Liv told him, “I don’t think so. She lived with Freya all the time she was here, and I really only saw her a few times, but you know how sly and sleekit she is. She’ll have found a hole to hide in.” Liv swallowed hard and asked, “How is Evie?”
“Not great. She might appreciate a call or a message. Or you could come to the hospital to be with her.” Liv laughed scornfully. “I’m the last person she would want to see.”
“Don’t be so sure. You were the one who helped the most in showing us all what Amelia was really like. We owe you a great debt.”
Liv wasn’t used to praise. She coughed uncomfortably, said goodbye and hung up, putting her head in her hands. “What a clusterfuck this all is,” she groaned. Then she remembered something.
Amelia had been to visit Liv and knew about her AA meetings. The community centre where they held the meetings was always left open. It was only a twenty-minute drive from the sanctuary and would be the perfect place to hide.
Liv reached for her phone to call the police and let them know and then hesitated. What if she had got it completely wrong? She’d had so many run-ins with the law in the past. They all had a low enough opinion of her when she was taking drugs and boozing. She couldn’t bear to risk their scorn and be accused of wasting police time, and it was only a hunch, after all.
‘I’ll check it out for myself,’ she thought. ‘Then I can give the police a call if it turns out Amelia is there.’
It was a cold night and Liv trudged in the darkness up to the back door of the centre. There was no sign of the van but if she was here, Amelia would have probably abandoned it somewhere and walked the rest of the way.
Liv peered in through the window, into the tiny kitchenette. It was dark inside, but then she spotted a light moving. She was right. It was Amelia, walking up and down, looking at her phone screen.
Liv’s heart was pounding so loudly all she could hear was the blood rushing in her ears. She realised, too late, that she should have brought Rab with her, but for the same reason she didn’t call the police, she hadn’t wanted to appear ridiculous in front of him if it turned out she was wrong.
She crouched down and pulled out her phone, calling the police with the details, speaking softly. She hung up and stayed still, but then she heard the groaning squeal of the front door opening.
“Well, well,” said Amelia menacingly. “Look who’s here.” Much to her dismay, Liv found herself looking at Amelia with a deep sense of dread. Past experience around criminals and lowlifes had taught her you must never ever show your fear. So she breathed in hard and said in her strongest voice: “I knew you would be here. It’s all over. Get your sorry arse back inside. Now.”
Amelia cackled, “Are you going to make me? Take a look at yourself. You look like a scarecrow. I could snap you in half like a rotten twig.” Then she hissed, “Why don’t you do us both a favour and just fuck off.”
Hoping to take Liv by surprise, she made a run for it but Liv was too quick for her. She grabbed Amelia and slammed her to the ground. “I thought I told you to get back inside,” Liv shouted, dragging a writhing, spitting Amelia over the open doorway and into the kitchen.
There was only one way in and out. Liv slammed the door shut and stood with her back to it, facing Amelia, who glowered belligerently at her. “Oh, Liv. What a complete asshole you are. This could have been so good for both of us. You just wouldn’t listen to me.”
Liv knew the police were on their way. She just had to keep Amelia talking. “Well, I’m hearing you now. Why don’t you tell me what this really has all been about?”
For a flicker of an eye, Amelia looked vulnerable. “Do you really want to know?”
“I’d like to try and understand how we got here,” said Liv.
Amelia stared at her, and then she began to talk …
Chapter Fifty-Five
Amelia’s Story
1996-2026
Amelia had thought Lachlan was the one but when he rejected her, she realised he wasn’t worth the trouble. He didn’t deserve her and she’d never allow herself to be so vulnerable ever again. Amelia also hadn’t appreciated just how hard she would have to work in order to get her degree, and it was too much effort when there were so many idiots in the world she could shake down for money.
Her ultimate goal was to marry someone filthy rich, take them for everything in the divorce and be set up for life. So she dropped out of university after the first year and moved back south to London. Eric had died of cancer a few months earlier, which made no impression on Amelia, but she sensed an opportunity. He had left the house to Ruth, who was now wracked with ill-health and virtually bedridden.
Amelia managed to cajole her into selling up and splitting the proceeds with false promises they’d buy a nice little bungalow and she’d become Ruth’s full-time carer. As soon as she had the money, Ruth was abandoned and Amelia didn’t give her another thought.
The money kept her afloat for a few years and she used some of it on an expensive nose job and designer clothes. It was soonfrittered away, so she had to find a job, ending up in a juice bar in an expensive gym where she honed her body for free on the state-of-the-art equipment. There was no shortage of men to be used as meal tickets.
Amelia held her new nose, had loveless sex with them and was rewarded with expensive gifts. Older clients seemed to enjoy taking her out for posh dinners and some even gave her an allowance. Initially, she’d flatter their egos and pretend to enjoy their fumblings in bed, but all of these arrangements ended abruptly when Amelia would inevitably let her sweet-and-sexy mask slip.
She never managed to hook a permanent sugar daddy and, thirty years later, she was living a small life in a tiny, rented flat, telling herself resentfully that she deserved so much more. She was also still working in a gym, but this one was in a seedy backstreet with dodgy deals being done and illegal steroids swallowed like sweeties. It smelt of rubber, rancid sweat and despair.
For the past decade, Amelia had been using online dating under a fake profile as a way of scamming mostly older men out of as much money as possible. She was currently embroiled in a fake relationship with an elderly man who was on his own since his wife had died a year ago.
She spent hours online, reeling him in until he trusted her completely. She’d gone in for the kill a few days ago, pleading she needed help to get temporarily out of a financial jam, assuring him her funds were tied up and she would pay him back as soon as possible.
