The phone call came right in the middle of dinner preparations. Sausage and mashed potato, a simple enough plan, but nothing about the evening was simple. “Sit here and squeeze your hand until you eat something,” I said to my son. “Imagine how embarrassing that’ll be at school.
”
He wouldn’t even look at me. He wasn’t himself. He’d been a nightmare lately, and I was at my wit’s end. “Have you tried talking to him?
” my sister asked. “There is no talking to him. He just walks out. It’s like my son has been taken over by an entirely different human who I do not know.
”
Later, my partner tried to reason with him. “Jake, she’s worried about you. ”
He shrugged. “I’ve noticed he’s been a bit moody lately.
”
The conversation turned to the boys, to us, to the arguments they’d heard. My sister pressed gently. “He thinks you two are going to split up or something. I know you’re not, but kids and their imaginations.
”
“I’ll have a word with him,” I promised. It felt like we were all just trying to hold things together, one fragile piece at a time. And then there was Sarah. I visited her while she was being held.
She looked small in that visiting room, but her voice was steady. “It’s so good to see you,” I said. “Yeah, it’s good to see you, too. ”
“How are you holding on?
”
“Well, you know. How’s Harry and Bethany? ”
“Worried. Everyone is.
”
“Just tell them I’m sorry and I’m okay. ”
But she wasn’t okay, and we both knew it. I leaned in closer, my voice dropping. “Sarah, you need to tell the truth.
Just tell them what really happened. ”
“I can’t. ”
“You can’t? ”
“If I do, then they’re going to know that I’m lying.
How is that going to help me? ”
I studied her face. “Are you sure that’s the only reason? ”
She hesitated.
“Okay, fine then. Because I’ll implicate Gary. ”
“You feel like you owe him? ”
“I do owe him.
I do. He hasn’t done anything wrong. I dragged him into our mess. The only reason he got involved is because I asked him to help me.
And now you’re saying I should throw him under the bus? I couldn’t do that. ”
She was protecting him. She was protecting the man who’d helped her cover up a murder.
And I had no idea how deep that loyalty ran. Back home, Gary was pacing, trying to deflect. He was angry, defensive. “I want the truth, Gary,” I said.
“For the last time, did you have anything to do with Theo’s death? ”
“This is getting ridiculous now. ”
“Why? Because you were in the yard all night?
”
“Yes. How many times do you want me to say it? ”
I held up a photo. “Carla’s wedding.
Look closer. ”
He stared at it, and I saw the flicker of something dark cross his face. “You’re still saying you were at the yard. ”
“I swear, if you carry on treating me like a—”
“All right.
All right. ” He took a breath. “You’re not going to like it. ”
“Well, that’s just a risk we’re going to have to take, isn’t it?
”
He finally gave in. “Look, I got a call from Sarah. The night Theo died. She was in a state, because she’d killed him.
”
“And what did she want you to do? ”
“She weren’t thinking clearly. She said she needed my help. ”
“She needed your help.
Not a boyfriend’s or a brother’s. ”
“Say she wasn’t thinking straight, was she? ”
“Okay. All right.
So, come on, talk me through it. What exactly did she want you to do? ”
“She needed an alibi. So I sent a text from Theo’s phone.
And then I got rid of the murder weapon. ”
“Stop it. What could I do? You say no.
You say no, Gary. She’s made you an accessory to murder. ”
“I know that now, don’t I? But you can’t blame Sarah.
I’m the one that came to her rescue. ”
“Well, it didn’t work, did it? Because she’s been arrested now. ”
The story was unraveling, thread by thread.
And the more I pulled, the more tangled it became. But Sarah wasn’t the only one with secrets. Betsy was in the hospital after a stroke, and the guilt was eating someone alive. “Listen, I know that this is all my fault,” a voice said, trembling.
“The stroke. I’m so sorry. I just don’t understand how what we did, what I did, could have caused you to have a stroke. I didn’t think it’d do anything.
Not bad. Anyway, never did before. I’m scared to think I could have caused all this. Please don’t hate me.
I want to make this right. Please just tell me I can make this right. ”
But Betsy couldn’t answer. She was barely conscious, and the weight of what had happened pressed down on everyone around her.
David, her boyfriend, was furious. “When’s she going to get out? ”
“That’s difficult to say,” I told him. “You’re a regular mind of information, aren’t you?
There must be something you can do. Can you not pull a few strings? ”
“That’s not how it works, is it, David? ”
“How does it work?
You’re just going to leave her in there to rot? Some boyfriend. ”
I walked away, my own guilt growing heavier. I’d known things I shouldn’t have.
I’d stayed silent when I shouldn’t have. And now I was paying for it. And then there was Dylan. “I only spoke to her this morning,” Lauren said, her voice tight with anger.
“Since then, Dylan’s had a word, so now she’s not going to cooperate. I can’t believe it. He’s guilt-tripped her into changing her mind. ”
“Apparently he apologized for what he did,” I said.
“Right. Yeah. He’s only apologized because the police got involved. She could have been completely paralyzed.
She could have died. ”
“I know. I know that. But it really doesn’t matter what you want or why.
We have to respect her decision in this. ”
“It’s just typical, isn’t it? Typical of how too many men behave. They think they can do what they want when they want and get away with it without there being any consequences.
Well, he’s not getting away with this. ”
The rage in her voice was raw. And I couldn’t blame her. But I also couldn’t help her.
The system was the system, and there was only so much any of us could do. Meanwhile, the family drama kept spiraling. “So, just to say I’d really like to take this job. I’m really excited,” the voicemail said.
“Just drop me a text or give me a call when you get this message. Cheers. ”
It was a job in Brighton, a fresh start, a way out. But it meant leaving everyone behind.
“You’ve got to do what’s right for you at the end of the day,” someone said. “Yeah. And I guess there’s nothing else keeping me here. ”
“No.
Guess not. ”
I thought about my son, about how distant he’d become. I thought about Sarah, locked away for a crime she’d confessed to, and the man who’d helped her cover it up. I thought about Betsy, lying in a hospital bed, fighting for her life, and the person who’d caused it.
Everyone was carrying secrets. Everyone was trying to protect someone, or themselves. And the whole thing was about to come crashing down. I found Gary later, the tension between us almost unbearable.
“She’s in a cell while you’re playing happy families,” I said. “Oh, yeah. We’re practically the Waltons’ happy families. I haven’t got a clue what I’ve been going through.
”
“I don’t care, Gary. Fact is, you’re free. You don’t have to do a long prison stretch. You get to see your kid grow up.
”
“What is it with you? Did you just feel flattered? ”
“Yeah. You watch your mouth.
”
“Really? ‘Cause I would love to. ”
“You’d love to what? ”
“No.
Go on. You’d love to what? Come on. Your luck’s going to run out.
”
“Come on. ”
The space between us was a live wire, crackling with anger and accusation. And I knew, in that moment, that nothing would ever be the same again for any of us.
We were all balancing on the edge of a cliff, and the ground was starting to give way.
