Page 42 of You Lied First
‘They’re coming!’ Margot calls as she hurries over, slipping and sliding in the loose sand, her breath hitching and her heart ramming in her chest. ‘Guy!’
‘Celine is dead,’ she hears Guy saying to Sara. ‘She’s not going to know what we do. She doesn’t care.’
‘Do it for Liv!’ Margot cries as she glances over her shoulder at the advancing quad bike. ‘She has her whole life ahead of her. She needs to be back at home, in school studying and looking forward to university, not tied up in a criminal case in the Middle East.’
She sees, by the way Sara closes her eyes and pulls her hands through her hair, that she’s hit home. Sara, she knows, is a woman who’ll do anything for her child. Even if it means covering up a death.
‘Okay,’ Sara says, heaving herself up to standing and brushing sand off her backside. ‘If you two promise on your lives that we’ll stick together, I’ll do it. For Liv. All right? But,if either of you ever turns on me, I’ll tell the police it was all you.’
‘Done,’ Guy says.
Margot nods, her hand pressed against the thumping in her chest. ‘Okay.’
Guy grabs each of their hands and squeezes. ‘We’re in this together, okay? The three of us. We stick together. Whatever happens. Understood?’
‘Understood,’ they echo.
The quad bike is almost on them. Margot can hardly breathe. They’re planning to cover up a death and they have about twenty seconds left to finalise their plan.
She speaks quickly and quietly: ‘So, who’s leaving with the kids? You?’
‘I thought I’d be more useful here,’ Guy says. ‘You take the kids.’
‘No,’ Margot says. She knows Guy will be strong and efficient at digging the grave, but she doesn’t trust him to tie up all the loose ends in the way she would, and there’s so much at stake. ‘I’m staying. I’ll do it with Sara.’
‘Okay. Whatever. We don’t have time to argue. Now, come on,’ Guy says. ‘Action.’
By the time Flynn slows the quad bike, Guy is standing directing him towards the trailer. Margot is serving up portions of beans and toast and handing it out with a smile that she hopes looks genuine.
‘How was your ride?’ she asks. She peers at Flynn’s face and sweeps his sweaty fringe out of his eyes. He swipes her hand off.
‘So cool!’ he says.
‘Brilliant,’ Liv adds. Her eyes are shining. ‘I loved it. But it’s starting to get hot now. That’s why we came back.’
‘Hmm,’ Margot says to Flynn. ‘You look a bit pale. Sara, do you think Flynn looks pale?’
Sara turns, then walks closer and peers at Flynn’s face.
‘I’m okay!’ he says. He’s wolfing down a plate of beans on toast in a way that says he’s absolutely fine, but Sara shakes her head.
‘I don’t know,’ Margot says. ‘You look at little peaky to me.’
Flynn sighs and rolls his eyes.
‘Are his pupils dilated?’ Sara asks.
‘Look at me,’ she says, and Flynn obeys, widening his eyes dramatically while still chewing. ‘Hmm. Guy! Can you come here a minute?’
Guy comes over and the pair of them go through the motions of looking at Flynn once more.
‘You don’t want to mess around with head injuries,’ Sara says gravely. ‘There could be a brain bleed or something. Honestly, Guy, I think it’d be best to get him checked out as soon as possible. I could never live with myself if this turned out to be something serious.’ She has to turn away as she chokes on the words.
‘You could take Flynn straight away,’ Margot says, ‘and Sara and I will clear up and follow, if that works. I mean, the sooner you get him seen, the better.’
She realises her omission at the exact moment that Flynn says, ‘And what about Celine? Where is she, anyway?’
34
