The dog wouldn’t stop barking. That was the first thing Sarah noticed as she stepped through the back gate, and it made her pause. David was usually so quiet, but the fireworks had set him off, she supposed. She called his name, expecting him to come bounding around the corner, but there was nothing.
Just silence from the house. The back door was open. That was odd. Sarah hung out the washing and called for David again, a knot tightening in her stomach.
She rounded the corner and looked inside, and that’s when everything went dark. She woke up on the floor of her brother’s house with blood matted in her hair and the worst headache of her life. The police said she’d been attacked, probably caught someone in the middle of a burglary. Sarah couldn’t remember a thing after the dog started barking.
She told them what she could piece together. It was ten o’clock, she said. She’d come back from the wedding reception for a breather. That was all she knew.
A week later, with the bruising still fading and her memory still foggy, Sarah sat in an art therapy class, trying to focus on painting chess pieces. Her fiancé Gary, who had been sectioned after a mental health crisis, was doing well. He’d even mapped out chess notations for a game he’d lost to Roy. The medication wasn’t clouding his thinking as much as he’d feared.
“I was frightened I was going to end up like some sort of zombie,” he said. “But I actually feel a lot better. Like me again. ”
A woman at the next table had been watching them both.
She was quiet, polite, seemed nervous. She asked if they were enjoying the class. Sarah said it was treatment, not fun, but it helped. The woman nodded and said she understood.
Then she introduced herself. “I’m Janine Walsh. Megan’s mother. ”
Sarah’s blood went cold.
The woman had come to apologize. Not to make excuses, she said. Just to say she was sorry for everything her daughter had done. Sarah didn’t want to hear it.
“If I had given life to that thing,” Sarah’s mother snapped, “I’d be sat in my house with the curtains drawn, hanging my head in shame. ”
The woman just stood there and took it. She said she was ashamed, confused, heartbroken. She didn’t know what had happened to her girl.
Sarah’s family told her to leave, that she wouldn’t find answers here. Janine said she was sorry and walked out. Sarah thought that was the end of it. She was wrong.
The trouble had started months earlier with Will. Sarah’s young relative, barely more than a boy, had fallen under the spell of Megan Walsh, his football coach. She was older, predatory, and she’d manipulated him into a secret relationship. Will had been confused, flattered, worn down.
When it was exposed, Will had denied it at first, then told the truth. Megan Walsh was arrested, charged with sexual activity with a child. The trial was set. Will’s testimony was the whole case.
Sarah had been attacked the same night, and the police had always assumed it was a burglary gone wrong. But she’d been at Will’s house that night. Gary had told her something that made her stomach drop. “You know what?
I know a runner when I see one. ”
“What are you talking about? ” Sarah asked. “Where have the others gone?
They asked for the bill and went to sort out the taxis. ”
“Great stuff. ”
“Not really. ”
He’d gone outside and seen the taxi pulling away without them, leaving him to pay the whole bill.
He was furious, but not surprised. “If I went after all the people who treated me like a doormat, I’d never get anything else done. ”
Sarah knew that feeling. She was the one everyone took for granted.
“Do you know what? I am so sick of being the statue from now on. I’m going to be the pigeon. ”
Then a detective came to her house.
She wanted to go over Sarah’s statement again, to make sure they hadn’t missed anything. Head injuries, she said, could cause memories to reemerge. Sarah said she hadn’t remembered anything new. But the detective pressed her about the lead-up to the attack.
Sarah said the dog had been barking his head off. “You’re absolutely sure there wasn’t anything that might indicate what happened? ”
“No, nothing. I wish there was more I could tell you.
”
After the detective left, Sarah’s fiancé Gary came over. He looked pale. “How did you know that the dog was barking when I was attacked? ” he asked.
“What are you talking about? There were lots of dogs barking that night. It must have been the fireworks. ”
“You were so specific about it yesterday,” Gary said.
“You said David was barking. You knew. There’s only one way that’s possible. ”
“What are you saying?
”
“I know it was you. ”
Sarah felt the world tilt. She had been the one who came through the back gate that night and found the door open. She was the one who’d been attacked and left for dead.
But she didn’t remember who had done it. And now, standing in front of her, Gary was telling her he knew. “You’re not thinking straight,” she said. “You had a skinful last night.
”
“I know it was you. ”
“If you really believe that, I’ll go to the police right now. ”
“No, you won’t,” Gary said. “Because if you do, I’ll have to tell them that you’ve been telling porkies about when it happened.
”
“What? ”
“It was half nine, Sarah. You were absolutely certain it was ten just now. And in your initial statement.
”
“What difference does that make? ”
“You’re obviously hiding something. And if you don’t want whatever that is coming out, then you won’t go anywhere near the police station. ”
Sarah swallowed hard.
Gary smiled, cold and confident. “I’ll find out your little secret, Sarah. I always do. ”
She didn’t know how to argue with that.
She didn’t even know what her secret was anymore. She just knew that if the police found out she’d told the wrong time, everything would unravel. Then Will’s testimony fell apart. The trial had barely started.
Will had been on the stand, doing well, answering the prosecutor’s questions. He described how Megan had made him feel special, how she’d pursued him, how their relationship had turned sexual. He said he’d felt frustrated, paranoid, jealous. The prosecutor asked if Megan’s relationship with Mr.
Osborne had exacerbated those feelings. Then it all went wrong. Will looked at Megan Walsh in the dock. She stared back at him.
And something in him broke. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t do this. There was no relationship.
I just wanted it to be true, but I knew that it wasn’t. She was my coach, and that’s all she was. Nothing wrong. I made it all up.
”
The courtroom erupted. Will’s family sat frozen. The judge sent the jury home. Sarah stood outside the courtroom, her heart pounding.
Gary found her. “Thought you might pop in,” he said. “Don’t know what you think you know. ”
“You’ve been fibbing to the police, haven’t you?
They think you were lying on this floor when Theo was killed. ”
“I got the time wrong. Big deal. ”
“Massive deal.
You knew it was me and you nearly killed me. Why? What is it? ”
“What is what?
”
“What you saw in the box? The box that was there that I was looking in before you bashed me over the head? ”
“I don’t remember any box. ”
“What was it you think you saw in this box?
”
Sarah didn’t answer. She just looked at him. “I didn’t tell him about me,” Gary said. “Who?
”
“The detective. I didn’t tell her. But I’m not going to lie to you anymore. If you want to go knocking on Lisa’s door, or you want to speak to Kit, you be my guest.
You tell him what you think you know, and I’ll do the same. Or keep quiet, and you don’t go to jail. ”
Sarah felt sick. She’d been attacked, left for dead, and now the man she loved was threatening her.
She walked away without looking back. The news spread fast. Will had recanted his testimony. Megan Walsh was going to walk free.
Sarah’s family gathered in the café, desperate to figure out what to do. “Can he still give evidence tomorrow? ” someone asked. “If the trial continues,” the solicitor said.
“But if Will keeps denying everything, Ben can give all the evidence he likes. It won’t make a jot of difference. ”
“How could he do this? ”
“She got to him somehow.
Lord only knows what secret messages she delivered with those eyes. ”
Sarah stood apart from them. She could hear the panic in their voices, the anger, the desperation. And she knew she was the only one who could stop it.
Gary knew the truth about the attack. And Sarah knew something about Gary. She’d seen it in his eyes, the same cold confidence he’d had that night outside her flat. She walked over to where Gary was standing, watching the family argue.
“Have you no shame? ” his sister snapped at him. “First you interfere with our boy, and then you put him up to that parading around. ”
Gary didn’t answer.
Sarah looked at him. “I know what you did. ”
“Think what you like. ”
“I’ll find out your little secret, Sarah.
I always do,” he’d said to her the night before. Now she was going to find out his. He looked at her, and for a second, she saw something flicker in his eyes. Fear.
She leaned in close. “You were there that night,” she said. “You were the one who attacked me. ”
He didn’t deny it.
He just stared at her. “I’ll tell them,” she said. “I’ll tell them everything I know. ”
Gary shook his head.
“You won’t. Because if you do, I’ll tell them you lied about the time. You’ll be the one in trouble. ”
Sarah smiled.
It was a cold smile, the kind she’d learned from watching him. “You’ve been fibbing to the police, haven’t you? They think you were lying on this floor when Theo was killed,” she said. “What do you think the police will do when I tell them you were there?
That you were the one who came through the back gate? That you’re the reason I’ve got this scar? ”
Gary’s face went pale. “It was half nine, Gary.
And I know it was you. You attacked me in my brother’s house and left me for dead. And I can tell them I know you were there. Not theories.
Facts. ”
“You won’t try me,” he said. “I already have. ”
He looked at her, and for the first time since she’d known him, he had nothing to say.
Sarah turned and walked back toward her family. Will had gone quiet, staring at the floor. Sarah’s mother was crying. The solicitor was on the phone, trying to get the trial back on track.
Sarah knew it might already be too late. But she wasn’t going to let that woman walk free. Not while Will was too scared to tell the truth. And not while Gary thought he could get away with what he’d done.
She stopped in front of Will. He looked up at her, his eyes red. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know why I did it.
She just… she looked at me. And I couldn’t. ”
“Will,” Sarah said.
“I know you’re scared. But you can do this. We all believe in you. ”
“She’ll get off,” he whispered.
“She’ll walk free. And then she’ll come for me. ”
“Nobody’s going to come for you,” Sarah said. “I promise.
”
She looked back at Gary. He was still standing there, watching her. She knew he wasn’t going to give up. But neither was she.
The trial reconvened the next morning. Will was back on the stand. Sarah watched from the gallery as the prosecutor asked him again about what had happened with Megan Walsh. Will took a deep breath.
His hands were shaking. Then he started to speak. This time, he told the truth. Megan Walsh was convicted.
The court erupted in tears and cheers. Will’s family rushed to hug him. Sarah watched from the side, feeling something release in her chest. The nightmare was finally over.
Gary was waiting for her outside the court. “Thought you might pop in,” he said. “Get away from me. ”
“I only wanted to see how you were doing.
After everything. ”
“You threatened me,” Sarah said. “You told me you’d ruin me if I went near the police. ”
“I was trying to protect you.
”
“No, you were trying to protect yourself. What did you think I saw in that box, Gary? What were you so afraid of? ”
His face went tight.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. ”
“It matters to me. ” Sarah stepped closer. “It was half nine that night.
You came through the back gate. You thought I’d seen something. What was it? ”
Gary didn’t answer.
“I’ll find out,” Sarah said. “I always do. ”
She turned and walked away, leaving him standing alone outside the courthouse.
