The Silent Ones: An absolutely gripping psychological thriller(78)

Beth’s face darkens. ‘I never planned to kill her. I just wanted the girls to get into trouble for assaulting her, something bad enough to take your mind off the business so I could move in on it. But the business was just an aside; more importantly I wanted to destroy your twisted family unit, expose all your lies. I could’ve done that without killing her. But the silly old bat woke up, didn’t she, after they left. Just as I was packing the money and jewellery into my holdall.’

‘But she had dementia. You could have just walked away; nobody would have believed her if she’d told them what had happened.’

‘It’s true she had dementia, but it’s something that comes and goes in the early years. There are periods of lucidity when the brain functions like normal.’ She scowls. ‘Just my luck she woke up lucid. I might not have had to hurt her had she remained clueless. As it was, the heavy brass lamp on the table came in very handy.’

I squeeze my eyes shut, willing the vision of the scene to leave me.

Instead of a feeling of euphoria at this final confirmation that Maddy did nothing wrong, a wave of something powerful and all-consuming engulfs me. In the space of a few seconds, I grieve for Bessie Wilford and her family, feel regret at staying so blind for so long, and feel a searing heat of fury against Beth for what she’s put our girls through.

‘As I said, I’ve been grooming the girls with the anonymous texts for a while now. They were very nervous, particularly Maddy. Brianna’s a bit tougher, like her bitch of a mother.’

I think about Maddy’s disrupted sleep, hearing her moving around in the night and going downstairs to find her sitting in the living room in the dark, staring into space with that haunted look on her little face. In her last interview she’d talked about someone asking her to do bad things and I simply thought this was Brianna. But if it was Beth… Maddy would be beside herself with confusion and fear.

She’s always trusted Beth, known her all her life. Although she didn’t know who was sending the texts, Beth knew enough about her to tap into what scared her.

‘And you did all this to avenge my brother, who isn’t even part of your own family?’

Irritation flashes across Beth’s face.

‘I did it for my brother. For Andrew. He lost his life, had no choice in the matter thanks to the neglect of the hospital staff. Your family had a little boy who was still very much alive, and yet they tossed him aside like a piece of rubbish. I couldn’t let them get away with that.’

‘Beth, did you inform all our customers and suppliers about the scandal, set fire to the unit… get our contracts cancelled?’

‘You’re so trusting, Juliet, you made it easy.’

A sudden noise makes me jump, and we both turn at the sound of feet scuffing on the hardwood floor. Dana appears, her face pale. ‘I tried to call you, Juliet,’ she gasps, staring at Beth. ‘I heard everything while you were on the phone to Juliet… Lizzie, Beth… whatever your name is.’

Beth laughs. ‘Had you fooled, didn’t I? I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get your attention that day at the gym, but I was only ever interested in your connection to Neary.’

‘But we met two weeks before this case. You couldn’t have possibly known I’d be involved.’

‘I couldn’t know for certain but I could hazard an intelligent guess. The newspaper interview you gave was a gift, telling everyone how amazing you are at building a rapport with local kids in trouble and how you work with Neary on cases involving children.’ Beth smiled. ‘It was pretty obvious that if two local girls carried out a terrible crime, your services would be called for. I’d seen you at the gym a few times before you were suspended. It was a gift when I saw you in that class. I’d have done it all without you anyway but the chance of having an insider view of the case was too good to miss.’

The expression on Dana’s face tells me she’s crushed. She obviously really cared for Beth… or the woman she knew as Lizzie.

‘Beth. Where is Josh?’ I growl, strengthened by Dana being here with me now.

We all turn to commotion outside. Dana opens the back door and two uniformed police officers burst into the room. I cry out with relief when I see DI Neary behind them. A grim DS March follows him in.

‘She’s got Josh somewhere… she’s drugged him,’ I shout.

‘Check upstairs,’ he instructs the first two officers.

‘I’ll follow them up, sir,’ March adds before turning back to a third officer still standing outside the back door. ‘Get an ambulance here in case it’s needed.’

My hands fly up to my face. Does she think Josh could be…

‘Juliet, are you OK? You’re not hurt at all?’ Neary asks, his voice full of concern.

I shake my head and look over at Beth. ‘The girls didn’t kill Bessie, it was her.’

She smiles to herself, as if she’s silently congratulating herself on a job well done. It’s as if she’s in another world entirely, no sign of any conscience at all.

The officers’ boots thunder up the stairs and a few seconds later I hear March shout down.

‘He’s here sir, he’s drowsy but conscious.’

‘Josh!’ I start towards the stairs and Dana grabs my arm.

‘Let them deal with it, Juliet. They’ll bring him downstairs safely.’