The Silent Ones: An absolutely gripping psychological thriller(77)

‘I had to ruin everything for you all, and I’m sorry you and Maddy are the worst casualties of that. There are members of your family who deserve it more. But I was angry with you too.’

‘Angry with me?’ I feel like I’m fading away, drifting. I need to see Josh, need to make sure he’s safe and get back for Maddy… but everything feels too far away. I can’t get the face of the boy she has on her phone out of my mind. His eyes…

‘For being so stupid, so gullible. For making it so easy for them to ruin people’s lives… Andrew’s, Corey’s. They had to be stopped.’ She shakes her head. ‘Your mother was as guilty as Bessie Wilford in neglecting my brother at the hospital, but having Corey adopted was even worse. Your dad told Charlie that it nearly killed him to do it but that your mother made him choose between Corey and her. She threatened to kill herself rather take on a disabled child with all the stress that entails. And all this time, Bessie Wilford and her husband, before he died, knew and they protected the Voce family. Bessie was as guilty of abandoning my brother and Corey as they all were.’

Even through the fog of my shame and sadness, it sounds just like Mum to choose a peaceful life over having Corey back home. But why did Bessie keep their secret? It’s so sad.

‘Even that old woman had more than me, do you know that?’ Beth was jumping from one thing to another. She’s definitely been in no fit state to look after Josh. ‘Bessie was losing her mind but she could still pay her bills and had valuable items sitting around the house she’d forgotten were there. It was the final humiliation.’

‘Did you have anything to do with Bessie Wilford’s death?’ I ask her quietly.

‘It’s true I visited Bessie a few times unofficially, shall we say, extracted every detail I could about Andrew and about Corey. She even knew where Corey lived after all this time, can you believe that? Your dad apparently visited him secretly without ever telling Joan. I found him easy to find.’

I think about Dad’s periodic trips away to Scotland. All this time he’s kept the secret to himself? Let Corey grow up without us around him? How could my kind, loving dad have been so heartless underneath?

I look at Beth, her face puffy, her features twisted, like a mask of hatred has been fused to the best friend I’ve known and loved for so long.

‘I was burning up inside, trying to control my fury and plan my revenge.’ She forced the words out in one long stream between gasping in air. ‘But I knew I had to force myself to wait for the right opportunity to cause maximum damage. I started by sending anonymous texts to the phone number Bessie showed me she had for Brianna. Spooking them out a bit but promising them there would be terrible consequences if they told anyone. Brianna wasn’t supposed to have a phone, but she’d asked if she could have the one Bessie’s daughter gave her ages ago and she’d never used.’

So the phone I found doesn’t belong to Maddy; it’s Brianna’s. Maybe she just gave it to Maddy to keep safe.

Beth looks pleased with herself. If I listen for a few more minutes, maybe she’ll stick to her word and tell me where Josh is. If I can get the truth about what happened to Bessie, maybe it could stop Maddy from being charged.

‘Then yesterday morning those two spoilt little girls skipped down the street near Bessie’s house.’ Her smile stretches into a grimace.

‘I rang earlier that day, put on a crotchety old voice and asked them over for biscuits and lemonade but not to tell anyone. Only interested if there’s something in it for them, those two.’ She grins again. ‘Like mother, like daughter, it seems.

‘Turned out Bessie’s house was a treasure trove beyond my wildest dreams. Nearly five grand in notes hidden under the spare-room bed. Can you believe that?’ Greed glittered in her eyes like black diamonds. ‘Loads of jewellery on her dressing table, and genuine artwork in the cupboard under the stairs.’

‘The girls didn’t hurt her, did they?’ I can feel something shifting inside me, trying to untether itself. ‘You tried to frame them.’

‘Well that’s not strictly true. It all worked out far better than I anticipated,’ Beth continues. ‘I gave Bessie a little something to help her sleep. Brianna played a trick on her to startle her, and the silly old bat woke up suddenly, tipped out of her chair and hit her head on the tiled hearth.’

‘You were there?’

‘Oh yes. I stepped out from the hallway then and told them that Bessie had a son, a violent man who would kill their families if they breathed a single word about what had happened. I told them the only way of getting out of the situation was to remain completely silent. Not to say a word to anyone, even the police. I said if they didn’t breathe a word, I’d speak to Bessie’s son and get them off the hook.’ She laughed. ‘So gullible, the pair of them. Would never have worked on an adult but they just swallowed it all without explanation. Touching really.’

I press my hand to my mouth, sickened by the thought that Bessie was hurt because Brianna startled her, but also by the fact that Beth was present all along, coolly observing proceedings instead of getting her help. The level of fear the girls must have suffered was off the scale.

But something doesn’t quite fit. There’s still a niggle at the back of my mind.

Then I get it.

‘Hitting her head on the hearth is one thing, but the detectives told us Bessie was battered to death. That’s quite a different take on it.’