Page 45 of The Psychopath Next Door

No – then it would be the police calling.

If she believed Rose was going to betray her, she would have already run.

Killed her and then run.

She put her robe on, leaving it loose around the neck, ensuring a little flesh was on display, and headed down to the front door, flashing back to Friday and the immediate aftermath of Max’s death.

‘I don’t understand,’ Rose said. ‘You told me it was a prank.’

Fiona had brought her home, the two of them hardly speaking on the way back, Fiona telling the girl to save it until they weresomewhere private. She had always known this would be the first big test. How would Rose react?

Now she would find out.

‘Are you upset?’ Fiona asked. ‘I mean, do you feel sad about what you saw? About Max dying? Look inside yourself and be honest.’

Rose, who was sitting cross-legged on the rug in Fiona’s living room, shifted around, clearly made uncomfortable by this question.

‘I don’t know,’ Rose said after one of her customary pauses. ‘I don’t know how I feel.’

Fiona had expected that. She needed to give Rose permission to tell her truth. ‘Let me tell you a story,’ she said. ‘Don’t roll your eyes.’

‘Sorry.’

‘It’s not a boring story, I promise. When I was your age, I lived near a beach and used to go there all the time with my mother, some of her friends and their children. I liked swimming and was really good at it. People used to joke that I’d been a dolphin in a previous life, though I preferred to think I’d been a shark.’

She could see she was losing Rose already, so hurried the story on. ‘One day, when I was almost twelve, I went swimming with this girl called Sienna. She was a little bit younger than me, but a real show-off. Always bragging about how great she was at sport, how rich her dad was, blah blah. She drove me nuts.’

‘She sounds a bit like Jasmine,’ Rose said. ‘My old best friend.’

‘Yeah. An annoying little cow, huh?’

Rose laughed.

‘Sienna wasthemost annoying girl, and this day at the beach she was going on and on about how she had won all the medals at her swimming gala and could swim further and faster than anyone else. So I challenged her. When our mums were busy chatting, I told Sienna I was going to swim out to this buoy that was, like,two hundred metres out, maybe more. I could see she was sceptical, but she couldn’t bear the idea that I was better than her, so she followed me.’

Rose was hooked now, waiting to see what would happen.

‘I’m sure she thought I would stop and turn back before we reached the buoy, but we kept going. I just wanted to prove I was better than her. I didn’t know she’d get a cramp. That she’d go under. I didn’t even notice at first. She was behind me and I was exhilarated, knowing I was going to beat her to the buoy and shut her up. When I turned back and couldn’t see her I was confused. Then I saw her, thrashing in the water. Going under. By the time I got to her, it was too late.’

‘She drowned?’

Fiona nodded. ‘There was a terrible hoo-ha about it. Sienna’s mum was screaming. My mum was totally freaking out. The lifeguards hadn’t spotted us until it was too late. They hauled me out and wrapped me in a silver blanket even though I was totally fine. Then one of the lifeguards carried Sienna out, limp in his arms, and her mother howled. I can still hear it. And do you want to know how I felt, Rose?’

Rose’s voice was hushed. ‘Yes.’

‘Confused. I didn’t understand why everyone was so upset. Sienna was so freaking annoying. Surely the world was a better place without her in it? Watching the reactions of all the other people, seeing their distress, was fascinating to me. All the tears, the hysteria. I was like, get a grip. The only part that worried me was that I might get the blame, but I had already figured out I should tell them that swimming to the buoy had been Sienna’s idea, not mine. I got treated like I was strong and precious, and like my parents were so lucky. The only person who didn’t seem thrilled by my survival was Sienna’s mum. She resented me. But no one ever blamed me. See, it wasn’t a boring story, was it?’

‘No.’

‘Now, back to my question: how did you feel watching Max die?’

Fiona could see Rose’s brain working as she struggled to articulate it. ‘I was ... surprised, because I thought he was going to spit the cookie out and complain it was hot. Confused too, that he didn’t have his EpiPen. And I was worried he would tell people I had given him the cookie.’

‘I knew you’d be worried. But did you feel upset?’

‘I . . .’

‘Come on, Rose. You can be honest with me like I was just honest with you. I’m not going to judge you. I promise.’

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