Liv joined in, “But Edwyn, Kate and especially Freya were the toughest ones for you to crack, weren’t they? You realised you would have to do something really over the top to convince them Evie was not to be trusted, and so you made it look as though she attacked you.”
Liv looked at Amelia with a mixture of loathing and pity. “You really are a pathetic and nasty piece of work.”
Edwyn looked appalled. “That surely can’t be true. No one in their right mind would do such a thing.”
“Agreed,” said Liv. “But she’s clearly not in her right mind. She’s eaten up with jealousy and spite and hate.”
Freya had gone very quiet. She looked grey and old and tired. She turned to Amelia and gave a heavy sigh from the depths of her soul. She couldn’t bear all of these lies and accusations. She held her head in her hands and started to weep. Evie went to comfort her.
“Don’t shed any tears for her, Freya. She isn’t worth it.”
Ross said grimly, “I think we should phone the police.”
“Go ahead,” said Amelia, looking completely calm and composed. “What do you reckon the coppers will charge me with?”
Rab had been silent up until this point, but now he stepped forwards, his voice deep and strong: “Maybe I can answer that one. So Liv came to me, in a right state, and finally told me everything that had been going on.”
Pointing at Amelia, he continued, “How this one was trying to manipulate her. I told her to tell you all the truth right away but she was worried you wouldn’t believe her. We had a long talk and Liv convinced me that, by pretending to go along with Amelia’s scam, she would have the evidence she needed to convince you all.”
He looked around the room. “I reckon she has done that alright.” He looked at Liv, squeezed her hand and whispered, “I’m so proud of you and I told you it would be OK.”
Rab continued. “With someone like Amelia there’s usually a history of bad deeds so I did a bit of digging. The biker community look out for each other so I put out feelers on social media, and it turns out a friend of mine from Shetland knows a bloke down south who was scammed by someone using the self-same tactics – wheedling her way into someone’s life then taking it over bit by bit – and fitting Amelia’s description.”
He looked straight at Amelia. “She’s done this before and I’m not surprised that she’s wanted by the police in England.”
The room fell silent. Before Amelia could reply, Freya made a guttural noise and collapsed. Edwyn rushed to help her and everyone crowded around.
“Kate, call an ambulance!” he said tersely … “She looks like she’s having a stroke. Tell them it’s urgent. We need to get her to hospital right away.”
Amelia took advantage of everyone’s attention being on Freya and slipped out of the back door.
Chapter Forty-Eight
The Balfour Hospital
When news of Freya’s stroke got out, the hospital was inundated with worried callers and people turning up to find out how she was doing.
A harassed receptionist said to Edwyn, “I’m going to have to put up bulletins on the front door like they do with the royals.” She looked at him tearfully. “How is she doing really, Edwyn? We are all worried about her. Was it the excitement of the party?”
He tried to smile at her reassuringly, although inside he felt his nerves were shredded. Edwyn was used to working long hours with scant sleep, but the past few days had been intense.
“I’m not sure, but she’s Freya and she’s a fighter. We are all hopeful.” He’d had to tell Ross to keep Evie at Freya’s house. She was almost hysterical with fear for Freya and rage at Amelia. Ross had managed to calm her down and told her they could do more good trying to find Amelia, and she had to let the professionals take care of Freya now.
Edwyn promised he would keep them updated on her condition. As a doctor, he had never felt more helpless in all his life. He couldn’t even begin to think about what would happen if Freya didn’t pull through. He took off his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes. Looking up, he saw Maureen and Andrzej approaching the front desk, worried and anxious.
Andrzej gave Edwyn a bear hug and Maureen was trying not to cry. She asked him in a trembling voice, “What’s happening? What can we do to help?”
Edwyn sighed, “She’s still in intensive care, and we won’t know how badly the stroke has affected her for a while, but her heart is strong and we got her here really quickly.”
Maureen asked him, “Could I sit with her? Just in case she wakes up. I don’t want her to be all confused and upset when she comes round.”
Edwyn replied, “Well, she is getting the best care from our nursing staff.” He saw Maureen’s chin wobble and her shoulders slump and added quickly, “But I think that’s a good idea Maureen, and I have to fill Andrzej in on what’s been going on.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
Hoxa
Now that her plan had gone horribly wrong, Amelia knew she had to find somewhere to hide. By now, she should have forced Liv into releasing all the funds from Evie’s gallery and she’d have been on the first plane out of this godforsaken place, leaving chaos in her wake.
