The lunchtime silence broke with Gary’s snort. “Wow, is that time already? ”
Maria didn’t laugh. “You weren’t coming to bed last night.
”
“I thought you wanted me to sleep on the sofa. ”
“Don’t play games with me. ”
“I’m not. ”
She pushed her plate aside.
“You left this morning without even speaking to me. ”
“I had to go to work. ”
“So you couldn’t call me or text me? ”
“I’ve had a busy morning.
”
Her voice turned cold. “Don’t. After everything that was said last night, Gary, you’re the one in the wrong here, not me. ”
He didn’t answer.
Later, at the café, a woman came in with a bandaged hand. She smiled at the owner. “Hey, love. You’re a bit early, but that’s good for me.
Let’s get you bandaged up. ”
“Baked potato and beans. You’re an angel. A baked potato angel.
”
The owner laughed. “I’ve been called many things, but never that. ”
The woman’s name was Sarah, and she had come to talk about the dinner party at her place the night before. It hadn’t been a normal evening.
The food was weird—baked gnocchi, which no one could quite identify—but that wasn’t the real problem. Kev and Sarah had been acting oddly all night, and then Maria had made a scene, accusing Sarah of something with Gary. “Shut up,” Sarah said. “Don’t be mean.
You don’t know if it’s true. ”
“Yeah, and if it is, people will be hurt. ”
Before the argument could go further, Dev walked in, joking about someone who had been redecorating his flat. “Oh, hey up, Banksy’s here.
Been redecorating the flat. Did you get any paint on the walls? ”
The banter was light, but Dev had an ulterior motive. He needed a favor: two rooms in a cash-and-carry needed a second coat of paint.
“Why don’t you all just muck in? Let’s have a right laugh. Get a couple of bottles of bubbles and sip and paint. That’s what you young people like to do, isn’t it?
”
“That’s not what sip and—” someone started. “Never mind,” Dev cut him off. “They’re the worst ideas. ”
“Yeah.
”
“Well, I’ll help if you love me,” Sarah said with a grin. And so it was settled: a sip-and-paint afternoon was happening. But underneath the jokes, tension simmered. Sarah had been wanting to tell Maria the truth about what had happened with Gary, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“I wanted to, Sarah,” she said to herself, rehearsing the confession she never made. “But when it came to it, I couldn’t do it, could I? ”
Maria was furious, convinced something was going on. Gary insisted it was a misunderstanding, but the damage was already done.
And there was something else—a darker undercurrent that no one wanted to name aloud. “Kit thinks we’re having an affair,” Gary said quietly. “No. ”
“He’s convinced that you killed Thea.
”
“Well, good for him. We both know that’s not true, don’t we? ”
Gary’s voice cracked. “Well, he’s going to come and arrest you at some point.
”
“I’m not doing time for something I didn’t do. Can’t spend the rest of my life behind bars. ”
“Neither can I,” Sarah whispered. “Then do something about it.
”
“What? What am I meant to do? ”
“You do whatever it takes. ”
Back at the flat, the sip-and-paint crew had gathered.
Amy and Nina were helping Ash redecorate, though Ash hadn’t been inside Dev’s flat since Will had left. “It’s the first time you’ve been in there since Will left,” Amy said gently. “Yeah, well, sorry to break some more. I know it’s probably filled with stuff you don’t remember right now, but new people will move in.
They’ll bring their new stuff and it’ll become somewhere else. ”
Ash nodded, forcing a smile. “As they say, it’s okay to not be okay. ”
“I know that.
It’s up to me to make it all okay, isn’t it? ”
Later, Ash ran into her dad. “You’re miles away. ”
“Yeah, I was thinking I’ve got to get back to work.
Bethany’s let me down, so I’ve got to find time to make a Tin Man costume for Harry’s school play. ”
“I can do it if you want,” her dad offered. “I’m about to finish my shift, and I can get a pattern online. I’m a dab hand with cardboard and tin foil.
”
“Don’t be daft. I couldn’t. ”
“I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t want to. ”
“Go on then.
I owe you. ”
“Oh, and by the way, it has to be made with recycled materials. ”
“Obviously. ”
Meanwhile, the court case was tearing the family apart.
Will was set to testify against Megan, the woman who had killed Thea. But the argument had become about how Will should appear: in person or by video link. “No screens, no video links,” Will’s mother insisted. “I want to look Megan in the eye.
He needs to see justice being served. ”
“And he can have that without being there,” his father countered. “No, he needs to be there for it. Breathing the same air.
”
“He needs to have his day in court. ”
“I don’t want that woman looking at him. ”
“Well, maybe we can ask if he can do it behind a screen. ”
Will, frustrated, finally spoke to a friend.
“They’re all rowing about whether I should be there in person or beamed in on some video link. They’re all fighting to make themselves heard. I can’t get a word in. ”
“Well, have they asked you what you’d like to do?
”
“It’d be nice if they did. ”
“You need to listen to them, don’t you? ” the friend said gently. “Come on, let’s get a couple of 99’s with monkey blood.
My treat. ”
Later, at the pub, Will’s father, Tim, tried to intervene. “Hasn’t it occurred to any of you to ask him what he thinks? It’s not rocket science.
You’ve all got one hole in your mouth for talking and two for listening. So why don’t you shut up and make some space for the one that really matters? ”
The silence was telling. Back at the flat, the paint party had devolved into chaos.
Ash was half-cut, using a funnel to pour paint, and laughing too hard to notice the mess. Dev walked in and clapped his hands. “Listen, ladies. Why don’t we just do the job properly and let this booze wear off?
Now, come on. ”
But the mood shifted when the topic of the empty flat came up. Ash’s aunt Lena looked at her son. “This is the car show around here,” she said, gesturing at the walls.
“Maybe you don’t have to move out. ”
“Mr. Elaham,” the landlord said, clearing his throat. “I’ll take it.
”
“What do you mean, you’ll take it? ” Lena asked. “You need a tenant, and here I am. ”
“We’ve talked about this, Dad,” her son said.
“It’s the cost. It’s the bills. It’s the tax. It’s the rent.
”
“Well, I’ll move in. Two bedrooms, all right? ”
“Are you two serious? ” Lena asked.
“It’s about time I moved out, isn’t it? ” her son said. “It’s history, right? I mean, I’m okay if you’re okay.
”
“I’m okay. ”
“Okay. ”
It was decided. Ash and her friend would move in together.
Later that night, alone with his thoughts, Gary reached for his phone. He sent a message, then waited. When the reply came, he read it twice before responding. “Is it safe to talk?
” he typed. The answer came back: “Yeah. Are you okay? ”
“I’m not doing too good.
”
“I wish I could see you. Just to talk. Talk to you properly. ”
“Hey,” a voice said from the doorway.
It was Sarah, standing there with a nervous expression. “Is Kit here? ”
“No, he’ll be back in two minutes. ”
“I was just trying to make it up to him.
I found out that he’s planning on proposing to me and I’ve accidentally ruined the surprise. ”
“Did you want him? ”
“No, it’s you I want to talk to. Alone.
”
Gary’s stomach dropped. “That sounds ominous. ”
“It is. ”
She stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
“I’ve worked out who killed Theo. ”
Gary’s face went pale. “What? ”
“Gary, I know.
And you’re covering for him. ”
“I don’t even know where you’re getting this from, but this is absolutely…” He trailed off. “Everyone is suspecting the two of us of having some sort of affair,” Sarah said, her voice shaking. “But there’s something way bigger going on.
”
“Please, okay? I am so sick of everyone just playing amateur detective. Nosy, gossipy people putting two and two together and coming up with five. Like it’s not bad enough we’ve not learned from the past with Rory and whoever else.
Sending people to prison for something they did not do. ”
Sarah was crying now. “So please, Todd, just stop, okay? And let the real detectives do their job.
”
But she wasn’t talking to Gary anymore. She was talking to herself, to the ghost of her own past, to the guilt she had been carrying for years. “Sorry,” she whispered. “Just leave me alone.
”
And she walked out, leaving Gary standing there, watching her go, knowing that the truth was closer to the surface than either of them wanted to admit.
