A good liar, p.26
A Good Liar, page 26
‘The person who saved Amelia had a key ring just like yours, but Claudia knew nothing about it when Amelia brought it up. It almost caught her out, but she talked her way out of it because that’s what she’s good at.’ Leanne looked towards Karin, forcing Beth to follow her gaze. It was a tenuous connection, but worth a try. ‘Did Karin carry one of those key rings?’
‘This is ridiculous,’ Beth said. If she harboured the same thoughts, she dismissed them with a shake of her head. ‘Claudia has been good to us. We’re not going to be used as weapons against her.’
‘Don’t you want to know the truth?’
‘Will it pay the bills?’ Beth snapped back. Her jaw was clenched when she added, ‘I can’t and I won’t help you. Karin’s lost another job, and we need Claudia’s support.’
‘You’ve applied to the hardship fund?’
‘We’d have lost the apartment by now if she hadn’t bailed us out.’
‘You’ve had payments?’ Leanne asked. ‘I didn’t think the fund had issued any money yet.’
‘Claudia found a way.’
‘And now you’re beholden to her,’ Leanne said, her heart sinking. ‘All I want is to find Amelia’s true hero. Maybe I’m clutching at straws, but what if it was Karin, or someone else who can’t come forward? How does it feel to know Claudia is buying your silence?’
‘Don’t you dare! You have no idea what it’s like!’ Beth cried out, but her anger was quickly spent. ‘I can’t cope with anymore of this. Please, just leave us alone.’
Leanne held up her hands and said no more as Beth raced around to the driver’s side. When she was safely inside the car, Karin tried to console her. She didn’t look as fragile as she had earlier, but Beth was right, neither of them had anything left to give.
Once Beth had sniffed back the tears, she started the engine and reversed the car out of the parking space, passing within inches of Leanne. As the car came level, Leanne got a closer look at Karin. Her scarf hung loosely from her neck, and a silver chain glinted in the winter sun. The car sped away.
When Karin and Beth were forced to wait for the gates to open, Leanne didn’t want to appear to be pursuing them. She left her car and strolled towards the canal while her mind attempted to force Karin into the mould she had once pressed Claudia into. She was the right height, but did she look like someone who would fight a natural instinct to escape? What if she had gone searching for Declan when she heard him calling out to her? Would she have been distracted by the plight of a little girl? From the broken woman Leanne had seen today, it was almost easier to believe Claudia had saved Amelia.
As Leanne reached the towpath, she continued the internal debate. Karin had asked about Amelia and said how she thought she was dead. Had she seen where the roof had caved in and made the same assumption as Carole Brody? Or had she thought it was a dead child she was placing into Rex Russell’s arms? Beth hadn’t denied that Karin had a torch that night, even if she hadn’t confirmed it either.
Leanne blinked against the sun that was reflecting off the canal’s still waters and immediately recalled the flash of silver around Karin’s neck. How many women in the theatre had been wearing silver pendants that night? How many possessed Ronson Construction torches that had been given away like sweets? How many couldn’t come forward and retell their feats of bravery because either they, or their memory, hadn’t survived the tragedy?
Opening her rucksack, Leanne searched for her sunglasses, but pulled out her phone instead. She had taken a photograph of the drawing she had been asked to pass on to Claudia. Amelia’s guardian angel had dark hair, as did Karin, but what about the pendant? Leanne zoomed in on the line around the woman’s neck, but the little dot in the centre remained just that.
Frustrated, Leanne tapped her phone harder than was entirely necessary to zoom out to the full image. She hated seeing Claudia’s name appended to Amelia’s, but she couldn’t with any certainty change it to Karin’s, or anyone else’s for that matter. She was almost at the point of admitting defeat when she saw it – the clue hidden in the sketch that Amelia had covered up with a pink heart.
29
With no better place to be, Claudia rested her back against the flock of duck-down pillows she had spent the last ten minutes rearranging. She shuffled up the bed, then down again, dug her left shoulder into her nest, then did the same with the right, but to no avail. Unable to cure her restlessness, she distracted herself by smoothing out the creases on the white Egyptian cotton sheet that protected her from the heavy damask of the duvet cover. The strap of her silk chemise slipped down her arm. She pulled it up, almost snapping it.
Claudia didn’t understand why everyone was ganging up on her. She had made a few errors of judgement, but she had made up for it since. Why couldn’t she be left in peace? Other people made mistakes. Why did hers have to happen in the midst of a disaster that had to be brought up over and over again?
Justin was bemused by her moods and seemed to think the best way to deal with Claudia was to give her some distance. She couldn’t remember the last time he had worked from home. He was back to his old ways, leaving early and coming home late. He was living for his work instead of living for his wife.
Shoving an elbow into her pillow, Claudia realised she had never felt comfortable in this bed. She closed her eyes and willed herself someplace else, and Declan’s scruffy little flat above the bakery came to mind too easily. She had always felt at peace there. It was somewhere where she never had to pretend to be something other than what she was.
‘What if it could be like this for ever?’ Declan had once asked her, kissing her bare shoulder as she lay tangled in sheets that were thin and scratchy.
‘You have to go back to Ireland, for your kids,’ she reminded him. It had been part of the initial attraction. Declan would return home when the theatre project was signed off, and no one need ever be the wiser.
‘I’ll be home soon enough, but what if you came with me?’
‘My life is here.’
‘Is that so? Then tell me, who’s your best friend? Who knows your darkest secrets? It’s not the likes of Phillipa, that’s for sure. And it’s not Justin either.’
‘Don’t,’ she said. Her husband was the one subject that was barred from their pillow talk.
‘Can your relationship be so great if you can’t even be open with him about your past? There’s a reason we fit together so well,’ he whispered, sliding a hand beneath the covers.
Claudia had only told Declan about her mum because he had been droning on about how difficult his childhood had been. She had wanted to trump his absent father with an absent mother, and it had been liberating to talk about it. Declan had understood why she had felt the need to reimagine her past. He shared the sense of rejection and the shame too. He knew what it was like to feel not good enough.
Justin had no similar point of reference. His childhood had been blissfully uneventful and he would have been appalled by her tale of desertion and neglect. A dead mother and a father debilitated by grief had been far more palatable, for both of them.
Declan on the other hand, had embraced the imperfections in his life. He wasn’t afraid to mess up and had messed up spectacularly on occasion, but he carried on regardless. Claudia didn’t doubt that he would celebrate her mistakes too and, as his hand explored the subtle rise of her belly, she knew he had worked out that her latest was one they had made together.
‘Oh, my sweet Claudia,’ he said. ‘I promise you here and now, I’ll never leave you.’
Her life had felt uncomfortably crowded back then, so how had she ended up so alone? Where was Declan when she needed him? She consoled herself with the knowledge that their secret had died with him, although when Karin had first confronted her, there had been a moment when she thought she had been found out. She had worried for nothing. Declan’s loyalties had been with Claudia right to the end. It was unfortunate that not all her mistakes were dead and buried.
Stretching a hand across the damask, she picked up Amelia’s drawing. From Leanne’s swagger when she had handed it over, Claudia had expected it to reveal more than she would like, but it was a poorly executed sketch, with no detail.
Lifting the sheet of paper to examine the figure holding the child, Claudia allowed herself a brief twinge of guilt for taking credit where it wasn’t due. She had seen Amelia’s limp body and was surprised the paramedics gave her any chance at all. If it had been Claudia who had stumbled upon the girl, she would have left her where she found her. But it wasn’t Claudia making those decisions. It was the woman with the silver pendant and that damned key ring torch.
They should rename Leanne Pitman, Leanne Pitbull. Claudia hadn’t realised the reporter’s friend had died in the fire until Phillipa mentioned it. It made sense now why she had become so obsessed, but she had to give up eventually. Didn’t she?
Claudia felt tears prick her eyes as she stared at the drawing. Against the light from the window, she could see each pen stroke. She brought the paper closer. Not all the hearts surrounding her name were completely pink. One heart had lines inside that were the same shade of purple as the pen used to write Claudia’s name. Amelia had made a mistake and tried to cover it up. Claudia could make out three dark lines that formed a letter.
Glancing again at the pendant drawn in grey, Claudia made the link she hoped no one else would, not even Amelia. There was a reason the child had been misspelling Claudia with a K. It was the block initial hanging from the silver chain around the neck of her rescuer. Karin Gallagher still wore it. That might be a problem.
30
‘Thanks for coming over so quickly,’ Karin said after offering Claudia a seat. ‘I know you must be busy.’
‘It’s no trouble,’ Claudia replied, even though she had been the one to suggest a visit. She had phoned that morning with Amelia’s drawing still clasped in her hand. ‘You sounded upset and I didn’t want to let you down.’
‘You’ve been so kind. There are only a few people left I can trust,’ Karin said, perching on the edge of a battered leather sofa. Her open-plan apartment was small, and it looked as though the dated furniture was included in the rent and had suffered one too many occupants.
‘I’m shocked you and Beth have been ambushed again. Are the press looking for another angle on Declan?’
‘I wouldn’t be surprised. It was Leanne Pitman, the one who wrote about you and Amelia.’
Claudia knew it would be. It was one of the reasons she had come over so quickly. ‘What did she say exactly?’ By which she meant, what had passed between them, word for word.
‘Beth spoke to her while I was in the car. All she’s told me is that Leanne has tracked down the woman who was sitting next to us at the theatre.’
Claudia wiped a clammy hand against her trousers. Not only had the reporter worked out that she wasn’t in her allocated seat, she knew who had taken her place. Shit.
Swallowing down a wave of panic, Claudia reminded herself that all of the evidence against her was circumstantial. Leanne couldn’t prove that Claudia hadn’t gone to the theatre, she had been there, and any link to Declan remained tenuous. And as for saving Amelia, there was nothing to disprove her claim except a mishmash of unreliable memories and the pendant hanging around Karin’s throat. Claudia wanted nothing more than to yank it from her neck and run, but she forced a smile and nodded at Declan’s sister as if only mildly interested.
‘Does Beth know why Leanne’s still working on the story?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Karin said. She glanced at the wall clock. It was half past three. ‘But she might be able to tell you more. She’ll be home in about half an hour, depending on the traffic.’
Karin had mentioned that Beth was at work and Claudia had wrongly assumed she would be home much later. ‘I’m afraid I can’t stay long,’ she replied, thankful that she hadn’t taken up the offer of a drink. She would have to keep the visit short. ‘I only came to give you this.’
Claudia took from her bag a smoky brown bottle with a pretty label. ‘My aromatherapist, Maggie, made this up for me to reduce my anxiety. It’s a massage oil, and I thought it might help you too.’
‘Oh, I couldn’t take it.’
‘I have lots more at home. Please, I insist,’ Claudia said. ‘You could try it now, if you like? Just rub a few drops on your neck and chest. The smell is incredibly calming.’
Karin looked uncomfortable, but if she thought it was an odd request, she was too polite to refuse. She went to undo the cap.
‘You might want to take your necklace off first. Apparently it can tarnish silver.’
‘Oh, OK,’ Karin said, reaching behind her neck to undo the clasp. ‘It was a present from Declan. I’d hate for it to get damaged.’
‘Here, let me take it. I’ll put it somewhere safe.’
‘Sure, thanks,’ replied Karin as the chain was snatched from her hand. ‘Would you mind putting it over there on the shelf by the kitchen? There’s a little bowl.’
No longer interested in Karin and her massage oil, Claudia wandered over to the shelf. With the necklace cupped in her hand, she grasped one end of the chain between her thumb and forefinger and lifted it up. The silver pendant slipped off and remained secreted in her palm. ‘Sorry, where do you want me to put it?’ she called out. She wanted Karin to witness her setting down the necklace.
Karin rubbed scented oil across her throat as she joined Claudia. ‘There,’ she said, pointing to a bowl shaped like a lemon.
As Claudia dropped the chain amongst other bits of jewellery, she spotted a set of keys on the shelf next to it. Karin noticed her gaze falter.
‘Do you recognise the key ring?’
Claudia shoved her hand into her trouser pocket, depositing the stolen pendant. ‘Should I?’
‘I had a torch like the one you gave to that little girl. Except I lost mine after the fire. All that was left was the screw cap on the end, so I squashed it into a disc.’
The smell of lavender and chamomile from the massage oils did nothing to relax Claudia. ‘Do you remember using it that night?’
Karin went to the sink to wash her hands. The leathery patches of healed burns on her palms had become invisible to her, as were the sharper scar lines, but Claudia noticed.
‘I can remember switching it on,’ Karin said, ‘but that doesn’t mean anything. I have this infuriating need to fill in my memory gaps and sometimes, when I read someone else’s account, it’s as if I lived it too.’ She chewed her lip. ‘Even what happened to Amelia. I dream that it was me with her.’
With her head bowed in shame, Karin rinsed the soap suds from her hands. She thought she was stealing Claudia’s memories instead of recapturing her own. That was good.
‘Beth still has her torch though,’ she continued. ‘That reporter was looking at it.’
‘She was?’
Picking up a tea towel, Karin took time to dry her hands. She hadn’t looked up yet and for the first time, Claudia suspected she wasn’t being as open as she could be.
‘Did they talk for long?’
‘Quite a while.’
‘And what else do you think they chatted about? Beth must have said something to you.’
‘Bits,’ she admitted. ‘There must have been some talk about our theatre tickets because Beth asked if Declan had told me who he got them off. I presumed it was Phillipa, but Beth asked if it might have been you.’
‘You know that’s not possible. I’ve told you before, I don’t think I ever met him.’
‘I know,’ Karin answered quickly. ‘I’m not suggesting there was something going on.’
Claudia felt a rush of blood to her cheeks. She didn’t like the way Karin’s mind had made the leap to a suggestion of impropriety, or how her brow remained furrowed. ‘Good,’ she said.
‘But, are you sure you didn’t see him inside the Empress?’ Karin asked. ‘Isn’t it possible you bumped into him? I have this image of him looking down at me. And I see you too.’
As Karin spoke, she held out her hands in front of her. It looked as if she were reaching for the ghost of her brother only to grasp thin air, but Claudia knew differently. She was mirroring something she had seen.
Noticing the look of horror on Claudia’s face, Karin said, ‘Sorry, I told you my memories are jumbled. Of course you weren’t up there.’
Claudia rested a hand on the kitchen counter. ‘No, I wasn’t, and if it’s not too much to ask, I’d rather you didn’t say things like that again, not to anyone, not even to Beth. The press would love to link me to your brother just for the fun of it.’
‘I can’t believe they’ve let Phillipa off the hook.’
‘Maybe that’s for the best. The press started the rumours because they didn’t expect Phillipa to be around to challenge them, and I think we all fell for it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t seeing anyone at all. You didn’t think he was, and I’d trust you above any reporter.’
‘Actually . . . I wasn’t completely honest with you when we first met,’ Karin confessed. ‘The thing is, I’m pretty sure Declan was seeing someone. He never talked about her, but there was this one time when I called at his flat and there was a cup on the side with red lipstick on it. He wouldn’t say who it belonged to, and I remember thinking it was because he wasn’t serious about whoever it was, but maybe he had to be secretive because she was married. If it wasn’t Phillipa, then who was it?’
Claudia held her nerve and Karin’s gaze. ‘Whoever it was, Declan must have cared a lot about her to keep that secret from his family. And the best way you can respect his memory is to say nothing and keep away from the press.’
Putting her head in her hands, Karin said, ‘I don’t care if I never talk about any of this again. It’s already driving a wedge between me and Beth. I ask questions that she can’t answer and we both end up feeling frustrated. It’s so hard, and things have been getting worse.’
