Her Closest Friend by Clare Boyd

Author:Clare Boyd [Boyd, Clare]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: urn:ean:9781786817693
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

‘What are you going to do now you know?’ Sophie asked Naomi down the phone line as she continued her run through the woods.

‘I went to the police station.’

A lag of recognition, as she paused to catch her breath, as she thought about what this meant for them.

‘When?’

‘Yesterday.’

Sophie’s heart thundered. She started jogging slowly.

‘Did you go in?’

‘No. I’m going to tell Charlie first. Get a lawyer.’

She sounded bold and sure of herself.

‘Do you know what will happen to us?’

‘Yes.’ There was a crack in her voice.

‘You know, then, that it’s an indictable offence. Death by dangerous driving. Fourteen years’ imprisonment.’

‘But it was an accident. They won’t send us to prison.’

Sophie laughed at Naomi’s naivety. ‘They might not rely on our memory alone after all this time. They’d certainly need evidence to convict.’

‘What evidence would they use? It’s been twenty years.’

Sophie stopped in her tracks to explain.

‘What if they decide to use our taped interviews for evidence? What if they already have more evidence from the crime scene than we think? What if someone saw the car? What if they found remnants of the car paint on his body? What if someone in the house-to-house investigations told an officer something they didn’t follow up on at the time? What if they are waiting for one more piece to the puzzle, which you would provide if you walked in to report the crime?’

‘Still…’ she said, trailing off.

‘Why do it now, Naomi? What’s the point?’

‘You really have to ask? Can you even imagine what his mother is going through?’

‘But you’re a mother, too, now. What about the girls?’

There was another break in the flow of their conversation. Then Sophie heard Naomi’s soft crying. Sophie had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop the wry burst of laughter. It hadn’t taken much to break Naomi’s tough talk, to weaken her moral stance, but as she listened to her cry, Sophie felt a spasm of guilt: the emotion she had buried so successfully. Naomi’s anguish was digging out her own. Her sympathy for Jason Parker’s mother brought Sophie’s to the surface. Before now, the event had been clear-cut, a cardboard cutout experience. The rest of it, the bulk of it, the panoramic emotional view of it had been pushed down so deep into her psyche that she had not been able to dredge out one iota of her empathetic self. The mess of it had been streamlined for survival. If she kept the secret, they would escape prison. If she kept the secret, they would have a life. The moral maze had seemed a luxury. Until now.

‘I hate myself,’ Naomi hissed down the phone.

‘You know you wouldn’t survive prison, Naomi,’ Sophie said, poised to tell her the full story if necessary – the need-to-know moment – braced for impact, in full survival mode, which had served her well enough so far. She would not let Naomi bring her down.

Naomi sobbed. ‘I’m not brave enough.’

And then Sophie knew they were safe. The tingles of angst dispersed.

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