Page 50 of Watching You

‘Sure. Can I just ask, were you close to your mother because – sorry to be blunt – the woman I can see behind you doesn’t look all that loving if I’m honest. If you were my son and I could see what you were about to do, I’d be concerned for you. She just looks kind of … angry.’

‘Shut the fuck up!’ he screamed. ‘I know you can’t see her! You’re just saying it to fucking freak me out!’

‘Sorry, I should have introduced myself. My name is Connie Woolwine. I’m not a police officer.

I’m not exactly what other people think of as normal, either.

Most people say I’m a bit weird. They think they say it behind my back, but I have a sixth sense about that shit, so I know what they say and who says it.

’ She tried not to look at Lively who was shaking as he stared at the knife digging into Beth’s flesh.

‘So fucking what?’ Karl laughed.

‘So I see things other people can’t see, too.’ She dropped her voice so it was little more than a whisper. ‘Dead people talk to me. We’re the same, you and I.’

‘Did they teach you to mind-fuck people when you trained with the FBI? I read all about you. I know you’re a psychologist. I know you’re here to get me to roll over and let you lock me up without making a fuss.’

Connie ignored his rising anger. ‘Was it your mom who told you to do all this? You looked after your dad really well for a long time and that can’t have been easy. I don’t think you’d have chosen to hurt him unless your mom had persuaded you to do it.’

‘He … I didn’t … he just died.’

‘There was certainly food and liquid in his airway, but you’d been caring for him a long time. You’re more careful than that. How did your mom get you to do it?’ She looked over his shoulder. ‘Mrs Smith – can I call you Barbara? No. Okay then – how did you persuade Karl to hurt his father?’

‘She’s not there right now. I’m doing this on my own. If I do it, she’ll leave me alone! I just have to finish it. I have to.’

‘Beth didn’t end your mom’s life, Karl. I think you know that. She’s a doctor who cares about her patients. She helps other members of staff and does charity work. That’s not someone you want to kill, is it?’ Connie took a step towards him.

‘My dad had a stroke after my mum died! She didn’t just kill my mother.’ He pulled Beth’s head up to fully expose her throat and stepped in close so her back was hard against his legs. ‘And she tried to kill me.’

‘You stalked my daughter and drove her half-mad,’ Beth said softly. ‘Then you came after me and you’d have killed me if I hadn’t fallen down that slope. All I did was defend myself.’

‘Then you should have made sure you finished the job,’ he said. ‘Because now I’m going to.’

‘No, Mrs Smith,’ Connie said to the far corner of the lounge with so much certainty in her voice that everyone followed her gaze. ‘Don’t blame Karl. I don’t accept that. I think you’re responsible for the things he’s done. For all of it.’

‘Stop talking to her!’ Karl shrieked.

‘She’s saying it is your fault. She’s saying you were always an angry teenager, that you were bullied.

I think she bullied you too, though, Karl.

That’s the impression I get of her. She seems angry, unforgiving.

You must have felt so furious at the world when she reappeared.

Even after she died, she just wouldn’t leave you alone, would she?

I can understand completely why you killed all those other people. ’

‘What?’ he stared at her.

‘You knew about it, didn’t you, Mrs Smith?’ She paused and nodded.

‘You stop talking to her!’ He pointed the knife away from Beth’s throat and waved it towards Connie instead. ‘She’s not here. She wouldn’t come here and she wouldn’t talk to you! She always hated people like you, people who thought they were better than her!’

‘Hold on, Karl. I want to listen to your mother a bit longer. She’s telling me some very interesting things about you. Nasty things. Honestly, I’m not sure your mother even liked you.’

He charged at her, knife out front. Beth grabbed at the backs of his knees and he crashed to the floor. Lively, ankles still tied, managed to move far enough to throw himself onto Karl’s feet and keep him down.

Karl rolled halfway over, thrashing, holding his hunting knife to his own throat as Beth got up and ran into a corner.

‘Don’t do that,’ Connie said. ‘Karl, I think you need help. I believe you’ve been seeing your mother and that she’s been influencing your behaviour.’

‘Fuck you,’ he sobbed.

‘I mean it,’ she said. ‘I think the people you killed – Dale Abnay, Archie Bass, Divya Singh, Vic Campbell – they were reflections of yourself. It seems to me that it was you who wanted to die, and I give you my word that I will make sure there are psychiatric reports prepared—’

‘What the fuck?’ Karl said, lowering the knife without even thinking about it. ‘You’re not pinning that on me. I didn’t fucking kill anybody. What I did with my dad was a mercy not a murder. Don’t you even fucking think about saying I killed those other people. That’s bullshit and you know it!’

Lively punched him hard, once, to the side of the head.

Karl Smith was down.