Chapter 26

‘Jesus,' Linda mutters, looking away.

‘What on earth was he going to do to you?' I gulp. My poor little sister must've been terrified.

‘Maybe strangle her and make it look like a sex game gone wrong,' Linda says softly. ‘I read a novel once where that was the twist.' Linda looks at me. ‘Really good, if you want to borrow it.'

Zelda clears her throat. Linda apologises deeply, says she sometimes gets mental absence when she's under pressure. ‘He wasn't going to rape me,' Zelda clarifies. ‘He was complaining about cramps in his stomach, said he had acid reflux from the rich food and undid the button of his trousers. But then his phone started ringing in his pocket, thank goodness, and he let go of my throat. I wanted to scream, but my throat was so sore. Who would hear me anyway? All the neighbours are away. He kept me clamped against the wall with his body while he rejected the call. I tried to calm him down. I mean, obviously, he wasn't right in the head. I promised to stay with him if he changed, marry him. I even offered to give him the fifteen hundred quid he wanted; said I'd ask you for it.' Zelda nods at me. ‘But he just laughed. Then he said something odd.'

‘Oh?' Linda says, inching closer.

‘He called me a lying bitch and said he won't be bribed by the stinking Villins again. I think he meant you, Bella, because he can't have meant Georgie.' I look at her, then at Linda, but say nothing.

‘He put more pressure on my throat with his fingers. The room began to sway and dim. I could hear him panting. I opened my eyes as wide as I could and focused on a rash that had appeared on his neck while trying to prise his hands off. But it was no use. Even in his intoxicated state, he was too strong. I knew I was going to die.' Zelda gives the bowl of ripe fruit on the table the thousand-mile stare. ‘My life literally flashed before me,' she whispers. ‘I had to do something. I rooted around on the worktop – felt a steel implement, and then my hand came down and I stabbed him.'

Linda gasps, as if she's watching a thriller on Prime. ‘Did you stab him in the jugular?'

‘I don't know,' Zelda whimpers, ‘It all happened so fast. I just wanted to get him off me. I thought I only scratched the inside of his shoulder. There was blood. On my hands. On the letter opener. On him.' Zelda sobs quietly for a few moments and then she turns to me, inhaling teary phlegm. ‘What do you think he meant by he won't be bribed?'

Linda gives me a long, hard stare and then nods. ‘Go on,' she says, wearily. ‘Tell her.'

I open my mouth. It's dry. I take a sip from Linda's glass and then begin; the words toppling from my lips, tripping over each other. ‘I met Frank at the gym on my first day. He coaxed me into hiring him; he was nice, friendly. We used to chat – a lot. I trusted him. I'm not even sure why…' Linda and Zelda listen in silence, like jurors, as I relay my story from start to finish, including his threat to ruin me if I tried to split him and Zelda up. ‘I warned him off you, Zee, but he wouldn't listen. So, I bribed him. Offered him ten grand to get out of our lives.'

‘He knew I was your sister?' Zelda gulps, ignoring everything else I just said. ‘Tried it on with you?'

‘Yes, in the studio gym.'

‘Came after me because you rejected him?'

‘Zelda, I'm so very sorry.'

‘Are you saying he targeted me to spite you?' I shake my head, apologise repeatedly. ‘And then he fleeced me. Do you think it was because I told him Mum was a famous artist?'

‘I think so, love. It would explain his motive.'

‘But Mum doesn't sell her paintings anymore? She lives off her pension.'

‘He doesn't know that, does he?' Linda offers.

‘Oh, my God, he used me,' Zelda gasps.

‘I'm sorry,' I say again, like a broken record. ‘You don't know how many times I tried to tell you but…'

‘You knew what he was like, what he was capable of, and you kept quiet.'

‘No. I was about to…'

‘You let me go out with a psychopath?' Zelda scratches her arms as if she's riddled with germs. ‘Have sex with him?'

‘It wasn't like that. I was going to tell you right away but...' I throw a glance at Linda and she shakes her head encouragingly. ‘It's complicated.'

‘Really? Well, I've just killed my fiancé, so I've got all fucking night.'

‘Zelda, please let me speak,' I manage.

‘He could've killed me tonight,' Zelda cries, pointing towards the garden. ‘That could've been me out there. And now I've got a dead man on my lawn and blood on my hands because of YOU.' She jabs her finger at me bitterly.

‘It wasn't like that,' I cry. ‘I wanted to tell you from the first day but it wasn't something I could just blurt out in front of everyone, was it? And then you went on that romantic break.' Zelda is looking at me through narrowed eyes. ‘I swear on Georgia's life, I was about to tell you earlier today, but then Frank made that outrageous announcement and proposed.' I pause. Linda complains of feeling cold, and without saying a word, Zelda gets up, jabs at the thermostat next to the stainless-steel sink and sits back down.

‘Oh look, you're right,' I admit, head in hands. ‘I should've told you the very first day at Linda's. I knew he had a big ego and a temper but I didn't think he was capable of anything like this.' I pause and then. ‘Look, it might've been a combination of the drugs and drink that made him go crazy,' I offer, as Zelda sits back down. ‘I honestly, hand on heart, had never seen him behave as you're describing.' Zelda's head snaps up at me, and then everything freezes. It feels as if the atmosphere in the room has dropped to minus five.

‘As I'm describing?' Zelda's voice is faint. ‘You don't believe me, do you? You think I murdered him.' I shake my head no. ‘Poisoned him with the lemon cake.' More head shaking. ‘And now I want you two to help me dispose of his body.' Jesus, where is this coming from? She gets to her feet. Linda tugs at Zelda's sleeve, tells her to sit back down – that wasn't what I meant – we all need to calm down. Zelda ignores her, immobilising me with her scowl. ‘You think I killed him in cold blood.' Pressing her palms on the table, she leans forward, face close to mine. ‘Just like you thought I did to Jake all those years ago.' Her fist hits the table. ‘Don't you!!?'