Behind Every Lie(49)

“Colin,” he said, a lazy grin creasing his mouth. “Colin Wilson. Pleased to make your acquaintance, little lass. Your mum here was just about to pay me rent, and then I’ll be off.”

He had a British accent.

I closed my eyes for a brief second. Bollocks. I felt like such a fool. I’d rather thought I had gotten away with it. And there I’d just gone and used Eva’s name.

“I need your account details,” I said. “There’s a pad of paper on the kitchen counter.”

He walked slowly, almost languorously, to the kitchen, his gaze on Eva. He wasn’t afraid of me in the least. If he wanted to, he could kill us, he was far stronger than I. But the offer of money was too much for him to refuse.

I swayed on my feet like I was drunk, and put a hand against the wall to steady myself. Sweat dripped down my back as I analyzed my options. I could scream, but then my neighbors would come and they would want to know why he was here. I could kill him, stab him in the throat when he was distracted, perhaps while he was writing down his bank account number. But I did not want to kill a man in front of Eva. And how would I eliminate the body? I was strong, but small. I could not do it on my own.

“I shall phone my bank and transfer it as soon as you leave. I’ll pay you double what your other … tenant paid you. Write it down.”

He did as he was told, the pen scratching across the paper.

“Don’t forget to pay that rent,” he said, his eyes dark and malicious on mine. “I know where you live if you don’t.”

I glared at him. “It will be there tomorrow.”

He strolled to the door, throwing a nonchalant wink at Eva. Eva turned her face into my stomach. A second later his footsteps thumped down the corridor, followed by the ricochet of the downstairs door slamming shut.

Weak with relief, I threw the dead bolt shut and collapsed shaking onto the couch.

We were safe. For now.





twenty-five

eva




I ROLLED THE NAME AROUND in my mouth, trying it on for size.

Laura.

Laura Ashford.

A nurse came into the hospital room and took David’s blood pressure. Nobody spoke. I stared outside where hard drops of rain clattered against the window, coloring the room in shadows. I felt detached and disconnected. As if getting struck by lightning had split me from myself: Eva on one side and Laura on the other.

After a moment, the nurse bustled out.

“How did you find me?” David asked. His accent was cultured, upper-class. Straight out of Downton Abbey.

“Dad, this is mental!” Charlotte protested, her face red and blotchy. “You’ve just had a round of chemo. Would you just lie down?”

“Darling, this is Laura.” He turned to me. “I mean, Eva. I believe you’re called Eva now?”

I nodded mutely. Charlotte crossed her arms over her chest and pressed her back against the wall, scowling.

“How do you know I’m Laura?” I asked David. Like a contrary child, I wanted desperately to deny what he was saying.

“You look very like my sister did at your age. But you want proof, yes?” He thought for a second. “You have a scar on your right shoulder. You fell out of your pram when you were a year old.”

I tugged the collar of my T-shirt down to expose the silver half-moon scar I’d had on my shoulder my whole life.

“It’s you,” he breathed.

He held a veined, liver-spotted hand out to me. I stared at it, unable to move, to step over the threshold into that new world. Everything in me was screaming to run, get away, but I wanted to know the truth.

I looked up, catching the stunned disbelief on Charlotte’s face, the relief on David’s. Emotion overwhelmed me. My eyes filled with hot tears. The sterile hospital room blurred in front of me, a mirage of movement and light as another piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

“So the prodigal daughter returns,” Charlotte said bitterly. She shook her head, her unwashed strawberry-blond hair swinging limply around her face. “Where were you months ago when he first got sick? Why are you here now?”

“I didn’t know about … any of this.” I turned to David. “I swear.”

He nodded. “I know. Katherine insisted it was better that way.”

“Why would she do that? And how did you know my name is Eva now?”

“Katherine wrote me when you were twelve. She told me what happened. We’ve kept in touch ever since.”

“You knew I was alive?” I whispered, horrified. Shouldn’t he have looked for me? Shouldn’t he have taken me back? “You abandoned me.”

David flinched as if I’d physically hit him. “Certainly not! But I understand why you feel that way, and I’m ever so sorry. I wanted to keep you safe, but please understand, I argued with her about it. I wanted you home with me. Those first months after I thought you and your mother had died were excruciating. But Kat told me this was the only way to keep you safe. That’s all I ever wanted.”

The muffled cry of a baby came from the corner of the room. Charlotte rushed to the stroller there and scooped her daughter out.

“Ma-ma,” the girl said, rubbing tiny fists into tired eyes.

“Yes, my love.” Charlotte kissed her chubby neck, clutching her to her chest like a shield.