The Couple at No. 9(75)

‘Then what does he actually do for your dad?’ says the older woman. Laura, or was it Lorna? He’s hardly been able to take it all in since he got here.

Theo shrugs. What does he actually do? He’s never been sure. ‘I’ve always assumed he’s like my dad’s security. He comes to the house now and again. Assesses the burglar alarms. Gives Dad advice, that kind of thing. My dad’s a wealthy man. Successful in his field.’

‘Well. Glen Davies is a fucking bully, that’s what he is,’ says Laura. No: Lorna. He’s sure her name is Lorna. ‘He broke into the house when my daughter had to go to the hospital. It’s like he was waiting outside, waiting for us to leave. All of this.’ She stands up and paces the room, throwing her arms wide. Theo watches her, mesmerized. There is something very familiar about her. Like he’s met her before but he can’t think where. ‘It has to have something to do with your father. And those photos …’ She stops and rounds on Theo, holding out her hand. ‘Can I see them?’

He does as she asks. They all watch expectantly as she flips through them. Then she makes a growling sound of frustration and passes the phone back to him. ‘I don’t recognize anyone. I was hoping my mother would be there.’

‘I’ve already looked,’ says Saffron.

‘I know. I just wanted to see.’ Lorna throws her daughter an apologetic smile and Theo feels a pang of longing for his own mother.

He takes back his phone. He feels Lorna’s frustration. ‘Can you remember anything else Glen asked you? That night when he … grabbed you?’

‘Just about the evidence. That was it. Oh, and he threatened me, said he’d hurt me, or Saffy …’ she flinches ‘… if I told the police.’

Theo swallows, trying to quell the panic growing inside him. Has his father got something to do with the murders that took place here? Maybe he’s on the wrong track with the folder of women. Unless they’re victims of his.

‘I think my mum was running away from someone. A woman who knew her back then remembers her as being jittery and secretive, and she was apparently pregnant when she first arrived here,’ says Lorna, sitting down again. She fizzes with nervous energy, like a firework that’s about to go off.

‘And you think she was running from my dad?’

Lorna glances towards her daughter, then back to Theo. ‘I’m beginning to think so now. My mum was always so cagey about my dad. She said his name was “William” but never showed me photos, never talked about him. It was like she wanted to forget him.’

Theo thinks of Cynthia Parsons. Was Rose a victim of his too? An ex who was running away from him because she was scared? An ex who was pregnant?

‘Babe,’ says Jen, gently, placing her hand on his arm. He knows what she’s going to say. He’s been thinking it too. Lorna looks just like his dad: the same curly dark hair, the wide nose, the shape of the eyes and chin. The reason that Lorna had seemed so familiar when he first walked into the room was because looking at her is like facing himself in the mirror.

‘I think Victor might be my father,’ says Lorna, before he can voice his suspicions.

Saffron’s hands fly to her mouth. ‘Oh, my God,’ she exclaims, standing up. ‘Of course!’

‘I think so too,’ says Theo, slowly. ‘You’re so like him.’

There’s an awkward pause before Lorna says, ‘So the baby he wanted to hurt, that was me? And if he wanted to hurt me did that mean he wanted to hurt my mother as well? Why did she run away from him?’

Theo feels shame rising in him – shame by association. He wants to tell them he is nothing like his shitty father. ‘I think he was abusive to my mum. I saw … bruises. He was controlling, manipulative.’

‘Is he still with your mum?’ asks Lorna.

He clears his throat. ‘She died. She fell down the stairs.’

‘I’m so sorry.’

Saffron is still standing up, staring at them with her mouth hanging open. My niece, he thinks.

‘So your dad must be the client that Glen Davies was talking about?’ asks Lorna. She’s still sitting forward in her seat, her shapely eyebrows furrowed, elbows resting on her knees. ‘And if that’s the case, does that mean he’s involved in the murders?’

Theo shuffles his weight on the uncomfortable sofa. Fuck. The bodies in the garden. The newspaper clipping. Hiring Glen Davies to put the frighteners on these women, his own family. It’s just the kind of despicable thing his father would do if it meant protecting himself. But murder? In his wildest nightmares he hadn’t expected that.

Theo is exhausted by the time they get back to their room at the Stag and Pheasant. He flops onto their four-poster bed. From the sash windows they have views of the woods. His throat is sore from all the talking he’s done this afternoon.

Jen climbs up onto the bed next to him. ‘I can’t believe it,’ she says. ‘You have a half-sister.’

‘And my dad is a potential murderer,’ he replies. He still feels sick at the thought. ‘Why else has he hired Glen Davies? What did he do? What does he so desperately want Glen to find?’

‘Oh, babe,’ she says, leaning into the crook of his arm and resting her head on his chest. ‘I’m so sorry. Do you think your dad knew he had a daughter?’