‘She’s not your friend, Holly. I know you think she is, but she’s not.’
‘Yes, she is!’
‘No, she’s not. She took that video of you to hurt you, so she would have something on us, on you.’
Holly shakes her head at me, like she doesn’t know who I am anymore.
I reach for her arm, but she jerks me away.
‘Why would you say something like that?’
‘Because it’s the truth. She’s using you. She took the video so she’d have something to show the police.’
Holly’s face goes white. She turns to Teri.
‘Oh, sweetie,’ Teri says. ‘Kate is lying.’
My jaw drops. ‘I’m?—’
‘I would never do that to you, Holly, sweetheart. I took the video to protect you, but then I realised we would never need it, so I deleted it. Here, take a look.’
I watch, dumbfounded, as she picks up her phone from a shelf, unlocks it and hands it to Holly.
‘You didn’t delete it,’ I say. I was going to add, ‘I did,’but she’s talking over me.
‘See for yourself,’ Teri says, as if I wasn’t in the room. ‘You are welcome to go through all my photos and videos. You’ll see, it’s not there. I deleted it ages ago.’
‘No you didn’t,’ I snap.
Holly flicks through Teri’s phone.
‘She didn’t delete it,’ I say. ‘I did.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Teri says. ‘You don’t know my pin. You couldn’t access my videos even if you wanted to.’
Holly nods to herself as she hands the phone back to Teri. ‘It’s not there.’
‘No, it’s not there because—’ I point to my chest ‘—Ideleted it.’
‘What’s wrong with you?’ Teri says. ‘Why would you lie like that? Are you trying to hurt her?’
‘Don’t you dare. Just?—’
‘Oh my God!’ she exclaims, wide-eyed, as if realisation dawning. ‘Oh, my God. You’re jealous!’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
‘You’re jealous of my friendship with Holly. You’re trying to pit us against each other.’
‘That’s not true, and you know it,’ I hiss.
‘But, Kate, why?’ she asks. ‘You’re the one who told me that you were leaving Holly. You showed me the stash of money you’ve been squirrelling away. You told me you were renting a house for yourself…in… Wait, where was it?’ She taps her chin.
I can barely breathe. ‘Don’t you dare.’
‘Hull,’ she says. She turns to Holly. ‘You knew, didn’t you? Kate said she was going to tell you. She was… How did you put it? Building up to it. She saved all this money, thousands and thousands of pounds, and she’s got herself a house and a job in Hull. When are you leaving, Kate? Not long now, I assume. Then it’ll just be you and your father, Holly.’ She turns back to me. ‘So I don’t know why it bothers you so much that Holly and I are friends, since you won’t be here much longer.’
My cheeks feel hot. I’m grinding my teeth so hard they’re in danger of splintering. ‘You’re a liar,’ I say. ‘You’re a horrible person and a liar.’
