Page 63 of The Cut
JUNE 2024
‘Lily? Nate?’ Ben opened the front door to the dark house and called out. He began to head upstairs, desperate to see a light under Lily’s door and the sound of Nate’s Castlevania game spilling from his room. He was halfway up when he noticed someone sitting in his dad’s old wing chair in the den, not moving. A wave of anxiety coursed through him before he realised it was Dani. She’d heard him come in but was just silently sitting there in the dark, like a corpse. What did she know? He descended the stairs and headed towards the kitchen. He decided to strike first.
‘So, apparently Lily and Nate have been absent from school for this sodding film. I’ve just sat outside the school waiting for her … and I’ve been driving around all the villages looking for them both.’ Ben was trembling.
‘Course you were.’ Dani huffed out a laugh. ‘I’m not an idiot, Ben.’
‘What’s going on, Dani? Where are Lily and Nate?’ His questions were met with silence. ‘Dani … where are my children?’Mychildren, he checked himself as their eyes met. ‘What? … What have I done?’ The sing-song tone was Ben’s way of trivialising her.
He did it all the time, turning her into the proverbial hen who enjoyed picking and pecking.
He moved towards her, rounding the armchair. On the glass coffee table was his computer, open on an email account, a thread of words and a collection of low-res attachments, too small for him to make out any detail.242
‘Is that my laptop?’ She had gone through his emails. She had found out how deep underwater he was, that they were about to lose everything. She knew the house was going to have to go on the market and that a court case for fraud wouldn’t be far behind. He should have told her while he still had the chance. He took a step closer to her.
‘Is there something you want to tell me, Ben?’ Dani’s voice was soft and calm.
‘Sorry?’ Ben rooted himself to the spot.
‘God, the irony. You’re not even my husband.’ Now she looked at him, laser focused, wound up and ready to explode. ‘They’re not even my kids, and yet here I am, playing happy families.’
‘Dani … what is all this?’ Ben perched on the arm of the love seat opposite.
‘Your search history is very telling, love.’ Dani folded her arms. ‘It’s like a digital fingerprint … I can see where you’ve been.’
‘What are you doing?’ Ben was genuinely baffled. He looked closely at the computer screen. The article about Karine Mickelsen was open, alongside all the other tabs where he’d googled her, researching her online. Based on his search history, one might think Ben was obsessed.
‘I’m just worried about what she’s doing here. Something is off. Lily and Nate are missing school, gallivanting around at all hours of the night, bruised black and blue. I’m seriously worried and you don’t seem to be.’
‘Oh, don’t try to turn this around on me.’ Dani held up her phone. ‘There’s more.’
On her phone, Dani showed her Instagram feed. It was the shot the schoolgirl had taken of him inside his car earlier that night. Dani read out the caption while her eyes filled with tears. ‘Pervert kerb crawler … heading down to Doggers Dive.’243
‘What?’ Ben sat on the arm of the sofa, his hands over his face.
‘Do you know how embarrassing this is?’ Her voice was sad, resigned to her fate.
‘Dani, stop … listen to me.’ Ben leant forward and took her shoulders, gripping her hard. ‘This is all my fault. I was looking for the kids. I swear to you. I saw PC Davis down there. Ask him yourself.’
‘Oh yeah, so what did you and your old friend Chris Davis talk about?’ Dani was shaking with rage.
‘Karine’s been asking him questions, sniffing around. I’m telling you, she’s up to something.’
‘Up to what, Ben? This doesn’t make any sense.’
‘She’s here all the time, in our lives, messing with the kids, investigating the past. This film isn’t what it seems. I think she’s looking into Annie’s murder. I think she’s going to try and rake up all the details about the case.’
‘Wow, now you’re really pushing it.’ Dani got up from the armchair and made to leave. ‘It’s just a stupid horror film, Ben. You’re losing it.’
He grabbed her by the wrist. ‘I’m serious – listen to me! She’s going to try and pin it on me.’ His whole body was shaking.
Dani was quiet, finally listening. ‘Pin what on you? Annie’s death? But Patel …’
Ben convulsed as the tightness in his chest sent a wave of nausea through him. ‘Oh … love.’ He had to tell her. That’s what this pain was, something leaching on his heart. He needed to get this unbearable weight off his chest.
‘I’ve never told anyone this before.’ He rubbed at his sternum. Dani tightened her mouth with quivering breaths. ‘Chris Davis doctored the DNA test for me … I took a swab from my dad.’244
‘What are you talking about?’ Dani looked confused as she sat back down.
