Page 113 of The Christmas Retreat
‘There certainly was. Some of it he only found out about later, but as we know, it all kicked off when he had that row with Annie earlier that evening, after he’d told her he was going to his cottage to work on some songs. She accused him of intending to meet some other woman there and that she knew he was being unfaithful to her. That was Verity planting a few barbs in Annie’s mind, although Flint didn’t realize that till later,’ he explained.
‘Much as we suspected,’ I said. ‘Butwashe actually meeting someone else at the cottage?’
‘He certainly was and – wait for it – it was Verity!’
‘No!’
‘Yes. He’d been having an on-and-off affair with her for years, especially when Annie and I were having one of our reconciliations.’
‘So Verity was there in Flint’s cottage that night?’
‘She was waiting for him when he got there. She knew about the row, because Annie had sent her that text, but Annie hadn’t told her she was driving down after Flint, so that must have been a later impulse.’
‘Did Annie turn up at the cottage and find them there together, then?’
‘She did, and discovered it was her supposed best friend he was having the affair with. Verity showed her true colours at that point, and told her Flint had been in love withherfirst, before Annie snatched him, and he’d never been faithful to her. There was quite a scene. Annie was a volatile creature at the best of times, and was in such a fury that she went for Verity, and Flint had to separate them. Then Annie, still in a rage, got into her car and drove off.’
‘Which would account for why she smashed the car up so badly. Her mind must still have been on what had just happened,’ I said.
‘I’m sure it was, and that’s what was on Flint’s conscience,’ agreed Rhys. ‘Anyway, after Annie left, he told Verity to get out too, they were finished, although she was still there when the police rang to tell him about the accident, having checked Annie’s phone. They went to the cottage later to interview him, too, but by then Verity had gone and he’d told her topretend she’d never been there that evening – or that Annie had, either.’
‘And it obviously never occurred to the police that Annie was driving away from Flint’s cottage, not towards it.’
‘No, but then, you didn’t think of it at first, either, did you?’
‘True. And even if they had noticed that, they could have just assumed she was a townie who’d taken a wrong turning,’ I suggested.
‘Quite possibly.’
I thought it all over for a minute. ‘It’s sort of justice that Verity feeding lies to Annie led to her being dumped by Flint, but a tragedy that Annie lost her life because of it. That must surely still be on Verity’s conscience, too?’
‘I’m not sure she’s got one! All these years she’s been playing the part of Annie’s best friend and coming here, pretending to be fond of Cariad for her sake. She even hadmefooled for a while.’
‘Well, she completely took me in for ages,’ I pointed out.
‘She’s very good at playing a part; even fooled Annie for all those years. She’s so clever and devious, and so far she’s got away with it.’
‘Until now, when Annie’s last words were to try and tell me what had happened.’
And perhaps, I thought, that had been why I’d felt that Annie was haunting me? Not to come between me and Rhys, but because she wanted the truth of what had happened revealed.
I said, ‘But what can we do about it?’
‘Confront Verity with what we know,’ he said grimly. ‘I’ve got a few questions I want answered.’
‘She might just deny everything.’
‘She might, but we have the element of surprise on our side,’he said. ‘I think we’ll do it after lunch because I don’t really want to hoik her out of the studio, with the girls there. Of course, I’ll tell Nerys and Timon later.’
‘Of course,’ I agreed.
‘Nerys has never liked or trusted Verity. She has a better instinct than I have, because I gave her the benefit of the doubt for so many years.’ He smiled grimly. ‘She was a lot sweeter when she hoped we’d get together, until I made it clear I wasn’t interested.’
‘Which is the opposite of what she told me, which was that you’d made a pass at her, and she’d turned you down.’
‘What a poisonous little snake she is,’ he said. ‘I’m looking forward to seeing her face when we expose all her lies.’
‘What if she just denies everything?’
