Page 9 of Final Betrayal

Making her mind up, she set off in the direction of her apartment. She wasn’t that drunk; she knew how to get there. She might even take off her shoes and dance in the puddles the whole way home. She giggled out loud. She should have more sense at her age, she thought, then laughed.

As she turned the corner at the end of the street, a figure loomed up in front of her. Her hand flew to her mouth, cutting off her scream. A head bent in towards her ear and she had no option but to listen.

‘Amy? Is she okay?’ she said, hearing her friend’s name.

‘She’s in a bad way. You need to come.’

Penny stalled under the street light. The person was still in the shadows. The light caught their eyes and she took a step backwards. ‘Maybe I should call her dad. Or the guards. Maybe I?—’

‘Maybe you should hurry up. She might have been raped. She sent me to get you. Said not to tell anyone. She’s in a right state. Are you coming, or are you going to stand there with your mouth open catching moths all night?’

A hand rested on Penny’s shoulder and she was sure she felt something prick the side of her neck. Damn moths. She didn’t know what to do. The memory of Ducky’s fingers on her skin dimmed and was replaced by a sick feeling of unease. But she had to make sure Amy was all right. Then she’d call her dad. Or the guards.

‘Okay, I’m coming.’

She slipped her high-heeled shoes off and set off through the puddles, slipping and sliding on the greasy footpath in her efforts to keep up. Her mind was whirling with insane thoughts and she was finding it hard to focus.

As they hurried down Petit Lane towards the bridge under the railway tracks, Penny wasn’t at all sure she was doing the right thing.

EIGHT

Lottie was sitting on the bottom step when the flash of lights lit up the hall through the glass at the side of the door.

Opening it, she saw her daughters falling out of a taxi and exhaled a sigh of relief. They were home. They were safe. That was all that mattered.

‘Mam, do you have the loan of a fiver?’ Katie called out.

Lottie rummaged in her jacket pocket hanging on the banister beside her and found enough coins. She was barefoot, so she held the money out to Katie and noticed that she was walking upright and in a straight line. As one daughter went back to pay the taxi driver, the other wobbled up the path.

‘Hi, Mother.’ Chloe always called her that as she knew it rattled her. It was what Adam had called her in front of the children. It had been endearing to her at the time; now it spelled out the loss she felt without him.

She shook her head. One minute Chloe had been standing in front of her. The next she was nowhere to be seen.

‘Chloe?’

Katie came up the path, bent down to the right of the door and hoisted up her sister, who’d fallen into a patch of shrubs.

‘Come inside before you wake the neighbours.’ Lottie got hold of Chloe’s other arm and helped Katie to drag the inebriated girl inside. She shut the door and leaned against it, relief mingled with anger. ‘And don’t wake Louis, or I’ll kill you.’

A cry bellowed from upstairs.

‘Now see what you’ve done.’ Katie bundled past Lottie and raced up the stairs to her son.

Shaking her head, Lottie followed Chloe into the kitchen, where she found the girl puking into the sink.

‘This is the last time, Chloe. Don’t even think about asking to go out again.’

‘Do you have to shout?’ Chloe washed out the sink, then stuck her mouth under the tap. ‘My head is killing me.’

‘It’s nothing to the ache it will have in the morning by the time I finish with you. Get up to bed and bring a basin.’

‘Righto so, Miss Trunchbull.’ Chloe attempted a salute but stuck her finger in her eye instead.

Lottie shook her head once again. She would have some serious talking to do tomorrow.

Rose Fitzpatrick closed her eyes as she sat alone in her kitchen. The peace and stillness washed over her and she welcomed them. At last.

She loved her family unconditionally, but she had spent so long living alone that it had almost worn her to the bone having them all around her.

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