by Sophie Brent
“There is one thing about me that hasn’t changed a bit. I’m as stubborn as ever. When I get started on something…well, I see it through.”
Then she took a breath before going on. “I’m not sure that Emma’s death was an accident, Fiona. Yes, she was drunk that night when the fire alarm went off. Yes, she went into the freezer when there was a lot of dry ice. Yes, she could easily have slipped and fallen. I know that.”
She reached out and took Fiona’s hand as she tried to shy away. “Someone locked the freezer door that morning. It wasn’t the kitchen staff or any working for the hotel. Which leaves the guests.”
Fiona gasped in horror and shook her head from side to side, but Erin carried on. “Please. Let me talk this through. The only people that Emma knew were the wedding party. You, Maya and Ethan were her old pals from university days. Rebecca recognised her from her work, but they were hardly friends. Zoe, Kate and Adam had only just met Emma for the first time this week. I’m so sorry, Fiona. But I have to ask. Who do you think had the most reason to want Emma Wilson dead?”
Fiona closed her eyes and dropped her head into her hands with a low groan.
“Where do I even start?”
Then she sat back up and blinked several times before answering. “You probably already know that Emma married Harry for all of the wrong reasons. She told me herself that she never loved him. That’s not right, Erin. The five of us were all such good friends back then. I have always been with Ethan and Maya and Harry seemed like a great couple…”
“But that left Emma out of the picture.” Erin suggested.
Fiona nodded. “Jealousy and need are terrible things. She could have had any man on the campus but no, it had to be Harry. Sad really. Someone else could have made her happy, given her children and a good life. But no. That would have been too easy. And my best friend Maya paid the price.”
She exhaled long and slow. “And then there was Rebecca. Oh, Emma. The lies you told just to get by.”
Erin shuffled closer to Fiona.
“Please. Tell me what you remember that night when the fire alarm went off. Where were you and what did you do?”
“I was in my room getting ready for bed. I was too wired up to go to sleep after the horrendous dinner, so I decided to practise my wedding vows and make sure that I hadn’t forgotten anything.” Fiona nodded then looked across at Erin. “The alarm went off and I grabbed my dressing gown and handbag and was just about to leave when Rebecca called to make sure that I was up. When I opened the bedroom door she was waiting outside with Emma, who was still totally drunk and rambling about all kinds of things. We grabbed an arm each and half carried her downstairs and onto the front lawn where the hotel staff were waiting with the other guests.”
Fiona sighed. “We sat down on one of the benches, but Emma kept wandering off in the direction of the kitchens. When the fire engines arrived, Rebecca went to get her back and they were gone for a good few minutes before she dragged Emma back to the front of the hotel.”
“Did Rebecca say anything at all?” Erin asked, her head tilted to one side.
Fiona sucked in a breath. “Not one word, but I knew that something had changed. Something serious. I could see it on her face. I was about to ask her when more fire engines arrived, and then we were all too busy chatting about the fire.”
“It must have been very frightening,” Erin whispered.
“We could see the smoke coming from the back of the hotel and all I could think about was my wedding. I had been waiting for this weekend for the last six months and at that moment it looked like the whole thing was going to be cancelled. The other girls could see that I was scared so they tried to keep my spirits up as best they could. By the time the hotel allowed us back into our rooms, Emma had wandered off again, and to be honest, it was the middle of the night and I was too exhausted to go looking for her. It had been a very long day and just wasn’t up to listening to more complaints. So, I… I went to bed and left her there.”
Fiona pushed herself up from the bed and turned to the window, her right hand covering her mouth as her trembled with emotion.
Erin sat up on the bed, leaning against the bed head as she had done so many times before over the years, chatting with her father, discussing what and where how and who. Families and friends, relatives and customers. Sometimes she felt a whole life revolved around people who she met every day of the week. But at the core Carol, Prisha and Zoe and so many other school friends formed the centre of her life.
How would she react, if she found out she had a half-sister? Would she be as loyal and supportive as Fiona had been? She hoped so. But then again Emma was a unique character who had to fight all her life for what she wanted. To be equal and be seen as equal. That was hard.
Emma, Fiona, and Maya. Three best friends bonded together over ten years of joint experience that began at university. That was special.
Erin smiled to herself and slid off the bed and onto the carpet. But just as she walked to the door, a sudden thought came to her and made her stop.
Maya had hated and resented Emma for all that time for taking the man she loved away from her. If Maya found out that Fiona was Emma’s half-sister, then that could change their whole relationship.
Erin sucked in a breath of the warm air coming in through the bedroom window and tried to imagine what it was like on that warm Friday night when the fire alarm went off.
What if Emma had told Maya who her father was that night when she got drunk? To Maya that would be the ultimate betrayal. Emma would have stolen both the man she loved and now it turns out, her best friend as well. Fiona had been lying to her all of these years.
Wow. Maybe, she had got this all wrong, and inviting Maya and the girls here for lunch was not such a good idea after all.
Well, she was about to find out, one way or another.
Erin took a few steps to join Fiona so that they could stand side-by-side and looked out across the calm village scene on a Monday morning towards the old stone church where Fiona should have been married and the few people walking along the pavement outside the shops.
“You have some wonderful friends in Kingsmede who will help you get through this and will always be there for you. Ethan only wants to make you happy and will work with you to build a future where you can both have careers and friends to share it with. Isn’t that special? Isn’t that a tribute to the happy family that you will make together?”
Fiona looked across at Erin and gave a small shoulder shrug. “You’re right,” Fiona smiled. “Ethan has been amazing. I am very lucky to have such wonderful friends. I just hope that we can come out of this nightmare in one piece and… where is that shouting coming from?”
Erin did not have time to answer because at that same moment Zoe came rushing into the room, panting and out of breath.
“Zoe? What’s happened? What’s going on?”
“It’s Harry Wilson,” Zoe wheezed. “He has just confessed to killing Emma and vandalising your van.”
“What?” Erin gasped in disbelief. “When?”
“They brought him in ten minutes ago. I was at the station following up a news report when I heard the whole story. The police found threatening messages from Harry on Emma’s phone, telling Emma to leave Maya alone or he would make her pay.”
Zoe had to bend over and catch her breath before speaking. “When they arrested Harry at the hotel, he confessed to everything. You were right, Erin. Emma’s death wasn’t an accident. Harry Wilson went to the hotel that night, followed Emma into the kitchen and locked her inside the freezer. He killed her. He killed his own wife.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Harry? Oh no, no,” Fiona sobbed and clasped hold of Erin to keep herself from falling. “It has to be a mistake. Emma slipped and fell, that’s all. Please tell her Zoe, please.”
“I’m so sorry, Fiona” Zoe sighed as she stepped forward and hugged Fiona. “But Harry has confessed to everything. She might have driven him to it, but
he did it. He locked the door. But hey, isn’t it better to know the truth about what really happened?”
“Harry can afford the best legal team out there, Fiona. He’ll get a fair hearing,” Erin said in an unsteady voice, hardly able to take it all in.
To her relief, Fiona instantly lifted her chin and blinked away the shock and tears. “Legal team. Yes, of course,” she swallowed. “Ethan needs to help him get this all sorted out.”
She looked up at Zoe. “Does the family know yet? No? Right. Okay. I need to make some calls.”
Fiona snatched up her handbag and stepped towards the door, only pausing for a second to look over her shoulder at Erin. “I’ll be right back. I promise. Thank you for everything.” And with that, she turned and jogged down the stairs.
Erin slowly exhaled and collapsed down on her dad’s old bed and Zoe sat down next to her in silence.
“What a mess, Erin,” Zoe said, her voice a low trembling whisper. “Harry Wilson. Did you see that coming?”
Erin slowly shook her head from side to side. “I didn’t even know that he was in Kingsmede until yesterday. Maya told me that he planned to go to the wedding, in spite of Emma being there. Can you imagine what would have happened when Emma walked up the aisle behind Fiona and saw Harry sitting on the groom’s side of the church?”
“Don’t even go there,” Zoe whistled, then turned to Erin with a frown. “Maya’s coming to the lunch today to say goodbye to everyone before she headed back to London.”
She quickly glanced at her watch. “It’s almost one so she’ll be here any minute. Which one of us is going to tell the news?”
Erin shook her head. “Don’t look at me. She threw me out of her hotel room yesterday for even suggesting that Harry might have made a mistake. I don’t think my antipasti has the power to solve this one.”
Then Zoe groaned out loud. “Wait. I’m not thinking straight. Harry must have phoned her when he was arrested. Yes. That’s it. She’ll be freaking out at the police station.”
“Well, this is not going to be the meal that I had planned. But one thing is for certain, I think we all need a large glass of wine right now. How about the delicious rose I have chilling in the fridge at this very moment?”
Zoe snorted and patted Erin on the back as they both got to their feet. “That’s the best idea I’ve heard all day. Lead on madame chef.”
Erin stepped towards the door, but something made her stop and raise her arm to stop Zoe running down the staircase.
The bedroom door was still open a few inches and normally Erin could hear the reassuring chatter of customers in the deli below. But there was nothing. Not even the sound of a Prosecco cork being pulled from one of the bottles that Prisha had left in an ice bucket on the table.
It was deadly silent.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her phone and quickly sent a text message to Matt asking him to bring Constable Harris to the deli as soon as possible.
“What is it?” Zoe asked, but Erin pressed her forefinger to her lips and leant forward to whisper. “It’s too quiet. Something is not right. Stay here and don’t come down until I tell you. Okay?”
Zoe’s eyes widened in alarm, but she gave a quick nod and took a step away from the bedroom door.
Hoping desperately that she was wrong, Erin straightened her back, fixed a smile on her face and skipped downstairs and back into her kitchen ready to greet her guests, as though everything was perfectly normal.
Except that the only two people in the room were a terrified Fiona, who was cowering in the corner, and her so-called friend, Maya, who had helped herself to one of Erin’s sharpest carving knives and was pointing it directly at Fiona.
Without breaking step, Erin stepped forward until she was standing directly in front of Fiona, so that the huge kitchen knife was pointing directly at Erin’s chest, her thoughts focused on the distance between them, but her gaze locked firmly on Maya’s face.
She was too close to avoid being stabbed, but too far away to try and disarm her.
“What are you doing, Maya? This is not going to help anyone.” Erin whispered, trying to keep her voice calm, while her heart was thumping so loudly, she was surprised that Maya couldn’t hear it.
“This has nothing to do with you.” Maya nodded her head towards the back door of the deli, which led out onto the patio. “Just walk out of that door and forget that I was ever here.”
Erin looked at the woman she had hugged and held after she had found Emma, the woman she had actually pitied for her loss. The woman who had known Emma, Fiona, and Ethan for over ten years.
“Well, you know I can’t do that, Maya. Harry wouldn’t like it at all, and this really is not going to get him released, is it? You know that. Besides, don’t you think there has been enough pain already?”
“Pain?” Maya screamed, the knife shaking wildly as she stepped closer, her eyes burning as she glared at Fiona. “What do you know about pain? What does anyone know about pain? What did it feel like when you found out that your precious half-sister had been taken from you? That you had to cancel your pastel pink perfect wedding? That’s nothing! Nothing! I’ve had ten years of crying myself to sleep every night for Harry and every second has been a torture. You have no idea what that kind of pain has been like.”
“Why did Harry have to kill Emma? How could he do that? How could he be so cruel?” Fiona had pushed herself to her feet now, her hands still clenched at her sides.
“Harry? You think Harry travelled all that way just to make Emma see sense? Are you mad? My Harry is lying to protect me!”
Maya choked out a strangled laugh. “I was the one who locked her in, not Harry. He was miles away when the fire started. You heard how Emma was taunting me all through our dinner and you didn’t say one word to help me. Well, she couldn’t let it drop, could she? Oh no, she waited until you had all gone to bed and decided to stick the knife in and give it one final turn. Do you know what she said?”
Maya was so close to Erin that she could almost feel her breath on her face as she blurted out the words from a core of hatred and burning loss.
“Emma never loved Harry. Never. The only reason she tricked him into marrying her was out of spite and jealousy for what we had. She took our happiness because it made her feel powerful. She never cared about me.”
Huge sobs racked Maya’s shoulders and every word was bitter and harsh.
“The last ten years have been a total lie. Emma has been laughing at me every time I saw her. Always bragging about the lovely presents that Harry had bought her. The nice holidays they were having together. Lies. It was all lies. She was drunk and it all came out. Harry was boring, she said. Time to find someone more exciting with more money who she actually cared about. She thought that he was weak and pathetic – just like me. I could have him back now. As soon as Harry gave her half his money.”
“No, Maya, no. Not you!” Fiona sobbed. “Emma was your friend once.”
Maya was pacing back and forth on the wooden kitchen floor now, the knife waving in her hand with the blade pointing forwards. “Don’t make me sick. She told you what she wanted you to hear. Her precious sister Fiona who was going to keep her secret until after the divorce, so that Harry would pay out enough money to give her the life she wanted with her mother in Portugal.”
“Is that why you had to kill her? Because you wanted her to suffer for talking Harry into marrying her instead of you?” Erin demanded. “Or did you talk Harry into taking the blame for what you did?”
“Shut up!”
Maya’s scream echoed around the stone walls of the deli and the blade shuddered in her hand as Maya turned her attention away from Fiona and onto Erin.
“I would never, never hurt Harry. He is my family and he still loves me, even after all of these years. That’s why he left you a warning last night to scare you off. No. Why don’t you ask Fiona why she let Emma get away with it? Why didn’t my so-called best friend stand up for me when your precious siste
r Emma seduced him and lied to get him to marry her? Why!”
Maya pointed to Fiona who had inched her away around the worktop until she was almost facing the door. Then she wrapped both hands around the handle of the knife and her voice suddenly turned icy cold.
“Stay where you are, Fiona. I won’t say it twice. You coward. Emma couldn’t resist telling me your secret on Friday night, the minute you had all gone to bed. Oh, she loved rubbing it in. How could you? How could you not tell me that you had a sister after all of these years? I thought you were my friend but you’re just like Emma. A liar and a user. I could kill you for betraying me like that!”
In the distance, Erin recognized the sound of car tires screeching onto the lane behind the deli, but she had to focus on what was in front of her – a deeply disturbed woman holding a knife in her unsteady hands.
“Listen to me, Maya,” Erin tried to reason. “I’ve been where you are now. You lost someone you loved and so did I. When my dad died, I felt so angry and alone. If I hadn’t had my friends around me, I don’t know what I would have done. It’s taken me almost two years of mourning and grief to come to terms with the fact that I’ve lost him, but it never really goes away does it?”
Maya gazed into her face for a second before smiling across. “You did the right thing. You loved him.”
“Yes, I did love my dad. But the last thing he wanted was for me to be stuck in the past. I can’t bring him back. But you’re different. You have a chance to save Harry from a long prison sentence. Walk away Maya and talk to the police. Everyone in this tragic business has already suffered enough. Just tell them that it was an accident. Emma goaded you into doing something desperate. You made a mistake – but you didn’t kill her. Emma would never have survived after she fell inside the freezer.”
“An accident? Don’t you understand? I wanted to kill her for what she did to me. She even took away my best friend.”
Almost before Erin realized what was happening, Maya took a quick step to the right so that she could get a clear sight of Fiona and raised the knife high in her right hand.
