Page 28 of Perfect Wives
INTERVIEW ROOM 1
‘You have so much potential, Georgina. But if you carry on like this, all you’ll see in your life is the inside of a police station.’
My old head teacher, Mr Montgomery, was eagle-eyed and fierce, but fair too. He saw through my bravado and my cheeky grin, through the detentions and the half-finished assignments. I’d laughed off his warnings at sixteen. I thought school was just a place to socialise and show off. I didn’t see the point of grades when life outside those school gates was waiting for me.
Then I’d left school with barely a handful of qualifications and reality hit hard.
My dad found me a job sweeping hair at a salon.‘People always need their hair cut. It’s a job for life.’
He meant well, but even then, living with my parents in a tiny flat in a run-down part of town with no prospects, I knew I was someone special. I knew I could be someone. So one day, I begged my mum for some money, bought a charity shop suit a size too small that clung to my curves, and got the train to London. I walked into an investment bank with my head high and my smile wide, and I charmed my way into anadministrative role. I started at the bottom and climbed my way up, year after year. I made a name for myself as a trustworthy personal assistant.
It was a world where no one cared about your past or grades, only what you could do for them in that moment. Failure could flip to success in a heartbeat. It was long hours, fast talking and high stakes, and I loved it. I belonged.
Until I met Nate and a whole new life opened up. After the fake Christmas he threw me, we got serious fast, and as soon as we did, Nate said one of us had to leave the bank because his job investigating his co-workers meant it was a conflict of interest to date anyone in the office. He offered to move to a different firm, but after thirteen years in the company, I was tiring of the lifestyle. The late nights partying were fine when I was single – grabbing thirty minutes of sleep in a locked toilet cubicle at lunch – but I wanted to spend time with Nate. I’d reinvented myself when I’d stepped through the doors of the investment bank. I wasn’t the mouthy kid with bad grades, no money and an attitude problem. I was cool and confident. Someone who could make anything possible. And I was ready to reinvent myself again and become the perfect wife for Nate. So I left and we got married in a gorgeous church in a Suffolk village, and we bought our house in Magnolia Close. A little over a year later, Oscar was born.
Over the years, I’ve thought about Mr Montgomery. How badly I wanted him to see he was wrong about me. Except, as the door of the interview room opens and DS Sató steps back in, it seems he may have been right after all.
I square my shoulders and inhale deeply.I am in control. I choose my path. I repeat the mantra in my head and take a sip of tepid water from the bottle Sató gave me on her last visit. It sloshes uncomfortably in my empty stomach.
‘What time did you sneak away from the quiz night unseen to murder Jonny Wilson?’ Sató asks, no preamble or niceties. No easing me in this time. Just the accusation, laid out between us like a ticking bomb.
My eyes flick to the folder. What’s inside? What’s changed? What does Sató know?
I swallow, keeping my voice steady. I’m doing this for Oscar. ‘It was after the quiz. We were all cleaning up. I said I was going to take the empty bottles to the nearby recycling bins, but instead, I ran back to the close. You know the rest.’
Sató studies me. ‘Let me be clear. You’re telling me that you left the quiz night wearing’ – she checks her notebook – ‘a red sequin dress and heels. Went to Magnolia Close, gained access to Mr Wilson’s house, killed him and then went back to the quiz night without being seen by any of your neighbours, who were also returning home at a similar time?’
‘Yes,’ I reply.
My heartbeat thuds in my ears. She doesn’t believe me. Of course she doesn’t. It sounds ridiculous. It sounds like a lie.
‘And then you went back to the school to finish tidying up with Tasha and Beth?’ she asks.
I nod. ‘Yes.’
‘Why?’ she asks.
‘Excuse me?’
‘Why did you kill Mr Wilson?’ Sató clarifies.
I freeze. Muscles tight. Body still. I expected this question. Rehearsed it in the time I’ve been sitting in this room alone, but now I have to say it, the lie feels too clunky. ‘Because he was a predator. He was constantly harassing me. He made me feel uncomfortable every time I left the house, and I just snapped. I couldn’t take it anymore.’
Sató tilts her head slightly like she’s thinking. ‘Why is it, do you think, that when I speak to the men in Magnolia Close,I receive a very different picture of Jonny? In fact, your own husband describes him as a “good friend”. Someone who checks in when he knows you’ve got a bad day ahead of you.’
‘Jonny was manipulative,’ I say. ‘He liked playing games.’
‘What kinds of games?’
I shrug. ‘It’s hard to explain. It was little things, like how he liked sleeping with married women. He told Nate once that he finds them more of a challenge, like women are a sport to him. And he was a different person around men.’
‘But you didn’t feel able to tell any of this to your husband – how Jonny treated you?’ she asks.
‘No,’ I reply, dropping my gaze and studying my hands. The forest-green nail polish has chipped on my thumb. My next manicure appointment is on Monday. It’s only two days away, but I have no idea where I’ll be.
I think about all the things I’ve hidden from Nate. The lies I’ve told – the big ones and the little ones. Keeping the veneer on our beautiful life shiny and new. He can’t know the truth about my past – the real person I was before my reinvention to be his wife – but I wonder now if he sensed the lies – that methodical, observant way of his. Is that why he’s pulled away in our marriage?
‘I’d like you to look at a photograph now,’ Sató says, reaching into the file.
