‘Chill, would you?’ Jade bit back. Now Maddie was starting to get on her nerves. She was following her like a puppy dog and Jade wished she’d leave her alone for a minute. Jade had seen a lovely silver necklace with a lightning bolt charm lying on the hallway console table downstairs, tossed there absent-mindedly. She could swipe that and the stuck-up cow that lived here probably wouldn’t even notice. She probably had loads of them.
Jade went into the main bedroom and threw herself on the perfectly made bed, among the many throw pillows, her feet sinking into the fluffy blanket draped stylishly across the foot of the super king bed. ‘Well, this is comfy.’ But who the hell needed this many pillows on a bed, just to be tossed on the floor when you got into bed every night? A stupid concept.
Maddie was looking around what Jade assumed used to be her bedroom. Her face was blank, not showing any hurt, anger or anything at all.
‘This looks so different now,’ was all she said.
Jade wasn’t surprised; she’d have found it weird if Gemma hadn’t redecorated, to be honest. It certainly wasn’t Jade’s taste, all these sterile shades of grey and white. There were photo frames everywhere, smiling faces and sparkling eyes, posing and preening for the unseen camera. Jade rolled around on the bed some more. Gemma had a small pile of novels on her bedside table, mostly romances from the looks of the covers. The top one had a bookmark sticking from halfway between the pages. She opened the book, removed the bookmark and slid it back in three quarters of the way through. Then she turned to the back and carefully tore the last few pages out, before folding them neatly into a square and putting them in her pocket.
She jumped up and started rummaging around Gemma’s dressing table. There were lots of little bottles of perfume and jars of creams and potions, half of which Jade couldn’t identify as they looked to all be in French. She picked up the nearest glass bottle and spritzed the perfume on her wrist. It smelled floral and strong, making her nose tickle unpleasantly. A lipstick case was standing to attention and Jade opened it, studied the pale hazelnut colour, then smeared it on her lips.
‘This lipstick probably costs more than my entire make-up bag put together,’ Jade said. ‘And it’s made to look like you aren’t wearing any! Ridiculous!’
Maddie was at the bedside table, holding up a photo frame. It was a family shot of two adults and a baby. They looked happy. Maddie looked like she was going to be sick.
‘Let’s go. I don’t want to be here anymore,’ Maddie said.
But Jade was having a great time and didn’t want to leave yet.
She sighed. ‘Whatever,’ she said petulantly. Jade looked around a last time, then had an idea. One last feat of rebellion. A statement, if you will. ‘Wait, one more thing before we go,’ she said to Maddie.
Jade headed into the ensuite bathroom at the back of the bedroom.
*
Maddie watched Jade head into the bathroom, but wasn’t interested in what she was doing now. She just wanted to get out of here. Her initial flash of euphoria when she was mixing up the CDs had long gone and she was finding it difficult to breathe. Everywhere she went, she could smell Gemma’s cloying perfume clinging to the curtains and carpets and bedclothes like a poisonous vapour. She left the main bedroom and wandered down the hall towards Jemima’s room where she knew the air would be sweeter.
The room was beautifully decorated in pastel pinks with tulle curtains and stuffed toys everywhere. It had had many different faces over the years, this room. If she picked at the wallpaper on the far wall and peeled away the top layer, she knew exactly how many layers were hidden underneath. She sat on the tiny bed, breathing in the smells of baby powder and nappy cream. Her head hurt and she was exhausted. She curled up on the bed, snuggling into Jemima’s pillow, wishing not for the first time that Jemima was hers, that she could snatch her up and run away. Tears rushed at her and she buried herself in the pillow.
Definitely time to go. She got to her feet unsteadily and swiped at her face.
Jade was just coming out of the ensuite bathroom when Maddie went to find her. She was pulling up her jeans, fiddling with the zip as she walked.
‘What are you doing?’ Maddie asked.
‘Just left them a little present in their now not so fragrant bathroom,’ Jade said with a cunning grin.
‘You pooped in their toilet?’
‘Yip,’ she said proudly and stalked from the room.
Maddie hurried after her, horrified, but she had to admit feeling a flare of shocked amusement. It was the idea of seeing Gemma’s face when she discovered it. Of course, Greg would get the blame for not flushing, but still, it was kind of funny.
They both headed back downstairs to the front door, with Jade moving a picture frame out of place here and an ornament there as they went. She paused at the console table for a moment and shifted some things around as Maddie opened the front door.
‘Come on, let’s go,’ Maddie said. Jade followed her out and closed the door with a slam.
Maddie unlocked her car and they climbed in, relief flooding over Maddie that her foray into criminality was now over. Just as she started the engine, a large shadow loomed over them and Gemma’s Range Rover pulled up beside them. Maddie’s breath hitched as she realised just how close they had come to getting caught.
‘Oh my
