‘Mia, that’s it, I’ve told you everything now. From the short time I was there, I’m convinced that Zach wasn’t about to take his own life.’
‘But you don’t know what happened after that. Things could have changed. Maybe when Josie came back she said something to tip him over the edge.’
‘Mia, he was nowhere close to the edge.’
I let her words sink in, let it all consume me. I’ve got to be strong here, I can’t fall apart now. ‘What am I supposed to do with this information, Alison? Do you realise I could go to the police and tell them what you’ve told me? You kept information from them and you saw both Zach and Josie on that day.’
She nods. ‘Yes, you could easily do that. But think about it, Mia. If I had done anything to either of them then why would I have told you any of this? I would want to be as far away from you as possible, wouldn’t I? The reason I’m here, finally doing the right thing, is because I think Dominic had something to do with it. I just don’t know what. And like I said before, I need your help to find something we can go to the police together with.’
Her words echo around the room, ramming into my skull, paralysing me.
‘I… I need time to think. This is a lot to digest. I think you should go now, but I’ll call you.’
There is no mistaking the disappointment on her face. I don’t know what she expected me to do, but this is the best I can offer.
‘Okay,’ she says, when she eventually stands up. ‘I understand. This is a hell of a lot to take in. Please just don’t leave it too long. I can’t be around that man much longer, Mia. I’m really afraid of him.’
She leaves my office and closes the door, and I can almost hear the time bomb she has set off, ticking louder and louder.
Chapter Eighteen
Josie
* * *
‘I need to speak to you. It’s important.’
Zach sighs into the phone, but at least he’s answered my call. ‘Josie, I’m really sorry but you shouldn’t be calling me. If you need to talk to me about uni work then of course I will, but you really have to see me after lectures. Or in my office.’ His voice is too formal; he sounds nothing like the Zach I’ve come to know.
But I’ve been expecting him to say something like this so I’m fully prepared. ‘It’s not about uni, it’s about my little brother. I think… I’m worried something might happen to him.’ I tell him about Liv turning up in London and asking to see me. And that I’ve spent a restless night churning over her comments, and her veiled threat, and this morning I still don’t know what to do.
Zach pauses for so long I think he might have cut me off, but then he finally speaks. His voice is warmer this time, but there is still a three-foot wall between us. ‘Josie, I’m so sorry to hear that, but you really need to go to the police again. I just don’t know what else I can do to help.’
He doesn’t realise what it’s taken for me to approach him with this. I hate the fact that I’m turning to him for help. Again. It’s not me, but I’m desperate and I’ll do what I have to for Kieren. ‘I’ve spoken to the police already,’ I tell him. ‘But there’s not much they can do. I just need to… talk it through with someone.’ I don’t need to explain this any further; Zach knows I can count the people I know in London on one hand, and none of them are anywhere close to being friends.
‘Where are you?’ he says, after another long pause.
‘Outside the library, I’ve just parked up.’ I’m about to ask him where he is but then a child cries out in the background, yelling something that sounds like no. He’s at home. With his family. There is no way he can, or will, come to me.
‘D’you know what? Just forget it. I shouldn’t have called you.’ I disconnect the call and throw my phone on the passenger seat of the car, not caring when it bounces and lands on the floor. I won’t beg for Zach’s friendship or anything else, I’ll find a way to help Kieren by myself.
I roll down the window, reach into the glove compartment for my cigarettes and pull out the packet of Marlboro Lights, desperate for a nicotine fix to ease my anxiety. But as I take one out and lift it to my lips, I think of Liv last night, the lines around her mouth and the permanent smell of smoke she tries to mask with cheap perfume. I scrunch the packet and hurl it through the window into the bin that by chance is not too far from the car. My perfect aim is a small, meaningless victory.
My day of lectures passes slowly and I struggle to take anything in. I scribble down a few words but have no idea what they mean. All I can think of is my brother, and the monster he has to live with. Maybe she hasn’t turned on him yet, but sooner or later she will. Hatred and bitterness are in her blood, the core of who she is.
At least now I know the name of the man who threatened me. Richard. The same person Kieren mentioned was taking him to McDonald’s. I’ve already told the police officer I was dealing with, the one with the kind voice, so now at least they can speak to him. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a cousin of Johnny’s called Richard. Ha, I don’t think Liv knew what she was giving away when she said his name, she was too busy revelling in her threats. She’s such a fool.
It’s a relief when my last lecture is finally over. I make my way to the car park, with no plan for what I’ll do this evening. I don’t have a shift at the coffee shop and somehow I’m up to date with my coursework, so there is nothing but an empty night looming ahead. But I won’t drink a drop this evening; I need a clear head to work out how I will get Kieren away from Liv – sooner than I thought I’d have to.
I approach my car and see a woman standing by it. For a fleeting moment I think it must be Liv, come to have another go at persuading me, but I soon realise it’s Alison.
‘Can we talk?’ she says, as I reach the car. She can barely bring herself to look at me, staring towards the library instead.
‘What is it?’ I can’t help being abrupt –I don’t trust this girl and she gives me the creeps – but I’m intrigued to know why she’s waiting for me at my car.
‘Um, will you be home tonight?’ She drops her eyes to the ground.
‘Why are you asking?’
‘I… I think we need to talk. Properly this time, no arguing or anything.’
This is not what I expected her to say. ‘What, you mean you’ll actually listen to me? About Aaron? About everything?’
She nods and flicks her hair out of her face. ‘Let’s just clear the air, Josie. We’re both stuck in that flat together until summer, and that’s a long way off. So what do you think?’
I study her face, a poker face I have no chance of reading, and decide to trust her this once. There is too much going on in my life; I already have too many enemies to make another one out of the person I have to live with. And compared to Liv, Johnny and Richard, Alison is harmless.
‘Okay, let’s talk tonight.’
‘I’ll be home around seven,’ she says, and flashes a thin smile before scurrying off.
She’s like a mouse or some other little creature, I think as I watch her leave, her red hair flying away from her shoulders. Maybe I’ve been too hard on her.
I’m back in the car and starting up the engine when my phone beeps. Hoping it’s Zach, I scoop it up and stare at the screen, but of course it’s not him. It’s a text from Liv: a photo of Kieren smiling into the camera, Liv’s red nail-polished hand on his left shoulder.
* * *