Where the Memories Lie
By: Sibel Hodge
I don’t know how I made it home without spilling the contents of my stomach at the side of the road. Even then part of me was still trying desperately to cling on to the idea that this was all one huge innocent mistake, but I couldn’t ignore the facts that were piling up.
Katie went missing and was never heard from again. She’d vanished without a trace. Tom had confessed to killing her and burying her under the garage of the barn he’d been renovating at that time.
The barn that we now lived in.
Had Katie really been under our feet this whole time? For twenty-five years? Had I parked my car overtop of her body without knowing? Walked over her skeleton? Ethan had worked on his bike there. Anna had helped him, when she was going through a tomboy stage and wanted to do everything her dad did, following him around, copying his every move. Had we all been just inches away from a corpse?
I’d seen and heard some horrific things in my time as a nurse, and I wasn’t squeamish, far from it, but this . . . this went above and beyond anything I could comprehend.
Sibel Hodge
Terrible thoughts chased around in my head. And the real question, the one ballooning in my brain, was what to do about it. I was convinced Tom was completely lucid when he was talking about Katie. But should I tell someone or should I keep quiet?
It’s going to destroy the whole family. You can’t tell anyone!
You can’t NOT tell. This is a murder!
You don’t know that. It could’ve been an accident.
Why would he have tried to hide it so long if it was just an accident?
Can you really stay silent about it? This was your friend. Don’t you want to know what happened to her?
You’ll wreck everything. Think of Anna and Ethan, and everyone else if you’re wrong!
Back and forth I went. I didn’t want to go home yet. I needed to think. I drove to Chesil Beach and walked along the shore, agonising over what to do. But after three hours of soul searching, the only thing I was certain of was that I needed to talk to someone.
I needed to talk to my husband.
When I finally drove in through my gates, I saw Ethan’s Range Rover parked on the driveway, outside the garage that just maybe happened to have my friend’s body buried under it.
Bile rose again and my mouth flooded with saliva. Beads of sweat broke out on my forehead.
Do not be sick.
I took a deep breath, got back in the Mini and drove it forward, parking behind Ethan. Then I closed the gates and headed for the house.
120
Where the Memories Lie
‘Hey, Mum.’ Anna swung the door open before I could even unlock it. ‘Guess what? Dad’s back early.’
I forced a smile and kissed her on the cheek before stepping inside and dropping my handbag on the quarry-tiled floor in the hallway next to the stairs. The place was now thankfully boxless, returned to our usual semi-tidy chaos of a few pairs of shoes randomly kicked off by Anna and Ethan, and Ethan’s briefcase.
‘Yes, I saw his car,’ I said brightly. Or tried to, anyway. I think it came out sounding more wobbly and off-key. ‘Where is he?’
‘He’s in the shower. He said he was going to take us to the pub for dinner before he goes to see Granddad.’
‘Right. I think we’re going to have to do that another night.’
I marched into the kitchen and picked up the hands-free phone.
‘But Mum, I already know what I’m going to have!’
I dialled Nadia’s number and listened to the ring tone on the other end.
‘Mum! Are you listening?’
‘Huh?’
‘I’m going to have their carbonara. It’s yum.’
‘Hello?’ Nadia picked up, breathless, on the other end.
‘Hi, it’s me.’
‘Can I ring you back in a minute? I’m just in the middle of working out some costings for the charity bash and—’
‘No,’ I butted in.
‘What?’ she asked incredulously
I turned to Anna. ‘This is a private conversation. Can you wait in the lounge for me?’
‘What’s going on?’ Nadia said down the phone
‘Why are you acting all weird?’ Anna frowned. ‘I want to go out for dinner. Dad said—’
‘I’m not acting weird!’ I snapped again, unable to control myself any longer. I didn’t do this. I wasn’t a snappy person, but under 121