Dead of Winter, page 13
One final photo showed adult Daniel holding a bottle of champagne. He was with the friend who had been in the Lamborghini with him and both had full flutes of the drink. The caption read ‘Daniel and Brett celebrating getting their bachelor’s degrees in culinary arts’.
Brett.
Lola remembered hearing his name at dinner. Hadn’t Jimmy mentioned him visiting for Christmas a couple of years back? She assumed the man must be Daniel’s best friend.
There was nothing else for her to see here and she had no desire to snoop any further. She had found the photograph of John and that was what she had come here for. Putting the album and the rest of Annie’s things back in the box and sealing it, she returned it to the shelf.
She was about to move the vacuum cleaner and other items back to where she had found them when a noise came from the other side of the door.
It sounded like someone was clearing their throat.
Fuck.
Someone was out in the hallway.
Lola fumbled with her phone, turning off the torch and barely daring to breathe in case she was heard.
Now she was aware of the low sound of footsteps and the faint beam of light coming through the gap at the bottom of the door.
Did they realise she was in here?
Another thought occurred to her.
Had Jimmy set her up?
The light disappeared now, but she could still hear the faint tread of footsteps.
Had whoever it was gone into the kitchen?
Her suspicions were answered when she heard the sound of a running tap. The pipework must run through the back of the cupboard, the sudden noise of water gushing through them behind her making her jump and bash into the vacuum cleaner.
It clattered, even as she reached out to steady it.
Had she been heard?
Now there was silence and she waited with bated breath, her heart almost thumping out of her chest and her phone clutched tightly in her hand. Her whole body was trembling and it was only in part due to the cold.
As the seconds ticked by, she waited for another sound, but there was nothing.
Still, she knew she couldn’t risk leaving the cupboard yet and she didn’t dare look at the time on her phone for fear the light might show under the door.
Instead, she started to count slowly down from one hundred in her head, aware she needed to give it more time.
Play it safe, Lola.
When she reached one hundred, she would take a chance and open the door.
28
TWO YEARS EARLIER
Norfolk
Rose never intended to start an affair with Brett Corrigan, but she would look back later and realise that Brett’s plan had been to seduce her all along.
He had once been Daniel’s closest friend, and the pair of them had slipped back into a rhythm that at first left Rose feeling like an interloper. She suspected Jimmy did too. It was especially bad when Daniel and Brett reminisced about the past – something she hadn’t been a part of – and how Annie and Nigel had doted on Brett almost as a second son. But running alongside that friendship, Rose noted, was an undercurrent of rivalry, and the longer that Brett stayed, the more consuming that competitiveness became.
Brett had never had the entitlement Daniel sometimes took for granted and it seemed at times he was envious. And now he was confined to a wheelchair, Daniel envied Brett’s freedom. Seeing his friend still able to do all of the things he had once loved was making him bitter.
If he was aware of the furtive glances and flirty little comments Brett made to his wife, he never commented, and while Rose at first hadn’t considered Brett as anything more than Daniel’s friend, she gradually started to notice and to crave his attention.
She was a woman who made an effort with her appearance – not that Daniel seemed to appreciate it much these days – but now she took added care; her hair styled and her make-up perfect, an extra spritz of her favourite perfume, and she always wore matching underwear.
As winter thawed, Brett remained at Midwinter Manor, their strange little foursome bumbling along, with neither Daniel nor Rose pointing out that he had stayed far longer than he was supposed to.
It was with the birth of spring that the four learnt they were to become a five, when Rose and Jimmy’s mother, Agnes, had an episode back home in Scotland that required a hospital stay and then a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.
Rose had wanted to weep when she and Jimmy had first been summoned home by her Aunt Elspeth, who lived a few doors down and had been keeping an eye on Agnes. The burden was becoming too much, she had explained over the telephone, and she had her own family dramas to contend with. It was time for Rose and Jimmy to step up and take over the responsibility for their mother.
Rose wanted to put Agnes into a care home. After the cruelty she had been subjected to throughout her childhood, why should she now be forced to care for her mum? Jimmy, though, was against the idea and he gradually wore Rose down, offering that if Agnes came to live in Norfolk, then he would do the bulk of looking after her.
His extended stay and long-term plans had never really been discussed until this point. Rose was grateful for his help around the house, and Daniel didn’t seem to mind his brother-in-law’s company. Gradually Jimmy had become like part of the furniture.
It was the extortionate care home fees that finally had Rose agreeing. They could easily afford them, but she begrudged the idea of spending so much money on her mother. Daniel had already agreed to do whatever she felt was best for Agnes, so if Jimmy wanted to take on the burden of Agnes’s care, let him.
The following week, he returned to Scotland alone to help clear their mother’s house and terminate her rental agreement, and in the weeks that he was gone, the tension between the three who remained in the house was almost at breaking point.
Daniel and Brett seemed as if they were playing a game of chess, each fighting for dominance as they tried to outmanoeuvre the other. Daniel had a renewed desire to walk again. Where before he had loved the gardens of the manor house, now he barely ventured outside, and he was growing obsessive, spending hours with Monty, locked away in his study as he searched for new doctors who might be able to help him. He had become so tunnel-visioned, he was neglecting his marriage and it had reached the point where Rose barely recognised her husband.
Meanwhile, the slow teasing foreplay of Brett’s seduction was driving her insane. He never touched her, but he often whispered in her ear, letting the caress of his warm breath heat her skin, the scent of his aftershave permeating her senses, while each sinful look he gave her burned through her clothes and suggested he was intending to fulfil an unspoken promise soon.
That day eventually happened when Rose planned a visit to the city of Norwich.
‘I quite fancy heading there myself,’ Brett suggested, his tone casual as he stirred his coffee. ‘If you don’t mind me tagging along.’
Part of the reason Rose wanted to go was to get away from him, aware she needed to shake off her shameful thoughts about cheating on her husband. The atmosphere in the house, and the undercurrent of mistrust, was so intense she could barely think straight. A day in Norwich would help her see sense as she cleared her head.
‘I’m going clothes shopping,’ she said lightly. ‘It will be very boring for you.’
‘I have my own things to do. I just thought it made sense if we rode there together.’
Rose’s cheeks heated, aware Brett was watching her and looking amused as she desperately tried to think of another excuse.
‘I suppose so,’ she agreed, realising there wasn’t one.
‘You could come too if you want, Daniel,’ Brett offered, his tone light, but challenging. Both of them knew Daniel had no interest in going and that he would spend the day locked away in his study.
‘I have stuff to do here,’ Daniel said, slipping a piece of toast crust to Monty, as he turned down the invite. ‘You and Rose go, though.’
As he reached for the butter and concentrated on spreading it on his toast, Brett made a point of catching Rose’s attention again. The look he gave her suggested he had just asked and been granted permission to sleep with his best friend’s wife.
They never made it to Norwich that day. Brett insisted on driving and the sexual tension as they drove away from Saham Toney was at boiling point. When Brett changed gear, his fingers brushing against Rose’s leg, her breath hitched and she almost whimpered.
Moments later, his fingers were inside her, teasing her closer to the edge, neither of them speaking or acknowledging what he was doing as he focused on the road. But later, when he parked in a layby, pulling her from the car and into the woods, where he roughly dragged up her skirt around her waist and fucked her, he made his intentions very clear.
‘What belongs to Daniel is mine too.’
It was as though a dam had broken, Rose’s control snapping. She hadn’t been wanted like this in a long time, and Brett’s all-consuming greed for her was too difficult to resist.
He pursued her whenever Daniel’s back was turned, love-bombing her with filthy messages and secretive gifts, constantly questioning Rose as to whether he was a better lover and making her tell him that he satisfied her more than her husband.
And the risks he took became increasingly dangerous. It was almost as if he wanted Daniel to catch them.
But Rose couldn’t say no.
Daniel loved her, but she had never been wanted in such a crude and primal way.
It was a shame that the arrival of her mother was going to ruin everything.
On the eve before Jimmy returned with Agnes, Brett went out to meet with a friend about a possible business venture, and Rose and Daniel sat alone at the dining table with Monty lying on the floor by Daniel’s wheelchair. It was the first time it had just been the two of them in quite a while.
‘I know you’re fucking him,’ he said quietly as Rose speared a carrot with her fork, his tone so casual at first she thought she had misheard him.
‘Sorry?’
He looked her dead in the eye. ‘I know you are fucking Brett,’ he repeated, each word enunciated.
Her fork wavered in the air as he smiled slowly at her, allowing her time to register his words.
He knew?
Perhaps she shouldn’t be surprised. Brett hadn’t exactly been discreet during their more recent encounters. Still, panic had a rush of thoughts jumbling in her head as she sought for a response, unsure whether to turn on the tears and beg for Daniel’s forgiveness or to admit what had happened and go on the defensive, blaming him for his recent neglect.
In the end, she answered him with just one word. ‘Okay.’
At first, she thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head. He was outraged at her reaction and she could see it had caught him off guard.
‘Is that it? You’re cheating on me with my best friend and all you can say about it is “okay”? I should kick you all out of the house. You and your brother. And what will you do with Agnes? She’s not my responsibility now.’
Rose put her fork down, surprised at how calm she felt now this was out in the open. ‘You won’t do that because I know you’re a good person,’ she told him. ‘You like Jimmy and you won’t throw an old lady with Alzheimer’s out in the street. And you love me. You need me too. I’m the only one who can care for you properly.’
When he didn’t respond, she continued.
‘I never meant for it to happen, if it’s any consolation. Perhaps if you had been a little more attentive it wouldn’t have done.’ She watched his mouth draw a tight line, adding, ‘You know I am right.’
‘Do you love him?’
She thought about it and shook her head. ‘No, I love you. But I have needs. This thing with Brett, it’s just a fling. Or was. Obviously it’s over now and I understand you will want him to leave.’
To her surprise, Daniel threw his cutlery down in temper. ‘No!’ he snapped. ‘I don’t want you to tell him I know.’
‘You don’t?’ Rose’s eyes widened. ‘Okay, you’ve lost me. I don’t understand.’
‘This is classic Brett. He has always liked helping himself to what is mine, taking advantage of my hospitality, and it’s time for it to stop.’
Rose bristled, not appreciating being referred to as an object. She bit down on her annoyance for now, aware she didn’t have the moral high ground.
‘It’s all a game to him,’ Daniel continued. ‘Don’t you understand? But I’m on to him, and I want to see just how far he is willing to go to get one up on me.’
‘Okay.’ Now she was wary, not liking the sound of being caught in the middle. ‘And what is your plan?’ she asked, wanting to understand where this was going, realising the implications if Daniel was to now kick her out of the house, especially with Jimmy and her mother on their way back from Scotland.
‘I haven’t decided yet, but you’re not to say a word to him that I know. I want to test our alleged friendship and see just how disloyal he is.’ Daniel picked up his knife again, running his finger casually back and forth along the dull blade as he spoke, raising his gaze to look Rose in the eye. ‘If he turns out to be as much of a traitorous bastard as I suspect, then you, my darling wife, are going to help me get my own back.’
‘Your own back, how?’ she asked tentatively, her palms dampening as her heart thudded in her chest.
Daniel shrugged. ‘If he’s lucky, I’ll just expose him for the liar and cheat he is.’ He winked at Rose. ‘Or perhaps I should make you help me kill him.’
29
PRESENT DAY
Lola had finished counting, but she was still trying to pluck up the courage to open the cupboard door.
Even though there had been no further noise from out in the hallway, she didn’t trust that the coast was clear. What if whoever it had been was waiting outside to catch her out?
Problem was, she couldn’t stay in there indefinitely, and she didn’t want to either. Although she had now adjusted to the unpleasant odour in the cupboard, she was desperate to get back to the warmth of the fire; her toes were so cold she could barely feel them.
She was just going to have to take a chance.
Slipping the photo of John into the back pocket of her jeans, she gingerly reached out in the darkness, her cold fingers closing around the metal doorknob.
Here goes nothing.
She eased the door open slowly, relieved when it didn’t make any noise this time, and stepped out into the dark hallway.
Her phone was clenched tightly in her hand, but she didn’t want to risk using the torch just yet. Once the cupboard door was shut, she would go into the kitchen for another glass of water. At least then if anyone walked in she would have a valid reason for being there.
As her eyesight gradually adjusted to the darkness, she released a breath. She was alone and whoever she had heard was gone.
Still, she took care closing the door behind her, her legs trembling as she made her way back into the warmth of the kitchen. Now she turned on the torch, sweeping the beam around the room, immediately seeing the evidence of the late-night visitor she had heard.
An empty tumbler sat on the kitchen table, along with a plate of crumbs.
One of the occupants of the house had been in here for a snack.
Daniel and Agnes were in bed and everything Lola had seen of Rose suggested she was neat and tidy. She would surely have cleared up after herself.
It must have been Jimmy.
Had he checked the living room first to see if Lola was still in there, perhaps assuming when he found it empty that she had changed her mind and gone up to bed? Or had he come downstairs and gone straight to the kitchen?
Did he suspect she would go to the cupboard?
He hadn’t checked to see if she was in there, but then he might have already forgotten the conversation they’d had. He had been drinking heavily all night, so it was possible.
Picking up the tumbler that she had used earlier from the drainer, Lola poured herself a fresh glass of water, this time taking it with her as she headed back across the house to the living room, where Monty’s head shot up, his tail wagging at her return.
She wouldn’t go upstairs again. It was too cold and creepy. Instead she’d wait down here by the crackling fire.
The time on her phone told her it was 2.30 a.m., which meant it would be about four or five hours to dawn. Once it started to get lighter, hopefully her paranoia would ease.
Taking a seat on the sofa, the dog at her feet, she pulled the photo of John from her pocket and set it down on the coffee table in front of her.
When she was back home in Manchester, she would begin the hunt for her father. Although she only had his Christian name and this picture, it was a start.
He had worked for Nigel and Annie back at their home near Oxford. Perhaps if Lola went there and asked around locally, someone might recognise him.
It had been a blow learning that both of her birth parents were dead, but now she felt she had been handed another chance. If John was alive, she was determined to find him.
Again she wondered why Daniel and Rose had lied to her, pretending that Nigel had been her father. What could they possibly have to gain from having her believe that?
Daniel had seemed to think that Lola might be after a share of his inheritance, but if they had different fathers, surely it helped prove his case that she was due nothing.
None of it made any sense.
Unless it was Jimmy who was trying to trick her. Maybe even making a joke at her expense. After all, the adoption people had Nigel Whitlock listed as her father.
Lola didn’t believe it, though. She knew in her gut that Jimmy had told her the truth. His slip-up at dinner had seemed genuine, not contrived, and he had seemed nervous telling her about John when she pushed. Almost as if he feared he would be in trouble with Rose and Daniel.
