Chapter 21

Negotiating my way to our bedroom, I mull over what Georgia just said about Frank. What is it about him that gives her the creeps? Did Frank say anything to her? Eye her up? But even he can't be that stupid – not with her father in plain sight. Besides, Georgia would've said. She's no pushover – she's like Tom and her grandfather, Gary - outspoken, says it how she sees it.

‘Everything all right, Bella?' Daisy's voice startles me. She's standing in the doorway of her bedroom in a bra and a pair of lacy plum knickers, drying her hair on a purple towel. She looks beautiful. My eyes sweep over her lean, curvy body and sculpted limbs. I'm not sure if it's because Linda planted the seed earlier and Frank's remark about her preferring older men, but seeing her standing there, half-naked, unsettles me. Throwing a glance at our bedroom door, I cross my arms, glad Tom is behind it, snoring his head off. ‘I heard voices.'

‘Georgia was sick. Too much booze.'

Daisy tuts, concerned. ‘Is she okay?' I tell her that she will be, and Daisy shakes her head, warns me that she'll have a stinking hangover in the morning. ‘Sorry about this.' Flinging the towel over her shoulder, she points to her underwear. ‘I heard Tom snoring, so thought it was safe to venture.' Of course she did. I'm being silly. It's been a long day. We're all exhausted. I push my hands into the pockets of my dressing gown, hating myself for doubting her. It's that Linda's fault, putting ideas into my head. ‘I'm going to watch something on Netflix. My head is buzzing. Don't think I can sleep after all that excitement. Night, Bella.'

‘Night, Daisy, and thanks for today.' I turn the doorknob. It opens with a creak. Tom's snores amplify. ‘Actually, do you fancy a cuppa?'

In the kitchen, I make us two cups of peppermint tea using fresh leaves from the plant in my window box, and we sit barefooted at the oak table in matching white, fluffy dressing gowns. I let her borrow mine and slipped into Tom's.

‘Penny for them,' Daisy says, blowing on her hot tea.

‘Just thinking about my sister and her new fiancé.' Saying the word fiancé turns my stomach. I raise my eyebrows over my cup, take a sip, and burn my tongue.

‘He's a lucky guy.' Daisy looks up at the spotlighted ceiling. ‘Zelda's gorgeous. Your friends are lovely, too.' I agree, tell her that Linda and I go back a long way. ‘Her hubby's a bit quiet, though, isn't he?' I can tell that by this she means moody, but is being polite. ‘Very Byronic,' she grins, a twinkle in her eye. That is one way of describing him. ‘Don't think he liked Frank much, although he did perk up a bit when they announced their engagement,' she says, and I can tell she suspects something, maybe fishing for information.

‘He's a bit overprotective at times.'

Daisy raises an eyebrow. ‘Linda is a beauty.'

I agree, and then I say, ‘So, what did you make of Frank?' I blow on my steamy tea, breathing in the peppermint.

Daisy shrugs. ‘Fit but not my type.' She winks. ‘Nice butt.'

‘That's down to all that gyming. He's very dedicated.' Not to mention vain.

‘Loves himself a bit, eh?' she says, as if I teleported my thoughts directly into her brain. ‘I've never seen anyone take so many selfies. He seems nice enough, although there was this one thing.' Daisy looks into space, cradling her mug with both hands. ‘That I found a bit weird.'

My eyes widen. ‘Oh?'

‘You know when I was making the hot drinks in the kitchen? Well, Zelda and Frank were at the table, bent over their phones.' Yes, that's right. We took the party inside. The sun had gone down and it was getting a bit chilly. Plus they wanted to get online and announce their engagement on social media. ‘I had my back to them most of the time, but at one point I heard him say he wanted to see the photos she'd taken. I could hear rustling and murmurs, and I got the feeling she was resisting.'

Her comment unnerves me, but then it's not a crime to want to see photos of yourself, especially if they're going to be posted online. Knowing Frank, he'd have wanted to inspect them. Tweak them a bit first. Stick a filter on.

‘Their voices grew louder, so I glanced round, asked if either of them fancied a hot drink, and that's when I saw him holding her by the wrist and she let go of her phone.'

The edges of the room darken like a vignette photograph, swallowing me in. ‘Are you sure,' I croak, feeling lightheaded, ‘that it wasn't playful?'

‘It looked aggressive to me. Zelda looked up at me, went a bit red.'

‘What happened next?' I urge.

‘I asked if everything was okay. They both said they were fine. Frank handed her phone back, then he started rubbing his head with his fingers like this.' Daisy puts her mug down on the table and begins to massage her temples in a circular motion. ‘Complaining of a migraine. Zelda said she'd ask you for painkillers.' She didn't. I wonder why. ‘And then she wrapped her arms around his neck and they started snogging. I didn't know where to look. It was all so bizarre.' Daisy picks up her mug and shakes her head, baffled.

‘Hmm…that is very odd.' I take a sip. I wonder why Zelda didn't ask me for ibuprofen if he was in pain. Unless he stopped her. Unless it was a bogus headache to throw Daisy off because she'd caught him being mean to my sister? I open my mouth to question her some more when my phone starts ringing and vibrating in my pocket. It's Zelda. I glance at the clock – it's a quarter to one in the morning. Did she forget something here? My eyes skirt around the kitchen searching for any of her belongings.

‘Hey Zelda. Daisy and – ' I shoot to my feet, Daisy looks at me, concerned. ‘I can't understand what you're saying.' Zelda is talking gibberish. I cover the mouthpiece and mime, I think she's drunk, and Daisy nods, goes back to her phone.

‘Bella,' Zelda blubs, and I realise that she isn't drunk, she's crying, hysterically. ‘Help me…I…please. I don't…'

A shiver races over my skin. Something bad has happened to my sister. Frank has hurt her. I will bloody kill him. ‘Zelda, what is it?' Shoving a hand through my hair, I walk into the hallway and start pacing. ‘Are you hurt?'

‘Yes...I…' I knew it. ‘Um... no, I'm fine. It's Frank. He's…he…'

‘Has something happened to him?'

‘Yes,' she wails, voice like a wounded animal.

So, it wasn't a bogus migraine. The pain was real. I walk back into the kitchen and start motioning to Daisy for my car keys.

‘What's the matter with him.' I ask frantically as Daisy swoops around the kitchen, looking for my keys. ‘Is he conscious?' Images of Frank gasping for breath flash in my mind. It wouldn't be the first time a fit, healthy, twenty-nine-year-old man had a heart attack or stroke. I want Frank gone, but not like this. Despite what I said in anger, I don't want him dead. I don't hate him. I don't hate anyone. I simply hate what he did to me, that's all. ‘Shall I call an ambulance?' I suggest. At this, Daisy who is on her knees scrambling around under the table for my keys, looks up at me, wide-eyed.

‘No,' Zelda screams and I wince. What am I saying? She's probably called the emergency services already. She needs my help. My support. I've got to get round there. Take her to the hospital. They've probably taken him to AE. I gesture to Daisy, mime that I've got to go out and to keep an eye on Georgia, and she nods, looking worried, and just then she spots my keys in an ashtray, snatches them up and hands them to me.

Dashing to the open window, I pull the handle, inhaling the ashes of our barbeque still hanging in the air. ‘I'm on my way,' I say, locking the window. My phone buzzes in my ear. I've got a text. I look at it quickly. Linda:

Bells, r u there? Me and Theo had big fight. knows about my ONS with Frank. Heard him boasting to u. He's gone AWOL. don't know what to do.

Terror pierces through every fibre of my body. This can't be happening. I text back with tremulous fingers, saying I'll call her in a bit, I'm on the phone with Zelda.

‘Bella?' Zelda's alarmed tinny voice filters from my handset. ‘Bella? Are you still there?'

‘I'm here.' I press the phone to my ear. ‘Sorry…I'll just change and –'

‘No,' she wails, ‘there's no time. You need to come over right away.'

‘Okay. Calm down, Zelda.' I feel my pocket for my keys, even though I know they're in there, and just then I remember the wine I drank, not to mention the shots I knocked back with Linda before she left, to toast the happy couple, she'd said sardonically. I can't drive. ‘Scrub that. I've had too much alcohol. I'm over the limit. I'll jump in a cab.'

‘No, please don't come in a taxi,' Zelda yells again, louder this time. How am I supposed to get there in the middle of the night then, Zelda, on a bloody broomstick?

‘No cabs. No traces.'

‘Why not?' My heart feels as if it's going to rip through my skin. ‘You're scaring me now.' Silence, apart from muffled crying. ‘Zelda?' I exclaim. Daisy is on her feet, arms by her sides, a blur of white in front of me.

‘Oh God, Bella,' Zelda sobs. ‘I think I've killed him.'