I take a deep breath. ‘Go on.’
‘Maybe,’ Dominic says carefully, bending to smooth out creases in the bottom sheet, ‘the police didn’t bother taking it seriously because they think one of us did it.’
‘One of us?’ I repeat blankly.
‘I just got that feeling at the end there, didn’t you? Like they felt this could be a domestic. Rather than a break-in by a third party.’
‘That’s ridiculous. Why on earth would I cut up my own wedding dress? I only just bought it. And you weren’t even here. They can’t have thought that, surely?’ I groan, a sudden realisation hitting me. ‘It’s going to cost a fortune to replace the dress. And at such short notice too. The wedding’s less than three weeks away.’
‘Then we’ll make a claim on the contents insurance,’ he says, and shakes out the duvet to fill the cover properly.
‘The new dress will have to be completely off the peg. No time for alterations. And it has to match the bridesmaids’ dresses.’ I’m thinking out loud. We only have two bridesmaids, one of them Louise, the other a second cousin of mine called Jasmine. She lives in Birmingham and I barely know her, but Mum insisted I should have a family member as a bridesmaid. Their dresses have sequinned bodices just like the dress that was bagged up and taken away. ‘Though I suppose it won’t be the end of the world if they don’t match exactly.’
‘It’ll work out fine, stop worrying so much.’ Dominic finishes plumping up the pillows, then turns to take me in his arms. I close my eyes, leaning thankfully into his warmth. His voice deepens. ‘I love you, Catherine. That’s all that matters.’
‘I love you too.’
And I really do love him. With all my heart.
‘Don’t tell my parents about this, okay?’ I add. ‘Not until we know for sure what’s going on, anyway. They’d only freak out. I couldn’t bear that. Not on top of everything else.’
‘Whatever you say.’
I try to relax, enjoy being cuddled, feeling safe again. But behind tightly closed eyes, I’m still fretting. And not only about my wedding dress. I should have told Dominic about the snow globe. The truth about Rachel, too. We’re going to be married soon, he deserves to know the worst. But I love him too much to cause him worry, especially after tonight’s horror show.
Is love all that matters though? I wonder. Is love enough? No matter who you are and what you’ve done?
Once Dominic is finally asleep, I climb softly out of bed and tiptoe through to the bathroom, barefoot and in my pyjamas. I’m exhausted but unable to sleep, so I might as well get up and try to do something. Besides, ever since the policewoman asked if anything else had been taken, the question has been weighing heavily on my mind. But I couldn’t check before now. Dominic has barely let me have a moment to myself since the police left, even talking to me through the bathroom door while I brushed my teeth and got ready for bed. So I didn’t get a chance to make sure the snow globe is still under the bathroom sink. Not without risking his suspicion.
Why would whoever cut up my wedding dress also want my sister’s snow globe? It’s a ridiculous thought. Yet I have to check. If only to set my churning mind at rest.
Locking the bathroom door behind me, I gently open the cupboard under the sink and crouch to look inside.
The box is open, empty.
Rachel’s snow globe is no longer there.
Chapter Fourteen The empty box frightens me more than the sight of my ruined wedding dress.
Where has her snow globe gone?
Who would take such a thing? Or even know it was here, hidden under my bathroom sink among the half-empty shampoo bottles and shower gel?
My skin crawls as I imagine the unknown intruder searching quietly through every room in the flat for this one specific object – opening drawers, looking in cupboards, until finally they came to the bathroom . . .
What does it mean? What does any of it mean?
My heart is racing and I’m trembling like I’ve been in an accident. Adrenaline, I realise, and try to control myself. But the terror won’t be controlled. I gulp and swallow, unable to comprehend what’s happening.
Perhaps my memory’s at fault. I was so tired when I finished cleaning the snow globe the other night, it’s not impossible I made a mistake. It was still wet. Perhaps I left it out of the box, hiding it further back in the cupboard while leaving the empty box at the front.
I search through the mess under the sink, moving things aside and removing others. It’s a dark, cramped space, dominated by pipes, spare toilet rolls, and boxes of tampons. Once I’ve checked behind those, there’s nothing left that’s big enough to hide a snow globe.
It’s definitely not here.
There’s a sudden noise beyond the bathroom door. The unmistakeable creak of a floorboard under someone’s foot.
I freeze. Has the intruder come back again? Though my logical mind knows the front door is locked, the safety chain on, and the bathroom window behind me is shut and fastened.
‘Catherine?’
I sag with relief, then hurriedly close the cupboard under the sink and stand up. ‘Just a minute,’ I say, flushing the toilet. I run the tap for a moment, washing my hands. Only then do I unlock the door. ‘Sorry, did I wake you?’
Dominic looks past me into the bathroom, his face unreadable. ‘You okay? You’ve been in there a while.’
‘No, I’m fine. I just couldn’t sleep.’ I make a face, trying to step past him so I can close the door behind me. ‘Can’t get the wedding dress out of my mind.’
‘So you thought you’d clear out the cupboards instead?’
I stare at him, taken aback by the sardonic tone, then glance over my shoulder to see what he’s looking at.
Shit.
Two shampoo bottles and an old bar of soap are still on the floor by the sink. I must have shifted them out of the cupboard while searching, then forgotten to replace them in my hurry.
‘Oh,’ I say, struggling to sound casual as I gesture towards the bottles. ‘No, I was, erm, looking for . . .’
‘This?’
I look back at him, and gasp in shock.
Dominic is holding something in his cupped hands, like an offering.
It’s my sister’s snow globe.
My gaze lifts to his face. There’s nothing to be frightened of. I know that. This is Dominic and I love him. We’re going to be husband and wife soon. I trust him with my life. Yet I’m afraid.
‘I don’t understand,’ I say, and hear the fright in my voice. I take a quick step back, stumbling, and come up against the cold seat of the toilet. ‘Dominic?’
‘This belonged to your sister,’ he says, still holding it out to me, ‘didn’t it? It was Rachel’s snow globe.’
‘Yes,’ I whisper.
‘Only you wanted it for yourself. You were jealous that she’d got this beautiful present from your dad. So you stole it from her.’
‘That’s not what happened.’
‘That’s not how you remember it, you mean.’
‘What?’
‘It’s okay.’ His voice softens, becomes reassuring, his gaze locked with mine. ‘I know all about the snow globe. I spoke to your dad on the phone earlier. He told me everything.’
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. ‘Everything?’
Dominic nods. ‘He told me how, when you were kids, you stole the snow globe from Rachel’s rucksack. Only you dropped it. There was a crack in the base, he said, and all the water drained out. So you put it back in her rucksack, and you didn’t admit that you’d taken it. You blamed her for breaking it instead.’
‘No.’
‘You lied to your parents about dropping it.’
‘No,’ I say again.
‘You lied because you saw a chance to get your sister into trouble. She’d been teasing you about your stutter, and you were angry. Blindingly angry. You wanted to get back at her.’
‘I didn’t need to do anything to get my sister into trouble. Rachel was perfectly capable of getting into trouble all on her own.’
He raises his eyebrows, looking at me in silence.