‘Never mind her,’ Tia snaps from the floor. ‘What about you, Kels? Are you okay? That bastard got you.’
‘It’s just my shoulder, I think.’ My vision blurs and I feel like I’m about to vomit. I close my eyes and try to breathe.
‘Kelly!’ Fiona cries.
‘Sophie, untie us,’ Tia orders. ‘Kelly needs an ambulance.’
I open my eyes again. ‘Is he… alive?’ I stare down at Greg’s immobile body.
He groans in response and I flinch.
‘You better tie him up,’ Tia says. ‘Because if he wakes up now, you just know he’s gonna be mad. Even madder than before.’
Sophie wobbles to her feet and sways there for a moment. She looks unsure of what to do.
‘Sophie…’ I try to sound as calm and gentle as possible. ‘Can you come over here and cut us loose. Tia and Fiona can help you tie him up and get us some medical attention. You’re probably concussed.’
Sophie does as I ask, first reaching down to pick up the knife. She comes towards me and I tense up, fearful for a moment that she might want to hurt me. But she wipes the blade on her jeans before slicing into the zip ties, carefully edging the tip of the blade inside the plastic on my wrists. I swear under my breath as the zip tie breaks and my body jolts, inducing a white-hot pain in my shoulder.
‘Sorry.’ Sophie winces at my expression.
‘It’s fine,’ I gasp. ‘Tia, are you okay? You went down quite hard.’
‘Yeah, just a bit bruised I think.’ She scowls up at Sophie. ‘Glad you finally saw sense.’
Sophie cuts the ties on my ankles next. ‘I think I always knew my dad was guilty.’
‘So then why the hell did you go along with your brother?’ Tia cries. ‘If you knew he was guilty…’
‘Because… I don’t know. Greg’s the only family I’ve got left. He loves me. He looks after me. Practically raised me after it happened. My mum shut down after Dad killed himself. I got the feeling she didn’t love Greg and me quite as much afterwards. It was like she saw us in a different light. We had his genes. We were tainted.’
‘I’m sure that’s not true.’ I know there’s nothing that could make me love my boys any less.
‘I wanted to believe that my dad didn’t do it. Greg was so convincing. Sosure. I just couldn’t go against him. But then, meetingyou, Kelly…’ She looks up at me. ‘You took me into your home without even knowing me! You were so kind. No one’s ever been that kind to me before.’
I’m finally free and I stretch my legs out, wanting to rub at the sore spots on my ankles where the ties dug in, but I’m too scared of moving in case I make my shoulder worse. So I stay seated for now while Sophie sets to work freeing Tia.
Tia scowls. ‘If you thought Kelly was kind, why did you turn her over to the police with those false accusations?’
‘I told you why – Greg said I had to. He said it didn’t matter how nice Kelly seemed. He said all that mattered was getting justice for my dad.’ Sophie stops and takes a breath, wiping at her face. I realise she’s crying. ‘He was so angry. He told me that we couldn’t let any of you get away with it. I’m sorry, but he’s not an easy person to say no to.’ She’s sobbing and shaking now as she turns to Fiona. ‘I loved my dad, but I’m gutted that he did this. I’m so, so sorry for what he did to you, Fiona. For how he made you feel.’
‘Thank you,’ Fiona replies, but she looks dazed and exhausted.
‘I just was so confused about everything. I sensed Dad was guilty, but I didn’t want to admit it. Because if I did, then what did that makeme?’
Greg moans again. Once Tia is free she snatches up the packet of zip ties from the floor and sets to work securing Greg’s wrists together, and then his ankles. I don’t know how she can bear to touch him. The man is a monster.
Tia steps away and reaches for her phone, which is in her bag on the floor. She swipes at it a few times and puts it to her ear while Sophie takes the knife and releases Fiona.
When Sophie’s done, she sits on the floor hugging her knees to her chest. I want to comfort her, but I can’t move. I’m feeling woozy again, and my shoulder throbs like it’s on fire. I focus on Sophie to try to take my mind off the pain. ‘You should have come to speak to us years ago. We would never have blamed you. I feel bad that you’ve held onto all this pain for so many years.’
‘I’m sorry, Kelly.’ She sniffs. ‘I wish we could go back to being friends. I wish I hadn’t let Greg talk me into any of this. It was all so crazy. You know I’ll go to the police and tell them everything. They’ll drop the charges. You can all go back to your lives. I promise.’
‘Thank you. And you know… wecanstill be friends, Sophie.’
She gives me a sceptical look. But I mean what I say. I liked Sophie from the moment I met her. She felt like a lost soul when she showed up in my garden, and I wasn’t too far off the mark. Maybe I can help her find a new purpose in life. I slump down in my chair and close my eyes.
Fiona is crouched in front of me, asking if I’m okay, telling me to stay awake, that help will be here soon. But everything seems to be fading. The last thing I hear is Tia on the phone, her voice frantic, panicked:
