She lit the last match and her final thought came to her like a swift slap; she knew exactly who had sealed her fate. This was the moment she realised she was never getting out. ‘No, don’t let me die in here…’
Chapter Nineteen
Cherie hid around the corner, behind Old Joe’s house. She tried calling Penny again, but it went straight to voicemail. She took the miniature bottle from her bag and had the smallest of tastes. Her fingers, numb to the October chill, missed screwing the cap on, causing her to accidentally splash the cuff of her coat. She’d officially failed. Her dry spell had ended.
As Christian pulled around the corner, she retreated back to her hiding place so that his headlights didn’t catch her loitering in the dark. She pressed her back against the cold brick wall and fished in her pocket for the pack of mints she always carried before popping one into her mouth. As the wind changed direction, she heard Oliver and Bella hounding their father about going trick or treating. Something she’d never allowed them to do despite Christian also pressuring her. The children hated that they weren’t allowed to dress up and scrounge sweets from the neighbours, like their friends were.
She shivered as her front door slammed. As always, Christian dutifully picked their two up from the childminder’s house on his way home from work as she finished later than he did. She checked her watch. If she got into the car and pulled up now, she’d still be forty minutes early and he’d wonder what was going on.
Her mind milled with excuses.
I wasn’t feeling well. They let me go early as there were too many staff rostered on. I worked through my breaks yesterday as Sadie was off sick so they let me take the time today.
She ran his responses through her mind. She couldn’t say she was ill, he’d only fuss and she didn’t want that. On the other hand, he’d probably tell her to go to bed and he’d feed the kids. No – he’d cancel her friends coming over tomorrow. That couldn’t happen.
Swallowing, she thought of work and how she’d let everyone down. She turned her phone back on and waited a moment for her notifications to come through. Seventeen missed calls and five voicemails. She opened a text from Maureen, her supervisor, telling her not to come back again. There were several from Sadie with laughing emojis whooping her for making a stand against their non-existent pay rises. Maureen wouldn’t call her on the home phone, she’d never given them the number. For now, Christian would be none the wiser.
‘What you doing ’ere? You’ll catch a chill.’ Joe flung his back gate open further as he dragged his wheelie bin onto the path.
‘I was just—’ Just what? What should she say? I was just loitering here until my husband went into the house. Then I was going to drive my car from behind yours and park it on my drive because I’m weird like that. She stared at the rustling leaves, hoping that they’d cue her in, but nothing was coming to the front of her mind.
‘Are you okay, dear? Do you want to come in for a cup of tea?’ He hobbled to the kerb, dragging his bin as he awaited her answer. ‘I don’t charge for the tea.’
‘Thanks for the offer but I have to get home. Maybe another time.’ She left him standing and hurried to her car, unwilling to answer any more questions. She had to face home sooner or later and only being twenty minutes early would be fine.
She drove the car onto the drive and as luck would have it, Christian was looking out of the window with his hands poised to close the blind. If only she’d waited another minute.
As she entered, he was already there. ‘You haven’t just come home, have you?’
‘What do you mean?’ She knew what he meant but that silly question would give her a moment to think.
‘You know what I mean. You just pulled in from the wrong side of the road. The side that leads to dead ends.’
Throw it back at him. ‘Christian, you’re stifling me. Don’t do this now.’
‘Do what?’ He folded his arms, a frown appearing across his forehead.
‘You know.’
‘I don’t. Where have you been?’
Oh, I just walked out from my job. I’ve spent half of the day going to places I shouldn’t have gone to and the rest of it hiding out of the way so I don’t have to tell you about my dismissal.
‘I got let out of work a little early on the proviso that I deliver some leaflets about the upcoming fundraising raffle. We’re hoping for a few donations for the Christmas fundraiser, you know, for the work to the garden at the home next year. I parked down the road so it’d be easier. I started from the bottom. Sorry, I should have messaged.’ The lie had spilled out far too easily.
He turned and walked into the lounge. Bella and Oliver were sitting at the table at the far end, doing their homework. ‘You should have messaged. You could have picked the kids up. They could have helped and it would have taken the pressure off me to rush.’
‘I did think that but I looked at the weather and didn’t want them to get a cold.’
‘Dad, can you help me with my homework?’ Bella beckoned him over.
He grabbed his glasses from the table and sat next to her before muttering something about what metaphors were and how they were different to similes. Today, she was in the clear but next Monday was another day. She was meant to be at work and she had no job to go to. Where she’d hide out then, that was something she’d have to think hard about.
As she placed her bag on the table, she pulled her phone from her pocket. There had been no more messages from the nursing home and no calls from Penny. She opened Facebook and clicked onto the Warwickshire Herald’s page and her body stiffened. Breath quickening, she loosened her coat and leaned against the wall sucking in air. The more she inhaled the woozier she felt. She spotted the miniature in her bag, her fingers ever itching for a swig of its contents but she couldn’t, not with Christian being in the next room. She wouldn’t. She’d been a fool to buy it and an even bigger fool to take another sip. As soon as she had a moment, she’d hide it away. Out of sight, out of mind, like the other one she had as a backup.
Alex’s face stared back at her from the screen and she wondered if her dinner party buddies had seen or read the news of his murder. Her phone beeped. It was a message from Marcus.
Have you seen the news? Keep calling Penny. I knew she had something on her mind when she was picking a fight. She must have seen this before me. Keep trying to call her. Marcus.
‘You alright?’ Christian walked over to her.
She deleted her messages and turned her phone off. She nodded as she removed her coat, burying her vodka-drenched sleeve under the rest of the material. ‘I’m fine. It’s just been a long day and I’m pooped.’
‘I’m sorry I was so miserable when you came home. I should have asked more gently instead of charging straight in there.’
As he leaned in and hugged her, she spotted the woman who lived opposite with her little ghost and devil in tow. She fought the need to cry and roll up into a ball and hide under the kitchen table. All the running in the world wouldn’t fix her problems, not with them flowing ever closer.
Some things should never be found and some secrets should never be told.