Evie felt increasingly numb. “I need to go back inside,” she said faintly. “I need to let everyone know that you are a liar and I think you are dangerous.”
Amelia blocked her way. “Don’t even think about it, no one wants you in there.”
She gave another high-pitched giggle. “Do you know the best thing, Evie? You don’t know just how much worse it’s going to get. You are about to lose everything.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Freya’s Party
Back at the party, no one had any idea of the drama unfolding outside. Freya and Ross were dancing to ‘Rock the Casbah’, with Ross proving he had some pretty decent moves.
“I love The Clash,” he roared at Freya. “And this song is a right belter.”
Freya had feigned delighted surprise when she walked into the room to see everyone clapping and cheering for her ‘surprise’, and she was having a blast. Everywhere she looked she saw people she loved, eating and drinking and laughing. All her favourite food and snacks were on display, and she felt so blessed. If only she could make things right with Evie, everything would be perfect.
She’d seen her away at the back of the hall and fully intended to say hello and arrange to talk properly after the celebrations, but so many people had crowded around to wish her happy birthday and take photos, and then the ceilidh band took over and started playing traditional Scottish dance tunes and they were all whirling and burling.
When she looked over to where Evie had been standing, she’d disappeared.
“Bugger,” said Freya. “I must ask Kate to go and try and find her.”
She caught Kate’s eye, and beckoned her over, asking her to find out where Evie was. Kate nodded and said she’d look for her.
Outside, Amelia was trembling with the elation of taunting Evie. She heard the music briefly get louder as the door opened, and Kate came out.
Thinking quickly, Amelia shoved Evie, who wobbled and fell backwards. To keep her balance, she reached out for Amelia, grabbing her coat. Knowing she had a witness, Amelia fell to the ground as though she had been shoved hard and started screaming in agony as Kate rushed toward them.
Amelia had hurled herself onto the pavement so violently, her cheek was scraped and bloodied. When she saw Kate she clutched her ankle and began sobbing hysterically and reached out to her, “Please help me. Don’t let her hurt me anymore.”
Kate was appalled and didn’t know whether to comfort Amelia or confront Evie. While she hesitated, Evie took a step towards them both. Feeling as though her head was full of cotton wool, Evie heard her voice slurring, “This is not what it looks like.”
Amelia began screaming again in faux terror, grabbing at Kate and begging for her protection. “Evie, what the hell is going on? What have you done? Amelia is terrified.”
“I can’t stand,” howled Amelia. “My ankle – I think it might be broken. And my head, I’ve hit it hard, I think I might have passed out for a second.”
Evie sounded robotic as she said, “She did it to herself. It wasn’t me. She shoved me first and then she threw herself to the ground. She’s making it all up. She’s dangerous. We need to call the police.”
Kate looked from Evie to Amelia. She didn’t know what to do. She was sure she had seen Evie violently push Amelia,who now lay in agony on the ground in front of her, and Evie sounded like a zombie.
Amelia grabbed at her hand. “Please, please Kate. Don’t call the police, she doesn’t know what she is doing, but she will be the one in trouble and I really don’t want that. Just keep her away from me.”
Kate was torn. She glared at Evie. “Promise me you won’t do anything stupid. Maybe we can sort this out ourselves without involving the law, but it’s obvious Amelia has been assaulted.”
Evie felt as though she was in a waking nightmare. Nothing made sense. “You can’t possibly be on her side. She’s playing some sort of sick game. It’s a trap and you have all fallen for it.”
Kate was usually so cool headed in a crisis, but she felt herself panicking, and was so relieved when Edwyn came out of the hall towards them. He had been looking for Kate to tell her they were about to cut the cake, not wanting her to miss out, and was told she had gone outside.
“Kate, what’s going on? Amelia, you’re hurt. Let me help you.” He instantly became the cool, calm medic and took complete charge.
Amelia was still weeping and wailing, pretending to be terrified out of her wits. He tried to soothe her. “It’s all right, calm down, love, and let me look at your face. He made an expert assessment: “OK. You’ve a bad graze to your cheek and it’s still bleeding, but looks a hell of a lot worse than it really is. We can clean you up easily. You will be fine.”
“It’s her ankle too,” said Kate in a trembling voice. “And she thinks she may have hit her head and even passed out.”
“Can you stand?” Edwyn asked.
“I can try,” Amelia answered, her voice a tiny whisper. She made a huge show of attempting to get to her feet, beforegasping in agony and slumping to the ground again. “I’m so sorry, I feel dizzy and the pain is terrible.”
Edwyn kept talking to her gently. “You’ve had an accident and a shock, but you are alright, but if you passed out even for a second you could have a concussion. I will call a cab and take you to the hospital and get you checked out, just to be sure. I’ve had a few beers or I would drive you myself.”
