by Carol Wyer
‘You typed a note on your laptop?’
‘No, I used one of the computers in the library and printed it off there.’
‘You killed your friend – you murdered your best friend,’ said Natalie.
Rhiannon looked straight through her. ‘She wasn’t a true friend. I don’t have any friends.’
The girl’s confession went further than accounting for what had happened to Hattie and Fran. Natalie was reminded of the typed note found in Gemma’s diary and suddenly, pieces shifted more firmly into position. ‘But you wanted to be friends with people, didn’t you? You wanted to be friends with Gemma. You sent Gemma that anonymous note we found in her room. You were her admirer.’
‘That was a mistake. I sent her the note because I thought she’d be flattered and pleased and would be happy to have me as a friend, but she didn’t even mention it to anyone; not to Fran, Hattie or even Ryan. She did tell her mother though because I overheard them laughing and joking about her admirer. They thought I was a crackpot! I assumed she’d thrown the letter away and I was hurt. Really hurt. If somebody told you that you were special or amazing, you’d be pleased, right? She wasn’t. She was too big-headed and full of herself. I knew after I’d sent it that I should have kept my letter secret like I did after the incidents with Gwen and Nora.’
‘Who’s Gwen?’
‘She was in my class at my old school.’ She sighed again. ‘She freaked out when I told her I’d sent them and wouldn’t talk to me again. I also wrote to Nora, who was in the year above me, but she told her friends, who found out I’d sent the letters and took the piss out of me. They made my life truly miserable. I don’t know why they were horrible to me. I was only being friendly. I didn’t write any more until I left home and came to Samford, then I wrote to Fran but I didn’t send them to her. I kept all those letters hidden in my room, and after we became good friends, I ripped them up in case she ever found them. I shouldn’t have ever sent that one to Gemma. She didn’t appreciate it. She was exactly the same as the others.’
‘What do you mean “as the others”?’
‘She was a two-faced bitch, just like Gwen and Nora were. She didn’t deserve to be admired…’
Nora’s nostrils are flaring and her two friends are blocking the exit to the shower block. Naked and dripping with water, Rhiannon begins to shake. She’s always last to shower after PE lessons. She hates anyone seeing her undressed in the communal showers and waits until the last girl sprints out before she goes in. Her towel is out of reach, high in Nora’s hand.
Rhiannon tries to cover her stomach and chest with her arms and ignore Nora’s friends, who stare openly at her, jeering at her plump body.
‘You fancy me then, do you?’ says Nora.
‘No.’
‘Yes, you do. What about, “You’re so beautiful and I love your hair. It looks incredibly soft.” Sounds like you fancy me.’ Nora stares again.
Rhiannon can hear laughter from the changing room. Her classmates are listening to the conversation. She knows what she wrote in the letter, but the way Nora says it makes it sound stupid and childish when all she wanted to do was make Nora realise she was admired.
Nora continues in a silly girly voice, ‘“I think your friends are really lucky to have you as a friend.”’ She pretends to stick two fingers into her mouth to make herself sick then continues, ‘And who the fuck says they “admire” anybody these days?’ There’s more giggling in the changing room and a couple of faces peer in at the scene taking place in the shower.
‘I only wanted to be friendly—’
The dark-haired girl throws her head back as she laughs then spits out, ‘Who’d want you as a friend? Look at you!’
In spite of the burning embarrassment she’s experiencing, Rhiannon begins to shiver. She’s ashamed of her body and how vulnerable she feels with these pretty sixteen-year-old girls looking at her. ‘Can I… have… my towel?’
‘You are fucking weird,’ says Nora, hanging on to the massive blue towel that Rhiannon uses to hide in when she gets out of the shower. It’s large enough for her to dress under it. Rhiannon could step forward and try to grab it, but she knows the girls will make sure she doesn’t get it. She spies Gwen, the girl in her class who she also once sent letters to. Her face oozes disdain.
‘She’s fucking weird,’ says Gwen. ‘She wrote something like that to me too.’
Nora’s eyebrows shoot upwards. ‘Really? You got a thing for girls, then?’ she asks.
‘No. I was only being nice—'
The girl with black hair points a finger at her. ‘Shut up.’
‘You want me, do you?’ says Nora, running her hands over her shapely hips.
‘No!’
‘Yes, she does,’ says her friend.
‘You want to be my special bitch, don’t you?’ Nora taunts.
‘I don’t!’ wails Rhiannon. They don’t understand. This isn’t sexual. She only wanted to be friends.
‘She’s got the hots for you,’ says Gwen. ‘Sad cow.’ She gives Rhiannon a cold look and turns away to join her classmates, leaving Rhiannon alone with Nora and her friends.
Tears fill her eyes. She doesn’t deserve this.
‘What shall we do to her?’ asks the other girl, who’s been staring the entire time, a sneer across her face.
‘Make her regret it,’ says Nora. ‘Hide her clothes in a classroom then she’ll have to walk around school like that.’
‘NO!’ Rhiannon is horrified. She often has nightmares about being stark naked and people laughing at her. ‘No… please,’ she begs.
‘Do it,’ says Nora.
Rhiannon can hardly breathe for fear then the door flies open and Gwen reappears.
‘Teacher’s coming,’ she hisses.
Nora tosses Rhiannon the towel.
‘Better watch your back. Next time you won’t be as lucky.’
‘Why did Lennox tell us Fran was behind the scam? Why didn’t he tell us you were?’
For the first time since she sat down, Rhiannon permitted herself a small smile. ‘Ask Lennox.’
‘I’m asking you.’
Her eyebrows danced on her forehead and she dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. ‘A couple of weeks ago, I caught Lennox giving his tutor a blow job at the back of the science department.’
‘And you used that information to keep him quiet?’
She nodded. ‘He was more ashamed of being found out about that than stealing money from a stranger. I told him I’d tell everyone about it if he dropped me in it, and I explained it was better to frame Fran and to tell you she was behind the scam. I even went through what he’d tell you – about them going to bed together and her threatening him to remain silent.’ It went some way to explaining his loyalty to Rhiannon but not completely.
‘Did he know who had killed Fran?’
‘Maybe, maybe not. I didn’t tell him.’
Natalie would have to ask Lennox that question herself. ‘Doesn’t matter though, does it? His rich mummy will hire a fantastic team of defence lawyers and get him off any charges. Mine won’t.’ Rhiannon heaved a sigh of acceptance and stared at her yellow nails.
Dear Gemma,
I lost my cool today with somebody I thought was a good friend but who proved she was exactly the same as everyone else – shallow and self-centred.
Fran wanted to confess to everything that’s happened, including hitting Hattie over the head and dumping her body on campus.
‘It was an accident!’ she cried.
You see, Gemma, no matter what Fran said, there was no getting away from it; Fran whacked Hattie over the head with the gin bottle and Hattie crumpled like a sack of potatoes. If it hadn’t been for my quick thinking, we’d have been in serious shit. I saved us, not Fran. Not the girl who claimed to be hard and dangerous. Not the tattooed, tough Fran with her ‘fuck you’ attitude. She burst into tears at the sight of Hattie lying on the floor. I fixed everything, from cleaning up the blood to mov
ing Hattie’s body, and then the stupid, ungrateful cow was going to confess to the police and drag me into the mess with her.
It’s a good thing I listen. It’s one of the advantages of people not noticing me. You, being Miss Popular, wouldn’t know about that, but I am the opposite – Miss Unpopular – and I knew all about Lennox’s precious car and its rust patches. It’s amazing how boring that boy can be. He droned on about his damn car, and everybody at the lunch table switched off, but I listened and I remembered the oxalic acid crystals and I’d seen where he kept his car cleaning equipment.
Fran was in a dreadful state. She needed a glass of vodka – a glass of vodka with a little added something special.
I wasn’t as upset as I expected I’d be. I’d been pissed off at her for a while. I’d gone to all this trouble to get some money together to rent a flat for us both when term ends and she’d been coming up with excuses not to look at potential flats, on top of which, she’d begun to avoid me – making excuses not to hang out together, going out with other girls without me and pretending to be out when she was actually in her room. She thought I was too dumb to work out what was happening but I am not dumb, Gemma. I don’t handle rejection well. It was better to get rid of her before she decided it was time to dump me.
I’m hopeful the police will think she committed suicide and will put two and two together and believe Fran was behind the scam and Hattie’s death. I can sort out Lennox. He won’t dare breathe a word, not with what I know about the dirty little sod. He’s scared witless his mother will find out he’s been blowing off his tutor to get better grades.
All of this means I now have no friends at all. Not one.
See what you started, Gemma? This is your fault. If you’d been nice to me, none of this would have happened.
An Ex-Admirer
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Wednesday, 21 November – Night
‘I’d like to thank you all for your efforts. You excelled during this investigation,’ said Natalie. She looked around at the tired faces. It was almost midnight but they’d all pulled their weight and Rhiannon had been charged for her part in the scam, for acting as an accomplice in Hattie’s death, and for the murder of Fran Ditton. Lennox had been given a lesser charge for assisting with the catfish scam but had also been charged with perverting the course of justice, although his lawyer had applied for bail.
They’d established that Rhiannon had driven Hattie’s car to the station and parked it up after she and Fran had dumped Hattie’s body. The last piece of evidence had come in via Forensics, who’d uncovered a collection of letters printed on A4 paper and kept in a folder hidden among lecture notes. At first glance, they’d thought they were part of Rhiannon’s coursework, but one of the eagle-eyed team had spotted the name Gemma several times and the letters had been brought back to the station for further examination. There was no doubt Rhiannon had typed and printed them, and each one revealed the truth behind the scam and the deaths of Hattie and Fran. It was another vital piece of the jigsaw explaining why Rhiannon had drummed up the idea of the scam – jealousy at Gemma’s popularity and upset at being rejected by somebody she admired.
Lennox had been shocked to discover Rhiannon had been behind Fran’s death, and whether or not that shock was genuine, Natalie would never know. His lawyer had been quick to point out that Rhiannon had been emotionally blackmailing Lennox, and Natalie knew that with Carolyn acting on his behalf, once the case went to trial, he was likely to get away with minimum sentencing. Natalie and her team could only find those responsible for acts, not give out the punishments. They’d played their role. Now it was up to the justice system.
Dan, who’d been standing by the door next to Mike, took a step forward. ‘I’d like to add my thanks to DI Ward’s. Great job, everyone.’
The team disbanded but Dan wanted a word with Natalie. Mike murmured, ‘I’ll wait in my car for you.’
With the office empty, Dan unfolded his hands from behind his back and, lifting his trousers slightly at the knees so he didn’t ruin the creases in them, sat down carefully. He motioned for her to join him and she dropped down on her own chair.
‘I’ve only known you a short while but you’ve impressed me. More importantly, you’ve impressed upstairs.’ Upstairs referred to the senior level staff who shared the same floor as Dan. ‘What I’m going to tell you is highly confidential and mustn’t leave this room.’ He waited for a gesture of acknowledgement before carrying on. ‘There’s going to be some restructuring over the next few months. Samford was built as a centre of excellence but is already outgrowing its purpose, and I have been informed that certain units are to be moved into another purpose-built building which will be situated not far from HQ. Your unit will be amalgamated with several others to form a special crimes unit and be one of three units relocated to the new premises. How you have handled high-profile investigations, especially while under personal stress, has not gone unnoticed, and I’ve been tasked with asking you if you would consider overseeing the new unit. Naturally, that responsibility will carry promotion, and there’ll be an opportunity for one of your team to step into your shoes as DI of the unit. I’d also like you to put forward a recommendation for whoever you think would be best suited to that job.’
‘I see.’ Her mind seesawed between the pros and cons. The pros would be leaving HQ, promotion, an increase in salary, and against that, the facts that the team’s dynamics would change and she would no longer work in the same building as Mike; moreover, the big question – could she take on any more responsibility? She had Josh to consider and of course, David. She couldn’t completely walk away from him.
‘You’ll need time to think about this. How about I give you until the end of the month. That’s just over a week. I’ll expect your answer by then.’
She couldn’t formulate a response, caught up in a blizzard of thoughts. She settled on a simple, ‘Thank you, sir.’
He placed both hands on his knees and stood up effortlessly. ‘As I said, good job today. Oh, by the way, how’s your ex-husband doing?’
‘He’s recovering.’
‘Excellent. Right-ho!’ He moved off, halting by the door to say, ‘Give it serious thought, Natalie. I think you’d be perfect for the job… and not a word to anyone at all. This news is not to leave this room.’
She waited until he was out of sight before rubbing her forehead with both hands, massaging away the confusion. Did she really want this opportunity? It wasn’t so much an opportunity as something being forced on her. Her unit would be moved regardless of her decision and would grow in size. How would her team feel about that? She’d been ordered not to say anything to anyone, but she had to at least discuss it with Mike. Shit! Mike was waiting for her. She scrambled to her feet.
True to his word, Mike was waiting for her in his warm car, the interior a mixture of woody aftershave and spearmint gum. Coldplay crooned about a sky full of stars and he gave her a tired smile. ‘Home?’
She flopped back into the soft leather seat. ‘Please. Do you want to stay the night – or what’s left of it? It’ll give us a chance to talk, seeing as we missed out on our meeting in the park.’
‘One of the drawbacks of our jobs – at times, we get no bloody personal life! I’d love to but I am properly done in, and besides, it feels a bit wrong with David in hospital. When he’s recovered—’
‘David can’t remember what’s happened to him. He thinks Leigh’s still alive.’
‘Fuck!’
‘I couldn’t tell him, not about Leigh and not about me and him splitting up, or about you. I’m hoping the doctors will, or his memory will come back.’
‘Oh, fucking hell, Nat!’ He reached for his cigarettes, started to tap one out, changed his mind and replaced the packet in the door pocket.
Natalie understood. David had to go through the whole pain again of finding out that his daughter was dead and that his wife had left him.
They arrived at the flat and she turned
towards him. ‘Look, I won’t hold it against you if you want to step back, call it off – us, I mean.’ She couldn’t articulate what she truly wanted to say, that she wanted Mike, and to see what the future held for them both, but it had all suddenly become messy, and if David was somehow back in her life, even on the periphery, requiring her attention and assistance, that complicated everything further, not to mention the promotion.
She ought to tell Mike about what she’d been told. He hadn’t yet mentioned it, but he’d undoubtedly be curious as to why Dan had wanted to talk to her. She couldn’t bear deceit and lies, and if it meant losing the promotion on account of the news getting out, then so be it. She wasn’t going to lose Mike by hiding anything from him.
‘There’s something else I have to tell you. I’ve been offered a promotion – new unit, near HQ.’
Mike said nothing. She hunted for a sign and saw nothing but deliberation as he chewed over what she’d said. Mike didn’t rush into anything. He was weighing up the options as she had done. She stared ahead rather than watch him struggle. If this changed everything between them, then it did. They weren’t meant to be together.
‘It would mean we wouldn’t bump into each other at work any more, and we see precious little of each other as it is,’ she said. Ahead of them a driver on a motorcycle accelerated then performed a wheelie past the car, followed by another, copying their actions. Bored youngsters.
His hands caressed the leather steering wheel, rubbing up and down. ‘It’s fine. You should take it. We need to sort out what we’re going to do as a couple, and if we can get our act together and move in together, then it won’t hurt if we work in different places. It might be better for us both.’
Her voice lifted in surprise. ‘Move in together?’
‘Yes, I was going to ask you about it when we met up in the park. My house is plenty big enough for you, me, Thea, when she visits, and Josh. He’d be very welcome too – more than welcome. You can’t remain in that poky flat and heaven knows when you’ll sell your house. It’d work out. I’m sure of it.’
