Page 42 of One of Us Is Guilty

This is the way of things. This is what Vanessa understood above everything else.

Because she was damaged too.

Vanessa knew fear like she knew her own face. And yet, when it arrived, like right now, it always felt fresh and new – pulsing through her veins, crawling over her skin, licking with a cold tongue on the back of her neck.

Fear, however familiar, was always a stranger.

He let her go.

She turned away quickly, her chest rising and falling faster and faster, as the fear took her in a gentle, icy embrace. She clambered up the stairs.

‘Vanessa,’ he called out. She was moving away from him, fast as she could, and she didn’t want to turn back. Not for anything.

‘Stop!’ he yelled. ‘You and I need to talk.’

‘I don’t want to talk to you. My lawyers said I shouldn’t.’

‘We have to talk. I have things I have to say. Whether you believe it or not, I don’t know. I loved her, Vanessa. And part of me still loves you. There’s something I have to tell you . . .’

17

Patrick

He heard the town car pull up.

Patrick was out of his seat in an instant, at the bedroom window, peeking through the blinds. There on the street, Vanessa was talking to a short woman with red hair, in a business suit. The consultant Buchanan had arranged – Voss. He recalled seeing her once before, consulting with his father. She was cold, detached. A real killer was how his father had described her.

His stomach tightened.

Voss and Vanessa were talking on the sidewalk.

He took the stairs quickly, and ran to the hallway, opening the front door just in time to see Vanessa standing there, keys in hand.

‘I heard the car. Are you alright?’ he asked.

‘I’m alright. Everything is going to be alright,’ she said.

He stood aside, letting her come in. He didn’t want to chance an embrace. It would only make her uncomfortable and he needed her to talk. He slammed the door shut behind her.

‘What did the lawyers say?’ he asked, following her through the hallway.

She slowed, said, ‘She— They said the trial will be fast. It will all be over in a few months and then we can put it all behind us.’

He stepped in close behind her, thought about grabbing both hershoulders, spinning her round and screaming at her. Telling her she had better come clean about everything the police knew, about everything she had told them.

His hand snaked out, but he dropped it. He couldn’t risk it. He had to get her talking on her own steam.

‘That’s wonderful news.’

He followed her into the kitchen as she took some water from the fridge, then closed it and stood facing the counter with her back to him. She opened the water and drank.

A single thought pulsed in his mind as he stared at the back of her head, the water bottle at her lips.

She can’t look at me . . .

She’s told them about me and Molly.

‘Do you want something to eat?’ he asked.