He stands up too. He looks as though he’s about to bolt. ‘What’s going on?’ There is fear in his voice. It must be the drugs making him paranoid.
‘It’s Kathryn.’ I laugh. ‘You look like you’re about to get arrested by the police.’ I reach for the door but he throws his body in front of it to prevent me from opening it.
‘Arlo? What the fuck?’
‘I don’t want visitors.’
‘Get out of the way.’ I try pushing him off me but he’s so strong he won’t budge. ‘Don’t be stupid!’
I don’t understand. Why doesn’t he want me to see Kathryn? We wrestle for a bit and then, reluctantly, he stands aside to allow me to open the door. He sighs almost resignedly.
I let Kathryn into the flat. She’s alone. She doesn’t smile or say anything but she follows me into the living room where Arlo is sitting with his head in his hands. When he senses us standing in the middle of the room he looks up, and I see shock register on Kathryn’s face.
They just stare at each other for a few moments and Kathryn nods imperceptibly. ‘Of course.’ She shakes her head, as though she should always have known it. ‘I thought there was something familiar about you. Hello, Lewis.’
44
Kathryn
As Kathryn surveys Lewis, everything falls into place. He stares back at her with Viola’s defiant eyes. No wonder her mother fawned over Willow. She was the most like Viola because she’s made up of her DNA.
‘Why are you calling him Lewis?’ asks Willow, her eyebrow raised.
‘Because that’s what he told me he was called. When he worked for us.’
‘What?’ Willow spins around to glare at her brother. ‘You worked for Elspeth?’
‘Earlier this year,’ continues Kathryn. ‘As our gardener. Until Elspeth sacked him for smoking pot.’
Lewis stares at her for a few seconds. ‘When did you find out?’ he says.
‘Find out what?’ interjects Willow, her cheeks flushed. ‘Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on? Arlo, why did you tell them you were called Lewis?’
He shrugs. ‘I didn’t want them to know.’
‘Know what?’ cries Willow, throwing up her hands.
Kathryn turns to Willow. Does she really not know? ‘That Viola – Elspeth’s daughter – is your mother?’
Willow gawps at Kathryn, shock written all over her face. It’s clear to Kathryn that she had no clue. ‘W-what? But that can’t be. My mother was called Lily.’
‘She changed it.’
‘B-but …’ Willow’s mouth hangs open.
‘And Arlo here pretended to be a gardener called Lewis so he could work for my mother.’ She turns to him. ‘I don’t know what you were hoping to achieve.’
He folds his arms across his broad chest. He still has his coat on. ‘I wanted to see the old bag. She’s my grandmother, after all.’
Willow sits heavily beside Arlo. ‘But why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell Elspeth?’
‘It was obvious as soon as I started working there that she didn’t like men. She was smitten with the girls. The pretty little blonde girls. I thought it was because they reminded her of Mum, so I thought you’d be perfect for the job. It was supposed to be so easy. You’d work for her, she’d fall in love with you and then –’
‘And then your money worries would be over. Isn’t that right, Arlo?’ says Kathryn.
Arlo stands up, his fists clenched at his sides. Kathryn’s tall but he’s over a head taller. ‘It’s rightfully mine. Rightfully Willow’s. Not yours,’ he spits. ‘You’re adopted. You’re not flesh and blood.’
Kathryn doesn’t say anything at first. She could be wrong. So wrong. But she has a feeling that she isn’t. ‘Is that why you got rid of Una?’
‘What?’ he splutters, looking at his sister with a perplexed expression. ‘You’re crazy, lady. I hardly knew the girl. If you remember, we only overlapped by a few days before I got the sack. The most I did to her was steal her breakfast.’ He hesitates, watching their faces. ‘What? Don’t judge me too harshly. I was starving and it was just there, in the kitchen under a tea-towel.’
Kathryn delivers her sucker punch. ‘Then why did I see you kissing? Just a few days before she died.’
Willow groans, her head in her hands. When she looks up there are tears in her eyes. ‘Why did you do it?’ she says to her brother. He opens his mouth to object but Willow adds, ‘I found Una’s phone.’
Something changes in Arlo then. There’s a coldness in his eyes and time seems to freeze. Suddenly he lunges at Kathryn, grabbing her by the throat and pinning her against the wall.
‘No!’ screams Willow. ‘Please! Arlo!’
Kathryn can hardly breathe. His hands are so tight around her throat and, despite Willow’s protests, he keeps squeezing her windpipe. She tries to kick and punch him but it’s no good. She can feel herself getting weaker. ‘You meddling bitch,’ he hisses, spit flying from his mouth and landing on her face. ‘Why couldn’t you have left it alone?’
Willow leaps on him but she’s so tiny he simply shrugs her off, like she’s an irritating insect.
Kathryn’s vision starts to recede, black crowding in at the edges of her eyes. This is it. This is how she’s going to die. She thinks of Ed and the boys. All the regrets of the last year bearing down on her. Now she’ll never have a chance to put things right.
Without warning, he releases her. She falls to the floor, like a ragdoll, clutching her throat, unable to believe he’s let her go. And then she sees why. Arlo is flanked by two police officers, one of whom is reading him his rights. ‘We are arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Una Richardson …’ Courtney stands in the doorway, pale-faced, her mobile in her hand and Vince behind her. Willow is on the sofa, sobbing.
A plain-clothed detective she recognizes as DS Holdsworth is suddenly kneeling beside her. ‘Are you okay?’ she asks, reaching out a hand gently and helping Kathryn up off the floor.
Kathryn doesn’t say anything. She just watches as Arlo is led out of the door, his hands cuffed behind his back. She can’t take it all in. It feels unreal, like she’s watching a police drama on TV.
Arlo doesn’t look back. All she can hear is Willow’s quiet weeping.