reply. And what about Sophie? She’s being very quiet. Is she as angry as her brother? Or is she just going along with him? From watching them both, it seems quite obvious that he’s the one behind it all. She’s barely glanced up while he’s been spewing out all his pent-up emotions.
‘But Dad couldn’t cope with it all. With the accusations, the lies. He knew his career was over. Even our mother began to doubt his innocence. He thought he was going to lose his wife, his family, everything. He couldn’t cope with the shame. He shut himself in his car and took his own life.’
Greg’s breathing has grown heavy with emotion. But still Sophie stands there, head bowed, clutching the knife. ‘So, after years of doing nothing, of letting you three get away with your teenage games, we decided that it was time to make you pay. To make you suffer just a little of what we suffered. We started with a few rumours. As a teacher, it was easy for me to arrange for some of the pupils to overhear a bit of gossip. Things like, “Rosie’s mum is a murderer”, and “Sonny’s mum kissed a teacher”. Nowhere near as bad as a sexual assault rumour, but enough to cast doubt on your characters. To give you a small taste of what it was like for us back then. And then we ramped it up a gear…
‘We wanted you all to feel the despair and fear that my dad felt when he was wrongly accused. To ruin your lives the way you ruined my family. To make you suffer the way he suffered. Back then, you all thought you were so special. So popular and untouchable. You thought it would be funny to accuse an innocent teacher of sexual misconduct. Everyone knew you were making it all up, but it was too late for my dad. The damage had already been done. Once he was under suspicion for something like that, the school had to let him go. The other parents wouldn’t have stood for him staying on.
‘Fiona…’ He fixes me with a stare that makes me squirm in my seat. It’s only now I realise how much he looks like his father. ‘We thought we’d tip off the tax office about you. Let them do a little in-depth investigation into your business. We know how you like everything in your life to be shiny and perfect, so it seemed like a good way to ruin your week.’
I should be shocked by what he’s telling me, but the tax audit feels about a million miles away right now. Like it’s happening to someone else; not to me. All that anguish and agonising over my business seems trivial now that I’m here, facing Brian Lawson’s children, of all people.
‘And Tia…’ Greg switches his gaze to her, and I wonder what it is that this man has been putting her through. ‘Those photographs were fun, don’t you think? Sophie and I enjoyed Fiona’s birthday party. To be honest, we went into that club with a plan to spike Fiona’s drink, not yours. But we couldn’t get near her, so we adapted our plan. Tia, you seemed to be having the most fun that night. You were certainly downing the shots. You made it so easy for Sophie.’
I think back to the night of my birthday, and I remember being annoyed by Tia’s attention-seeking behaviour. Dancing and flirting, acting like it was her party. I didn’t realise she’d had her drink spiked.
Greg continues. ‘I bumped into you outside the club, just as the effects of the drug were starting to take hold, making you woozy enough not to recognise me. I kissed you. And I have to say, Tia, it was pretty sloppy. I didn’t enjoy it at all. But at least Sophie was able to get a few good photos. The other images had to be photoshopped, but I think we did a pretty convincing job.’
I glance sideways at Tia to see her straining at her ties, angry tears running down her face. My heart goes out to her. She obviously had it so much worse than I did. A tax audit is nothing compared to whatever it was they put her through. I realise I’m lucky they didn’t succeed in spiking my drink.
‘Don’t worry, Tia. You and I didn’t actually do anything together – I’m not that desperate. Although I wouldn’t put it past you to pretend that we