He looked like he wanted to know now, but my energy was spent. I sat down on the ground and pulled Will down to sit next to me. We watched as Connor leaned over and felt for a pulse on Norman’s wrist. I could hear Will take a deep breath as we waited, and I reached out and squeezed his hand.
Connor looked up at us. “He’s still alive.”
I smiled at Will as he exhaled slowly, looking beyond relieved. Moving closer, I put my head on his shoulder while we watched Connor retrieve his phone from the sodden ground and call the police.
I made myself take several deep breaths, trying to get my heart rate down to normal; the last thing I needed now was to have a heart attack after so narrowly escaping death by rifle.
Shivering at the thought, I moved even closer to Will. I desperately needed some water (not to mention a hot shower and about a week’s worth of sleep), and I tried to focus on that rather than the unconscious geriatric lying in front of us.
After he’d finished on the phone, Connor came and sat next to me, on the other side from Will. “They said they’ll be right here, but it could take them a while to find us.” He looked past me to Will. “I still don’t get how you managed to find us in time, fella.” He shook his head. “I’m just glad you did.”
“Me too.” I smiled at Will again.
Connor put his hand on my shoulder. “Beth, are you OK? I’m so sorry… I did try and warn you about Norman, though.”
I had just about enough energy to roll my eyes at him. “This is not the time for ‘I Told You So’. And I’ll be fine.” I glanced over at Norman, who still showed no signs of waking up. “What about him?”
Connor shrugged. “No idea. Assumin’ he’s not in a coma or anythin’, I’d say he’s got a pretty good chance at pleadin’ insanity, for sure. All that stuff about his dead wife…”
I felt Will’s body go rigid. “His wife?”
Connor nodded. “He was talkin’ as if she were right next to him. As if she still had influence over his actions.”
Will’s eyes widened as he took this in. “Beth…”
I cut him off. “We can talk about it later.”
I looked at Norman’s body - old and frail, sprawled on the ground - and thought back to the way he kept looking into the air next to him, talking to the love of his life; so much for ‘til death us do part.
I took Will’s hand in mine and linked my left arm through Connor’s, unable to say anything else.
All three of us sat silently in the darkness together, our eyes fixed on Norman, until we heard the first rustling sounds of the police approaching through the shadows.
Chapter Eleven
The next afternoon, after a morning of giving statements to the police and getting checked out at Willowton Hospital (luckily a more boring visit compared to last time), I was sitting on my sofa next to Will, trying to fall asleep against his shoulder but having no luck.
Every time I closed my eyes I’d either see Norman pointing his rifle at me, or the strange woman reaching towards me in the hole. I’d made Will go with me everywhere since his heroic saving-of-the-day; in fact, the only time we’d been apart was when we’d had to talk to the police. I was probably annoying him with my constant presence but he hadn’t said anything about it.
My parents had hovered around me at the police station and the hospital, and I finally had to ask them to chill out. We hadn’t yet mentioned the ‘A’ word, and my brain was too exhausted to think too much about the fact I was adopted. They hadn’t slept the night before, either, so were currently having a nap. The peace and quiet was nice, or it had been for a few minutes. Then I’d realised it was a little bit too quiet and the thoughts that I’d been trying to block out kept reappearing, kicking and screaming into my exhausted head.
So now Will and I were watching a film without really watching it, and talking about random things to avoid talking about the chaos of the night before.
I knew that as soon as I was left alone I wouldn’t be able to stop the unwanted thoughts from coming, and I was trying to put that off for as long as possible.
I was just talking to Will about Random Violation when there was a knock at the door. I jumped in my seat (any sudden sounds were having that effect on me today), and Will patted me on the shoulder as he got up to answer it.
I heard him unlock and open the door. “Oh… hi.”
There was a pause, and then a familiar voice. “Hi Will, long time.”
It was Veronica. I stood up and walked into the hallway, joining Will.
V was standing awkwardly on the doorstep, staring at me. I was trying to think what to say when she abruptly burst into tears and ran into me, with a similar force as I’d run into Will the night before.
She hugged me and cried into my shoulder. “Oh God, Beth. I’m so glad you’re OK! I’d heard all kinds of things, I didn’t know what to believe. I would have come earlier but… I didn’t know if…” she broke into sobs, then stood back, took a deep breath and seemed to pull herself together. “I didn’t know if you’d want to see me.”
Despite what she’d put me through the past couple of months, it was nothing to what I’d gone through last night, and I hugged her, tears threatening to emerge in my eyes. “Of course I want to see you. Isn’t that what I’ve been trying to tell you all along?” I asked this with a wry smile, trying to lighten the mood.
V took another deep breath and smiled back. “Can we talk?” Her eyes flickered to Will.
I nodded, turning to him. “Would you mind?”
Will smiled at me. “Sure, I’d better go home and have a shower anyway.” He pulled me in for a quick hug and whispered in my ear. “Call me any time if you don’t want to be alone. And stay strong, Powers.”
I smiled gratefully and said bye as he let himself out the front door.
Veronica frowned as she watched Will leave. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
I laughed, the first time in what felt like forever. “How long have you got?”
***
A few minutes later, we were sitting at the kitchen table, each with a mug of tea in front of us. Veronica had gone for Earl Grey while I’d been on the chamomile all day; I was hoping it would sooth me, or help me relax, or something. Either way it hadn’t had much effect yet.
I could feel the silence begin to grow and I wanted to stop it before it became monumental. “So, where do we start?”
V smiled, clearly as uncomfortable as me. “Well, side-stepping the obvious for a second, what happened last night? You look all scratched up… are you OK?” I could tell she was bursting to get the gossip so I, too, ignored the most relevant topic of conversation for us and went into the explanation.
I told her every detail of the previous night - or as much as I could remember - while V sat with her mouth hanging open in an entirely unattractive fashion. I skipped over the more abnormal parts of my explanation, knowing I’d need to tell her but not quite able to go into all that yet. By the time I’d finished, both of our teas were cold and forgotten.
“Wow… that’s quite a lot to take in, B. I can’t believe… Norman?” She shook her head. “I’m just so glad you’re OK. God, if it wasn’t for Will…”
I nodded, willing myself not to start crying again. I remembered Will’s parting words and tried to get myself under control.
After a brief hesitation, Veronica came over and sat next to me, and I put my head on her shoulder. It felt a little odd after spending so much time apart, but it also felt right. Normal.
“I’m sorry, Beth. I’m so sorry I haven’t been around through all of this. I’ve been completely lost without you! Can you believe I actually moved in with Justin Hanks? Like I don’t see enough of him at work…”
I laughed, trying to imagine those two living together. I sat up and turned to face her. “I’m just glad you’re here now.”
V smiled. “Me too. So…” She took a deep breath. “Should we talk about the fact that we’re related?”
We both
burst out laughing; it just sounded so stupid.
I tried to keep it light-hearted. “I knew there must be a reason why you always felt you could steal my stuff.”
V laughed, then the smile faded. “You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you. I was so angry when I found out about the adoption, but I was thrilled about the prospect of us being sisters. Then it just got really complicated.”
I thought I’d better start from the beginning, or my brain wouldn’t be able to take it all in. “How did you find out?”
Veronica went and sat on the other side of the table again so we could talk more comfortably. “Well, the morning after we went to The Pit, I was really hung over.”
I nodded, remembering my own state that morning. It seemed so long ago.
“So I had the biggest cup of coffee ever, and of course, spilled it all over my uniform.”
I smiled; it wasn’t the first time V had ruined her turquoise waitress dress.
“I didn’t have time to wash it and my other uniform was still drying from the day before so I went into the attic to find my old one. Anyway, I was searching through all the boxes and I came across this really cool antiquey-looking chest, and I thought it would be perfect for my jewellery.”
I raised my eyebrows at her. I’d forgotten V’s skill at going off on insanely wild tangents when she was trying to tell a story.
“Right, sorry. Anyway, when I opened it I found loads of photos including the one I showed you. I thought it was a bit strange so I took it downstairs and asked my parents about it. Well, you know,” she raised her hands and did air quotations. “‘Parents’.”
I nodded, marvelling at her casual references to the adoption. I suppose she’d had a lot more time to get used to it than me.
“Well, they said it was nothing but my mum almost choked on her tea and my dad just went deathly white. So, I asked them again and that’s when my mum broke down crying. She told me everything: that Samantha was a young mother, she couldn’t afford one baby let alone two, they’d been having trouble conceiving… I felt so ill, I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I’d had the wind punched out of me. I tried ringing you, but my dad grabbed my phone off me and switched if off. I was so mad.”
I thought back to that same morning in my room, the pain that had suddenly - and without warning - taken hold of me. Surely it wasn’t linked to V?
I guessed anything was possible now.
Veronica carried on. “I was furious and said I was going to tell you, but they pleaded with me not to. They said our birth mother had been extremely explicit in her instructions, it was an agreement they’d all made, a kind of condition of the adoption. She didn’t want either of us to ever find out about her, and if somehow one of us did, under no circumstances were we to tell the other one. Our birth mother also had to be told immediately if one of us did manage to find out.”
I shook my head, trying to think. “But why?”
V shrugged. “They just said if both of us knew, we’d be more likely to go looking for her. Anyway, I had to get out of there so I went to the Diner, fully intending to tell you everything when you came by after your shift. I just needed a few hours to calm down and think things through.”
“And wait for the hangover to clear?”
“Exactly. But before I had a chance to tell you, my parents came to the Diner. They’d just been to Birston to see the birth mother… our birth mother… to tell her I knew, and you should have seen them; they’d never looked more terrified. Even my dad.”
Veronica’s dad was one of the strongest, no-nonsense people I’d ever known. If he was scared, then it must be bad.
“They wouldn’t tell me exactly what happened, but they begged me not to tell you, saying it was for my own good. My dad actually tried to give me money so I could move to London right away, and when your own dad starts bribing you, you know that something’s up.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “So did you find out what she’d said to them?”
Veronica hesitated, staring down at her unfinished drink. “Our birth mother…”
I was getting impatient now. “Yes?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
I laughed to myself. “You’d be surprised what I’d believe.”
“OK… she threatened to kill them.”
I laughed in surprise. “What? They actually told you this?”
Veronica wasn’t laughing. “You didn’t see them, B. They made me promise never to go near her, and they said that if I told you, I was risking your life as well. My mum said she never wanted me to see the darkness in that woman, and I believed her.”
I stared at her in disbelief. “What does that even mean?”
V took a deep breath. “There’s something deeply wrong with her. I don’t know if she’s mentally ill or what, I just know she made my parents cower in fear, and they were desperate for me to stay away from you. So were your parents; they didn’t want to put you in danger either, obviously.”
“So, throwing those glasses at me in the Diner…”
She cringed. “Oh God, Beth, I’m so sorry. You just wouldn’t listen to me! I had to try and make you see how serious I was being, that you had to stay away. If it’s any consolation, I wasn’t aiming for you; I just wanted to make a point.”
She certainly did that. “You gave the people in the Diner quite a show.”
She stared at me, obviously trying to see if I was honestly still mad about the glass thing. After a couple of seconds her mouth curved up in a semi-smile. “I guess I did. I just thought that if I made you angry, you’d be more likely to leave me alone… did you see my CAC updates?”
I nodded. “Ah, so they were for my benefit.”
She nodded too. “I’m so sorry, B.”
I suddenly thought of something, and I couldn’t believe it hadn’t occurred to me earlier. I must have been more tired than I thought. “Do you know who our father is?”
Veronica shook her head. “Sorry. Either my parents don’t know, or they’re doing a good job of covering it up. They said that our mother never went into who the father was, and they didn’t want to pry. For all I know it could have just been a randomer.”
I nodded. I already had more to deal with than I ever thought possible, and I thought my head would actually explode if I gave it something else to worry about on top of everything else. I decided that mystery could stay unsolved, at least for now.
“I heard you fighting with my parents that night. I…” I shook my head, embarrassed to admit it. “I was in the front garden when you came storming out of my house.”
It took Veronica a few seconds to realise what I was talking about. “You were?” She laughed. “You really are getting good at the whole stalking thing!”
“I didn’t really catch the whole argument though…”
“I was just letting off steam, really. I’d promised my parents I wouldn’t talk to you about it, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t talk to your parents about it. I was begging them to tell you, but they just said the same things my parents had said. They’d obviously been updating each other on what had happened, and they seemed just as terrified of our birth mother…” she shrugged.
After a few minutes in silence I asked another question, one that seemed to be more urgent given the very public fight of the night before. “So what happens now? The entire village knows we’re adopted, don’t you think it’s going to get back to her?”
V cringed. “I know, I wish I’d told you sooner, I really do. But after everything that happened to you and Connor after the public humiliation on Main Street, are you really worried about a crazy woman in Birston?”
I looked her in the eye. “Are you?”
She smiled back at me, then gave up trying to act normal. “I’m petrified.”
***
We talked about our actual mother for another half an hour or so before my phone went off. I took it out my pocket and saw it was a text from Will. I smiled.<
br />
“Who’s that?” V was looking at me curiously.
“It’s just Will seeing if I’m OK.”
V nodded, smiling. “Yeah, I’d noticed you two were rather close.”
I shrugged. “Well, he did save my life. That kind of thing brings people together.”
Veronica shook her head. “You looked pretty close before that, too. Seriously, is something going on there? You used to hate him!”
I pulled a mock shocked face. “I wouldn’t say hate, exactly. I just… didn’t really know him.”
“And you know him now?” I could see she was on the verge of cracking up.
“Grow up, V.”
She started laughing, and although she was really annoying me, it was nice. It almost felt like old times. “I’m just saying, he seems really sweet to you. He’s never been like that with me.”
“I think he just feels protective after everything that’s happened.”
Veronica nodded, a smile still playing around her lips. “Right, so you’re not together then?”
I rolled my eyes, sighing theatrically. “No!”
“Bit defensive, aren’t we?”
I looked down at the table, wondering how much I should say.
Her eyes glinted. “Oh my God, something has happened, hasn’t it? I know you!”
I gave up. “Alright… we kissed.”
Veronica’s manic smile made a full appearance. “I knew it! Tell me all.”
I laughed. All of the drama with Norman and our parents, and what did Veronica want to talk about? “It was pretty awkward actually.”
V nodded, knowingly. “Bad kisser? I always thought he would be, he hasn’t really had that many girlfriends…”
I shook my head, cringing as I remembered the fake mausoleum in the maze. I decided not to tell Veronica that it had happened while we were hiding from her. “That’s not what I meant.”
“So he was a good kisser?”
I refused to answer, although my flushed cheeks were no doubt giving me away.
“No way! So what happened? You said you’re not going out with him?”
I sighed, suddenly extremely tired. “We had a massive fight, and I was so angry at him I couldn’t even begin to think about anything like that. I kissed him back for a bit, then I just stopped when I realised what I was doing.” I shrugged again.
Veronica wasn’t going to let this subject go too easily, I could tell. “So, what were you fighting about?”