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FOURTEEN

TUESDAY 28 JANUARY

Harper has spent the morning trying to make sense of what’s happened. Kate appearing on her doorstep has thrown her off course, and she hates surprises.

A printed photo of Jamie in Thomas’s school bag. Dead lilies. None of it makes sense. She and Kate are the only ones who know that Kate spent the night with Jamie, but she hasn’t done any of these things Kate’s accused her of. It troubles Harper that she can’t work it out. Did Kate do it herself? For what purpose? Either way, it’s disturbing. She hadn’t figured that Kate wasn’t of sound mind, but now she’s beginning to wonder.

Harper places her phone in the pocket of her leggings. She needs to run – to clear her mind and help her work out her next move. She hasn’t run since Jamie died, but she desperately needs to feel adrenalin firing through her body. It will help her think. She puts on her trainers and thermal running jacket and leaves the house.

Up ahead, she spots Kate’s friend Aleena walking on the other side of the road, heading towards the parade of shops. Harper had spoken to her yesterday when they were waiting for the kids to come out, and Aleena had seemed kind and friendly. People’s loyalties can be turned, Harper knows – if you approach them in the right way.

Aleena is on her phone, paying no attention to anything around her, so doesn’t notice Harper walking up behind her just as she finishes her call.

‘Hi,’ Harper says, coming up beside her.

‘Oh, hi. Sorry – I didn’t see you. My boss was on the phone harassing me for something I can’t actually do until she sends me the right documents. Which she’s been promising to do for around a week.’ She rolls her eyes. ‘Honestly – some people!’

This is Harper’s chance to make a connection with Aleena. ‘Tell me about it – my manager is dreadful. We’re in human resources so you’d think he’d know a bit about managing staff, but he doesn’t have a clue. I feel your pain. Sometimes it makes me want to resign,’ Harper adds.

Aleena nods. ‘I have that thought most days.’ She pauses, studying Harper. ‘How are you doing, anyway? Having to meet new parents at the school gate can’t be easy with everything you’re going through.’

‘It’s definitely hard to make friends. And I thought I had, but …’

Aleena stops walking. ‘But what?’

‘Actually, do you have a few minutes? Maybe we could grab a quick coffee?’

Aleena checks her phone. ‘Yeah, sure. I’m in no rush to get back to my laptop. The joys of working from home! I just popped out to get milk before we run out.’

Harper smiles as they make their way to the coffee shop. This will get her back on track.

‘Is everything okay?’ Aleena asks, when they’re sitting with their coffee.

Harper takes her time to answer. ‘Actually – there is something, and I was hoping I could talk to you about it. I know we’ve only just met but…you seem like a kind person.’

‘I try to be,’ Aleena says, smiling. ‘Not always easy!’

Harper mirrors her smile. ‘This might be a bit awkward, but I’m a bit worried about Kate.’

‘Kate as in Thomas’s mum? Why?’

‘I really don’t know how to say this, but I’ve found out some things. And I don’t think Kate is who she says she is.’ There – Harper has done it now, unleashed words she can’t take back or mould into something else.

Aleena shifts back in her seat, frowning. ‘What do you mean?’

She’s getting ready to defend her friend, but Harper is sure that won’t last long. ‘It’s better if I show you,’ Harper says, reaching for her phone. She pulls up the local news story and hands it to Aleena. ‘Read this first.’

As she reads, Aleena’s mouth twitches, and Harper feels a flood of guilt for having to involve her. Aleena is innocent – she’s not the one who is responsible for Jamie’s death. But this is a means to an end, and now she’s started it, Harper needs to see this through.

‘I don’t understand,’ Aleena says. ‘What’s this Graham White got to do with Kate?’

‘That’s what I wondered,’ Harper says, her words carefully rehearsed. ‘So I did some digging and I found out that the fifteen-year-old girl it’s talking about was Kate.’

Aleen’s jaw drops. ‘No. It can’t be. That’s not Kate. She wouldn’t?—’

‘That’s what I was hoping. But…it’s her. I know someone who works for the crown prosecution service and they verified it was Kate Mason, and her address was in South Norwood. Does that ring a bell? Did Kate ever tell you she grew up there?’

With a sigh, Aleena nods. ‘Yes. I have cousins close by in Thornton Heath so we’ve talked about it before.’ She looks up to the ceiling, her shoulders drooping. ‘Jesus. Why wouldn’t she tell me?’

Harper lowers her voice. ‘But you can never share that I told you how I found out. My friend’s job would be on the line.’

There’s a moment of silence before Aleena responds. ‘I won’t say anything. Of course not.’ She points to Harper’s phone. ‘But that says it was an accident. The police didn’t even press charges. It says this Graham White had attacked her and she was just trying to defend herself. He could have killed her.’

‘That’s what I thought,’ Harper says. ‘But then I looked into it more. There’s a podcaster who investigates old cases that are a bit ambiguous. Faye Held. She did a podcast on this case a couple of years ago and the reaction was disturbing. People who knew Kate came forward to say that Kate had deliberately killed him. That maybe she’d had some kind of relationship with him and killed him in a jealous rage. Who knows?’

The disbelief in Aleena’s eyes is a warning that Harper needs to rein it in. But it’s all there online, Aleena will be able to find it for herself, and then she’ll know that there is another side to this story. And if Kate is guilty of one murder, it’s not too much of a jump to assume she could be guilty of another.

‘People will say anything, though,’ Aleena says, but her voice is quiet, uncertain. ‘Especially to get listeners.’

‘I know. But this goes way beyond what a podcaster is suggesting.’ Harper sighs. ‘I don’t want to believe it,’ she says. ‘Kate’s been so kind to me and Dexter. But why wouldn’t she have told you – her closest friend – if she was innocent? You’ve been friends for years now. Haven’t you shared things with her?’

Aleena stares at Harper, then slowly nods. ‘Yeah, course. We talk about lots of things. Our kids. Work.’ She falls silent.

‘But has she ever shared anything really personal with you? Anything at all?’

Aleena takes a moment to answer. ‘Just her divorce. But even then she doesn’t say much about their break-up. But she doesn’t have to, does she? It’s nobody else’s business.’

‘It just makes me uneasy,’ Harper says. ‘Friendships are based on trust and vulnerability. Showing how you truly are. I’ve already done a lot of that with Kate – shared things about my marriage, and Jamie’s death. And, yes, it’s understandable that she wouldn’t confide in me about her past when we’ve only just met. But you’re her closest friend. I’m just worried about Dexter if he’s going to be spending a lot of time in Kate’s house. I was actually hoping you’d tell me you already knew, and back up her story. But the fact she didn’t tell you?—’

‘You said you were worried about her.’ Aleena pushes her unfinished coffee aside.

‘Yes, I am.’ Harper takes a deep breath. The lie she’s about to tell needs to be convincing. ‘When I was at her house the other day, there was a pile of papers on her coffee table. When Kate went to the bathroom, I accidentally knocked them off when I reached for my bag. They fell on the floor, and I was just sorting them out when I found a picture of Graham White, printed from an article. That’s when I looked it up. I wouldn’t have found out anything otherwise.’

‘This is just…I don’t really know what to say.’ Aleena pushes her cup away. Her distress makes Harper feel a jolt of guilt, until she reminds herself that this is Kate’s doing. ‘Why would she have a picture of the man who attacked her?’

‘I don’t know. But…it’s a bit worrying. I don’t know if she’s…spiralling in some way. If she never dealt with her trauma then it’s likely it will still be inside her, waiting to explode.’

‘Sorry,’ Aleena says. ‘This is a huge shock.’

Silence sits between them, drowning out the clinking of cutlery and the hiss of the coffee machine.

‘I think I should go.’ Aleena stands up and pulls her bag onto her shoulder. ‘Thanks for telling me this, though. And for looking out for Kate.’

Harper watches Aleena leave, crossing the road with barely a glance left or right. There’s no way of telling what Aleena will do next – but at least it sends a message to Kate just how easily Harper can disrupt her life.