Just Like the Other Girls - Claire Douglas Page 0,124

Jemima took the job last October I was travelling. I only got back after Christmas.’

‘I think he killed Jemima hoping you’d get the job, but my mother employed Una before he had the chance to show you the advertisement. So he must have felt he had no choice but to kill Una as well,’ explains Kathryn.

I swallow a lump in my throat. My brother has killed three people. Needlessly. And for what? Money?

‘I just … I can’t get my head around this.’

Courtney sits forward. ‘I’m so sorry, Willow. When Kathryn was at mine, I had a phone call from Peter. The police had contacted him to say they had located a signal for Una’s phone at an address in Weston-super-Mare. Because of what Kathryn had found out about you being Viola’s daughter we thought … We came here thinking it might have been you.’

I stare at her, like she’s grown an extra head. ‘What do you mean? That you thought I might have killed those girls?’

‘Only for a minute. When we pulled up outside the flat and saw the white van, we guessed it must be your brother.’

‘I knew the police were on their way,’ Kathryn adds. ‘That’s why I was brave enough to come inside.’ She touches her throat. ‘Although for a moment there I thought he’d kill me too.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ I say, tears forming again.

‘I’m sorry, too,’ says Kathryn. ‘For being so awful to you. And to Jemima and Una. Even Matilde. If I’d only reported Jemima missing earlier the police might have – I don’t know – found Arlo sooner. Una might not have died.’

‘Why did you hide Jemima’s passport?’ asks Courtney, sharply.

Kathryn looks shame-faced. ‘I’m not proud of what I did. Money. It does strange things to you. Ed and I, we were struggling. I was worried that my mother would become so infatuated with one of the Viola-lookalikes that she’d push me out into the cold. She’s harsh like that. She cut off Viola for good because she didn’t approve of her boyfriend. When Matilde joined, Mother changed her will. She was going to leave a huge lump sum to her. To a girl she’d known five minutes!’ Her voice rises and, as though conscious of this, she lowers it again. ‘Anyway, I argued with Jemima. I didn’t trust her. Rightly or wrongly, I don’t know. When she flounced off with her bag but without her passport I thought she might be back. But when she didn’t appear, I was relieved. I hoped she’d just taken off, maybe moved in with that mystery man of hers – who, I think now, must have been Arlo – so I took it from her room and told my mother she’d resigned. I forgot all about the passport. And then when she died I was scared to throw it away, in case it was found and somehow traced back to me and looked suspicious. So I hid it. I panicked.’

‘And the necklace?’ I ask. ‘Was it Jemima’s?’

Kathryn shakes her head. ‘No. It was my mother’s. The photo inside was of Viola. I found it in the bin after Viola left. I fished it out and kept it. I’d forgotten all about it until you found it.’

There’s a beat of silence before Courtney says to me, ‘Did you ever suspect that Arlo was capable of murder?’

I shake my head vehemently. ‘Never. I’m not going to lie, he was always a little obsessed by wealth. He hated living in the commune, everyone having the same. He hated “being poor”, as he put it. But I never …’ my stomach turns ‘… I never thought he’d be capable of murder.’

How will I ever trust anyone again?

46

Three months later, Willow

We’re in the middle of a heatwave. The city feels stagnant with it. The air is breezeless, cloying with traffic fumes and cut grass. I can’t even walk to the end of the street without sweat running down my back.

But Clifton in July is a joy to behold, and I love it here. I love the little pavement cafés and the boutiques and the beautiful old buildings that shimmer in the sun. I love the view of the suspension bridge, even with the knowledge of what took place there, and the hot-air balloons in the cloudless cornflower-blue sky.

When I’m out and about I feel a bounce to my step for the first time since Arlo was arrested and subsequently charged with the murders of Matilde, Jemima and Una. He’s denying it, of