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‘Don’t be naive, Tom,’ she says, putting a pod of coffee in the machine. ‘It’s bought me a bit of time, that’s all. By tomorrow morning, Stacey will have given a tearful press statement on her front steps admitting to being a long-term survivor of domestic abuse, and claiming the video has been taken out of context and she was just defending herself. She’ll say she’s traumatised and seeking counselling, and she’ll be back on theMorning Express Shownext week launching a campaign to support women who fight back against their abusers. Everyone loves a redemption story. Just ask Martha Stewart.’
‘What about Felix?’
‘Whatabouthim?’
‘Well, he’s still missing. She can’t explainthataway.’
‘Without a body the police can’t even prove a crime has been committed,’ Millie says, tossing the used coffee pod into the bin. ‘And all the available evidence points tome, not her.’
‘So where were you and Harper this morning?’ I ask.
‘Are you sure you want to know?’
‘We’re in this together, remember?’
‘One of Harper’s fans got in touch with her,’ Millie says, pulling out a kitchen stool. ‘Apparently the girl’s mother is best friends with the daughter of a woman who fostered Stacey when she was a teenager. We went to see her this morning. It turns out Stacey was in and out of the foster care system four or five timesbeforeher parents died.’ She takes a sip of coffee. ‘The first time her parents put her into care was when she strangled the family cat with barbed wire when she was seven.’
‘Jesus!’
‘According to Susan Temple, the foster mother, Stacey showed all the early traits of a psychopathic child: lack of empathy, extreme tantrums, chronic lying, failure to show guilt or remorse. There were numerous incidents over the years. About six months before the car crash that killed her parents, she attacked another child at school with a rounders bat. She smashed him in the face and blinded him in one eye.’
My jaw drops. ‘And they didn’t lock her up?’
‘Oh, they did. But she was a model patient, took her meds, and eventually her parents took her back. Two weeks later, they were dead.’
‘An accident?’
Millie shrugs. ‘No one could prove it wasn’t. Her father had been drinking – he was under the limit, but the police didn’t dig any further. Susan Temple isn’t in any doubt: it was a straight stretch of road, and Stacey’s father swerved into a tree for no apparent reason.’
‘I can’t believe none of this has ever come out,’ I say. ‘Stacey’s in the public eye. How’s she kept this under wraps so long?’
‘She was a juvenile. The records were sealed. And she’s never put a foot wrong since. Whatever she might have got up to in private, she’s managed to stay under the radar. Susan Temple tried to raise the alarm a couple of times after the crash, but no one wanted to know. She says she’s been waiting twenty years for someone to come and ask questions, but no one ever did.’
‘Have you got proof of any of this?’ I demand. ‘Can you use it?’
‘I’m still trying to figure that out,’ Millie says.
‘Well, I hope for both your sake and this woman’s that Stacey doesn’t find out you’ve been to see her,’ I say. ‘I can’t imagine she’s going to be happy.’
‘Where are the kids?’
‘Meddie’s gone out for pizza again with thisNoah,’ I say, making his name sound like a dirty word. ‘Peter’s upstairs in his room.’
‘We need to keep better track of them,’ Millie says.
‘You think Stacey might go after them?’ I exclaim.
‘I don’t know, Tom. It’s not a chance I want to take. Frankly, I don’t want Peter anywhere near her. I worry he—’
A noise behind me makes me jump. Millie and I both turn. ‘How long have you been standing there?’ I demand.
Peter’s flat eyes tell me nothing.
chapter 56
millie
‘Where are you going?’ Tom says.
