Page 87 of Worse Than Murder

‘Tania, did you?’

‘What?’ She turns to me sharply. ‘No. Why would I?’

I take a deep breath. Inside, I’m screaming. I know I’m being lied to, but I don’t know what they’re lying about. I reach forward for my coffee cup and take a sip to delay asking my next question. I need my anger to simmer down. It’s not easy though. My emotions are so close to the surface, it won’t take much for them to be revealed. I feel sorry for whoever is in the vicinity when it happens.

The coffee tastes bitter in my mouth. I have no idea what brand of coffee Lionel uses, but it has nothing to do with that. It’s the bile in my throat ruining my pleasure of taste.

‘Lynne Pemberton came to see me the other day,’ I begin. ‘She told me that Jack admitted to Iain that he had abused Celia and Jennifer and murdered them. He’d had some kind of a black-out and couldn’t remember what he’d done with the bodies.’

I watch Lionel as I say this. His facial expression doesn’t change once. He already knows. I suspect Tania has told him. They may not have met in recent years, but I’m guessing they keep in touch over the phone.

‘You don’t look shocked,’ I add.

‘Are you shocked by anything you see, after all your time on the force?’ he asks.

My mind goes back to when I walked into my mother’s house and saw the bodies of my teenage nephews and my mum, dead.

‘Of course.’ My voice is quivering with emotion. ‘I have to be shocked by what I see. That’s how I know I’m still alive.’ I lean forward and place my cup back on the tray. I stand up. ‘I think I’m being lied to.’

‘Who by?’ Tania asks.

‘You. Lionel. I don’t know. Neither of you is reacting to the news that Jack sexually abused and murdered his daughters how you should be doing. Neither of you seems to care that Travis Montgomery is missing for whatever reason. And I think you did know about his car being missing, Lionel. You’re both happy for all of these questions to go unanswered, and I don’t know why.’

‘Matilda…’ Tania begins.

I don’t allow her to interrupt. ‘I think you know exactly who put that money in your bank account, Lionel. I think it was put there for you to be blackmailed for some reason. I think you know what’s going on but you’re too scared to say anything.’ I turn to Tania. ‘I’ll find my own way back to the restaurant.’

* * *

Tania and Lionel remain in silence until the front door slams closed behind Matilda. From where Lionel is sitting on the armchair, he can see out onto the length of End Lane and watches as Matilda marches down the incline.

‘I told you she was good,’ Tania eventually says.

‘You did. I didn’t realise how good.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘What I’ve been doing for the past thirty years. I’ll endure.’

‘You can tell me who put the money in your account. I won’t judge you for keeping it secret.’

He bites his bottom lip and shakes his head.

‘You’re protecting Gill and Lauren; I can understand that. But with Matilda digging, you’re not going to be able to keep this a secret for much longer, Lionel. She won’t give up.’

‘Could you leave, please, Tania?’

‘What? Why?’

‘I need to make a phone call.’

‘Who to?’

‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘Lionel, it does. You’ve gone pale. What’s happening?’

‘Look, Tania, please, just leave,’ he says, raising his voice.