Page 124 of Don't Believe A Word

Mia looked at him. ‘What is the point?’ she asked. ‘Regardless of what I say, everyone will believe her. What reason would she have to write such an account, they’d ask, if she didn’t want to set the record straight? Tell me this,’ she continued, sitting forward slightly, ‘has it occurred to you that she didn’t write it in 2005,that she might actually have written it much later than that, say in 2012, or 2018?’

Knowing from Sadie that the dates had been entered by hand, Cristy said, ‘What we do know is that she stopped seeing Robert in 2005, after you threatened to tell him about Sadie and Janina.’

Mia drew back. ‘Ah yes, you have me there,’ she conceded and glanced away. ‘So maybe she did write them at the time, but that still doesn’t make them true. In fact, just so you know, the real truth is that I had no idea Sadie’s mother had ever made contact until two days ago. Everything in those journals is a lie …’ She broke off suddenly and, apparently reassessing, said, ‘I suppose the part about forcing the car off the road is true, there certainly was one at the bottom of the cliff around that time, and yes, the police did come to find out if we knew who it might belong to. I think Lottie might even have involved herself in the search for a body, but at no point did I even suspect it might have been Sadie’s mother. And I certainly didn’t know that the man who came to speak to her was Sadie’s father.’

Although she sounded convincing, Cristy knew it couldn’t be the truth. Mia had to have known at some stage that Janina had been in touch, why else would she have threatened to expose Lottie to Robert?

‘What would you have done if you had known Sadie’s mother was trying to see her daughter?’ Connor asked.

Mia glanced down at her clutched hands and allowed a few moments to pass. ‘I’m not sure. I was never asked, and now it doesn’t really matter anyway, does it?’

Thinking that it did, that in fact it could go a long way towards telling them what sort of person she was, or had been then, Cristy said, ‘I’m intrigued to know why you think your sister would twist things around to make you the guilty party?’

Mia’s answering laugh was bitter. ‘Because that’s the sort of person she was. She hated me, despised me for being a burden she only ever wanted to shed.’

‘So why didn’t she? Shed you?’

‘You’d have to ask her that.’

‘You know we can’t, so why don’t you tell us?’

With a sigh, Mia said, ‘Lottie wasn’t satisfied with being ourparents’ favourite, or with being the beautiful one, or the most popular in any room, she wanted to be theonlyone. I stood in the way of that, I was always there, the other Winters sister, as if I was diluting her dazzling existence. She especially detested me when it came time to inherit our parents’ fortune. She wanted it all – of course she did. Not that she ever said that, but I knew. She deeply resented the fact that she had to share everything with me, whereas I was always happy to share with her.’

‘And yet,’ Connor said, ‘when she died she left everything to you and cut Sadie out of her will. Why would she have done that?’

Mia’s eyes darkened and Cristy could see that the question had rattled her. ‘How would you know that?’ she asked. ‘Did Sadie tell you?’

‘Yes, she did,’ Cristy replied.

‘Was she upset about it?’

‘I think she was hurt.’

Mia nodded as though understanding that.

‘So why did Lottie name you as her sole beneficiary?’ Connor prompted.

Mia’s head poked forward again as she said, ‘And why do you think it’s any of your business?’

Sensing they weren’t going to get any further with that, at least for now, Cristy said, ‘Do you realize that Sadie’s father will be able to tell us whether or not he met you back in 2005?’

‘He’s not her father,’ Mia spat angrily. ‘You’re tricking Sadie into believing things that simply aren’t true. Her father died when she was a baby, and you should be ashamed of yourselves for bringing theseimpostersinto her life the way you have.’

Quietly, Cristy said, ‘We know that he is her father.’

Mia twitched and huffed and started to scratch her arms. ‘They’re not real,’ she blurted, ‘they can’t be. None of it is. You’re in cahoots with Lottie, aren’t you? I know she’s not dead. I’ve always known. I’m the one who died and she’s taken over my body. That’s what she does … She takes you over and uses you like a puppet. She makes you think and say things that she wants to be true even when they’re lies. I keep trying to fight her, but she’s here, inside me, and she won’t let me go.’

Having no idea how much she believed of what she was saying,Cristy said, ‘We want to help you, Mia, we really do, but you have to realize that what you’re telling us … None of it makes any sense …’

‘And Lottie’s story does?’ she cried angrily. ‘Except she didn’t write it,I did.She found my journals and changed around the names to make it look as though I am the devil incarnate and she was just an innocent bystander in it all.’

‘Except she didn’t paint herself that way,’ Connor pointed out. ‘She’s also blaming herself – for the abduction, the lies, the deception …’

‘But she doesn’t blame herself for what happened to Sadie’s mother, does she? Oh no, she’s laid that monstrous act at my door, but the wayIwrote it proves that it was all her.’

‘How does it prove that?’ Cristy asked carefully.

Mia swallowed and let her eyes hunt around the room. ‘It’s not possible toproveit,’ she finally admitted, ‘but it’s what happened.’