Chapter 35

‘Mum,' Georgia cries. She drops her half-eaten toast onto her plate and launches herself at me. Closing my eyes, I wrap my arms around her and she melts into me.

‘I'm fine,' I say, turning my forehead away, to make sure she doesn't brush away the ointment Dr Loizia gently applied to a graze on my head before discharging me half an hour ago. ‘It's just a scratch.' I breathe my daughter in as the seriousness of what happened finally bulldozes into my brain. Zelda may have killed Frank, and I have managed to lose the weapon she used to slay him with. I wonder if perverting the course of justice carries a prison sentence. What if I go to jail for twenty years? I will miss out on so much of Georgia's life – her graduation, passing her driving test, relationships, maybe even grandchildren.

‘Gosh, Mum, you're shaking. Are you sure you're okay?'

‘Can I get you anything, Bella?' Daisy half stands, chewing a mouthful of cereal.

‘No, I'm fine. Sit down and finish your breakfast.'

‘Dad woke me up before he left, said you fell over and fainted and were carted off to AE in an ambulance! I couldn't sleep after that. Why did auntie Zelda call you out in the middle of the night, anyway, just cos they had a fight?' I tell her she was upset. They'd split up and she needed my support, which is partly true.

Daisy gets to her feet, coffee in hand, and saunters towards me. Pulling me into a hug, coffee arm outstretched, she says, ‘Glad you're okay.' Then presses her lips against my hair. ‘I've got the letter knife in my drawer upstairs.' Every hair on my body stands on end. My temp has criminal evidence nestled inside her knicker drawer. She's an accessory to the crime now. I swallow what feels like a pebble stone.

Daisy backs away from me slowly, giving me a knowing look, then quickly spins on her heel and rushes back to her seat. I look at Tom in a daze as he necks a carton of semi-skimmed. ‘What? I was parched.' I stay silent, trying to process what Daisy has just revealed, even though I hate him drinking anything straight from the carton and spreading germs, especially now that Daisy is living with us. ‘I'm going up for a shower and a kip. You coming?'

I shake my head, tell him I'm starving. ‘Aren't you due at the practice?' I ask, throwing a glance at the clock on the wall as I pull half a loaf of bread out of the fridge. The sooner Tom is out of the house, the sooner I can question Daisy about the letter knife and get her to hand it over. ‘It's almost nine-thirty.'

‘Bella, it's Sunday,' Tom says, scratching his head.

‘Oh, yes, sorry.' I faff about with the loaf. I can't concentrate. I pop two slices into the toaster with tremulous hands.

‘Dad,' Georgia calls out as he reaches the door. ‘You can't go to bed.'

Tom pauses, one hand on the doorframe. Why not?' he says tiredly.

‘You're meant to be giving me a lift to Parliament Hill? Football practice? I've got to be there in, like, an hour.' Tom's face is deadpan. ‘Please don't tell me you're not taking me now cos of Mum's fainting drama.' The sympathy didn't last long. She's lucky I love the bones of her.

‘Can't you jump on a bus, sweetheart? I've been up half the night. I'm shattered.'

Georgia eyes flit from me to her dad, face like thunder. ‘I'm not getting three buses dressed in my football kit. I mean it, Mum. Oh, Dadddddah.'

‘I'm sorry, Georgie,' he mutters. ‘Can't one of the mum's give you a lift?'

‘You always ruin everything for me. Why can't you be like normal parents? They're always taking their kids, like, everywhere, even to Central. You're always working or sleeping. Or having shitting seizures in the middle of the street. Jeez!!!' Then she turns to me. ‘Mum, can you take me?'

‘Georgia I….'

‘Oh, I hate you both! Grrr.'

‘Calm down, Georgia. I'll drive you,' Daisy offers. ‘Your folks had a difficult night. Go up and get ready.'

Georgia races to Daisy. ‘You.' Georgia cups Daisy's face with both hands. ‘Are.' She gives her a hard kiss on the cheek. ‘An absolute.' She kisses her other cheek. Harder. ‘Lifesaver.' I couldn't agree with her more.

Daisy laughs as she recovers from Georgia's endearing assault. Daisy and I watch, shoulder to shoulder, as Georgia ambles out of the kitchen, knocking into her father in the doorway, complaining all the while – she can't believe he let her down at the last moment, typical, it's a good job we hired Daisy, at least we got one thing right. I raise my eyebrows at my husband to the backdrop of Georgia thundering up the stairs.

Tom rolls his eyes at me before chasing after her. ‘Sweetheart, wait!'

Once Georgia and Tom are safely out of earshot, I round on Daisy, grab her hand and pull her down onto a chair at the kitchen table, throwing glances at the door in case Tom comes back. ‘Daisy,' I pant. ‘I'm so sorry. The letter knife. I put it in the pocket of Tom's dressing gown when I wore it on Friday morning. I've been looking everywhere for it.' I pause, do a hysterical little laugh for effect. ‘Honestly, I'd forget my head if…'

‘I know,' Daisy cuts across me.

‘Pardon?'

‘I heard you talking at the door about dumping it. You weren't talking about Linda's bicycle.' She jerks her head towards the ceiling where her bedroom is. ‘It was that.'

‘No.' I close my eyes briefly. Fuck. ‘Daisy, it's not…'

‘It's okay, Bella.' Reaching forward, she curls her hands around my shoulders firmly. ‘I know you guys are in some sort of trouble and I'm guessing Frank's involved.' I shake my head to and fro, to and fro. ‘I want to help. You took me in when I was desperate. Saved my life. Now it's payback time.'

‘No.' Tears sting my eyes. ‘You don't owe me. I didn't help you out in exchange for anything.' I look at the clock. It's twenty to ten. Linda and Zelda will be awake. It's not an unreasonable time to call on a Sunday. I need to return their calls, let them know I'm okay. But first I need to find out exactly what happened when I fainted and how much Daisy knows. ‘What happened after I fell over?'

Daisy sits back in her chair. ‘The man at the cash machine gave me the letter opener, said it flew out of your pocket as you ran away. He was mortified when your flip-flop overturned and you fell over and fainted, blamed himself for alarming you. We had to call an ambulance, Bella, you were spark out.' I nod, tell her she did the right thing. ‘I rang Tom while we waited for the paramedics to arrive. A few moments later you regained consciousness but were completely out of it, saying crazy stuff about Frank, something about him trying to kill Zelda. I told the gentleman you were a bit confused, thanked him and said I'd take it from here, that I was your sister.' She laughs lightly, and I smile. ‘Hope that was okay,' she adds, going red. ‘It was the only way to get rid of him.'

‘Of course it was. Good call.'

‘He was gone before I drew my next breath. He'd had an op and was still recovering. Stank of booze, though.'

‘Yes,' I agree. ‘I smelt it on his breath when he spoke to me.' I bite my bottom lip. At least I didn't mention Frank's body and Zelda stabbing him. ‘I'm sorry, Daisy, and thank you for looking after me. Now, about the letter opener, you've got it all wrong. It's an office device,' I say, and she frowns. ‘It was my dad's, a bit of an heirloom, hence my panic.'

‘It has a Monte Carlo stamp on it,' Daisy says. ‘Zelda and Frank just got back from there.'

‘Yes, they did. What a coincidence.' I laugh lightly. ‘Dad was stationed in the south of France, loved Monaco, used to tell us stories about his time there.' Her features soften. She's buying it. I plough on. ‘I don't know what you overheard outside Zelda's, but I can categorically tell you that we were not talking about getting rid of my letter opener. Linda's bicycle really is in Zelda's garage and we need to get rid of it. Theo refuses point blank to have it back in the house.'

‘Oh, right. I see. I just... Gosh, I'm so sorry for thinking the worst. It's lack of sleep,' she laughs and my muscles unclench. ‘Theo is a bit of a moody chops, isn't he? And slightly scary.'

‘Exactly. So, if I could have it back please.'

‘Oh, absolutely.' She gets to her feet. ‘Good job Ginger-Haired-Man found it, eh? Might be worth a few bob if it's antique.' I close my eyes as I follow her out of the kitchen and up the stairs – feeling sick with nerves and deceit.

Later that night, I stare into the darkness, with the weight of Frank's disappearance pinning me down like lead, willing sleep to come, but it doesn't.