Page 129 of Ace My Heart

“Since the Australian Open. Since that night that we spent together.”

I swallowed the bile that was rising in my throat. “So, you were banging the father, but you decided to upgrade to the son? You’ve been having sex with your son’sbrother?” I looked away, disgusted.

Julie looked askance at me. “I’ve never slept with Joel. What on earth gave you that idea?”

I pressed my lips together so she wouldn’t see how shocked I was. Another lie he’d told me.

“I wanted Joel to meet his brother. I knew he was coming to Melbourne for the Open. Steve tried to make me promise not to tell him, but I was adamant – Joel should know he has a brother and Shaun deserves to know he has one too. Steve was … unhappy about it, to say the least.”

I recalled the way Julie had snapped at Steve the day I sprained my ankle. At the time I’d just thought she was angry at him for being unreasonable about what I could safely do, but clearly there had been so much else going on that I’d had no idea about.

“Joel gave me the perfect opportunity, when he asked to take me out that night.”

“So, you let Joel think you were DTF to get him on the hook, and then you dropped the brother bombshell on him? Why are you making him do this? Lie to his own mother, look after a child that isn’t evenhis! Don’t you feel a little guilty about all this?”

Julie’s shoulders slumped. “Of course I do. I told him that I didn’t expect anything from him, but he insisted on continuing his father’s agreement. He helped me to move up here so that he could take a more active role in Shaun’s life.” She looked at me earnestly then. “Mel, he’s a really decent guy. In fact, I’d go as far as to say he’s one of the nicest, most genuine people I’ve ever met.”

I met her eyes for a split second, before looking away.

“Yeah, well, if you like him so much, why aren’t you together – he was more than happy to let me think that was the case.”

“Well, aside from the fact that it would be wildly inappropriate, and I’m not attracted to him in that way … he’s in love with someone else.”

I looked up at her, desperate for more information, but Julie’s face had closed down, and I knew that I wouldn’t get anything more out of her on that side of things. I tried another line of questioning.

“How did Joel take it? When he found out I mean. I guess it would have been a shock. I mean, he had every intention of sleeping with you that night, and instead he finds out his dad got there first.”

Julie had the grace to look ashamed. “I really don’t think he ever planned to sleep with me. He certainly didn’t try to make a move, and I didn’t tell him about Shaun until after we’d had dinner and drinks and coffee. I didn’t tell him until we got back to my place, and I couldn’t avoid it any longer, because the evidence was right there.”

She looked down at Shaun with a loving expression.

“Well, if he wasn’t making any moves, what on earth did you talk about all evening?” I asked.

Julie turned back to me, with a wry expression on her face. “You, Mel. We talked about you.”

I reeled. “Me? Why?”

Julie smiled at me. “Joel wanted to know how best to rehabilitate your ankle. What exercises to work on, how long it needed to be rested. He was very focussed on making sure you got better.”

Well, that made sense. He had just been appointed my trainer at that point, so I guess he was just doing his job.

“So, when he found out, what happened?” I prompted, hoping that Julie’s talkative mood would continue until all the questions swirling in my head had been answered.

The smile slipped from Julie’s face. “He was furious. But not with me. With his father. He couldn’t believe that his dad would do that to his mum. And he was angry that when Shaun was born Steve hadn’t come clean about the whole thing. It was a lot for Joel to take in. I sat up for hours trying to explain everything to him. He took off at about three. I guess he needed some time to come to terms with it, because when he came back a few hours later he seemed much calmer.”

I froze, my heart stuttering. “Wait a minute. You say he left? For a few hours early in the morning?” My stomach dropped.

“Yeah, he said he needed to clear his head and he’d come back in a little while. He was gone for about three hours.” She looked up, noticed my expression. “No, Mel! Don’t eventhinkit – he didn’t!”

“How do you know? He was … God knows where when it happened. He had the perfect motive. You lied to the police for him. Why?”

Julie’s head dropped. “I offered to. I said it would make him look bad if the police knew that he couldn’t back up his alibi. I knew that if they questioned him, if they suspected him, it would get out about Shaun, and I really didn’t want that. So, I gave him an alibi.”

My stomach was doing somersaults.

“But, Mel, I know he didn’t do it. I know that he wouldn’t have killed his own father!”

I thought I agreed with her, but everything was just all upside down all of a sudden, and I didn’t know what to believe.

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