Page 86 of A Game of Lies

‘I don’t—’

‘Expose the others, secure immunity, both win the money!’

Pam hesitates. ‘How would we … hypothetically … if we were to do that … how would it work?’ The money isn’t important to her, but keeping her job is.

‘We need to combine our knowledge,’ Henry says. ‘You say what you know about Aliyah, or Ceri, or Lucas. I tell you what I’ve found out. We build a picture and then BAM!’ Henry slams his hand on to the edge of the sink. ‘Are you in?’

Pam considers this. If she could avoid being exposed, she wouldn’t need the money. But the two go together, and, in any case, she knows the Heath Hill governors will already be nervous. They’re probably already digging for the truth. They’ll speak to the teachers, to parents, and people’s tongues are loose. Pam’s secret will come out and, when it does, she’ll lose her job, perhaps even be barred from teaching. A hundred grand is enough to keep her afloat till she retrains, maybe even with enough left over to do some good. Charitable support, a bursary …

‘Take Ceri.’ Henry leans closer, whispering so he won’t be heard. ‘Her secret’s something she’s been doing at work. What has she said to you about it?’

‘She— No. This is wrong.’ Pam had promised herself she’d play fair, that she’d be able to hold her head up high whenever she was evicted. She walks away.

‘Wrong?’ Henry follows her. ‘This is a game, Pam. We have to play it.’

‘Not like this. Not in an underhand way.’ They’re standing among the trees now, away from the cameras.

‘But don’t you see? Everything about this is underhand. Even Miles – no, especially Miles.’ Henry grips Pam’s shoulder. ‘Remember when he joined us for breakfast, before filming started? We all thought it was great how he took time to speak to each of us personally.’

‘I remember.’ Pam swallows. She considers herself a good judge of character, but Miles had had them all fooled. He was all smiles and excitement, telling them he was going to make them all stars.

‘He said something about you,’ Henry says.

Pam’s mouth falls open. ‘What?’ she breathes.

‘He said,greasy hands.’ Henry’s cheeks flush. ‘I didn’t know what he was talking about, because obviously they hadn’t told us what the show was really about, then. It was only afterwards I realised he must have been trying to give me a clue – manipulate me into exposing you.’

Pam realises she’s shaking.

‘You’re alright.’ Henry gives a sheepish laugh. ‘I still haven’t got it. I’m like,greasy?’ He holds up his own palms and shakes his head. ‘But maybe Miles said something to some of the others, too. Planted seeds to get us to form alliances and pool our knowledge.’

‘He didn’t say anything to me,’ Pam says, but it’s clear from Henry’s watchful expression that he doesn’t believe her.

‘Just think about it, okay? And if you want to team up – I’m in.’

Pam nods, and, as Henry walks off towards the tents, she leans against a tree, her legs suddenly incapable of supporting her. She can’t think about Henry’s offer, because she’s thinking about Miles throwing her under a bus before the cameras had even started rolling. Pam thought she wasn’t capable of hating Miles Young any more than she already did. Looks as though she was wrong.

THIRTY-TWO

MONDAY | FFION

‘Ceri isn’t a murderer.’ The kitchen is suddenly too hot, too small, too full of people. Ffion picks up her upturned coffee cup from the drainer and rinses it again. Fills it with cold water and drinks half of it in one go. She thinks about how, despite living in the same village, she’s only really got to know Ceri recently. Ceri’s a private person – guarded, almost – and that’s always suited Ffion, but is there a dark side to her?

‘How well do you know her?’ George says.

‘She’s the postwoman in the village.’

‘What does that mean? You know her well, or you don’t know her at all?’ There’s a touch of irritation in George’s voice.

‘It’s a small community. Everyone knows everyone.’ Ffion’s voice sounds high and strained. ‘We should wait till Ryan’s been interviewed. He might cough straight away.’

‘It could be days before he’s declared fit,’ Leo says. ‘Besides, you said yourself, he doesn’t fit the MO.’

‘And there’s Dario Kimber. He doesn’t have an alibi, and we have a witness putting him in camp the night the cameras were smashed.’ Ffion talks quickly, trying to drown out the buzzing in her head. ‘Also, I don’t trust Zee Hart. What if she killed Miles to inject some drama into her behind-the-scenes reporting? Then there’s Jessica Francis – she had just as much motive as Ceri—’

‘She’s been alibied,’ George says. ‘She bumped into Caleb more than a mile from here, ten minutes before Miles was killed. He was walking up to camp with fresh supplies. Her running app shows she was nowhere near the scene, and Caleb couldn’t have got back in time.’

At the back of her mind, Ffion remembers the quad bike she borrowed from Caleb to zip down to Angharad’s cottage, which would cover the distance easily. Caleb might have been on foot when he saw Jessica, but was the bike parked nearby? She pushes the thought aside. The buzzing in her head is loud enough already.

---