Page 57 of Perfect Wives
The police haven’t found them yet. But they will.
THIRTY
BETH
‘Beth?’ Georgie’s voice is a prod to the small of my back.
I look up. Open my mouth. Try to speak.
My hands continue to shake as I lift the dishcloth, unable to touch the object inside. ‘It’s a knife.’
The handle black plastic. The blade long and sharp. The metal shiny except for a smudge of dark-red blood.
‘Oh God,’ Tasha whispers, hugging herself tighter, trying to shrink herself down.
Even Georgie pales as I place the knife on the coffee table. I sit back, wrapping my cardigan tighter around my body, around my baby. The world feels like it’s spinning too fast. I can’t keep up.
I like order. I like lists. I batch cook. I colour-code the calendar on the kitchen wall. I plan. But all it’s got me is here – to a knife used to murder my neighbour. A knife now sitting on my coffee table and a bloody top dropped on my rug.
Somewhere outside, a car door slams. We all jump. I think of DS Sató and the other detective coming to this door. Finding the three of us here with this evidence.
Georgie is the first to speak. Her voice is low, her eyes locked on the knife. ‘This is how she did it,’ she says. ‘Exactly how wetalked about. She let herself into Jonny’s house with this key. She drugged him with your dad’s sleeping pills.’ Georgie points to Tasha before her gaze swings to me. ‘Then she murdered him in his bed. With the knife. I bet she suffocated him too. She recorded our plan, and then she followed every step of it.’
Tasha is gasping now, her breaths short and ragged. ‘Oh God, oh God, oh God. She’s got that recording. She’s got us actually saying it…and she…she actually did it. She’s crazy.’
Georgie nods. ‘But smart too. She made sure it could be pinned on us.’
‘We have an alibi,’ Tasha cries.
‘No, we don’t,’ Georgie snaps. ‘You spent a lot of that night in the kitchen, Tasha. How do we know you didn’t run back here and kill him?’
Tasha makes a noise in the back of her throat, midway between a cry and a sob. ‘Beth spent half the night in the toilets throwing up.’ She gestures a hand in my direction. ‘She could easily have slipped out and killed Jonny.’
A sharp pang of betrayal cuts through me. For Tasha to turn on me like this when we’re best friends. It stings.
‘You know my morning sickness is worse in the evenings,’ I murmur. ‘And I’m not the one acting weird,’ I add, throwing a glance at Tasha.
‘I’m not,’ Tasha replies, but there’s something in her expression. I’ve hit a nerve.
‘You have been,’ I push, turning to Georgie. ‘Hasn’t she?’
Georgie frowns before nodding. ‘I’m not saying you’re trying to cover up a murder, but you have been acting more stressed than usual, Tash.’
‘I…’ She wipes her hands over her face before looking back at us. ‘It’s Marc,’ she says. ‘He was made redundant.’
‘Oh,’ Georgie says. ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’
‘Because we’ve had a lot going on,’ she replies, motioning to the yellow top still sitting on the floor of my living room. ‘And…’ Tasha continues. ‘It happened three months ago, and he’s only just told me.’
‘But he’s still been going to work…’ My words trail off when I see the hurt on my friend’s face.
‘He was lying,’ she says. ‘He pretended to leave for business trips and to the office, and the entire time he wasn’t.’ Tears stream down her face. For a moment, it looks like she might say more but stops.
‘Did he say why?’ I ask.
Tasha shakes her head. ‘Just that he didn’t want to let me down.’
Georgie reaches across the sofa, squeezing Tasha’s hand. ‘I’m so sorry.’
