She smiles. ‘I knew you’d say yes. You’re such a kind person, Kate.’
For a moment, I thought she was going to say, ‘You’re such a pushover, Kate.’
That night, when I’m pretty sure everyone is asleep, I tiptoe down the stairs, pull out the drill and screws and the metal clasp.
First, I tug the lid open, and it doesn’t resist at all. Which tells me that my superglue solution was a complete waste of time.
I drill small holes, just like the nice man at the hardware store showed me, and the whole time my heart is in my throat. It is so loud, in the garage, that I have to take short breaks and listen, fully expecting Teri to barge in. But the doors are thick, thank God, and her bedroom is at the other side of the house, and soon, I have affixed the clasp and the lock.
I hide the key behind a box of nails on a shelf and go back to bed.
I didn’t like Teri staying one bit, obviously, and neither does Holly. But then, over the next two days, something completely unexpected happens. It’s as if I’ve stepped into an alternate reality.
Holly warms to Teri in a way I haven’t seen her do with anyone else before. Maybe that’s because Teri is giving her a lot of attention. She helps Holly with her homework, then they play a four-hander on the piano, giggling. After dinner – delicious, she really is an amazing cook – Teri cleans up the kitchen and loads up the dishwasher, shushing me whenever I tell her to leave it. Then once that’s done, she insists we play Scrabble. God knows where Holly dug that out from. And last night, Holly laughed so hard at some word Teri played, I thought she was having a coughing fit. That’s how long it is since I heard her laugh like that.
Which is never, come to think of it.
But my mind is still in the garage, and I imagine that Max can hear us, stuck in his freezer. I wonder what he makes of all this good cheer. I wonder if he realises how much happier we are without him. I also wonder how long before his workplace calls wanting to know when Max will be back. I wonder if they’re leaving messages on his phone. Sometimes, I wonder if someone will show up at my door asking to see him.
But it’s different at night. Holly has trouble sleeping, and she climbs into my bed and holds me tight and cries. ‘I can’t believe I did that,’ she says, often. ‘It’s like a really bad dream – except I can’t wake up.’
I do my best to soothe her, but silently, I ask myself again and again,did I do the right thing?Then I think of Lily. What if she had lost it and killed her abusive boyfriend? Would she be better off? God yes. She’d still be alive, for one thing. Would she have gone to jail for killing him? Without a doubt. Would I have helped her hide the crime? Absolutely.
‘When?’ Holly whispers in the dark.
‘This weekend.’
Because what else can I do? I can’t thaw him while Teri is here, and I’ve resigned myself to that. Her ankle is still tender, although she said the X-rays revealed no fractures, thank God. Holly changes her bandage every day, and there’s hardly any swelling.
She’s ready to go home. Not long now, and we can put all this behind us.
17
On Wednesday morning, Mike tells me that Mrs Ashford-Wells is coming in for a chat at four forty-five.
‘I’ll be there,’ I say.
In class, I am bleary-eyed and beyond tired. The children seem to know this instinctively, and they misbehave, don’t listen and barely focus, as if they’re absorbing my own state of mind.
At four thirty, I’m tidying up the classroom before going to the meeting when my phone rings in my bag. I pick it up without thinking.
‘Hello?’
‘Mrs Price?’
‘Yes.’
‘It’s Amanda from Sterling.’
I take a sharp breath and sit down. I should have prepared for this. I bite my bottom lip so hard I taste blood. ‘Yes?’
‘We’ve been trying to reach Max, but he hasn’t answered any of our calls.’
‘Yes. Max is very ill.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that. We’ve postponed the Zurich trip until Monday. Will he be able to go then?’
‘Erm…’ I try to think, but nothing comes. I literally have no idea what to say. ‘I’m not sure.’
