criminal record too. I did all that willingly, because I didn’t want to be unnecessarily vindictive.’
Flora makes a strangled noise.
‘But for an offence so severe, there had to be a price,’ Lewis goes on. ‘Oh, wait – you think I’m talking about the killing of Georgina? No. Not that offence. Tell her, Flora.’
‘The offence was that I got pregnant when Lewis didn’t want another baby,’ she says mechanically.
‘Deliberately, Beth. That’s not on. You won’t admit it now, but you know it’s something no decent person would do. Then she gave birth too early, to a cross-eyed creature that was certainly no part of the amazing family I wanted – the one I had until she ruined everything. Did Flora cause Georgina’s death? Yes, in a way. Without her scheming, there’d have been no Georgina. No one would have needed to die. That would have been better for all of us – you too, Beth. Flora’s lucky still to be a free woman.’
Where should you be? HMP Peterborough.
‘Anyway, we very much were where we were, at that point.’ Lewis shrugs. He stands up with a heavy sigh. ‘As I say, I offered Flora a solution to our predicament that I hoped would work for all of us. She was to detach herself, immediately, and disappear. I’d cover all expenses. Thomas, Emily and I would then be free of her taint, and Georgina’s, and able to get on with the rest of our lives. We agreed that after she’d gone, I’d tell the children that she’d had a breakdown and couldn’t face being part of our family any more after what had happened to their sister. And that was that. Separate lives. That’s how it would have gone, if I hadn’t been too soft-hearted.’
‘You aren’t soft-hearted.’ Flora steps forward. Her words spill out in a messy rush, barely distinct from one another. ‘You’re the opposite. You say you didn’t want to be vindictive, but you did. You still do. You want me to suffer as much as possible.’
Lewis nods. His eyes flash, as if her disagreement has given him new energy. ‘Interesting interpretation, Mrs Braid. I’ve not heard any of this before, Beth. Flora never talks back. I wouldn’t allow it. Today’s different, though. It’s True-Feel Reveal Day here in Delray Beach, Florida!’ He chuckles. ‘Go on, Flora, have your say. I’m sure you’re not afraid of anything, are you?’
‘What should I be scared of?’ she says. ‘You’re never going to kill me – you’ve got your playhouse on Wyddial Lane with all your toys in it and I’m the main one, aren’t I? Without me to torture, you’d have no interest in playing your game, and you love your game. You’re incapable of loving any human being properly, but you love the game, and the power it brings you.’
‘She calls it a game, Beth,’ says Lewis in a voice designed to sound sad. ‘I call it giving her another chance. I think we need someone more objective than either of us to be the judge – you, for instance. Sure, you’re on Flora’s side against me, but you’ve got a good brain. Did I do her a favour or am I the sadist she thinks I am? Tell her the story, Flora. Actually, wait.’
Using his free hand, he pulls his phone out of his pocket and sets it down on the table. ‘I’m going to record this. It’s good to have it all stored, for the official record. In case one day I write my story.’ He grins. ‘Who lives, who dies, who tells your story, Beth?’
His eyes flit up and down as he sets the phone to record. They’re never off me or the gun in his hand for long enough to give me a chance.
‘Recording,’ he says, looking at Flora. ‘On your marks, get set, go. Let’s let Judge Beth decide.’
‘He said I had to go,’ Flora says in a dull voice. ‘Far away from all of them. Lose my family. He would pay for my new life, but it had to be somewhere where there was no danger I’d bump into any of them by chance. First he sent me to Scotland. Until the job opportunity here came up, and he made a different plan: to put me back in the house where he …’ She chokes on the words. Starts again. ‘Where it happened. And keep me there. He’d keep an eye on me, he said, to check I was coping. He didn’t care what happened to