The Silent Ones: An absolutely gripping psychological thriller(71)

Juliet looked down at her hands.

‘I think about it most days, Mum. If I could go back in time, I’d do anything to save my brother. I loved him so much. But people make mistakes. Sometimes really bad ones.’

‘She’s right, Mum.’ Chloe sat a little straighter. ‘People do make mistakes, but that doesn’t mean they deserve to be vilified all their lives by their own family.’

‘I think you’ve said enough.’ Joan glared at her.

‘Dad?’ Chloe looked at Ray.

‘Joan, I adore you and I always will, you know that. But we’ve not always done right by our girls. You have to admit that’s true now.’

‘For the love of God, just tell me!’ Juliet hissed behind bared teeth.

Joan made a small sound in her throat, like a tiny suppressed cry.

But Ray continued.

‘I’d like to get to a place where we can finally be honest. See things straight. What do you say, love?’

Joan’s pale face contrasted starkly with her dyed black hair. She cleared her throat and assumed a harsh, guttural tone. ‘Don’t you dare, Ray. Don’t say something you might regret.’

‘Look where that attitude has got us, eh?’ He reached for her hand. ‘Don’t be afraid, love, we can sort this out. We can. It’s not too late.’

‘What?’ Juliet demanded. ‘What’s not too late?’

‘Ray… I’m warning you.’ Joan looked wild, feral even. She flexed her fingers wide then screwed her hands into tight fists. ‘You’re out of order. I want to go home right now.’

Tom finally spoke up. ‘If someone doesn’t tell Juliet, I’m going to tell her myself right now.’

Chloe shifted to the edge of her chair and looked hard at her sister. It was time.

‘Juliet, it wasn’t you who was responsible for Corey’s accident. It was me.’

The words bobbed in a sea of silence and seemed to sit there for a moment, for them all to finally hear, to feel, to touch.

Juliet stared at her sister. The room swam before her eyes. Nothing felt real.

Chloe’s face looked strained but she looked at Tom and he nodded for her to carry on.

‘I’d followed you to the warren because Dad came back downstairs to moan at me for leaving you to take Corey up there alone.’ She took a breath. ‘When I got to the top of the hill, you were already asleep, so I lay in the sun for a bit. Corey started whining; he was bored because he couldn’t find his den. I chased him around for a while, but he was looking behind him as he was running and he… he just tumbled over the edge.’

He voice faded out.

Nobody said a word. After a few moments, Juliet spoke.

‘But when I woke up, you were at the bottom of the hill.’ Her voice sounded weak. ‘You shouted up, told me you’d just got there. You even asked me where Corey was.’

Chloe hung her head. ‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I panicked when he went over… I didn’t know what to do. I ran back down.’

‘You watched our brother go over the edge and you ran away rather than get help?’ Juliet was breathless. ‘He might’ve survived if the ambulance had got there sooner.’ She glared at Ray and Joan. ‘And you two… you’ve let her get away with this all these years?’

‘She didn’t tell us until after Corey had died, love,’ Ray said quietly. ‘We decided it was best to leave things as they were; no sense in upsetting everyone all over again. The coroner had documented his death as misadventure, and we didn’t want the police sticking their oar in if our story suddenly changed.’

Juliet turned to Tom. ‘You knew this? You’ve always known?’

‘No!’ Tom’s expression cracked. ‘I only found out recently. I asked Chloe to wait for the right time to tell you because I was worried about your state of mind. That’s what we were arguing about in the car. You have to believe me, Juliet.’

Juliet’s face seemed to turn to stone. She stopped blinking, seemed to stop breathing. She turned away from Tom.

‘Why? Why, after all this time?’ She whispered.

Chloe’s face darkened.

‘It… it was just time to say something,’ she stammered. ‘It’s really got to me lately.’

Chloe remembered the neighbours’ whispers and nudges after Corey’s accident.

There’s the girl who fell asleep while she was supposed to be looking after her little brother.

Juliet used to say that that was what they were all thinking, even though they never heard them say it exactly. Chloe would console her; it was easy. By that time, she had managed to entirely convince herself of the alternative truth.

After all, if Juliet hadn’t fallen asleep, she and Chloe could have helped Corey build his den together. He wouldn’t have got bored and Chloe wouldn’t have ended up chasing him.

Her parents had insisted on holding a private funeral for him, and Joan had declared she would not allow the girls to attend.

‘I can’t bear to look at you while my little boy lies dead in his coffin,’ she had told Juliet, and the two girls were sent to stay with Beth and her father for a couple of days.

Chloe had felt secretly glad. That way, she didn’t have to force herself to look at her brother’s coffin and face her own awful truth.