Where the Memories Lie

 

 

‘OK, well, Anna and I have made you dinner. And cupcakes.

 

So you don’t need to think about that. I’ll drop it off soon. Don’t worry, though, we won’t stay.’

 

‘Thanks, Liv. That’s really kind.’

 

‘It’s nothing you wouldn’t do for me. What are families for?’

 

I waited until Anna was in bed. Our bed again, actually. Except it wouldn’t be our bed anymore. Not after this. No marriage could survive . . . this.

 

I don’t know how I managed to ignore the rising horror and choking panic and act normally until Ethan and I were alone, but somehow I did.

 

Ethan was on the sofa watching the news, a bottle of beer in his hand, shirt undone at the collar. He patted the seat next to him and smiled.

 

256

 

Where the Memories Lie I stood where I was and held up the necklace by its clasp. It swung gently in my fingertips. ‘Do you recognise this?’

 

His eyebrows rose slightly at my tone. He glanced at it briefly then back to me. ‘Should I?’

 

‘It was Katie’s.’

 

‘Katie’s?’

 

‘Yes. You know, my best friend who everybody thought had run away but it turns out was murdered.’

 

‘Yes, I know who she is. What are you doing with it? How did you get it?’

 

‘Actually, that should be my question.’

 

‘What?’ He put the bottle of beer on the tiled floor and leaned forward.

 

‘I found this in your toolbox in the garage. Katie was wearing it the day she disappeared. How did you end up with it?’ My voice sounded surprisingly calm, as if someone else was talking and I was just moving my mouth in time, lip-syncing with them.

 

He looked at it again. ‘I’ve got no idea. I told you I’ve never seen it before.’

 

‘Oh, how convenient. You’ve never seen it before! Well, how did it get in your toolbox, then? By magic?’

 

‘How do you know it’s even hers?’ He reached out his hand to take it.

 

I snatched it away so he couldn’t. ‘I just know, OK? She was wearing it when Chris last saw her but she wasn’t wearing it when she was buried under the garage. Then suddenly, years later, I find it in your toolbox.’

 

‘What the . . . ?’ He stood up. ‘You think I had something to do with her death?’ He pointed a finger at the centre of his chest.

 

‘Well, how do you explain it, otherwise?’

 

‘I can’t explain it! How can I explain it when I’ve never even seen that necklace before in my life?’

 

257

 

Sibel Hodge

 

Every part of me seemed to shake with anger, my hand holding the necklace vibrating so the silver shimmered in the ceiling light as if it was alive. ‘Don’t give me that! You killed her, Ethan. You slept with her behind my back and killed her to shut her up. What, was she threatening to tell everyone about the baby? Your baby? Was she blackmailing you to keep quiet? Did you tell Tom and he helped you bury her afterwards? Or was he with you when you fractured her skull? Did you do it together?’

 

‘You’ve got no idea w—’

 

‘And then, when Tom was going to expose what you’d done, what he’d covered up for you all this time, you killed him, too!

 

How did it feel to push your Dad off the cliff ? Was it as good as killing a pregnant woman? Anything to keep your secret hidden, though, eh?’

 

He stared at me. ‘I can’t believe what you’re coming out with.

 

I . . . how can you accuse me of something like this?’

 

‘Um . . . let me see . . . because no one knows where you were when Katie disappeared. Because you’ve tried to stall any investigation since it started. Because the one person who could tell the truth died when he was with you. Because you have a necklace belonging to my DEAD FRIEND. Maybe that’s got something to do with it.’

 

‘It wasn’t me. I didn’t have anything to do with her death. I had no clue. This was all as much of a surprise to me as it was to you when Dad started coming out with it.’