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“Go on, then.” I harden my voice. “Explain to me why you let me believe you were dead.”
“Alright. I’m going to sit down, here by the door. I suggest you do the same.” There’s a pause. “It’s going to take awhile.”
There’s a thud against the door as he sits. I move closer, sit down, facing the door.
“I’m not sure where to start,” he says.
“At the beginning,” I say, my voice harsh. “I want to know everything. You owe me that, at least.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Carl and I are brothers,” Hunter begins. “Our father was a New Zealander, our mum is British. We were born in the UK, but our parents emigrated when we were children and New Zealand became our home. When I finished college here, I left. I felt that New Zealand was too remote and I wanted to explore the rest of the world. I traveled around Europe for a while, ended up in England. Eventually, I joined the police force and—”
“You were in the police?” I can’t keep the surprise from my voice.
“Yes, in the crime squad. Our dad was in the police, so it probably runs in the blood. Carl went straight to work in security from college, but eventually, he followed me to London and set up his own security firm there. About a year ago, I left the police. My partner and I had recently split up and it seemed a good time to do what I’d been dreaming of doing, which was to come back here and build myself a house. Carl was happy in England. His business was doing well; over the years he’d managed to secure contracts with some high-profile names, including Ned Hawthorpe.” He pauses. “He was also in a relationship with Lina Mielkute.”
I’m so shocked I can hardly speak. “Carl was in a relationship with Lina?”
“Yes. They first met over the phone when there was a problem with the payment for the contract renewal. They hit it off, and eventually met up. But they kept their relationship a secret, even from Justine. They didn’t want it getting back to Ned; they didn’t think he’d feel comfortable knowing that the head of his security firm and his accountant were seeing each other. They were so paranoid they didn’t even use their real names when messaging each other.”
I remember Justine’s teasing about Lina having a secret boyfriend, and I feel the threads of the story beginning to pull together.
“Just before I was due to leave England, Carl was contacted by someone highly influential connected to the Hawthorpe Foundation. This person was becoming increasingly concerned by Ned; there were rumors that he was a predator, sexually harassing the young women who worked for him. This person—let’s call him Mr. Smith—was worried about the negative effect any scandal involving Ned would have on the Hawthorpe Foundation. Not only was Mr. Smith one of its most generous benefactors, he’d also been instrumental in getting other wealthy people to donate. The rumors made him jittery, so he asked Carl to find out what he could.
“Carl already knew that Lina was uncomfortable with a couple of payments she’d had to make, although she had never told him who they were to, or why she’d had to make them. When he’d pressed her for more information, she had clammed up, only saying they weren’t ethical. Carl agreed to help Mr. Smith. But he didn’t want to use any of the security equipment his company had installed to spy on Ned, as it would have been a breach of rules. He was looking for another way in when Ned contacted Carl’s company asking them to provide a security guard. Carl realized it was the perfect solution and persuaded me to put off my return to New Zealand and take the job.” He pauses. “I knew of Ned from my years in the police. There were rumors of cover-ups, of his grandfather using his influence with those in command to get Ned outof trouble. There’d been a case where a young girl had died but nobody had been able to make anything stick. When Carl asked me to step in as Ned’s live-in security guard, I thought it might be a way to nail him once and for all.”
“Did Lina know all this?” I ask.
“Not all of it, because Carl didn’t want to put her in an awkward position. She knew that I was going to work for Ned, but Carl told her he was doing me a favor because I wanted a job for a few months before leaving for New Zealand.” I hear the scuff of him adjusting his position. “One morning, Ned called me early and told me to have the car ready because he needed to go to Las Vegas urgently. He said that you were going with him, and I was to go and pick you up, then return to Wentworth for him. It was only a few days later, when Lina arrived back from seeing friends in Scotland, that she heard from your friend Carolyn about Ned sexually assaulting Justine. Lina told Carl, and Carl told me.” There’s another pause. “I was immediately worried for you, so I tried to find out which hotel you were staying in. But nobody seemed to know, and Ned wasn’t answering his phone to anyone. The following day, Carl called me again. Lina was worried because neither she nor Carolyn had been able to get in touch with Justine. She also said that Carolyn hadn’t been able to reach you either.”
“Ned took my phone. He made me think I’d left it on the plane. And my computer wouldn’t work; I thought I’d broken it when I dropped my bag. But that was down to him too. He obviously wanted to make sure that I didn’t hear about his assault on Justine. I only found out when Carolyn called me at the hotel, the morning we were leaving.”
“And by then you were married to him.”
“It wasn’t what you think.”
“I know that now. But I didn’t know it then.”
I trace a circle on the ground with my finger. “How did you find out about our marriage?”
“Ned called me on Thursday evening. He told me the good news, then asked me to collect your belongings from your apartment. I askedhim how I could do that without keys, and he told me to use my imagination, that it had to be done by the time I picked you up at the airport the following morning.”
“How did you get into my apartment?”
“I found the owner, told him of your surprise wedding to Mr. Hawthorpe and said that Mr. Hawthorpe would appreciate it if he could let me into the apartment so that I could move your things into Mr. Hawthorpe’s house. Believe me, the Hawthorpe name mentioned three times in one sentence has an amazing effect on people.” His voice becomes serious again. “But there was still no sign of Justine, and although Ned told everyone that she’d gone back to France, we were suspicious. Then Lina came to the house.”
A silence descends on us.
“Carl told me,” he says, his voice quiet. “He told me that when he saw you at the memorial service, you said that you saw Ned kill Lina.”
My eyes blur. I want to say something but I’m afraid I might start crying.
“Amelie, if I pass you the key, will you open the door?” he asks, after a moment.
I swallow down my tears. “No. Carry on.”
I hear him sigh. “Lina’s death changed everything. For Carl especially, but also for me.”
