Page 41 of The Psychopath Next Door

‘That’s how I knew about his. When I was arrested, the police offered me lunch and I told them about my allergy, and I guess he wanted me to think we had something in common. Told me he’d almost died when he was kid after eating a tiny morsel of peanut butter. But yes, I had to be ultra-careful baking the cookies. I don’t even like having nuts in my house.’

Lucy’s eyes sparkled ‘Did you watch him die? Tell me.’ She was clearly in need of vicarious thrills.

‘First, I need to tell you about Rose. My neighbour’s twelve-year-old daughter.’ She dropped her voice even further. ‘I’m pretty sure she’s like us, Lucy.’

Lucy’s eyebrows lifted with surprise. ‘How sure?’

Fiona glanced around before she spoke. She was, in a way, reluctant to share this information with Lucy. Rose was a rare, precious discovery. But she couldn’t resist showing off.

‘I’ve been testing her. Playing games, describing hypothetical situations. She reminds me so much of myself at her age. I remember you telling me that your great-aunt recognised it in you, and was able to offer advice and warnings.’

‘She was my mentor.’

‘Yep, and I’m hers – and she’s, well, my little helper. My apprentice. We both get something out of it.’

‘So you’ve told her? Explained everything to her?’

‘No, not yet. I want to see how much she figures out on her own.’

Lucy stroked her chin. ‘Be careful, Fiona. If she freaks out and starts telling tales ...’

‘She won’t.’

‘Children are not reliable. Not fully formed. It sounds to me like you’ll be taking unnecessary risks if you reveal yourself to this girl.’

Fiona was irritated. She wanted Lucy to tell her how clever she was – finding Rose – not to start issuing warnings. Lucy thought she was so superior, but who was the one who was going to die in prison? Fiona found she didn’t want to talk about Rose anymore, except to explain the role she had played so far. Lucy would surely be impressed by that story. Would get the vicarious thrill she sought.

‘Let me tell you about Max.’

She explained how she had set everything up. She had decided a long time ago how she was going to kill him, but she knew that Max carried an EpiPen with him everywhere he went, just as she did. Both times she had seen him leave his house he had been carrying a little backpack. The EpiPen was almost certainly in there, she’d deduced.

To remove the pen from the backpack, she’d known she needed to get into his house, but that he had a burglar alarm. Keys would be extremely helpful too. This was where Rose had proven to be so useful, and the cookie idea had been a stroke of genius, even if Fiona did say so herself. Rose using her initiative and getting hold of the keys before she’d even had to ask had made everything even easier.

Fiona had gone back to Herne Hill, to Max’s street, in the dead of night and used the keys to open his front door, quickly disabling the alarm before it woke him up. Of course, there had been a few moments of tension when she feared he might have heard the front door or detected the shift in atmosphere as she let herself in. Butshe had seen the empties in the recycling bin outside and knew he enjoyed a drink before bed. He didn’t wake up, and she was easily able to remove his EpiPen.

‘Did anyone see the girl give him the cookies?’ Lucy asked.

‘No. Some people came along when he was dying, but no one saw us before that, I’m quite sure. I really don’t think the police are going to be searching for the source of the cookies. A guy with a nut allergy gets complacent, buys some cookies thinking there are no nuts in them ... I’m certain the coroner will rule it an accident.’

‘Won’t they wonder why his EpiPen wasn’t in his rucksack?’

Fiona shrugged. ‘It’s very common for people with allergies to forget to take their pen with them. You only have to google it to see how often it happens.’

‘How’s the girl?’ Lucy asked. ‘I mean, I assume she doesn’t know you intended to kill him?’

‘No. She thinks it was an accident.’

She was going to tell Lucy her plan for the remaining two people on her list, but visiting time was almost up and Lucy was beginning to look restless and bored. Fiona braced herself, because she knew there was another topic Lucy would want to discuss.

She didn’t disappoint.

‘What have you done for me since you got out? I’ve been waiting all this time for news.’

She was talking about Jamie and Kirsty, Lucy’s nemeses. The flies who had fought back against the spiders. The way Lucy described them, they were a sappy pair of weaklings, but somehow they were responsible for Lucy being in prison. She was obsessed with them, and when Fiona was in prison she had promised Lucy she would target them on Lucy’s behalf – make their lives miserable, maybe even do something to their daughter.

It was easy to make promises inside prison, though. As soon as she’d got out, her enthusiasm for the project had waned. Shedidn’t know these people. They’d never done anything to her. She had her own revenge scheme to think about. Huge amounts of admin and planning. All the work to get her own life back on track. Change her name, buy a house, do all the things she needed to do to keep her probation officer happy for the first year and a half she was out.

‘I haven’t had time to do anything about them yet.’

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