I had got too cocky, that was the problem. Melanie had broken free of the maze of lies and misdirection I had created around her, and suddenly my lab rat had the potential to bite me. I couldn’t give her time to go to the police. It wasn’t simply that I didn’t want to get caught, it was that I was so close to completing my beautiful work of art.
Melanie had provided me with the ideal way of befriending little Roza Jachowski. The kid’s parents loved me because I’d gone round to warn them about the mob coming over before they arrived.
Of course, what the stupid Poles didn’t realise was that I was the one who had whipped the villagers up in the first place. It hadn’t taken much. Merely a few comments about ‘pikeys coming to the village and suddenly there was a pretty teenage girl hurt’. Telling the yokels in the pub about Melanie’s suspicions of Aleksy and making them sound a bit worse than they were.
It had been easy, when everyone was so suspicious of foreigners anyway, and so eager to find an obvious scapegoat for Beth’s attack.
So after nipping round to warn the Jachowskis that trouble was brewing, I’d just sat back and watched the entertainment unfold. It meant the parents trusted me around Roza – after all, I was the only good guy in the village, as far as they were concerned. Getting the kid to give me her phone so that I could Bluetooth all of her contacts to my new burner was easy too. Little brat thought I was simply getting a stupid ringtone.
Of course, I would never be so stupid as to hurt Roza. She was safe, because otherwise suspicion might fall on me. Instead, I would target her pals. Send a text, do a spot of fishing, see who replied. Then reel them in, just like I’d done with Tiffany. I had sent loads of texts out that night to the numbers I’d got from Katie’s phone. Hadn’t been able to believe my luck when a girl had got back to me so quickly. Things weren’t working quite so well with the Sally-Mae kid, but I would win her over in the end.
When I finally got to be alone with her, I would be more careful of the memento I would take. Keeping Tiffany’s notebook had been a stupid indulgence, I realised. Clearly that was what had made Melanie suspicious. It was the only explanation. I raged against myself for my stupidity and arrogance. I had thought it fun to use my little souvenir in front of her. The notebook of a murdered child right under the nose of a mother losing her own daughter. It had seemed hilarious and poetic.
Now I was left with the problem of how to get at Melanie – and quickly.
The only thing I could think of was to call her and persuade her to join me. But how?
She was still vulnerable, and that made people stupid. I’d appeal to that overweening maternal instinct of hers. I would tell her I’d had awful news about my daughter. Good job Melanie had no idea who Katie actually was; it had been a genius idea to pretend I had a kid. Made Melanie trust me all the more. Two parents missing their kids, aww, how tragic.
*
I wandered outside to make the call. Didn’t want to risk being overheard in the pub. It was almost 7 p.m. and the cloudless night made it cold and bright. The wind was getting up too. I shivered, but didn’t bother putting my coat on. I wouldn’t be outside long.
I unlocked my phone and it lit up in the darkness. Scrolling quickly, I found Melanie’s number and dialled.
A shout came from the other side of the road. Someone hurried towards me. Just for a moment, I felt completely and utterly nonplussed.
One Hundred
Over an hour had flashed by after I had emerged from my bathroom hiding place. In that time I had confirmed a few things online and firmed up my plan. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do.
Jacob had fussed around me, trying to get me to eat. In the end, I had forced down a bowl of cereal to keep him happy. My stomach was still churning.
Your dad still didn’t know why I was being ill, Beth. I would tell him everything – almost everything – eventually. Once I told him I was expecting a baby I knew he wouldn’t let me out of his sight.
So when Jacob disappeared up to your room for a while, I had felt a guilty relief.
Then I had switched the living room lights off and stared out of the window, across the road to The Poacher.
Coat on, ready, I waited impatiently for Glenn. If my plan were to work, I needed a lucky break. I prayed to all the gods that had so badly let me down when I had appealed to them over you, Beth.
Glenn stepped outside. His face illuminated from below made him look like a devil in a spooky story as he scrolled through his phone.
Hurrying towards the front door, I took one last look around my little home, which used to be full of noise and laughter. There was a strong chance that I would never see it again. Glenn might well kill both me and the life of a child who no one even knew existed yet but me. Was I making a terrible mistake, gambling that way?
I laid my hand on my stomach and felt strength flow through me. The gamble was the only way to ensure that little life stayed safe.
I didn’t shout anything to Jacob; I’d no idea how to say goodbye, and didn’t want to risk losing my courage.
‘Stay,’ I whispered to Wiggins.
I slipped from the house, knowing I might not return.
Glenn looked confused for a second as I ran over to him, shouting his name. That innocent smile was skilfully slipped on, though; his eyes so wide, so blue, so twinkly. No one would ever guess his truth by looking at him.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked.
Now I could hear the slightly guarded nature of the question, could see the tiniest tension in the corners of his boyish grin. ‘You still look really pale, a bit feverish.’
‘Yes, that’s why I thought I’d get another breath of fresh air. Do you fancy going to the marsh? It’s a beautiful clear night.’
As I spoke, my breath floated into the air before me. It was a freezing night, not a cloud in the sky. A full moon gazed down to watch my fate unfold, as it had watched yours. It felt serendipitous, as if you were somehow backing me up, Beth.
I had rehearsed my excuse, trying to make it sound as natural as possible. After all, Glenn had no reason to suspect that I was up to anything. Still, I held my breath while waiting for his reply.
Glenn raised his eyebrows and positively beamed at me. ‘Of course I’ll come to the marsh.’
I shivered as we walked towards his van, and it wasn’t simply from the cold.
One Hundred One
How stupid was Melanie? I almost laughed in her face. She was clearly up to something, but that was fine because she equally didn’t realise that I knew. She had no clue that I’d spotted her going through my things.