Page 86 of Unforgivable

I’ve scrambled back to Charlie, grabbed her hand. “You gave her Rohypnol?”

She tilts her head at me. “No, Laura, I gave you Rohypnol. And the rest.” She wags her finger. “You should have turned down that glass of Chardonnay! You’re too much of a people pleaser, Laura! It’ll be your downfall!”

Chardonnay?

Bronwyn drags an armchair to the center of the room. I check Charlie’s pulse, put my finger under her nose, check that she’s breathing. I force myself to focus. I close my eyes for a moment. My head is pounding, swathed in waves of vertigo. Have I been drugged too? I try to remember if I drank any wine. No, I didn’t. Yes, I did, but just one sip.

“There.” She brushes her hands together, satisfied.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Just getting the scene ready… Yes. That should be fine. You want to come and sit down, Laura? You look like you need it!”

“Why?”

“Because I’m asking.”

“I don’t understand what you’re doing.” I wail. “We have to call an ambulance! Charlie isn’t moving.”

“Charlotte is just fine. She’s having a nice long sleep, that’s all. You okay? You don’t look so good. Get off the floor, Laura. Come sit down.”

“I need to find my phone.” I try to stand but I don’t have to pretend to be drugged. My legs feel like they are made of ribbons. “I have to call Jack.”

“I’ve got your phone. Don’t worry about your phone. And Jack will be home in…” She checks her watch. “An hour, give or take. Here, let me help.”

I’ve managed to stand up and I’m holding on to a bookcase. She takes my arm, guides me to the chair. “What is happening?” I say.

She’s staring at me, eyes narrowed. I have to concentrate. I have to act like I’ve been drugged. I move my mouth slowly, like I’m speaking in slow motion. “What are you doing?”

She smiles, satisfied. “There, that’s better, isn’t it?” She looks around the room and grabs a cushion from another chair, a small one, puts it on my lap.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Well, thank you for asking because I’ve been dying to tell. Now, Beth. Do you mind if I call you Beth? Jesus, you look terrible. You’re drooling. Maybe I shouldn’t have added the Rohypnol. What can I say, I was experimenting. Stay with me, Beth, don’t fall asleep on me, we have much to do yet.”

“Beth? Is that what this is about? Oh God. You can’t be serious! I’m sorry about Beth. I really am.”

“And I forgive you! In fact, it’s a good thing you told me about Beth. You see the plan was for Jack to overdose on OxyContin because heck, that man is depressed, let me tell you. In fact, I have. I’ve told everyone how depressed he is. I’ve also told everyone how worried I am that you are not taking his condition seriously, and when they find his suicide note, they’ll remember that.”

“Overdose?”

“Yes, I got some pills online from some dodgy dark web place. You’d be amazed what you can pick up on the dark web. They’re probably fake, but it doesn’t matter. If anything, it’s better. More likely to kill you, I’m told. Oh wait, you already know about the pills. You went through my drawer. I had them hidden inside a cute bra I got from Victoria’s secret, and you put your grubby hands on everything, including the Ziploc bag.”

I grab her hands. “Please don’t hurt Jack, I’m begging you, Bronwyn!”

She pulls them away. “Stop that. Jack won’t be committing suicide anymore.”

“You’re not going to hurt him?”

“No!”

“Oh, thank God.”

“You are.”

She walks to the sideboard and opens a box. “You see, thanks to you, Beth, I’ve been having money problems. I was on a good ticket with Jack. I had the perfect life, the perfect man, total freedom, lots of cash, beautiful home.” She looks around the room. “Until you ruined it. You have such ordinary taste, Beth, truly parochial.” She sighs. “There’s always someone who wants what you have, have you noticed that? First Jenny—”

“They’ll know the emails didn’t come from Jenny. I talked to her mother, she said Jenny died in a car accident.”

---