‘Hello, Danny. I bet you didn’t expect to see me again.’
It’s her voice. ItisJo. But how?
Then I see Logan standing behind her, holding a Waitrose carrier bag. It’s the most normal thing in this far-from-normal scenario, and I find myself staring at it as I try to process everything.But they found her blood on Stuart King. I struggle to overcome the shock running through me and force myself into action.
‘Oh my God, Jo,’ I say, my voice cracking. I lurch towards her, to take her into my arms. ‘I thought you were dead. I…’
Her body is tense in my embrace, and I slowly release her.
‘No more play-acting, Danny,’ she says sharply.
‘I’ll make tea,’ Logan says. ‘I have cake, too. I thought you might like some cake while we chat. Shall we have it in the lounge?’
I’m so confused that I just nod.
‘Chocolate cake,’ he adds. ‘You can’t go wrong with chocolate cake, can you?’
I stare at him, mute with shock, as Neville Logan pours tea into cups like a manservant. I must be dreaming. This is too surreal for words.
‘Cake?’ he says, smiling. ‘Jo says it’s your favourite.’
You’d think this washisfucking house, not mine. And who the hell does he think he is, calling her Jo?
Jo says, ‘You look a bit dazed, Danny.’ She offers me a cup of tea, but I ignore it. I don’t want her to see my hand shaking.
‘They said you were dead. Gil saw a photo. I can’t believe it. We have to tell the police,’ I say. ‘God, I’m so happy you’re alive.’
She looks at me with pity in her eyes. ‘Are you?’ she says caustically. ‘Because that seems odd to me, seeing as you arranged for Stuart King to kill me. You’ve got to admit, we did a good job of faking it.’
They faked it?I look at Logan. He’s smiling. The bastard has betrayed me. I need to talk my way out of this, but my brain won’t work.
‘I need to explain,’ I say weakly.
Jo smiles. ‘That would be a good idea. But let me go first. You underestimated Neville. You thought he was weak. But you’re the weak one, Danny. We were close. We had a child together…’ She breaks off, and I look away. I can’t bear to see the tears forming in her eyes.
‘I was trying to protect you,’ I say. ‘We would have been okay, you and me. I’d have sorted everything out, but I couldn’t risk anything happening to you.’
Her tears suddenly turn to a shriek of almost hysterical laughter, and I see how ironic that all sounds.
‘The only person you were thinking about was yourself. You hired a hitman to kill me. Well, if you really do care so much about me, you should thank Neville. He saved my life, and I saved his.’
‘Jo,’ I interrupt.
‘Don’t you fuckingdarecall me Jo. The newspapers said that the man was a rapist. If Nev had been a coward like you, that piece of scum might have raped me before murdering me. Did you know he was going to bludgeon me to death with a hammer? Or did you never ask how he was going to do it?’
I try to swallow, but there’s a heavy lump, like a stone, in my throat. ‘I’m begging for your forgiveness,’ I say. ‘I was a mess. I didn’t know what I was doing. I got into this fix. It seemed the ideal solution. They were threatening to get to you and Joel. What was I supposed to do? I thought you’d be safe. I was going to get the mess sorted, and then our lives would be back to normal, but then he’ – I point to Nev – ‘fucked it up.’
Neville lets out a long sigh. Anger overwhelms me. What the fuck has he been telling Jo? Probably anything he needs to, to cover his own back.
‘Why don’t you get out of my house?’ I snap.
‘It’smyhouse. And he’s staying,’ says Jo firmly. Neville has the cheek to help himself to a slice of cake. I want to throw up.Why can’t she see that I did this for her?
‘It was Nic. He got me caught up in all this stuff. What was I supposed to do?’
‘You should have talked to me.’
‘So you could tell your parents and give your father another excuse to belittle me, like he’s done for years? When did you ever stand up for me?’
