The jury had been sent home. Will had been doing so well on the stand, giving his testimony against Megan Walsh, and then it all fell apart. He looked at her, and something broke inside him. “There was no relationship.
I just wanted it to be true, but I knew that it wasn’t, okay? She was my coach and not at all. She’s done nothing wrong. I made it all up.
”
Gary couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Neither could the rest of the family. They had spent weeks building this case, convincing Will to tell the truth about what Megan had done to him. And now he was denying everything in front of the judge.
“I told him not to look at her. Didn’t I say don’t look at her? ” Gary’s father was frantic, pacing the hallway outside the courtroom. “She’s Medusa’s eyes.
”
“Will someone tell me what’s going on here? ” Gary demanded. “The whole thing is based on his testimony, and now he’s denying it,” someone explained. Gary felt his stomach drop.
He had been waiting for this moment for so long, the chance to see Megan Walsh finally face justice for what she had done. And now it was slipping away because Will had lost his nerve. “What happens now? ” he asked.
“Nobody knows. ”
Gary’s mind raced. He had to fix this. He had to get Will back on that stand and make him tell the truth again.
But how could he, when Will was so terrified of Megan that he would rather destroy himself than testify against her? He thought about everything that had led to this moment. The attacks, the lies, the manipulation. Megan had woven such a web of control around Will that even now, with her future hanging in the balance, he couldn’t break free.
Gary left the courthouse, his head spinning. He needed air. He needed to think. And then his phone buzzed with a message that made his blood run cold.
Jodie. She had found out about the box. “Thought you might pop in. Don’t know what you think you know.
”
Gary turned around to find her standing there, a knowing look on her face. “Well, you’ve been fibbing to the police, haven’t you? They think you were lying on this floor when Theo was killed, don’t they? ”
“So I got the time wrong.
Big deal. ”
“Massive deal. You knew it was me, and you nearly killed me. ”
“Why?
What is it because of what I saw in the box? ”
Jodie’s expression flickered. “Box? ”
“The box that was there, that I was looking in before you bashed me over the head.
”
“I don’t remember any box. ”
“To be honest, Jodie, I don’t remember either. But I think the police might want to see it. What do you think I didn’t tell them about me?
”
Jodie’s face hardened. “I’ll make you a deal. You keep quiet about what you think you know, and I’ll keep quiet about what I know about you. Or we can both go down.
”
Gary stared at her. She was threatening him. After everything he had been through, she was threatening to expose him if he didn’t keep her secret. “You tell them what you think you know, and I’ll do the same,” Jodie said.
“Or keep quiet, and you don’t go to jail. ”
Gary’s jaw tightened. “I was attacked and left for dead in my brother’s house. And I can tell them I know you were there.
Not theories. Facts. ”
“But for some reason you won’t. ”
He didn’t have an answer.
Not yet. He needed time to figure out what to do. The trial was falling apart, Will was crumbling, and now Jodie had leverage over him that could destroy everything. Back at the house, the tension was thick.
Ben was still waiting to give his evidence, but what was the point if Will kept denying everything? “If Will keeps denying everything, Ben can give all the evidence he likes. It won’t make a jot of difference,” Gary’s father said bitterly. Gary’s mother looked at him with a mixture of frustration and desperation.
“Explain to me how that nasty little still has a hold over him. Lord only knows what secret messages she delivered with those eyes. ”
“Will the judge still let the trial run its course? ” Gary’s father asked.
“It’s a possibility,” Gary admitted. “Well, then we need to get him back in the witness box. That’s what I’ll request. ”
Gary knew this was a long shot.
The victim was claiming he had made it all up. What jury would convict Megan now? He looked around the room at his family, all of them waiting for someone to fix this, and he felt the weight of it pressing down on him. He had to find a way to save Will, to stop Megan, and to protect himself from Jodie’s threat.
But first, he needed to confront Will. He found him alone, looking defeated. “Have you no shame? First you interfere with our boy, and then you put him up to that?
” Gary’s father had already laid into him. But Gary took a different approach. “I imagine what you must have been through. Or what it must have been like on that stand this morning.
But you can do this. ”
Will shook his head. “Are you winding me up? ”
“Look, can we try and have a civil conversation?
” Gary pleaded. Will’s voice was hollow. “I don’t need to tell you that you’re not welcome in here, but I’ll tell you something else. If that woman walks free after what she’s done, as far as I’m concerned, it’s on you.
”
Gary felt the sting of those words. But he didn’t back down. “What else did you expect? My hands are tied.
You took the money. ”
“Listen, if Will Casey subs up, she’ll win the case,” Gary’s father said later, his voice heavy with resignation. “I’m the bad guy, fine. But he’s wasting everybody’s time.
He needs to switch on before it’s too late. ”
“All right, you’ve said your piece, now leave. ”
Gary walked out, his mind churning. The trial was hanging by a thread, Jodie was threatening to expose him, and Will was too broken to save himself.
He looked at his phone. There was a message from Sarah. She had been waiting outside his flat again. “I saw you from the window.
I just didn’t know what else to do, Gary. ”
He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to do.
He only knew that if he didn’t find a way to turn things around, Megan Walsh would walk free, and everything they had fought for would be lost.
