Page 61 of The Psychopath Next Door

‘Do I really have to?’

I shook my head. ‘What has got into you?’

‘I told you,’ said Dylan. ‘She’s a brat.’

Right now, it was hard to disagree. She’d been like this ever since she’d got home from her day trip to the countryside with Fiona. Different, somehow. Like she was holding herself straighter, or she’d grown an inch or two. She seemed more grown-up, like there was suddenly a young adult in the house instead of a child. Of course, when I’d asked her what she and Fiona had done on their day out, she had clammed up in typical tweenage fashion. Then she had been less than pleased when I told her we were going away for a couple of nights.

We had been in the middle of dinner. She’d been quiet, eating steadily. I’d been struggling a little because I felt so sick – afraid I was visibly trembling from the pressure of trying to conceal my unhappiness.

I’d thought that telling the kids about the holiday would be a bright spot in a shit week. But Rose had set down her fork.

‘You’re joking. I don’twantto go away.’

‘Why not? It’ll be fun. We’ll have a hot tub and there will be lots of places we can go for days out—’

‘Just stop whining, Rose,’ Emma said, interrupting me. She had been on her phone –texting Mike?– but she put it down now. ‘Your dad has arranged for us to go away on a family holiday. You should be grateful.’

Rose glowered at her. ‘It sounds lame. I want to stay here.’

‘She doesn’t want to be apart from Fiona,’ Dylan said.

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Rose said with a snarl. ‘I just don’t want to stay in a stupid cabin and play stupid board games.’

Emma leaned towards her, wearing her patented take-no-shit expression. ‘You see Fiona every day and now you’re going to spend some time with your family.’

While I took comfort from that remark – it seemed she still cared about our family – Rose muttered something under her breath. It sounded like:With the herd.

I tried to break the tension by making a joke of it. ‘You’re going to have fun even if it kills you.’

But Rose hadn’t seen the funny side. She had left her dinner half-eaten and stormed out of the room.

And then there had been another incident. Emma had told Rose and Dylan to pack their bags and to ensure they had enough clothes for a few days, plus the gadgets and chargers and anything else they couldn’t live without. Rose had stomped around the house gathering her stuff together while wearing headphones so she wouldn’t have to talk to us. Finally, fed up of how long she was taking, Emma went into her room to help her, pulling clothes out of her wardrobe. I could hear everything from our bedroom, where I was packing my own bag.

‘How about these?’ Emma said.

‘They’re ugly.’

‘But I thought you loved them.’

‘Yeah, when I waslittle.’

I could picture Emma sighing. She said, ‘What about—?’ and then ‘What’s this?’ A pause. ‘Did you take this from my room? I’ve been looking for it everywhere.’

I left our bedroom and crossed the landing, standing in Rose’s doorway. Emma was holding up a small object. A lipstick. Emma had asked me a week or two ago if I’d seen it, but I’d assumed she’d misplaced it and hadn’t given it a second thought.

‘I don’t mind you borrowing my stuff, but you should ask first, not just go into my room and help yourself. Also, you don’t need—’

‘I didn’t do it!’

‘Then how did it get into your pocket?’

‘I have no idea. Maybe you put it there.’

‘Why would I do that?’

‘Come on, Emma,’ I said. ‘It’s not a big deal, is it?’

Emma wheeled around on me, annoyed. ‘She shouldn’t take stuff without asking.’

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