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“Don’t act like a cop with my mom.”
Oh no. Things have gone very, very wrong. “Stop arguing,” Vera says.
“We’re not arguing,” Tilly snaps.
“I’m gonna go for a jog,” Selena says, standing up abruptly.
Tilly rests his forehead on his hand as Selena leaves the table. Vera wishes she could disappear. What just happened? The argument started so quickly that she needs to replay it in her mind to catch up. The front door slams shut, making Vera jump.
“I’m sorry I cause trouble with you and Selena.”
“It’s fine.” Tilly sighs and picks up his chopsticks, gesturing at Vera to do the same. Then he lowers his chopsticks again. “Well, actually though, Ma, Selena had a point. I mean, she was being hard on you, but it’s because she’s been so worried about you. She’s a cop, she can sense when things are really bad, and I know she’s scared for your safety. I think that’s why she was coming on so strong tonight. What is going on?”
Tears sting the back of Vera’s eyes. The man had warned her about not telling anyone. But this is her son, surely she could tell him? But he’s living with a cop, and she knows that once she tells Tilly, he will definitely want to tell Selena, and Selena would want to make an official report, and then it would be a whole thing. But maybe this is the best course of action to protect Julia and Emma? But what about Millie?
Cold fear seeps through Vera. Millie. Oh no. Vera has been so distracted by everything that she’s forgotten about Millie. Where is Millie? What if, by coming clean about what’s happened, she puts Millie in danger?
“Ma?” Tilly says.
“I am very tired, I think I go to bed.”
Tilly sighs. “All right. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Vera goes into the guest bedroom and leans against the door. She takes out her phone and goes through the last few messages that she got from Millie.
A text message comes in.
Julia:Vera, Tilly told me about the incident. My god! Are u ok?? Does this have something to do with you telling me to go to Ollie’s??
Vera:I’m ok. Everything ok at Oliver’s?
Julia:Yes everything’s fine. Vera, WHAT IS GOING ON??
Vera:I tell you later, too complicated.
Vera goes back to the message thread with Millie. Now that she finally has a chance to go through them carefully, she sees how strange Millie’s messages are. They don’t sound like Millie. Could they be from the man who had attacked her? She taps on the Reply button and then sits there for a while, her thumbs hovering over the screen.
What should she say? For the first time since Vera can remember, she feels completely out of her depth. And even though she has fulfilled her dream—staying over at Tilly’s house—she feels so alone and so scared and so guilty. She has made a meal of this, hasn’t she? And all because she started snooping. Now she has endangered the people she loves most.
Noises from outside make her head snap up. She goes to the door and cracks it open. It seems Selena is back from her run.That was a short run, she thinks.I take longer walks, probably burn more calories.Then she scolds herself for having such a silly thought.
“Hey,” Tilly says.
“Hey,” Selena says.
Vera braces herself for a heated argument from the two of them, but instead, Tilly says, “I’m sorry about earlier. I was being an ass.”
Oh. That wasn’t what she’d been expecting. She smiles to herself.Good boy, Tilly.
“No, you were right, I was being hard on your mom.”
“It was coming from a good place.”
“Yeah, I’m just so worried about her. All of my police instincts are going insane.”
Tilly laughs a little. “Your Spidey senses are tingling?”
“Uh-uh, they’re not just tingling, they are screaming. She’s telling lie after lie, and it’s so obvious that she’s scared out of her mind, and oh my god, she is the most infuriating person I have ever come across, and I deal with hardened criminals every day. I think she’s gotten herself involved in something really dangerous. I don’t want her to get hurt. I mean”—Selena sighs—“she’s already gotten hurt. I don’t want her to get even more hurt.”