Page 50 of The Psychopath Next Door

‘Hmm.’ Iris frowned. ‘I don’t know anyone who works in banking. I’ve never even met my own bank manager. Things are very different to how they used to be. You know, years ago—’

Rose sprang up from her chair. ‘Mum and Dylan are home. Can we go?’

‘I ... Okay, fine.’ I shot Iris an apologetic look, which she waved away.

I told her I’d arrange a time to come back and catalogue the records and that I’d talk to that Beatles collector.

As we left the house, I was surprised to see Fiona standing on her doorstep across the street. Rose waved at her and she waved back. If I believed in that sort of thing, I might have thought she and Rose were communicating telepathically – that Rose had beamed some sort of mental distress signal to her.

As soon as we reached her, Rose started to tell Fiona about the valuable record. ‘It’s really awesome, with these dead babies on it, and it’s worth thirty thousand pounds!’

‘Wow.’ Fiona looked across the road. ‘Lucky Iris. Lucky to know someone honest like your dad too. I bet a lot of people would tell her it was worth twenty quid, then make a massive profit themselves.’

‘That’s what I’d do,’ said Rose.

Fiona and I both laughed like she was joking, then Rose said she’d see Fiona in the morning and went into the house. Fiona was about to go indoors too when I remembered what Tommy had said.

‘Tommy wants to have a word with you. I think he thinks you had something to do with Albie’s accident.’

‘What?’

‘I know, it’s ridiculous.’

She looked a little bit scared. ‘What do you think I should do, Ethan? Maybe I should go and talk to him ... I’m just worried he might not be reasonable. What if he gets violent?’

‘I really don’t think he would. Not with a woman.’

‘I don’t know. I’ve seen him arguing with his wife and I’ve known men like him before. If he really believes I hurt his son ...’

She was right. I had no idea what Tommy was capable of. And I hated seeing Fiona frightened like this.

‘Maybe I could have a word with him,’ I said. ‘Tell him I’ve spoken to you and that I’m certain you had nothing to do with it.’

Her eyes widened. ‘You’re not scared of him?’

I swallowed. ‘Of course not.’

‘Thanks, Ethan. That would be amazing.’

To my surprise, she went up on tiptoe and kissed my cheek. Before I could react, she disappeared indoors, leaving me on the garden path, my hand covering the spot where she’d kissed me. When I looked up, I saw Tommy standing in his window across the street, holding the curtain back. He must have seen.

He glared at me, shaking his head, then let the curtain drop.

17

Fiona stood in front of the bathroom mirror, steam from her shower hanging in the air, condensation coating the mirror’s surface.

She had written three names with the tip of her finger.

The top name, Max Gallup, had a line through it.

The third name was the most important one. The person whose death she was going to savour. The one she was really going to make suffer.

But before she got to that, there was the name in the middle. And she was going to enjoy that one too.

‘Patrick Grant.’

She spoke the name softly, as if worried that by speaking it aloud she would invoke a demon. She was definitely going to need Rose for this one, to take full advantage of the world’s assumption that the two of them, when they were out together, were mother and daughter. It was something she noticed more and more with each excursion: the mask of motherhood; the costume Rose unknowingly clothed her in. It was fascinating, and it made her wonder if she ought to have a baby of her own, though that thought only breathed for a second before she smothered it. Ababy! How revolting. And anyway, why would she need one when everything with Rose was going to plan.

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