The announcement hit like a punch to the gut. We were meant to be heading to Florida, the family holiday we’d been counting down to for months. The lads had their phones off, Dad had that serious face on, and I knew something was wrong before he even opened his mouth. “It’s Florida,” he said.
“No way. We’re not going? ”
“Sorry, mate. We’re both sorry.
”
“Why? What’s this got to do with our family holiday? ”
“It’s complicated, Le. It’s because of this police investigation.
”
“Is this got to do with Gary? ” I asked. My stepdad, Gary, had just come back into our lives after years away, and now suddenly everything was falling apart because of him. “Don’t do that.
Gary’s been a great dad to you. He’s just got himself caught up in someone else’s problems. ”
“Yeah. And now we can’t go to Florida.
Nice one, Gary. ”
The holiday was off because Gary’s old childhood friend, Richard Parkinson, had been charged with murdering his wife, Rachel. Gary had been staying at our house the night it happened, too scared to go home to his own marriage. And now he was tangled up in a mess that wasn’t his, and we were all collateral damage.
Gary kept insisting Richard was innocent. “We were thick as thieves when we were kids. I’m not having him as a murderer. Can’t be.
”
“Tim, you hardly know him now,” Mum said. “That was forty years ago. ”
“Yeah, but I know him. He couldn’t do something like this.
”
But the police had charged him. And Rachel’s little girl, Lucy, was in emergency foster care, having lost her mum and now her dad too. Gary couldn’t shake the guilt. He was the one who’d told Richard to go home instead of staying on our sofa.
Now Richard was in a cell, and Lucy was with strangers. “I was the one that made him go home,” Gary said, his voice cracking. “Now Lucy’s with strangers and Rich is in a prison cell and Rachel’s in a morgue and I’ve got blood on my hands. ”
Mum tried to comfort him.
“You couldn’t have known. You were trying to help him. He wanted to stay clear of her. ”
“But maybe he was afraid of her.
Or maybe he was frightened of what he might do to her. That was a pretty big clue, and I didn’t see it. ”
Meanwhile, the gossip mill was churning. At the pub, Tracy Barlow was running her mouth about how domestic violence must run in the Metcalfe genes, and everyone was acting like Gary’s cousin was guilty before the trial even started.
I tried to tune it out, but it was everywhere. “Your Sarah’s not the talk of the town anymore,” someone said to Kit, the copper who’d been seeing Sarah Platt. “She’s been knocked off her perch by Richie. ”
Kit was nursing a broken heart anyway.
Sarah had dumped him while she was in prison, and he was drowning his sorrows at the bar. “Nothing worse than a broken heart,” he muttered. “It’s the worst kind of pain. ”
I tried to cheer him up.
“You’ll get through this. You’ve got the world at your feet. ”
“Keep them clichés coming. You’re on a roll.
”
The whole street was in a mess. Kit had been the one to arrest Richard, and now he was questioning everything. “Maybe he’s innocent. Maybe he’s guilty.
Who knows? But for Amy’s sake, I’m glad it was an unsafe conviction. ”
“Just because I didn’t take to him doesn’t mean I think he bumped his wife off,” Gary said. “Okay, but you never know, right?
”
“I just can’t see him doing it. There’s no murderer’s kind in him. ”
The pressure was getting to everyone. Maria was ghosting me because she was furious about the Florida holiday being cancelled, and I was getting it in the neck from the boys.
She said she didn’t want to drag Gary into it, but she was holding a grudge all the same. “You guys are ghosting me,” I said. “Yeah, me too. But I’ll get over it.
”
“You’re so excited about Florida. ”
“I know they were, but it’s a first world problem right now. ”
“Are you serious? God, you are something else.
All right, let me reset. But all this, you’ve been amazing. You have. ”
“And I’ve not got a leg to stand on.
”
“Why are you agreeing with that? ”
“I’m not going to let this break us. Okay? However it pans out.
”
Meanwhile, the business deal I’d been working on fell through. Gavin Fairhand, the bloke who’d been interested in buying the restaurant, suddenly pulled out. “On reflection, it isn’t for me,” he said. And I couldn’t help but wonder if Gary had scared him off with his warnings.
“Is simply a word to the wise,” Gary said. “Trust me, it wouldn’t end well. ”
“Is that what you call it? ”
But I couldn’t focus on that.
All I could think about was the damage this was doing to everyone. Liam and Jake, Harry and Bethany, me. Even Kit. We were all just collateral damage in someone else’s tragedy.
“Look, babe, I know you banned me from apologizing,” Gary said. “Yeah, I don’t ever want to wear that sword ever again. ”
“You need to show me now. I will.
Oh well. ”
“Liam’s got his results tomorrow. Celebrate or commiserate with a family meal. ”
“They’re talking to us.
You have a walking cashpoint. The silent treatment won’t last till sundown. ”
But the guilt was eating Gary alive. He couldn’t sleep.
He was drinking too much. And every time he closed his eyes, he saw Richard’s face and heard Lucy’s name. “I guess some families are a tragedy waiting to happen,” he said. “Well, how could you possibly have known that?
” Mum asked. “Because he spent two nights sleeping on our sofa trying to avoid her. That was a pretty big clue. ”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to kill her.
”
“Maybe he was afraid of her. Or frightened of what he might do to her. Tim, you’re not a mind reader. He just wanted to stay away from her, and I made him go home.
”
I couldn’t watch him fall apart anymore. I grabbed his arm and forced him to look at me. “Stop it. You were trying to help him.
You were rooting for his family. ”
“I guess some families are a tragedy waiting to happen,” he repeated, his voice hollow. “Well, how could you possibly have known that? ”
“Because he spent two nights sleeping on our sofa trying to avoid her.
That was a pretty big clue. ”
“But that doesn’t mean he was going to hurt her. ”
“Maybe he was afraid of her. Or maybe he was frightened of what he might do to her.
”
I looked at him, at the guilt carved into his face, and I knew there was nothing I could say to pull him out of it. He was drowning in what-ifs, and I couldn’t reach him. “I was the one that made him go home,” he said again, quieter this time. “Now Lucy’s with strangers, and Rich is in a prison cell, and Rachel’s in a morgue.
And I’ve got blood on my hands. ”
I let go of his arm. There was nothing left to say.
The weight of it all hung between us, heavy and unshakeable.
