‘OK, it was me,’ she admitted. ‘The copper told me to bring some stuff to hospital for you tomorrow, and everything fell out of the wardrobe when I was looking for a nightie. But I didn’t look at it, I swear.’
‘Yes, you did,’ Josie said quietly, her chest heaving beneath the bloodstained gown. ‘It’s written all over your face. So, come on, then . . . what did you see?’
‘Nothing,’ Holly insisted.
‘And what about Lady Muck?’ Josie jerked her chin up. ‘Did she have a good nosy an’ all?’
‘No, it was only me, I swear.’
‘You swear,’ Josie sneered, taking a swig of her drink and wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. ‘I don’t know why I thought I could trust you; you’ve always been a sly little cow. That’s why you looked so guilty when I walked in: ’cos you knew you’d been caught.’
Upset that her mum had called her sly when she genuinely hadn’t meant to snoop, Holly felt the prick of tears behind her eyes as she watched Josie swallow her drink and toss the glass onto the bed before stumbling over to the wardrobe.
‘God damn it,’ Josie cried, clutching at her side when a pain tore through it as she bent to scoop up the photos. She squeezed her eyes shut and leaned against the wardrobe until it had passed, then crammed the photos back into the tin and pushed the lid firmly into place, muttering, ‘I can’t do this any more. All I’ve ever done is try to protect her, and she’s ruined everything.’
‘Protect me from what?’ Holly asked, confused.
‘Them!’ Josie said, tossing the biscuit tin into the wardrobe and slamming the door shut. ‘You’ve got no idea how fucking hard it’s been for me, have you? Having to hawk you around and work my arse off for shit wages to keep you safe. Well, that’s it. We can’t stay here after this.’
Concerned that the combination of alcohol and medication was affecting her badly, Holly said, ‘Why don’t you go to bed, Mum? You’ll feel better if you get some sleep.’
‘It’s too late for that,’ Josie said, a wild gleam in her eyes as she looked around the room. ‘We need to get out of here. Go and pack a bag.’
‘What?’ Holly screwed up her face. ‘It’s nearly midnight. Where are we supposed to go?’
‘Stop arguing and get your things,’ Josie ordered, sifting through the clothes on the floor and flinging some aside and others onto the bed.
‘No.’ Holly stood her ground. ‘I like it here. I’m not leaving.’
‘Do as you’re fucking told!’ Josie roared, lunging at her and pushing her out into the hall.
‘No!’ Holly pushed her back. ‘This is stupid, Mum! I’ve got my exams in a couple of months. I can’t change schools again.’
‘If you hadn’t let that bitch in here we wouldn’t have to,’ Josie screeched, her hands bouncing off Holly’s raised arms as she tried to slap her. ‘They’re probably on their way here already, you stupid girl! And they won’t just kill me, they’ll kill you as well! It’s you they’re after, not—’
She abruptly stopped speaking and her face twisted with pain as she clutched at her side again. Alarmed when sweat started trickling down her deathly white face and she sank to the floor, Holly rushed to her.
‘Mum, what’s wrong? Are you OK?’
‘Need to . . . go . . .’ Josie mumbled, her eyes flickering before rolling back.
Scared now, Holly raced to her bedroom to call an ambulance. Her phone wasn’t there, so she ran into the living room and looked around. Unable to find it, she tore back out into the hall where her mum was still slumped against the wall. Edging past her, she went to the bed and rifled through her mum’s handbag for her phone. It was dead, and a whimper of fear slipped from Holly’s lips as she dropped it and rushed out into the hall. She didn’t know what to do, but Suzie would, so she grabbed her key off the hall table and charged out of the flat.
Suzie had jumped into the shower as soon as she got home and had scrubbed her skin and double-washed her hair to erase the stench of mildew that was clinging to her. In a fresh pair of pyjamas now, her clean hair lying damp on her shoulders, she was heading to the kitchen to get a drink when the doorbell rang, followed by a volley of raps on the knocker. Concerned when she peeped through the spyhole and saw Holly in tears on the step, she quickly opened the door.
‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ she asked when Holly fell into her arms. ‘Is it your mum? She didn’t take a bad turn after I left, did she?’
‘She – she went mad after you left,’ Holly cried, the words tumbling out of her mouth. ‘She knew we’d been in her room and seen those photos and she flipped. She said we had to leave ’cos someone was coming to kill us, and we were arguing. Then she went funny and collapsed and her eyes rolled back. I thought she was dead and I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t find my phone, and hers was dead, and—’
‘OK, calm down,’ Suzie said, taking control. ‘I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think. She probably came out of hospital too early, that’s all. Just give me a sec and I’ll come over with you.’
Praying that she was right, Holly swiped at her tears and hopped from foot to foot as Suzie grabbed her coat off the hook and ran upstairs.
When they got back to the flat, Holly unlocked the door with shaking hands and rushed inside. She stopped dead when she saw that her mum wasn’t where she’d left her, and Suzie ran into the back of her, almost knocking her over. Her first thought was that her mum had done a runner to escape the imaginary killers she was expecting to arrive at any minute,
