doing.’

Mum goes to walk past me. I block her with a sidestep. ‘Mum, she’s clearly not well,’ I whisper.

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