Page 49 of Gone in the Night
‘What happened, where was Stefan?’
‘He was getting dressed. She dragged me into the hallway naked, well I had a towel wrapped around me and it fell off. I was so embarrassed. She didn’t care; she dragged me out of the house into the drive with no clothes on. If the maid hadn’t been home and felt sorry for me, I don’t know what would have happened.’
‘Did you speak to Sharon after this incident?’
‘No, she wouldn’t answer any of my calls or messages.’
‘You must have been so angry with her for showing you up like that.’
‘A little, I was sadder to be honest that I’d upset her.’
Or that you got caught, a voice whispered inside Morgan’s head. ‘Have you ever had arguments that have ended in violence in the past?’
She shook her head.
‘Look I am or I was upset that she did that to me, but I didn’t want to kill her over it. I get that she was pissed with me. I acted stupid and could have caused all sorts of problems for her mum. I feel terrible about what I did, but it wasn’t all my fault. Stefan can be quite demanding when he wants something. He doesn’t stop until he gets what he wants. I guess having money that isn’t always spoken for and plenty of it makes you a little more adventurous. You’re talking to the wrong person.’
‘Who should I be talking to?’
‘Stefan, he was furious with her.’
‘Furious enough to murder her?’
Leah shrugged. ‘Poor Sharon. After everything that happened with Eddy, she deserved so much better.’
‘Sharon’s YouTube channel was doing really well; she has a lot of followers on Instagram.’
‘Yeah, she was doing well.’
‘You don’t sound so happy for your friend.’
‘She made me look like some kind of prostitute in front of her stepdad; I was still annoyed with her then she went and got herself killed. Plus, she was making buckets of money even though she had a golden credit card off mummy, and she thought it was okay to ruin my life when I finally had the chance to be with someone who could make my life better.’
Morgan studied Leah, she didn’t like her at all. She was selfish, motivated by money and an awful friend who had tried to split up Sharon’s parents – and was a terrible actress too.
‘Did Sharon ever mention to you if she was having problems with anyone through her social media accounts, any stalkers or creepy people?’
‘There are always weirdos who message on Instagram and Facebook, it’s full of them.’
‘True, but was she particularly worried about anyone. Eddy?’
‘Worried enough to tell me about them you mean? Eddy had left her alone as far as I knew. She said he’d called around to see if they could start again, I mean talk about delusional, but I suppose he wanted a free ride as much as I did.’
Morgan nodded. ‘Did Sharon tell you about the guy she was dating? Jack White?’
Leah shook her head. ‘She was dating? No, she never said a word about him. I had no idea she was seeing someone, maybe that was the reason she was a bit distant. I’m going to be honest with you, Morgan, and it might make me seem as if I was the worst friend in the world, but I don’t see the point in lying to you about anything, nothing I say is going to hurt Sharon anymore, is it?’
Morgan smiled at her, thinking,I already know that you are the worst possible friend that Sharon could have had in the world. Who needs enemies when you have a friend ready to step in and ruin your life for free?
‘Go on.’
‘Sharon and I, well we weren’t close like we used to be. We were drawing apart, different lifestyles, different goals that kind of thing and she was so obsessed with making content for her YouTube channel.’ Leah did air quotes to emphasise her point. ‘She had started the process of pushing me away herself. She knew that we were no longer besties, and it hurt, it hurt a lot. I spent a lot of my time following her around and doing whatever she wanted to do to make her happy; we were always at her house. She rarely came to mine. She didn’t want to slum it when she could have luxury, I get it, I really do, but I sacrificed a lot to make her happy. It’s a shame when it was my turn to be happy that she didn’t see it that way and had to make a whole big deal out of it.’
Morgan snapped her mouth shut, she knew her jaw had gone slack, and she was staring at Leah in a gormless manner thatdidn’t do her any justice, but it was hard pretending not to be offended on behalf of Sharon at her so-called friend’s lack of loyalty.
‘Do you know a woman called Lydia Williams?’
Leah shook her head. ‘I don’t think so, why?’
