Just Like the Other Girls(18)

Police are still appealing for witnesses to come forward.



I sit back in my chair, digesting what I’ve just read. Poor Matilde. How horrific, so close to where she lived and where I’m living now. How could a person knock someone down and just drive off? It must have been panic. And fear. I don’t have a car but I know that if I was ever in such a situation I’d stop and help. I couldn’t just leave someone dying in the road. The thought of it makes me feel sick.

There is no photograph of Matilde but I Google her name and her Facebook profile comes up as Remembering Matilde Hansen and then a photo of her beautiful face, her long blonde hair, her laughing pale eyes.

I feel as though all the breath has been knocked out of me.

I sink back in my chair, unable to believe what I’m seeing.

Matilde looks remarkably like Jemima.

And me.

Maybe Elspeth warms to young blonde girls. Perhaps we remind her of someone, although I can’t think who. It’s definitely not her daughter. Kathryn is tall and dark. There must be a reason for it, though. Even if it’s unconscious. Because I don’t believe in coincidences.

I scroll through the other links attached to Matilde’s name until I read something that makes me gasp out loud. A line in a news article published today.

Jemima Freeman, 24, was an employee of local philanthropist Elspeth McKenzie. Her predecessor, Matilde Hansen, was killed in a hit-and-run last year. Jemima was found dead two days ago. Police suspect suicide.



No. I don’t believe in coincidences.





Have you realized yet that you look just like the other girls? The two who came before you? Do you know you’ll end up just like them? I’ve been watching you. But you wouldn’t have noticed me – as I’ve said, I’m good at this. I’ve had a lot of practice. I walked past you at one point. So close I could smell the perfume you wear, and the coconut shampoo of your hair, but you didn’t recognize me.

I fantasize about it. About you. When the time comes. And it will. I imagine how your breathing will change, how your big grey eyes will fill with alarm, the fear on your face. You won’t be so smug then, will you? You will never be lady of the manor. Not after I’ve got hold of you.





7





Kathryn

Jemima had been lying dead for over a month, hidden for the most part by the snow and then, when that had melted, by the earth and the rocks of the Avon Gorge. The police suspect she jumped from the Clifton Suspension Bridge, although there were no witnesses.

Kathryn listens in a stupor as DS Holdsworth imparts this information in her flat, toneless voice. When she’s finished there is a stunned silence at the table. Even Aggie can’t think of anything to say, but stands at the Aga, her face pale.

Kathryn takes a few deep breaths, trying to push down her nausea. What has she done?

Elspeth is the first to speak. ‘Well,’ she says, fingering the pearls at her neck, ‘I’m … well, I’m shocked.’ Her face crumples in on itself and for the first time Kathryn thinks her mother looks older than her years. She’s a good actress, Kathryn will give her that.

‘What exactly happened on the last day of her employment with you?’ Holdsworth asks. ‘Was there an argument? Did she leave under a cloud?’

Elspeth catches Kathryn’s eye, then looks down at the table, studying the fine grain of the oak. ‘No,’ she says. ‘Like I said, she took her belongings and left. She didn’t tell me she was leaving.’

Holdsworth frowns and consults her notes. ‘But you said she was a live-in employee. Didn’t you notice that she was leaving the house with all her stuff?’

‘She didn’t have much,’ adds Elspeth, still avoiding eye contact. ‘Just a backpack’s worth. I was at a meeting – about the gallery I run – and she would usually have come with me but she said … she said she had a headache and wasn’t feeling well so stayed behind. She ordered me a taxi. I was only gone a few hours. When I got back she wasn’t here. I thought she might have nipped out, although there was no note. When she didn’t return I went up to her room and saw that she had taken all her belongings.’

‘And you didn’t report it?’

‘Why would I?’ Elspeth scoffs, her head shooting up, no longer avoiding Holdsworth’s gaze. ‘She was old enough to make that decision. Before she came to us she’d spent two years backpacking around South East Asia. She was a free spirit, I could see that. I always knew she wouldn’t stay long. But I liked her. So I was willing to take that risk.’ She leans forwards on her elbows, her bright blue eyes flashing. In this moment Kathryn can see how formidable her mother really is and Holdsworth shrinks back a little in her seat. ‘You have to like who you employ when they live with you, work with you, and are your constant companion. Do you see that, Detective? I wouldn’t have taken her on if I didn’t like her.’

They are interrupted by Aggie, who approaches the table with a tray. She places it in front of Elspeth.

‘Please help yourselves to tea,’ says Elspeth to the two detectives, as though she was the one who had gone to the effort to make it. Aggie sidles away to continue cooking, but Kathryn can tell she’s still listening. She knows Aggie will be loving this. Something to tell her husband when she goes home this evening, no doubt.