Thinking it was a fairly reasonable but off-subject question, he answered. ‘It’s my mother’s. Mine’s gone in for an MOT.’
A sarcastic tone was evident in her reply. ‘Oh, I see. So, it wasn’t damaged then? You know, on Friday when you knocked that man down on the road up there and left him for dead when you drove off?’
Caspar’s stomach turned and for a minute he thought he was going to pass out. He couldn’t speak or think. Carmen did that for him.
‘Mmm, now I wonder if I should ring the police and give them the reg of your car, and mention that you were in the area around the time the dead man was found. Perhaps they’d pay you a visitandcontact the garage where your car is. You know, check whether it really is having an MOT; or a quick repair job after someone’s body smashed into it?’ She paused and then asked with mock concern, ‘Oh no. You look a little pale, Caspar, are you okay?’
She knows. Fuck, she knows, but how?
Caspar’s mind was in full screaming panic mode.
There was nobody on the road. So she must have been walking in the woods with her smelly dogs and seen what I did. How though? She’d been at the house just before so that means it was somebody else. I’m fucked. I could go to prison. I can’t go to prison. It’ll kill mother. Keep calm, it’s still her word against mine though.
Caspar took a gamble. ‘You’re bluffing. You have no real proof.’
Hope suddenly dissipated when she pulled out her phone and tapped the screen, then he felt his own vibrate. Taking it from his coat he opened the photo message.
Yes, I am well and truly totally fucked.
‘What do you want?’
A smile from the winner. ‘That’s more like it.’
She removed her hands from her pockets and eyed him, a cold glint in her eye. ‘This is what is going to happen. We will keep your secret if you keep Violetta’s. It’s as simple as that. And you need to remember, Caspar, that while you are looking down your nose at my daughter, you’re the one who had… shall we say, certain fetishes and quirks which no doubt you would prefer to keep to yourself. Deary me, what would your mother say, or your fellow accountants, or your boss if they knew what you really got up to in your lunchtime?’
Caspar quailed, struck mute by the thought of the ridicule he’d endure. He’d been so sure he had it all sussed and as he listened to Carmen’s words, she confirmed how wrong he was.
‘So, now the past is done with, let me tell you about the future. You will never contact any member of my family again. You will look for another job, in another town, well away from here. Tell them you fancy a new challenge, a change of scenery. I don’t care. Just go. Start again. You’ll be fine.’
He opened his mouth to protest and was silenced by the raising of a hand and her pointed finger. ‘I won’t have your grimy fingers anywhere near my business and I never wish to see your face again. You have one month. If you don’t do as I say I will ring the police and tell them what I saw when I was walking in the woods.’
Desperation at losing his job and his liberty forced him to speak. ‘You’ll get in trouble, for not reporting a crime.’
‘Wrong. You’re an accountant not a solicitor so stick to what you know or google it, like I did. And anyway, I was in shock, conflicted, maybe a bit scared of you. Whatever I say or however you look at it, Caspar, you are the one who killed a man so it’s your call. Is it worth it? The scandal of leaving someone to die versus outing Violetta and yourself in the process.’
He watched, stunned as she turned and headed to the driver’s door of her car where she stopped. ‘So, do we have a deal?’
The look on her face was one of supremacy and in that moment he wondered how he’d not seen it before, the steel behind the eyes of a woman everyone revered. The cuddly grandmother whose family adored her, who treated her employees with kindness and respect, a stalwart of the community, local businesswoman of the year many times over, and an ice-cold, calculating bitch who’d just kicked him right in the bollocks. Carmen the Chameleon.
‘I’m waiting, Caspar. I haven’t got all day and you have a resignation letter to write.’
He knew when he was beat so nodded. ‘We have a deal.’
And that was that. Without saying a word she opened the door and got into her car and within seconds, was driving towards the exit, back to her nice cosy life and imperfect family. Opening the door of the Kia he folded himself inside and as he started the engine caught a glimpse of his reflection in the rear-view mirror and spoke to the loser who’d been well and truly slapped into place.
‘And a merry fucking Christmas to you too!’
27
Leonora
Manchester city centre
The break room had never been so full and Leonora and Sam were squashed into a corner, him clutching his raffle tickets. She hadn’t seen him all week as they’d been on alternate shifts so in between draws she’d tried to bring him up to date with the Caspar saga without being overheard.
Anyone who could spare a few minutes had popped in to watch Bev, their manager, make the draw. The atmosphere was buoyant and as each number was drawn a loud cheer went up. Leonora suspected that most people, her included, were on a high and looking forward to a lull in the craziness of Christmas, now that the hotel was slowly quietening down as guests and diners headed home for festivities. She was also looking forward to a few days off and the party later that evening at the garden centre, and then the luxury of a lie-in on Christmas Eve.
Now that her mum had sorted everything out with Caspar, and Rosina had told Lou the truth it was as though everyone could breathe again. Lou was a diamond, he really was, and once he got over the shock had vowed to support his wife. Violetta literally couldn’t wait to get her house listed with a lettings agency and move back to Appleton and it made Leonora smile, knowing that their badass sister was actually a home bird with a squashy centre. She hid it well but not from everyone. They hadn’t told Darcy yet, simply because none of them could bear the thought of her pestering so it was going to be a big surprise in the new year.
