She managed a nod, and couldn’t fathom if her mum was annoyed with her or merely confused. ‘Yes, I saw it all. It was Caspar who knocked the man over. Then he drove away.’
‘Oh dear God!’ Leonora let go of Rosina’s hand and covered her mouth, her eyes round with shock.
Violetta. ‘So it was a hit-and-run?’
‘Yes.’
‘The sick bastard!’ Violetta sounded disgusted while Leonora looked like she was in shock.
And then her mother asked the dreaded question that Rosina knew would blow their world apart. ‘So were you driving past? And why didn’t you tell the police? Why haven’t you said something before now? I don’t understand what’s going on, Rosina.’
Leonora had gathered her wits. ‘Mum, give her time. You can tell she’s traumatised by what she saw. It’s okay, Rosie, it wasn’t your fault. Lots of people panic when they see stuff like that so don’t be worrying about the police, they’ll understand why you didn’t ring them.’
Rosina shook her head, knowing what she was about to say would further add to their confusion but she had to take it steady, not just blurt it all out in one hysterical go. ‘It’s not what any of you think and if you thought Vi’s confession was a shock, wait till you hear the mess I’m in.’
Her inquisitors looked from one to the other but it was her mum that Rosina was most concerned about. When her face softened, the voice that sliced through the hush was calm and measured, no panic, no drama, no fear. ‘Just tell us, Rosina. Whatever it is, we will stick together as a family. I will sort it out, I promise.’
‘You make it all sound so simple, Mum. You always do and I wish I’d come to you earlier because now I have the death of a man on my conscience. And if that wasn’t bad enough, my shame, the secret I’ve been keeping actually caused it. So before I tell you, I want you to know I’m sorry. More sorry than you will ever know.’
When nobody spoke – and who could blame them after a speech like that – Rosina took their shocked silence as her cue and before she was interrupted took a lungful of Appleton air, gripped the glass of water, and then told them all the truth.
* * *
Leonora had made coffee then called them over to the table while Rosina stood over the sink, splashing her face with cold water to de-puff her swollen eyes. It was done. All out in the open. Every sordid detail of the sad life she’d been living for months. And to give her family credit, none of them had keeled over from the shock of finding out their sister was an addict and in terrible debt, never mind being an accessory to a fatal road accident. After drying her face with the tea towel she turned to face them, her stoical sisters and steel-faced mother.
Resigned to a further grilling, she went over to the table and took her seat while they waited quietly and patiently for Violetta to return from the loo. When she did, her first words were an attempt to lighten the mood; it was her go-to tension reliever.
‘Right, I’m back. I hope I didn’t miss anything… like Mum confessing to being a serial killer and burying the bodies under the garden centre, and that Bern used to be called Bernice and Gran was a spy in the war.’
Leonora chuckled as she passed around mugs of coffee. ‘Vi, what are you like!’ Taking a sip, she looked along the table to her mum who was ominously silent. ‘What are we going to do, Mum? About everything. I feel like ringing Caspar up right now and telling him what a sicko he is.’
Rosina remained silent. She was depleted in every way, too exhausted to speak or think so she let the others do it for her.
Carmen rubbed her forehead as she replied, her tone telling them all who was in control of the situation. ‘For a start we need to be sensible and very cautious. None of us will speak to Caspar. Not until we have a plan.’
Leonora was aghast. ‘A plan?What do you mean? The first thing we should do is tell the police what he did. He can’t get away with what he did to that man.’
To this, Carmen asked a question of her own. ‘You mean the man who tried to blackmail and rape your sister? A man that has probably made many people’s lives a complete misery with his inflated interest rates, feeding on their desperation to make a fortune. And what do you think he would have done if he’d caught up to Rosina? Beat her up, dragged her into the forest and raped her, taken her car keys? I’m sorry, Leonora, but I’m having trouble dredging up an ounce of sympathy for someone like that.’
Leonora lifted her palms in surrender. ‘Well, I suppose when you put it like that. I was just thinking of his family, if he has one. Surely they will be upset and want justice.’
Rosina knew the answer to that. ‘He hasn’t got family, no kids. It’s common knowledge that he lives fast and loose, always bragging about his young girlfriends and jet-set lifestyle. He fancied himself as one of the Cheshire set but I’m not sure if that was the case. That’s not the issue, though, is it. The issue is doing the right thing, whatever that is.’
Violetta piped up next with plenty to say on the subject. ‘Well, I’m sure it will come as no surprise to any of you that I have zero sympathy for either of them. Caspar has been cheating on Leo ever since they met. He told me in his fake-name emails that he’d been seeing doms and escorts for years and I’m sorry, Leo, unlike me, escorts get their hands dirty, so to speak.’
Carmen sighed. ‘Dear Lord, you have such a way with words, Violetta.’
Shrugging, Violetta continued with her analysis. ‘And as for that fucking loan shark, if he wasn’t dead I’d kick him in the bollocks for what he tried to do to Rosie, never mind trying to take her car too. He’s a scumbag and people like him feed on despair and get a thrill out of thinking they have power over someone. They disgust me and I’d be more than happy to spit on his grave.’
Leonora gave her sister a sideways glance. ‘Jeez, Vi. Say it like it is, why don’t you?’
Violetta gave another shrug as her mum agreed. ‘You’re right, about both of them but let’s focus on practicalities first. Starting with you. Our main aim is to prevent Caspar from blabbing about your ex-career and most of all, Darcy being upset. Are you really giving it up, do you mean it?’
This was met by furious nodding from Violetta. ‘One hundred per cent. No way am I risking this ever happening again. It was a massive wake-up call and after I left here on Friday I went home and deleted all my social media accounts, Dina’s I mean. I shut her down. I promise you, she’s gone for good. And I did the same with my own, just in case.’
Violetta took a gulp of her coffee, two red spots appearing on her cheeks as her green eyes flashed emerald which told Rosina her sister was telling the truth.
Carmen gave a nod. ‘Good.’ Then she addressed Rosina and Leonora. ‘You two won’t know this but Violetta’s bakery is closing which means she might struggle financially for a while, until she decides what to do going forward. So she’s going to come and live here with Darcy and let out her house to cover the mortgage. Rosina, I’d like you to take her on at the garden centre. Violetta has a little nest egg saved but I would prefer her not to dip into that. Let’s face it, she’s earned it the hard way.’ Raising an eyebrow Carmen gave the hint of a smirk.
