She put down the fine-grained sandpaper and stood up, rolling the tightness out of her shoulders. Time to do the exercises Melissa Rintoul had schooled her in. It was early days, and so far Carol couldn’t honestly say she’d noticed any difference. She still felt like an alien in her own skin, the woman she had been a distant and implausible memory. But Melissa hadn’t suggested this would be a quick fix. And if there was one thing that remained of who Carol had been, it was her persistence.
She was halfway through her arm exercises when Flash scrambled to her feet and ran to the door, belly close to the flagged floor as if she was herding a recalcitrant tup. Carol paused, then she heard what Flash had picked up ahead of her. A car turning off the road and into her parking area. Four in the afternoon on a weekday? Not Paula, who always texted first. Maybe George Nicholas, her nearest neighbour, stopping by on his way home to the big house on the other side of the hill, bearing one of his regular gifts. A brace of pheasants; a box of duck eggs; or an ‘interesting’ cheese he’d found in some farm shop. He was nicer by far than she deserved.
She wasn’t always pleased to see George. But even on her worst days, she’d have been a hell of a lot more pleased to see him than the person on her doorstep, fingers poised over the brass bell pull. Instinctively, she dropped one hand and buried it in Flash’s ruff. ‘Really? You?’ It was as sarcastic as she could make it.
Vanessa’s smile could have cut coal. ‘I’d always thought you’d been brought up to be polite.’
‘I was. But for you, I’ll always make an exception. What are you doing here?’
In reply, Vanessa held up her mobile phone and pressed PLAY on her voicemail screen.
The voice was unmistakable despite the poor quality of the reproduction. It was a jolt to the heart, literally. Carol felt her chest constrict and her stomach flip in that moment of recognition. ‘Carol? I’m really sorry about this.’ A pause, a sigh. ‘Look, I told Vanessa I wouldn’t ask you to help her, just to listen to what she has to say.’ Another sigh. ‘I really hope you’re doing well.’
Vanessa dropped the phone back into her coat pocket. ‘Now do I get to come in? I don’t know why you have to live out in the middle of nowhere, there’s a bloody gale coming off that moor top.’
Carol wanted to tell her to fuck off. But if she did that, she wouldn’t have the chance to listen to Tony’s message again. She’d ached to hear his voice every day since he’d banished her. She could hardly bear the bitter irony that she had Vanessa to thank for this moment. What, she wondered, had the woman used as a pressure point to force him into that recording? He wouldn’t have done it voluntarily. She stepped back, holding the door ajar, pulling Flash to one side.
Vanessa swept in, scrutinising the interior with all the acumen of an estate agent. ‘Nice job,’ she drawled. ‘No one would ever guess it was a crime scene. I’m amazed you can live under the same roof where—’
‘That’s my business.’ Carol understood that Vanessa’s cruelty was calculated to soften her up for whatever was coming. But her defences had risen the moment she’d opened the door, and not even the sound of Tony’s voice had weakened her enough to let Vanessa breach them. ‘So, what is it that you have to say?’
Vanessa settled herself into an armchair, crossing her legs and casually laying her hands in her lap. ‘I need you to find someone for me. And when you’ve found him, I need you to “persuade” him to return what he stole from me.’
‘I’m not a police officer.’ Carol leaned against the wall, arms folded across her chest, Flash at her feet. ‘I couldn’t care less about you being robbed.’
Vanessa sighed. ‘I’m astonished that both you and my son think I’m stupid. I know both of those things. But I also know that what you won’t do for me, you’ll do for him. I’ll cut to the chase, Carol. Think about how I could spin the way you two set me up to confront a killer. If you don’t help, I’ll use the press and social media to make sure that what remains of his reputation is destroyed. You would just be collateral damage. I’m not asking much. For a detective of your calibre, it should be child’s play.’ She smiled. It was more unnerving than a snarl. ‘Or you could refuse. And sit back and watch while I trash Tony’s life.’
The coercion came as no surprise to Carol, given what she’d made it her business to find out about Vanessa’s past. What kind of a woman tried to kill her fiancé for the insurance money? What kind of mother tried to cheat her son out of his father’s legacy? What was frustrating was that what she knew didn’t give her enough leverage for a comeback. ‘For Tony’s sake, I’ll listen,’ she said. ‘But that’s all I’m promising.’
Vanessa made short work of repeating what she’d told Tony. ‘You can see why I want you on this and not the police,’ she concluded. ‘I want what’s mine. And although you really don’t want to help me there’s a bit of you that relishes the thought of giving that dirty crook the comeuppance he deserves. Be honest, Carol. You love nailing predators. And it’s not like you’ve got anything else to do right now.’ She glanced across the room to where Carol had been working on her carpentry
