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But it’s the fourth member of the group who captures Tilly’s attention and holds it, who triggers a euphoria so potent it’s a temporary anaesthesia for her pain. On a third chair, head bowed, sits her mother: the woman who raised her and protected her, and whom she has striven to protect in return – from bad relationships and bad men.
Tilly’s euphoria, although potent, vanishes as quickly as it appeared. Because if she’s to save her mother again, she has hardly any time to do it. And she needs to save Joseph, too.
For three years Joseph Carver has been the father she’d long hoped to find. He’s cooked her meals, washed her clothes, ferried her places she’s needed to go. Even more importantly, he’s been the husband her mother has always deserved.
Robson, Tilly’s birth father, had abused Erin verbally and physically. Mark, who’d come next, had treated her almost as badly. Fortunately, Tilly had been old enough by then to intervene directly, without needing to invent more claims of child abuse.
Joseph, by contrast, has given her not a single reason fordoubt. He’s treated Erin well, has shown her love, warmth, endless kindnesses. Crucially, unlike those before him, he’s never attempted to turn Erin against her daughter. For three years he’s been a safe and stable presence in their lives. To reward him, Tilly had even taken his name.
And then, six weeks ago, she’d overheard Erin on the phone, arranging to meet Angus Roth at a hotel.
She still doesn’t understand why her mother fell into bed with a man so manifestly unsuitable. Shehadunderstood that she needed to save Erin once more – this time from herself.
The fallout from Jack-O’-Lantern Woods has been challenging to manage, but Tilly doesn’t regret what she did – nor any of her actions since. There’s nothing she won’t do to protect her mother.
Drew would have done well to realize that. Her loyalty hadn’t lasted, evidenced in a growing number of betrayals. Given long enough, doubtless she’d have gone to the police.
Max’s betrayal has in some ways been even worse. Tilly had learned of it Sunday morning, overhearing Drew’s comment to Joseph:I know what you did for Max, and I think it’s really brave.Later, she’d dragged the full story from her friend.
The revelation that Joseph had done what his son hadn’t managed – and had been discreet enough to keep it from Erin – had vindicated yet again Tilly’s belief in him.
Now, she hears him speak, and even though the fear in his voice is palpable, so too is the resilience.
‘Jesus Christ, he’s an eighteen-year-old fucking boy! He had nothing to do with this! Cut him down!’
New strength fills Tilly’s muscles. Gabriel Roth may have brutalized her, but he must have believed her lies about Max. It’s not the ending for her stepbrother she’d foreseen, but she hadn’t foreseen Angus’s twin.
From the outset of this mission to save her mother’smarriage, the most logical danger to guard against has been a police investigation into Angus’s disappearance. She’d sought to prevent any evidence pointing towards her family, because Joseph would have been the natural suspect. She’d needed a contingency plan, even so, and her stepbrother had been the answer; acceptable collateral damage.
If police search his room, they’ll find Angus’s wallet hidden inside his footstool. At the bottom of one of his gym bags they’ll find Angus’s phone. Then there’s all the DNA evidence in his car.
Her solution had never been perfect – Joseph would have been devastated at his son’s incarceration, and Erin would have blamed herself – but Tilly had only ever intended it as a last resort. Now, if she’s smart enough, she might not even need that.
Across the garden, Gabriel Roth has started talking, but he isn’t shouting, and she’s too far away to hear his words. Tilly continues her unsteady advance. She glances again at her stepbrother. When he turns his head, their eyes meet.
For three years, Max Carver has been as malleable in her fingers as wet clay. But in the aftermath of Drew’s death, that malleability had stretched to breaking. Tilly had been forced to change tack.
She’s not sure, any more, if her threats had worked as well as she’d assumed. Perhaps Max, albeit belatedly, had been working on a plan to save himself.
She still doesn’t know why he’d claimed he was seeing Drew. She does know it’ll backfire spectacularly if the police ever become involved, because it’ll offer further motive for a conviction: Max killed Angus to avenge his father; and he killed Drew because she betrayed him with the same man.
Inching closer, she sees Gabriel force the noose over Joseph’s head. He throws the rope over the bough, which he uses as a pivot to haul Joseph to his feet.
Erin cries out in dismay. Tilly’s swollen lips curl back over her splintered teeth.
Important to move silently, now, as she crosses this last stretch of lawn. Important to show the same resilience as Joseph.
He’s speaking again, and although she doesn’t catch his words in full, she’s close enough to catch most of them.
They nearly stop her heart.
‘…didn’t kill your brother, and nor did I. Drew Cullen lured Angus into the woods, Thursday night. Tilly killed him, and Sunday night she killed Drew.’
Tilly sways on her feet. Because what she just heard makes no sense. How could he think her responsible?
Through the fog of her confusion, Tilly hears him again.
‘She’s a damaged kid. I had no idea how damaged. But Max isn’t responsible for any of this. She is.’