‘What are you doing?’ she cries. ‘Stop it! Somebody help me! Help!’
But I’ve got it. I’ve got her phone.
I turn away from her, rounding my back while I tap on the screen, desperately trying to get to that stupid video, to delete it, my heart pounding, my vision blurry, and all the while she’s behind me, pulling at my arm, trying to get her phone back, so I shove her with my elbow and run off a few feet, still tapping while she’s screaming behind me, ‘Give it back!’
Finally, I manage to delete the video.
‘Kate!’ someone shouts. I look around. It’s one of the other teachers, Simon. ‘What’s going on?’
‘She attacked me!’ Teri cries, hopping on one foot.
‘Everything is fine!’ I say, handing Teri her phone back. ‘Just a misunderstanding. Thank you, Simon.’
Teri looks at me with big eyes. ‘A misunderstanding? You’re a total psycho! You attacked me! And that’s after your stepdaughter did this?—’
I take a step forward. I’m so close, I can smell her breath. ‘You need to watch what you say. You understand me?’ Then I take a step back, my eyes not leaving hers.
She straightens a little, but there’s something in her eyes, a quick realisation that I mean business, and that maybe, just maybe, I’m not the pushover she assumed me to be.
I brush my hair out of my face. ‘We’re fine, truly,’ I say, still looking at Teri. ‘A misunderstanding.’
Teri doesn’t reply.
Simon stares from me to her. ‘All right,’ he says finally. He gives me one last confused look before walking away.
‘You are a horrible person,’ I say, my voice low. I nod at the phone in her hand. ‘Your video is gone, and you need to get out of my sight. Now.’
She bursts out laughing. ‘Have you lived under a rock all these years, Kate? It’s in the cloud! There’s a copy on my laptop at home! God, you’re an idiot.’ She shakes her head. ‘Look. You give me the money, and I’ll wipe it. Otherwise, I’ll go to thepolice and tell them what Holly did and that you begged me, blackmailed me, into not calling them. What do you say?’
I stare at her in disbelief. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone so evil – and that’s saying something. ‘How much do you want?’
‘Twenty-five thousand pounds, please.’
My jaw is on the floor. ‘Are you serious?’
‘Of course.’
‘I don’t have that kind of money!’
‘Come on, Kate. You’ve got almost ten thousand pounds. You can get the rest. Just log into Max’s account and take it.’
Jesus, that’s the last thing I need. Evidence that I’ve broken into Max’s account. ‘I don’t have access to his account.’
‘I tell you what. I’ll take whatever cash you have in your precious shoebox as a guarantee. Then you’ll have seven days to come up with the rest.’
I can’t think straight. My mind is a whirlwind. All I know right now is that I need to get this mad woman off my back.
‘Come on. Let’s go home—’ she points to my car ‘—and let’s get my money.’
I press my fingers against my temple. ‘It’s not at home. It’s in my car.’
She raises her chin. ‘Interesting. So you got worried I might go back into your house and steal it after last night.’
God, was it only last night? ‘It was you, in my bedroom.’
‘Obviously, Kate. You don’t show someone like me ten grand and expect me to walk away. So…’ She steps away from my car and gestures towards it. ‘Let’s go.’
I unlock my car, get inside and rummage under the passenger seat. I pull out the box. It’s all flattened now, some of the money coming out from under the lid. I hand it to her.
