made them promise. In fact, they said she was staying in their attic, which is really strange, don’t you think?’
‘Very. Do you think Sophie is a criminal, and somehow Kelly’s got herself caught up in it?’
Fiona points at me. ‘Yes! You’re right. That must be it. That must be what’s happened. I knew Kelly wouldn’t have done anything illegal.’
‘But who is this Sophie? And what did she actually do?’
‘No idea.’ Fiona takes a breath. ‘Hate to say this, but it does sound just like something Kelly would do. She’s always helping people who’ve got themselves in trouble and they take advantage of her. She’s too soft-hearted for her own good.’
‘I know.’ I sigh, thinking about my own predicament and how I was coming here for the very same reason – to ask for her help. ‘What’s going to happen to her now?’
‘No idea.’ Fiona picks at her nail polish. ‘I called the station about half an hour ago, but they wouldn’t let me speak to her. They said to try again tomorrow.’
Something occurs to me. ‘Why are you here anyway? I thought you said the boys were staying at your place.’
Fiona looks away and blinks a couple of times. She looks like she might start crying.
‘Fi? Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine,’ she snaps.
I bristle at her tone. ‘Sorry, I was only asking.’
‘No, I’m sorry for biting your head off. Sonny forgot his homework, and then Nathan and I… we had a bit of a bust-up, so I came round to get it – the homework.’
‘Sorry you’re having a crappy evening.’ I offer up a lukewarm smile. ‘I’d have thought Nathan would be in a great mood after his win today.’
‘Yeah, well, he wasn’t too thrilled at having visitors to stay. He wanted to go out and celebrate.’
‘You mean because you’ve got Kelly’s boys?’ I think Nathan’s a bit of an arsehole, but I’m still surprised that he would be so churlish – he always seems desperate to be the good guy.
Fiona flushes. ‘Sorry, that came out wrong. He’s fine with the boys, just cross with me for springing it on him.’
‘But that’s hardly your fault!’ I find myself annoyed with Nathan on Fiona’s behalf.
‘It is my fault. Look, I haven’t told you the whole story. I’ve made Nathan out to be the bad guy, but he’s not. It’ll be fine. I’ll go back home, and we’ll make up. It’s no big deal.’
But I can tell she’s covering up for him. There’s something else in her voice. Something she’s not telling me.
We agree to keep in touch over the next day or so and I offer to look after the boys if she needs me to. She waves away my offer, but I have a feeling she’ll change her mind if Nathan’s got any say in the matter. We agree that Fiona will go to the station tomorrow and if she doesn’t have any luck getting more information, then I’ll call Ash and try to get him to spill the beans. But I already know it’ll be a waste of time.
Fiona and I leave Kelly’s at the same time, parting ways at the end of the road as she heads to her multi-million-pound lakeside mansion, and I head home to my beautiful family in our modest home.
On the walk back, I realise that I’m still no nearer to working out what I’m supposed to do about the photos. And it doesn’t look like I’ll have a chance to discuss it with Kelly any time soon. She has far more important issues on her mind – like why she’s being held in police custody overnight. Poor Kelly. I hope she’s okay. And now, after tonight’s conversation with Fiona, I’m starting to doubt my theory that she’s behind the images. She didn’t seem at all threatening this evening. In fact, she seemed quite vulnerable.
Afternoon shifts into dusk and, despite being a Saturday, the roads are empty. This is a quiet residential area; all the regatta celebrations will have transferred to the pubs and bars in town. The organisers used to set up a marquee by the lake with a bar and disco that played on until the early hours, but that was vetoed several years ago after the lakeside residents’ committee complained about the noise.
I’m halfway home when I hear the soft shuffle of footsteps behind me. I want to turn around to see who it is, but that would look too paranoid. I remember having a conversation with some friends about women’s safety