Child's Play (D.I. Kim Stone #11)(92)

And Bryant, as ever, was Bryant.

Despite the slow start due to Woody’s restrictions, the case had been exhausting, taking them away from their loved ones as they tried to unravel sibling rivalry, neglect, cruelty and lies.

And once the statements had been signed just one person had remained on her mind, she thought, as she knocked the door to the three-storey town house.

Veronica answered with a quizzical expression.

‘May I come in?’

Veronica frowned. ‘I gave my statement. Is there…’

‘Veronica, will you please just let me in?’

‘Of course,’ she said, stepping aside.

Kim headed up the stairs to the library on the first floor.

She was not surprised to see the box of exercise books from their childhood nestled in the corner. However painful the past, it was still her history.

‘Is there… did I forget…’

‘Veronica, everything is fine. You’re not being charged with anything. It was an accident; I am your witness and the man is very much alive.’

‘Oh, okay,’ she said, relaxing visibly. ‘So, why are you…’

‘I just wanted to talk,’ Kim said, reading her surprise. ‘Is it really so difficult to believe that someone might want to come round for a chat with you?’

‘You? Yes, definitely,’ she said, with a glint of amusement. ‘You seem even less socially adjusted than I am.’

Kim smiled in response. She was not offended as the assessment wasn’t wrong. But throughout the case this woman had blocked them, antagonised them, held out on them, frustrated them and yet not once had Kim found herself unable to dislike her.

There was something in Veronica that she recognised, understood. A deep, dark hurt that had damaged something unreachable inside her. Had stopped her from granting herself a normal life.

‘You have to let it go, Veronica,’ she said, once she’d sat down.

Veronica followed and folded her long legs beneath her.

‘If you say he’s not seriously hurt then I’ll…’

‘Not that,’ Kim said, tipping her head. ‘Your guilt. It wasn’t your fault. You were not responsible for everything that happened after the TV show. It wasn’t your fault and yet you’ve spent your whole life making up for it.’

‘But if I hadn’t advised her, things would have stayed the same and our father wouldn’t have rejected her.’

‘But, it would always have changed some time. Don’t you understand that your father’s disappointment was only ever one wrong answer away? He’d put your sister on such a pedestal that it was inevitable that Belinda wouldn’t live up to his expectations. Yes, you advised her but she made the decision to do it.’

Veronica stood and walked the room. ‘But I destroyed any chance of us being sisters, normal sisters.’

‘In my experience, there is no such thing,’ Kim said, honestly. ‘And if there is it’s your father who spoiled that for you.’

‘But we could have loved each other,’ she said with a break in her voice.

‘You did,’ Kim offered. ‘You never left her side. You never let her down. She was never alone and she knew she could count on you. You stayed close and gave up your own life to take care of her. You protected her as best you could but she was an adult. She always knew she had you. You loved her very much when she gave you little in return.’

A tear slid over Veronica’s cheek. She wiped it away.

‘It’s not her fault. She couldn’t love me. Not after what I’d done, what I’d caused. She blamed me. She hated me.’

‘No, she didn’t,’ Kim said. ‘Because she never told you to go away. She loved you just as much as you loved her. In fact, she always had.’

Veronica frowned. ‘You can’t possibly know that.’

Kim was surprised at how the simplest of facts were overlooked by the people that needed them the most and yet obvious to someone outside the situation.

‘I do know it and it’s because of one single fact. Everything changed for her after the TV show. She lost your father’s love, his attention, his respect. And she could have got it all back by doing one simple thing.’

Veronica’s gaze narrowed. ‘How?’

‘She could have told the truth.’

Kim watched as the realisation dawned on her that her sister had never admitted that Veronica had told her to get that question wrong. Had she done so she would have been forgiven everything and her life would have returned to normal, but she had protected her older sister instead.

‘She loved you too much to turn your father’s displeasure your way.’

‘How could I… I mean… I never thought… she…’

Kim stood and offered her hand to the stern, formidable woman who had intrigued her from the moment they’d met.

‘Thank you, Inspector, I really don’t know what to say.’

‘You’re welcome,’ she said, heading out and down the stairs.

She took a deep, contented breath and reached for her helmet as her phone began to ring.