Page 93 of You Lied First
If Margot and I can ‘prove’ that Guy did it and hence enable the kids to get on with their lives, Liv will surely start to forgive me. I’d have a lifetime to make it up to her. We’d get things back on track, I know we would. In many ways, I admire Liv’s strong moral code; the stance she takes on things she feels are wrong. But, as I sit there mulling it all over, I begin to understand one thing: she didn’t get that from me.
Margot phones just as I finish my lunch. Beans on toast as I have nothing else in the house.
‘Did you have any more thoughts?’ she asks. ‘I’ve gone over it from every angle and I think it’s definitely what we need to do if we’re to get the police off our backs. Agreed?’
‘Agreed,’ I say. ‘But look. We do need to be absolutely sure this is watertight otherwise we’ll end up in even deeper trouble.’
‘Okay. Tell me.’
‘The video doesn’t prove that Guy killed her,’ I say. ‘It just shows him going into the tent. The police could argue with that? Say that, umm, someone else went in later?’
‘Sara! You saw the video! He argued with her, shoved herinto the tent and climbed in after her. It was the night she was strangled in that very tent! Come on! Wake up! We need to face the truth. Guy is not the man you think he is.’ Her voice drops. ‘You want the truth about the golden boy, Sara? My husband is a philanderer, a narcissist and a bully who left bruises on Flynn’s skin. He and I no longer feel safe in the same house as him. Is that enough for you?’
Absolutely.
‘Or do you need me to tell you about the night he raped me?’ she continues. ‘Before the fundraiser. I decided not to resist. But, when the chips are down, Sara, my consent was not there, and he knew it. If that’s not rape …’
‘Margot. I … I’m so sorry. I had no idea.’
‘Why would you know?’ Margot says. ‘I said nothing. I don’t believe in airing our dirty laundry. As it is, I’ve been preparing to divorce him. I’ve been speaking to a solicitor and getting my affairs in order before I tell him because I know that once I do, he’ll fight very, very dirty. He’s a man who doesn’t like to lose. Anything.’
‘Margot.’ I try to convey a hug with the word.
‘But now I have something better. The man deserves to pay. And the sooner we get on with it the better. I don’t want to spend another day under the same roof as that man so we need to tell the kids. I was actually calling to say I’d like to pick up Liv with Flynn from school this afternoon, then come to yours so we can break it to them together. What do you think? Shall we do it today?’
‘I’m in,’ I say.
77
MARGOT
Margot tells the kids as little as possible in the car on the way to Sara’s – just that she and Sara have something to talk to them about. Liv starts to kick off about not wanting to go to her mum’s but Margot cuts her off.
‘This isn’t about you, Olivia,’ she says. ‘Can you please just grow up?’
The car journey after that is quiet and Margot doesn’t bother trying to engage them in chat about school. Sara gives them a guarded smile as she opens the front door.
‘Come in, come in,’ Sara says. ‘I’m just making tea.’
She tries to give Liv a hug, which Liv shies away from, then exchanges a grim smile with Margot and shows everyone into the living room. They take their seats while Sara goes off to get a tray with the tea things. Margot tuts to herself. It’s not a social occasion; they just need to get this ball rolling. Still, Sara sets about serving everyone a cup like she’s the hostess with the mostest while Margot wonders if she’s the first person in the world to tell their child that their father is a murderer over a cup of Earl Grey tea.
‘So what’s this about?’ Liv says when they’re all seated. ‘You know I didn’t want to come, but she made me.’
Sara opens her mouth to speak, but Margot answers first. Her husband. Her story. She’s telling it.
‘It’s to do with what happened in Oman,’ she says. ‘Some evidence has come to light.’
Liv gasps and her head swings from Margot to Sara to Flynn and back.
‘Do you know who did it?’ Flynn says.
Margot nods. ‘I do.’
‘Well then? Was it Dad?’ Flynn’s on the edge of his seat, his leg jiggling with nervous energy.
Suddenly heat flushes through Margot making her wipe her brow with a hand that comes away damp. She blows air out like she’s been exercising and ploughs on before Sara can say anything.
‘Do you remember the night-vision camera your dad bought at Christmas?’
