Page 100 of The Psychopath Next Door

‘Has this got something to do with Lucy? Jesus Christ, don’t tell me she’s got out again.’ He sucked in a breath. ‘No, the police would let me know straight away.’

Lucy had instructed us not to mention her to Jamie.

‘I just need to ask you,’ I said, ‘has everything been all right? Recently, I mean. Have you had any problems?’

Jamie stared at me. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘I can’t tell you. I’m really sorry but I’ve just been told to find out if you’re okay.’

He took half a step back. He was a mixture of terrified, angry and confused. ‘Everythingwasfine – until you turned up asking stupid questions.’

Dylan tugged at my elbow. ‘Dad, that’s all we need to know.’

‘Thank you,’ I said to Jamie. ‘And I’m sorry.’ I dropped my voice, as if Lucy might be watching. As if she had spies everywhere. ‘I’ll come back and explain everything once my family are safe.’

I turned away from him, intending to keep my promise, and jogged back to the car with Dylan beside me. Jamie called out afterus but I kept going, head down. I was worried he might follow us and demand to know what was going on, so instead of sitting in the car to call Lucy, I drove up the road until I found a petrol station and pulled in.

I took out the miniature phone and dialled the only number that was stored in it.

Lucy answered immediately. ‘Well?’ she asked.

‘He had no idea what I was talking about. Said everything was fine.’

A sound that might very well have been a growl came from the other end of the line.

‘I knew it. That bitch. She’s been too busy mentoring your daughter to do what she promised.’

Mentoringher? That was exactly what Dylan said she’d been doing. Training her up, like an apprentice. ‘Lucy, you promised you would help us.’

‘And I’m a woman of my word. Firstly, you might want to know that Fiona’s real surname is Woodfield. Secondly, she’s obsessed with you. You’re on her list.’

‘Herlist? What list? And why am I on it?’

She laughed. A cold sound, devoid of humour. ‘Something to do with her failed getaway, but you’ll have to ask her. I would also advise you to continue to stay away from the police – if you don’t want to get Rose into trouble. Fiona told me she was going to take Rose under her wing, that she recognised the same thing in her that we have.’

‘What does that mean?’ I asked, but my blood, my organs, my flesh – all of it had gone cold. I already knew what she was going to say.

‘We’re special,’ said Lucy, and she hissed with laughter. ‘“Different, better, special,” as Fiona always says. People like youand your wife, and Jamie and Kirsty, are like sheep. Born victims, herd animals, not capable of—’

‘Oh, just tell me where I can find them,’ I snapped.

There was a pause, and I was about to yell at her, scared she was going to go back on her word, when she said, ‘There’s this place Fiona is obsessed with. It’s called Ravenhill ...’

36

‘I can’t wait for you to see it.’

Emma was behind the wheel, Rose beside her in the passenger seat. Fiona leaned forward, head between the two front seats. She was finding it hard to keep her enthusiasm in check – both for the place they were going to visit, and for what was going to happen later. Her insides fizzed and her palms hurt from where she kept clenching her fists, fingernails digging into her flesh.

‘It’s so nice to have a day out, the three of us,’ Emma said. ‘Maybe I should ask my boss if I could take the rest of the summer off, take a sabbatical. Would you like that, Rose?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Thanks for the enthusiasm.’

So far today, they’d driven out to Bluewater to do some shopping, which had been fascinating and educational for Fiona. Rose needed new stationery for the coming school term, plus new shoes and a few items of uniform. She’d dragged her feet around the enormous shopping mall, complaining about the uniform she had to wear – the clumpy, unfashionable shoes. She begged Emma to buy her Doc Martens but Emma said they were too expensive and non-regulation, and then Rose wanted an extortionately priced Swedish backpack because all the other girls at school had them, but Emma told her she should be happy with the one shealready had, which led Rose to make the statement: ‘You’re the worst mother ever.’

When she’s mine, Fiona thought,she’ll get a slap if she talks to me like that. More than a slap.

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