Her friends had giggled and tittered as he said hello at the gates that morning. He presumed she was just shy, that she didn’t know how to approach the situation. That was understandable. It was a big thing.
That morning, he had double chemistry. It was a subject he usually quite enjoyed, as it had that wonderful mix of set rules and logic as well as a smattering of pure magic, watching substances change their states and come together to form something with completely different properties to its constituent parts. Daniel thought he might like to be a chemist one day, but he knew that he lacked the academic ability to do it. Besides which, he knew he’d get bored of it eventually. He got bored of everything eventually.
Today, though, the chemistry lesson dragged on interminably, the clock seeming to slow down with every minute, every second. The whole of time seemed to slow. All he wanted was to reach morning break and see Roseanne again, to speak to her and make her feel comfortable. She didn’t need to feel embarrassed in front of him. He’d make her feel happy.
After what seemed like an age, at eleven o’clock the morning break bell rang and Daniel gathered his things and made his way out to the courtyard. Roseanne and her friends were already waiting near the languages block, and Daniel caught her eye as he left the science building. Within a split second, he saw the look of shock on her face before she looked away, diverting her gaze down towards the floor.
‘Oh look, it’s Casanova!’ one of her friends called, Daniel not noticing which one as he was still trying to catch the eye of Roseanne. She clearly had no intention of looking at him, though. ‘What you got in your bag today, Daniel? An Italian violinist?’
‘Make a speech! Get down on one knee!’ another one of the girls called. Daniel could see Roseanne’s face going bright red at around the same time he felt the blood rushing to his own features, pulsing in his ears.
She’d told them. She’d told her friends. And it hadn’t been in a good way, either.
‘Roseanne?’ he called, trying to catch her attention as he walked closer to her. At the sound of her name, she looked up, gazing at him like a policeman on one of those television programmes who’d come to deliver bad news.
‘I’m sorry, Daniel.’
He didn’t go to any of his lessons that afternoon. He sat on the bench at the edge of the sports pitches, his toes turning numb in the cold, the blood pulsing through his veins keeping everything else warm. The adrenaline hadn’t left him since morning break, and he could feel himself getting angrier and more humiliated by the minute. The more he thought about what had happened, the worse it got.
The bells continued to ring between lessons, but they all blurred into one in Daniel’s mind. Between morning break and lunch, a couple of teachers had come up to him to check that he was alright. He’d nodded, and they’d gone on their way. The teachers at the school all knew Daniel’s history, that he had been adopted, even if it had been hidden from the other children at the school. Right now, though, he felt like he wanted to tell all of them – let every kid in the school know that his parents weren’t his real parents. He was sure that the shame and humiliation he’d feel from that could never be as bad as what he felt now.
‘Daniel?’ called the voice from his right-hand side, getting closer to him. He turned his head. It was Mr MacArthur, his head of year. ‘Daniel, the bell’s gone for the end of the day. Are you okay getting home or would you like me to call your parents to collect you?’
Daniel shook his head and stood up, his knees creaking as his cold legs struggled to fight back to life.
He walked slowly towards the school gate, skulking behind groups of older lads, hoping to blend in and make his way home without further humiliation. He was doing well, too, until he came to walk through the recreation ground that provided his route home from school. Sat on the wall next to the cricket pavilion was Craig Power, a year-eleven boy who had a reputation as one of the toughest kids in the school. Unlike many of his less fortunate compadres, Daniel had managed to avoid Craig Power’s sights since he’d been at Stanbrook Upper School. Had Craig known about Daniel’s parentage, no doubt that would have changed very quickly.
But it wasn’t the sight of Craig Power that left Daniel’s heart lurching and his legs carrying him as quickly as possible in the opposite direction. It was the girl in his arms.
30
I walk quicker now, heading back towards the campsite whilst trying to process the thoughts in my mind. To think you know everything, to feel like you understand someone, and then to have that all ripped away from you in one horrible moment of realisation – that’s the worst feeling in the world. It’s not the first time I’ve been led or destroyed by a vindictive woman, but I sure as hell know it’s going to be the last.
I can’t quite get my head around what it means. But the problem is it all makes sense. Jess would’ve been able to get into my room with very little difficulty. After all, she worked at the hotel and could’ve easily got a spare key or used a staff key to get access to all sorts of areas. Could she have sent the text message? I suppose so. It wouldn’t surprise me if she was some sort of secret computer hacker. Nothing would surprise me about her.
But killing someone? I suppose she’d need to have taken Lisa by surprise. Then it’d be possible. I can’t imagine Lisa taking any prisoners if she was being attacked, but then again I reckon Jess could put up a pretty good fight for such a slim, petite girl.
It would also explain why she didn’t need to see the body when I told her what had happened. She would have already known damn well that Lisa was dead. Because she killed her.
It explains, too, why she was so keen to go on the run with me and to know I was innocent. She knew I was innocent because she’d done it. And who would want to go on the run more than the actual killer?
Plus, she would’ve known how to either avoid the CCTV cameras or disable them for a few minutes. She’d know the way everything worked at that place. She was in complete control of the whole situation and she’s played it to perfection. And what now? Does she intend to kill me as well? If so, why hasn’t she done so before now?
I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I suddenly start to realise how everything falls into place. Yes. It’s all starting to make perfect sense now. The only thing I don’t understand is why. Jess has never met Lisa. Not as far as I know, anyway. How would a hotel receptionist from Herne Bay possibly know my wife? I’ve never been to Herne Bay before, and neither has Lisa. So why would she want to kill her? So she could have me? No. Not a chance. She told me enough times herself that she wasn’t a relationship sort of person. She was happy to have the fun while it was there, but that was it. She doesn’t get emotionally attached. And I could tell from the look in her eyes that she was telling the truth. She’s purely a have-fun-and-fuck-off kind of woman. So that’s that theory blown out of the water.