Page 76 of You Lied First

M argot and I leave it that we’ll each try to work out any potential pitfalls in our story and, as she drives me home through the lunchtime traffic, we exchange the odd silent sideways look.

Collaborative. Disbelieving. Thelma and Louise.

The decision appears to be made. It’s just a matter of firming up the details.

My belly flutters with nervous energy that isn’t necessarily the good kind.

Have I really got a chance to end this us without me going to jail?

As I slide the key into the front door and step into the home that, just a few hours earlier, I believed I was vacating forever, I feel like I’m trespassing.

The house looks like it does when I get back from a holiday – all neat and ordered – the only difference being that the smell of my morning coffee still lingers in the air.

I pad upstairs and change into the soft loungewear I thought I’d never wear again, then I put the ‘house’ folder I made for Liv away with my other files.

That done, I sit down to think, and I realise that there’s something troubling me.

Margot seems hellbent on handing Guy in to the police – and there’s nothing I want more than to be able to put this behind me and get on with my life – but Guy’s innocent.

I’m the only person who knows that – the only person at this point who could truly advocate for him.

And, apart from that one time he lost his temper with me, he’s always been lovely to Liv and me.

He may not be the perfect husband, and I’m in no doubt that Margot has her reasons for wanting to get away from him, but can I live with knowing that I’ve sent an innocent man to jail?

I’ve done some appalling things in my life, but do I have it in me to let this happen to Guy?

I bite my lip as I mull it over. Me or him. Him or me.

But then I realise it’s actually about me and Liv.

If Margot and I can ‘prove’ that Guy did it and hence enable the kids to get on with their lives, Liv will surely start to forgive me.

I’d have a lifetime to make it up to her.

We’d get things back on track, I know we would.

In many ways, I admire Liv’s strong moral code; the stance she takes on things she feels are wrong.

But, as I sit there mulling it all over, I begin to understand one thing: she didn’t get that from me.

Margot phones just as I finish my lunch. Beans on toast as I have nothing else in the house.

‘Did you have any more thoughts?’ she asks. ‘I’ve gone over it from every angle and I think it’s definitely what we need to do if we’re to get the police off our backs. Agreed?’

‘Agreed,’ I say. ‘But look. We do need to be absolutely sure this is watertight otherwise we’ll end up in even deeper trouble.’

‘Okay. Tell me.’

‘The video doesn’t prove that Guy killed her,’ I say. ‘It just shows him going into the tent. The police could argue with that? Say that, umm, someone else went in later?’

‘Sara! You saw the video! He argued with her, shoved her into the tent and climbed in after her. It was the night she was strangled in that very tent! Come on! Wake up! We need to face the truth. Guy is not the man you think he is.’ Her voice drops.

‘You want the truth about the golden boy, Sara? My husband is a philanderer, a narcissist and a bully who left bruises on Flynn’s skin.

He and I no longer feel safe in the same house as him. Is that enough for you?’

Absolutely.

‘Or do you need me to tell you about the night he raped me?’ she continues. ‘Before the fundraiser. I decided not to resist. But, when the chips are down, Sara, my consent was not there, and he knew it. If that’s not rape …’

‘Margot. I … I’m so sorry. I had no idea.’

‘Why would you know?’ Margot says. ‘I said nothing. I don’t believe in airing our dirty laundry.

As it is, I’ve been preparing to divorce him.

I’ve been speaking to a solicitor and getting my affairs in order before I tell him because I know that once I do, he’ll fight very, very dirty.

He’s a man who doesn’t like to lose. Anything. ’

‘Margot.’ I try to convey a hug with the word.

‘But now I have something better. The man deserves to pay. And the sooner we get on with it the better. I don’t want to spend another day under the same roof as that man so we need to tell the kids.

I was actually calling to say I’d like to pick up Liv with Flynn from school this afternoon, then come to yours so we can break it to them together.

What do you think? Shall we do it today? ’

‘I’m in,’ I say.