it was anything else! But now she says she can go to them and get them to reopen it. She says she might tell them that – that I did it on purpose.’
Stephanie is stunned. She can hardly process what she’s hearing. ‘Why would she do that?’
‘For money! She’s just trying to frighten me into paying her.’
‘But she can’t do that, surely? She can’t just ask them to reopen a case. That’s absurd.’
‘Of course it’s absurd. She’s out of her fucking mind.’ He looks at her then. ‘And that’s what I told her.’
‘But’ – Stephanie doesn’t know how to put it – ‘but … can she do that? Do we have anything to worry about?’
‘I don’t know.’ He looks more worried than she would like. ‘She’s just doing this because she knows we have money. She found out about your inheritance somehow. She would never have shown up here otherwise.’
Stephanie has kept her inheritance very quiet. How would this woman know? ‘Wouldn’t she have to have some grounds?’ Stephanie protests. He’s silent for a long time. He’s still not looking at her. ‘She doesn’t have any grounds, does she?’
‘Of course not, but … she says she does.’
‘What?’ She feels like she can hardly breathe.
‘It’s too ridiculous.’
‘Tell me.’
He shakes his head, as if at the absurdity of it all. ‘She says she’ll tell them that I wanted to get Lindsey out of the way.’ Now he looks terribly uncomfortable. He glances at her uneasily.
‘Why would she tell them that, Patrick?’ Stephanie is feeling sick to her stomach.
He swallows. ‘She says she’ll tell them I was in love with her, which is absolute bullshit. I know it and she knows it. But she’ll tell any kind of lie if she gets something out of it.’ He looks at her desperately. ‘I really think she might be a sociopath, Stephanie. She has no scruples, no conscience at all. Who knows what she’ll say, what she’ll make up? It’s obvious she just wants money, but when she talks, it’s like she believes her own lies. She’s a hell of an actress.’
Stephanie’s mouth is dry. She tries to swallow. ‘How did you know her?’
‘She was Lindsey’s best friend,’ Patrick says.
‘And how well did you know her?’
He looks her in the eyes and says, ‘I was young, just a kid, really, and very stupid. I don’t want you to think …’ He hesitates.
‘Think what?’ She’s nervous now, afraid of what he’s going to tell her. She thinks she knows. He doesn’t answer her. She says sharply, ‘Did you sleep with this woman?’ His silence is all the answer she needs. ‘Oh my God.’ She gets up off the sofa and stands in front of him, looking down at him, aghast. ‘You slept with your wife’s best friend and now she says you were in love with her. Were you? Were you in love with her?’ Her voice is accusing.
In the swing, Jackie begins to cry. Almost instantly, Emma joins in. They don’t like hearing their mother speak this way.
‘I slept with her a couple of times,’ Patrick admits. ‘That’s all it was. We were drunk. We were kids. It meant nothing. Nothing! And now she thinks she can use that against me, because she needs money.’ He stands up, too, running a hand wildly through his hair. ‘She never said anything before. Because she knew it meant nothing. She knew it was an accident! She knew I was devastated by what happened.’ He reaches out to her, pleading. ‘You have to believe me, Stephanie. I would never cheat on you, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m a different person now.’
But her thoughts are reeling. He cheated on his first wife. She can hardly believe it. It was almost ten years ago, she thinks, but do people ever really change? She says, with absolute conviction, her voice cold, ‘If you ever cheat on me, I’ll leave you and take the twins with me.’
He looks at her in surprise, as if taken aback at her tone. ‘Okay. I know that. I will never be unfaithful to you, I swear. I never have been and I never will. Let’s not even go there, because that’s not going to happen. What we have to deal with now is – this situation.’
She takes a deep breath. It’s hard to think straight because both babies are crying. They’ve had to raise their voices to be heard over the din. She walks over to the swings and turns on the timers again