Page 90 of You Lied First
‘Let’s just say there’s a lot you don’t know,’ Margot says.
‘He’s not the easiest person to be with, I imagine.’
‘He’sGuy,’ she says. ‘Do you know what I mean? He’s too much. He’s always in my face. Controlling. Bulldozing. Belittling me. Always telling me what to do. He always has to have the last say. And he’s always right. He’s always goddamned totally right. Even when he’s not. I hate the effect it’s having on Flynn.’
Memories of Guy taking charge, forcing things to be done his way, insisting that his way is the only way chase each other through my mind’s eye, and I nod.
‘I liked his swagger to begin with,’ Margot says. ‘I hadn’t known anyone like him. I found it … compelling. He was the first person I’d met who knew what he wanted and how to pursue it. He was a force of nature. It’s a powerful feeling to be pursued by someone like that. It was sexy.’ She shrugs and stares into her coffee, her eyes misting over with the memories. ‘But now? After twenty plus years of marriage? I’ve realised he’s just a bully.’ She gives her head a little shake. ‘I’m not a quitter, but I’ve reached a line in the sand. I want a different life. One where I can make my own decisions without having to go into mental battle. And I want to show Flynn that this is not how a successful man treats a woman. My biggest fear is he’ll turn out like Guy.’
‘Flynn’s lovely! You don’t need to worry about that. He’s so sweet with Liv.’
‘Thank you. I’ve done my best.’ She sighs again. ‘I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. It’s not really relevant. The point is, Guy’s finally pushed it too far. He killed someone, and I have proof.’
My face scrunches up. ‘What proof?’
‘Let me show you. Just be a sec. It’s in the safe.’ She slides off her stool. ‘Can’t be too careful,’ she throws over her shoulder as she leaves the room.
Wow. Proof in the safe. What could it be? Could it be possible that I hadn’t actually killed Celine? Had Guy finished her off? I mean, I’d known deep down that she was dead when I left her in the tent – but I don’t have a lot of experience in that department. Maybe I’d been wrong.
I look around me. Sitting in Margot’s kitchen with her and potentially planning Guy’s downfall feels Shakespearian. All we need is a cauldron, a newt and a strand of Guy’s hair. Margot interrupts my thoughts. In her hands is neither a smoking gun nor a newt but a strange-looking chunky camo-coloured device, which she holds up for me to see.
‘Ta-da!’ she says. ‘It’s all on here.’
‘What?’ I ask, as shock jolts through me like electricity. Is that acamera?
‘Trail camera,’ Margot says. ‘Night vision. Christmas present from Guy. For him more than me, as is always the way. Completely forgot we had it. It’d got caught up in the camping gear. I had to get Di to courier it over.’
My mouth falls open as what she’s going to say starts to dawn on me.
‘It was on that night,’ Margot says. It has a motion detector, so it videos each time something moves. And guess what it caught, along with a desert fox? It caught my husband fighting with Celine in the wee hours, shoving her into her tent, then coming out half an hour later. How’s that for proof?’
I suddenly can’t breathe. It had been 4.30 a.m. when I’d left Celine’s tent myself. I press my hand to my chest to hidethe thumping that must be so obvious, but Margot takes my reaction as relief.
I swallow. ‘Did it run till morning?’ I manage to say.
‘I set it when we went to bed and the batteries ran out soon after Guy left her tent – but I got the main act, didn’t I? Here, let’s watch. We can see it on my laptop.’
‘And what happens when the batteries run out?’ I say, my voice barely more than a whisper. ‘It just cuts out? Stops working?’
‘Yes, but it doesn’t matter. I got the important bit,’ Margot says. ‘Are you all right?’ She peers at me.
‘Yeah … I’m just …’
‘I know! I couldn’t believe it either. Talk about getting hoisted with your own petard.’
She brings over her laptop and connects the camera while I try to regulate my breathing. Until I see it with my own eyes …
Margot clicks the mouse. ‘Okay, here we go. Come closer.’
74
MARGOT
Sara peers at the screen. Margot selects one of the videos.
‘Right, here we go. First the fox, then Celine, then Guy.’
Despite having watched this video several times, she’s still transfixed to see the campsite again. There it is in black and white and grey, and it all comes back viscerally. She can feel the warmth of the daytime sun; the softness of the sand underfoot; and the chill that descended once the sun went down. She remembers the cold crispness of the gin and tonic; the lurching fear when Flynn had fallen off the quad bike; the giddiness of having had too much alcohol a bit later; and the sound of the tent zip slowly ticking open, which she now knows she had neither dreamed nor imagined. She really had heard it. And Guy really had said he just went for a wee – nothing about seeing Celine, arguing with her, et cetera et cetera …
