Author: Amanda Robson
Category: Thriller
Go to read content：https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/amanda-robson/page,8,560635-my_darling.html
Miranda Jupiter raises her hand. ‘We’ve checked the CCTV from Paddington Station and we can’t find any evidence that Tomas came home earlier than Jade said.’
I am sure your DNA will be on the sheets and on the wrench, Emma. I think Jade has concealed the time of death and set you up. She knows the drill. I bet she kept the house cool and wrapped Tomas’ body in plastic. Anyone with mine and Jade’s forensic experience knows you can do that. Why are the police so blinkered? They need to check her background. I will find the right moment to remind them.
Memories
Clutching my A level results in my hand. Jumping in the air. UCAS had just confirmed my place. Soon I would be on a train to Dundee University. The best university in Europe to study dentistry. Soon I would be living on the banks of the River Tay.
Hugging my friends. Wanting to dance on the ceiling. To sing and sing, and never stop.
I ran home at full pelt to share this with my mother. A mobile phone conversation just wouldn’t hack it. I burst into the kitchen. My heart sank: Father was there too. Sitting at the pine table with her, doing the crossword. Mother was engrossed in one of the romantic novels she was always reading. They looked up.
‘I’m going to Dundee. I got into my first choice.’
She stood up and walked towards me, pulled me close and hugged me. ‘Emma, I’m so very proud of you.’
I was inhaling her love, her warmth. But my father was prising us apart with his hands, physically separating us.
‘I don’t know why you’re so excited. The top Scottish universities are for Oxbridge rejects. Second choice for people like you who like to think they’re clever.’
My body stiffened. My stomach coagulated. ‘I wasn’t an Oxbridge candidate. Oxford and Cambridge don’t have dental schools.’
He stood in front of me and folded his arms. ‘Congratulations, Little Miss Self-Important. So proud of yourself, aren’t you?’
‘Yes Dad, I am. And you should be proud of me too.’
54
Alastair
I open the email. The DNA results from Jade and Emma’s swabs have come through. I take a deep breath and read the words on the screen in front of me. Emma’s DNA is on Jade and Tomas’ bedsheets. Emma’s DNA is on the spanner. I knew the Clusterfuck was dangerous as soon as I met her. I’m not informing the police about this until tomorrow. I am off to see Emma tonight.
‘What are you doing here in the week?’ you ask as you open the door to me, red-nosed and sniffing with your cold.
‘That’s a warm reception.’
‘Don’t snap. Of course I’m pleased to see you. I just hope everything’s OK.’ You step away from me and blow your nose. Your heavy cold is dragging on, pulling you down. ‘I won’t kiss you, I don’t want you to catch this.’
‘I’ll take the risk.’
Our lips meet. The usual desire when we touch pulses through me. But I pull away. I know I need to act quickly.
‘I need to check something.’
I dash upstairs, two steps at a time. Into your bedroom. I inspect the sheets. Pale gold. The same colour as ever. I slip a pillowcase off and look more closely. Debenhams label, not John Lewis. You always joke you live in a John Lewis house, with the exception of what you buy at Waitrose. I need to use your credit card bill to prove where you bought your sheets. All in due course.
Back downstairs, I find you in the kitchen. I pull you towards me and hold you, panic simmering inside me. I need to help you, quickly.
‘Jade is setting you up, we need to talk about this,’ I say.
You pull away from me. ‘What do you mean?’ you ask.
‘It’s complicated. Let’s talk.’
We sit down opposite one another at your pine table. I lean across and take your hands in mine. ‘She’s double-crossed you. Taken your DNA and put it on the wrench. That night. That night you can’t remember. She must have done it then, when you were out for the count. The DNA swab results came back. It’s your DNA on the murder weapon. And on the sheets.’
You are wide-eyed with panic.
‘I have to tell my colleagues at the meeting tomorrow, then you’ll be arrested,’ I continue. ‘We haven’t got much time to sort this out.’
You take a sharp intake of breath. You look as if you are about to faint.
‘But … but … how can we?’ you stutter.
I put my hand on your arm. ‘I can change the evidence. Just listen. First things first. She needs to catch your cold. Trust me. I’ll tell you what to do. Two can play at this game. She has no more forensic knowledge than me.’ I pause. ‘I’m not letting anything happen to you, Emma. Believe me. I’m in control of this.’
55
Emma
On Friday morning, I phone Andrea and tell her to cancel my appointments, trying to suppress the panic that is rising inside me. I need to keep calm and follow Alastair’s instructions immediately. Fortunately for our plan, my cold is becoming worse. My nose is red raw with all the blowing. My eyes are watering. My throat feels as if I have swallowed sandpaper. Jade’s car is in the drive. This is my opportunity.
I pull on an old tracksuit and force myself to walk up her garden path, past all the new conifers her gardener has planted. Past rose bushes and catmint. Past rhododendrons, crinodendrons and choisya. I ring the bell. She answers, still in her slippers and dressing gown.
‘I’ve finally got a morning off work so I’ve popped over to tell you in person how sorry I am about Tomas. I know I sent you a card, but it isn’t the same as speaking to you.’ I pause. ‘Can I come in for a quick coffee?’
We stand looking at each other.
‘It’s a bit early. I’m not even dressed yet.’
‘I know. I’m sorry. It’s just I’ve got to go to work later and I thought we could have a chat.’
‘OK, OK. As long as you don’t mind me looking like this.’
She steps back from the door, I walk into her weird hallway of mirrors.
‘Let’s go into the kitchen,’ she suggests.
I blow my nose as I progress towards the kitchen, following her, then I wipe my hankie on the door handle when she’s not looking. As she fills the kettle at the sink I wipe it across her kitchen surfaces. She sits down at the kitchen table. I sit opposite her.
‘How are you coping?’ I ask.
‘I’m missing Tomas so much. It hurts so much without him.’
Lying Clusterfuck. When she pops to the toilet I wipe my handkerchief on the strap of her handbag, on the cruet, on the teacup she was drinking from. You want DNA evidence, you’ll get it.
Memories
Entering Caird Hall as graduands, dressed in black flowing robes, lined with ruby silk and trimmed with white fur. Waiting in a hall, heady with a mixture of boredom, pride and anticipation, to receive our degrees. Giggling. Chatting. Staring at the pantomime characters dressed in bright colours and lumpy hats on the stage in front of us.
Silence fell. The chancellor, decked in canary yellow and paint-pot blue, spoke words of pride in our fine university, words of praise and encouragement. I sat listening and a strong sense of my life opening out in front of me overwhelmed me. I took my turn and walked across the stage to receive my degree.
Leaving the hall, we stood in front of fine stone pillars to have our photographs taken. Throwing our mortar boards and laughing. Freeze frame.
I stepped away from the group and my parents walked towards me. Mother was dabbing her face with a tissue, Father was frowning.
‘What now?’ he asked.
‘I booked a table for lunch at Collinson’s.’
‘Your mother mentioned that.’ He paused. ‘Do you think that I’m made of money? Cancel the booking. We’re going to the café over the road.’
56
Emma
I’m still dumbfounded after being arrested, when I’m pushed into a cell at the police station. A compact cell, containing only a bed, a bench and a toilet, cold and unwelcoming with a concrete floor and concre
te walls. I sit on the bench, arms tightly cuffed behind my back. The constable uncuffs me.
‘I need to see my solicitor,’ I say, voice trembling.
‘Give me the name and I’ll get in touch.’
‘Benjamin Watts. From Barnham and Watts. His number is in my mobile.’
The constable nods his head and leaves. I feel hot. Cold. Empty inside. I will not speak to them until my solicitor is here. My stomach spasms. I feel sick. Why is Jade doing this to me?
Time stops. And I am back remembering the first time I met her. The weird way she invited me into the kitchen to tell me Tomas had a wandering eye. Her spiky personality. Her face moves towards me, neat-featured and masculine. Broad, strong cheekbones. Dark eyes pushing into mine, as she handed me the Cherry Bomb cocktail. What did she do to me that night? The night I can’t remember. I must tell the police about it. I must tell Benjamin. Her masculine face becomes my father’s, becomes Colin’s. A pealing, haunting laugh.
A click of the lock. Benjamin is here. Stepping into my cell, let in by the constable who immediately disappears. Benjamin Watts. Tall with brown, almost red, hair. His beard and moustache are straggly. He kisses me on both cheeks and his facial hair scratches my skin. I cling on to him for a second too long, imagining he is someone I know, a soulmate. Then I step back, embarrassed. He sits on the plank-like bed, I sit on the bench.
He leans forwards. ‘Tell me what happened, Emma.’
The kindness in his voice makes me feel like bursting into tears. ‘I think I’ve been stitched up,’ I reply with a sniff.
‘Stitched up is a very tricky defence. We need to run very carefully through your movements that evening.’
‘I went for a drink with my receptionist, Andrea. I was home by seven thirty, watching Netflix.’
‘Home, alone?’
‘Yes.’
Tears well as I remember the way Miranda Jupiter spoke to me.
No alibi around the time of death, she snarled with her lips and her eyes.
57
Jade
DS Miranda Jupiter is here, sitting in my living room, by my shiny arrangement of black orchids. She leans forwards.
‘I have come to tell you we have arrested Emma Stockton for your husband’s murder.’
I have rehearsed this in front of the mirror, so many times. Hours and hours in front of the bathroom mirror. A sharp intake of breath. An almost imperceptible widening of my fingers and nostrils. I shake my head. I compose myself.
‘Thank goodness,’ I say slowly. ‘Thank goodness she’s been caught.’
I put my head in my hands and cry tears that are dry. Tomas, I have cried for you so often for so long. Now the person who caused your death has been arrested, try as I might, more tears won’t come.
58
Alastair
A briefing meeting called at short notice. DI Hamilton and DS Jupiter are standing by the whiteboard. Smug. Preening. Gloating. Like a pair of pedigree cats. DI Harrison steps forward, beaming from cheek to cheek.
‘Well done, team. Emma Stockton has been charged now. Over to the CPS.’ He raises his arms in the air. ‘Drinks on me at the Cock and Bull tonight.’
The team are smiling, chatting, laughing, joking.
‘And I’ve bought some doughnuts,’ DS Jupiter adds, waving a cake box in the air.
She places the box on the table by the window. I walk across and take one. I bite into it. The jam is so sweet, it makes me feel sick.
Memories
Living in a converted warehouse in Rotherhithe, working at a local dental practice. Looking for love in all the wrong places. And swiping left too many times on Tinder. Until I saw Colin. An older guy. A silver fox. Streaks of silver in fine black hair. Craggy features; Liam Neeson style.
I swiped right. So did he. A few days later we went for a date. By date I mean I went to meet him at his workplace. And that was how our relationship began.
59
Alastair
I’m missing you, Emma. I miss the feel of your arms around me. The way we used to laugh. The way we used to smile.
But however much I want to, I cannot come and see you. The police might realise we are involved with one another and knock me off the case. So I have sent you a note, with the request that when you have read it, you destroy it. A note to reassure you, Emma, that Jade will not get away with this. You will soon be free. I will make her pay. For what she did to Tomas. For what she has done to you. No one will get away with harming you, my darling. Jade and Heather pervade my mind. Enemy fire trying to destroy our relationship. Enemy fire which has failed.
60
Emma
I’m being transferred from the police station to prison in what looks like a cattle truck, in a compartment with a high window. I can see sky if I crane my neck. No horizon; no buildings, no trees. Travel sickness engulfing me.
61
Alastair
Jade should have caught your cold by now. I dial her number to find out. She picks up.
‘Ted Leicester here, from UK Polling. Would you mind answering a few questions?’ I say.
‘Yeb, I do minb,’ she replies through a blocked nose.
And I know that she has a very, very bad cold. The sound of sniffling down the phone makes me smile inside.
62
Jade
Despite the inconvenience of the cold I am suffering from, meaning I have to blow my nose every few minutes, I’m drinking a bottle of Champagne to celebrate the fact that you are in prison. You deserve to be there, you superficial bint. For flirting with my beautiful Tomas. Touching him. Hugging him by your surgery window for all to see. You had every opportunity to stop. I even gave you a heads-up. You are the one who has taken him away from me.
Have you any idea how ridiculous you looked out for the count on my sofa? Mouth lax and open. Saliva dribbling. As I rubbed your inert fingers on the wrench. So many skin cells, ripe for plucking.
Out for the count, such tedious company. And I was waiting until it was late at night, no one in sight, so it was safe to take you home without being spotted. To while away the time, I decided to do what I always do when Tomas is busy. Watch a romcom on Netflix.
I love them, but they are always the same. Two people, who hate each other, meet and argue. Then they fall in love. Three quarters of the way through, a major impediment makes them split up. The conflict is resolved in the last few minutes.
I flicked one on, and sat engrossed. It starred Josh Duhamel. The more I watched, the more I fell in love with him. So much better-looking than Tomas. So much better-looking than any man I’ve ever seen. In the film, his love interest dumped him, found a new dishy man nowhere near as sexy, and missed him. He came back to visit the town she lived in, told her he loved her, always had. And they got back together. I cried with happiness as I watched them kiss at the end. I so wanted a man to love me like that. To love me beyond all. To make me the centre of his universe.
I’ve finished the Champagne. I’m going to have a whisky and a Lemsip, and watch that film again.
63
Alastair
Wearing my latex gloves, I pick up the spare keys from beneath the watering can. Emma, you knew they were there because you saw Jade and Tomas use them from time to time.
I unlock the door, open it and step inside. I have been following Jade’s movements. She has gone to Pilates; I know I have an hour and a half to raid her house. A voice coming from the kitchen makes me jump out of my skin. I stand still and listen. The dulcet tones of Radio 4. No other sound. No one pottering about. A radio on a timer to deter thieves. It won’t deter me.
I dash upstairs to her bedroom. She has changed the look. No longer into soft golden sheets? The double-crossing fuck. Black silk. Black satin pillows. Black orchids on the dressing table, now. Looking like a shiny funeral parlour. I open the door to the en-suite. Black marble, gold taps, white suite. I open the bin. It’s empty. Bugger. The cleaner must have been and taken my DNA proof away. I try not to
panic and rush back into the bedroom. I look under the pillows. Three large hankies, bruised with snot and crinkled. I exhale in relief. These will do.
Downstairs. Into the kitchen. Tidy and clean, no debris. Into the sitting room, everything minimalistic. No photographs. No ornaments. I check by the side of the leather armchair. Bingo. A Champagne glass with a tissue inside it. Slowly, carefully, I put it in an evidence bag.
This is enough.
I hear a car on the drive. I dash to the side of the window and look. It’s you, Jade, home early. I have no choice but to hide behind the sitting room door.
The key turns in the lock. The front door opens. Footsteps go upstairs.
I creep to the front door, hardly breathing. Softly, slowly, I open it, and walk away, heart thumping, body pressed to the wall of the house. Creeping through the shrubbery. Climbing over the side wall. Jumping down. Trying to look as if I am casually meandering towards the Leander Club and the river.
64
Emma
In a prison cell. The air is thin and stale. So thin that breathing is unsatisfying. First the cell is too hot, then it is too cold. At least for now I’m on my own. One of the guards told me that in this prison sharing a cell comes later, when you are settled in. I have a bed. A shower. A basin and a toilet. And a window that looks out onto a red-brick wall.
I lie on a bed so hard it feels like concrete. Six thirty p.m: lockdown. Alone until tomorrow morning. Nothing to do but read or watch the small TV with its limited selection of channels. I didn’t have time to grab a book. I’m not in the mood for TV. TV will tell tales of the outside world and that is too painful right now. I close my eyes and think of Jade, and what she has done to me. My fists clench as I imagine what I could do to her. Bury her alive and listen to her suffer. And then my mind turns to you, Alastair. How you warned me about her behaviour. Do you really love me enough to save me?