the scariest part. ‘I don’t know anything any more. You basically both threatened to bang Penny up in a coffin?’ Darkness began to swell and a few drops of rain fell onto her nose. She glanced up at the windows, from one end to the other, then around and around until she lost her footing and stumbled. Her breathing quickened.
‘If you think I’d do that you can just do one! Don’t call me again.’
‘Wait, don’t you dare hang up on me.’
She paused and kept the call open.
‘Imagine if sweet, loving Christian knew exactly what you did? Imagine your children’s faces when they see their mummy for who she really is. You’d never see them again – ever. Shut the hell up. You say a word and I will make sure the world knows exactly who you are, just maybe you’ll see the insides of a coffin next.’
Her gasping became deeper but she couldn’t get enough oxygen. The world was fading. She slid to the ground, cowering and shaking as she ended the call. She needed it all to go away. Maybe she could run. She could go home, pack a bag and get on a train to anywhere. She could empty their savings and start again somewhere. Her children would be better off without her anyway.
She shivered and cowered until the panic passed. This wasn’t new. All those years ago, she had panic attacks, but time heals and she’d said goodbye to them long ago. Like an unwelcome friend, they were back. Her phone beeped. She read the message.
I’m joining the kids at my parents’ house. Don’t call me, don’t message. Sort yourself out. C.
He’d left her. There would be no chance of him verifying her whereabouts when the police rang. She only hoped that he hadn’t woken up when she’d sneaked out of the house to confront Alex one last time. Her thoughts flashed back to what the teen boys said on Saturday night, about there being a person watching them from afar. She hadn’t imagined the person at the back of the squat when she’d left Alex, the one loitering in the long dark coat. She glanced around again, gaze flitting left and right, up and down, then back again.
She would now have to go back to the house and be alone with her thoughts. Maybe it was for the best. She glanced at the message she thought was from Penny. It had to be her. Marcus was wrong. That threat from Isaac had made her run away. It had been weird with Penny not being at the dinner party. Their annual Halloween get together had always been a reminder of the secret they were keeping and the high stakes involved in cracking but now it was more than a reminder. Each one of them was under threat. They’d successfully scared Penny and now they were working on her.
She hit reply on Penny’s message. It was time to do the right thing, regardless of the consequences. She replied.
Penny, please call me. Please. Let me help you. Cherie.
Would Penny truly trust her enough to text again? Was it even Penny? She leaned against the fence, shaking and shivering, sweat dripping down her forehead as she imagined Isaac reading the message she’d just sent.
‘Are you okay there?’ A woman leaned out of her bedroom window. One of the voyeurs had come out from behind dark glass and reached out. She ignored the woman and carried on down the path, hurrying towards where she’d parked for free on one of the residential roads.
Images of the figure in the long dark coat by where Alex was staying ran through her mind. She had been wearing something almost identical back then. It was just like her coat. Same pinched in shape. She’d worn it over her Dracula’s bride costume and it had looked like it fitted in with the theme so well at the time. That coat was a part of her costume. It was as if she was haunting herself, but this other person had been real. Were they real? Did she imagine the conversation with the teenagers?
Rain fell harder, splatting on her hood, seeping through the material. Chilled to the bone, she reached the car and got in. As soon as she got home, that coat she had kept in the loft for all these years was going on a bonfire. It would be gone, once and for all, along with her fear. Burn the lot. Burn it all. Burn the