Girl A by Dan Scottow

Author:Dan Scottow [Scottow, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books - crime, thriller and mystery
Published: 2021-03-29T05:00:00+00:00

30

Sitting in a lay-by, Beth cradled her head in her hands. How had it come to this? She had driven the winding lanes around her home for an hour, before pulling over. When the grief had hit her. The sudden realisation that life would never be the same.

That the man she loved may never look at her in the same way ever again.

Of course, she had fantasised about that moment, many times. Offloading her terrible secret. The one thing she did her utmost to make sure Charlie would never find out. She didn’t know what she had expected. She had always imagined that he would be angry for the deception, but then embrace her tightly, telling her he still loved her. She was still his Beth. Nothing would change that.

But the look in his eyes in reality… was far different.

Anger. Hatred. Suspicion?

When he had told her to go, she hadn’t quite believed it at first. His lack of empathy for how hard it had been for her to confess to him felt like a betrayal. It hurt. Real, physical pain.

An aching in her heart that she had never known. Not even when her father had refused to come to court to support her. Nor when he had shouted she was no daughter of his and spat at her.

But she hadn’t loved him. He was a weak, pathetic excuse for a man, so she hadn’t expected anything from him. Charlie was different.

Or so Beth had thought.

‘Stupid, stupid, stupid!’ Beth screamed, as she thumped the steering wheel hard with both hands.

When she had failed to reveal the truth to Charlie within their first year together, she had decided she should never tell him. To have kept a secret for so long was bound to upset him. So she knew in her gut that it had to remain just that. And she had done so well.

Even when she had wanted more than anything to pour her heart out, to scream it in his face. She’d held back. And after she became pregnant with Peter, that simply sealed the deal. She would take her identity to the grave.

But Charlie had backed her into a corner today. She had run out of excuses to not get the police involved. A note threatening their children, and their dog’s blood spilled on their driveway.

No rational person would think attempting to tackle the situation alone was the sensible thing to do. And so she’d been left with no choice. The truth, as hard as it was, the only option.

She pulled her phone from her pocket, dialling Charlie’s number. Straight to voicemail. She hammered out a text asking if she could come home. Demanding he call her.

The waiting drove her insane.

She longed to see her family; to hold her children. How dare Charlie tell her to leave? It was her house. He had no right. Anger replaced her grief.

For better or for worse appeared to be another broken promise.

She started the engine and headed for home. As she drove, she thought of Charlie.

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