The Therapist by B.A. Paris

Forty-Three

My mind spinning, I lock the front door from the inside, check that the chain is in place and hurry upstairs to Leo’s study to wait for Thomas. I’m trembling, shaken by the knowledge that Tim has been the one coming to the house at night. Everything points to it, including the way he was so at home in my kitchen the day he came to supper. He must have got a key to the French windows from Ben, then used the gap in the fence between ours and Edward’s to get into our garden – maybe there’s even a gap in the fence between his garden and Geoff’s to make things even easier.

The questions keep coming. Was Ben also involved? If Tim murdered Nina, was Ben his accomplice? And how much does Maria know? Is she completely innocent, or is she part of a conspiracy that includes Eve and Tamsin, even Will and Connor? Unless Ben murdered Nina. Maybe he became obsessed with her when he sold her and Oliver the house, and they had an affair. Did he kill Nina and then tell Tim what he had done? Is that when the cover-up started? Or has everyone been in it together from the start, wanting Nina killed for reasons of their own and setting up Oliver to take the blame?

The thought that I might have been manipulated left, right and centre by the people I thought were my friends is overwhelming. Lorna tried to warn me, she had told me not to trust anyone. But I had ploughed ahead, unwilling to believe that people would lie to me. I should have listened to Edward too; instead of telling nobody I was leaving, I ended up telling everyone.

The sense of impending danger is incredible. I keep my eyes on the gate at the other end of the square, knowing I’ll only be able to relax when I can actually see Thomas. I feel a momentary anxiety. Maria will have gone back to work but what if Eve and Tamsin see Thomas as they walk back across the square from the restaurant? I imagine the two of them nudging each other when they see the tall, good-looking stranger striding along. Will they watch to see where he goes? What if they see him come to the house?

It doesn’t matter if they do, I realise. I don’t have to explain anything to them, I’m not even going to be here. I won’t have to admit that he’s the man who turned up at the party, I won’t have to tell them that I kept him a secret because I’ve been helping him investigate Nina’s murder – a murder which has now been solved. I think of Helen, how thrilled she’s going to be that at last, she’ll have justice for her brother.

And then I see them, Eve and Tamsin, coming into the square. I wait for them to turn towards Tamsin’s house but they stop in the middle of the path. Move! I urge them. Go! They’re huddled together, deep in conversation but that won’t stop them seeing Thomas. He’s not the sort of man to go unnoticed.

Except – he has. Not just at the party but also all the other times he’s visited me. There must have been people around as he walked across the square on his way over, or on his way back, but no-one ever mentioned seeing a tall, dark-haired stranger, despite everyone knowing that I was trying to trace a man who fitted that description. Because nobody really believed he existed.

Tamsin rummages in her bag for something. She begins to move towards her house, Eve following behind. I breathe a sigh of relief but at that moment, Tamsin turns and looks towards the house, her mobile clamped to her ear. I move from the window, hoping she hasn’t seen me. My mobile, which I’ve got in my hand, starts ringing, making me jump. It’s her.

A ring on the doorbell sets my heart racing. Thomas told me not to open the door to anyone. It might be the police; he said he was going to phone them. Maybe they’ve come in an unmarked car. I push my mobile into my pocket and run downstairs.

‘Alice, it’s me.’ Thomas’s voice comes through the door.

I open it quickly, blinking back the tears that have sprung to my eyes.

‘It’s alright,’ he says, catching sight of my face. He lays a steadying hand on my arm. ‘I’m here now.’

‘I watched for you coming across the square but I didn’t see you.’

‘I walked around the outside, I always do. I don’t like to draw attention to myself. Is that your phone ringing?’

‘Yes, but it’s only Tamsin.’

‘Are you sure? It might be the police. I gave them your number.’

‘Yes, look.’ I show him my phone.

‘Don’t you want to answer it?’

‘No, it’s fine.’ We move to the kitchen. ‘We had a row over lunch. I told you, she hates me asking questions about Nina.’ I point to the fridge. ‘There’s the photo.’

He peers at it. ‘I wonder why he put it here?’

‘It’s a calling card,’ I explain. ‘I realised this morning that there were other things I missed, things that I put down to Leo, like a rose on the window sill, a bottle of champagne in the fridge, a photo turned upside down. Each time, he does something – there must be other things I missed. It’s like a game. He’s been playing with me.’ I look up at him. ‘What did the police say when you told them about the photo and Tim’s connection to Nina?’

‘I left everything with my contact there and he went to speak to his superiors. I’m surprised they’re not already here.’

‘Let’s have coffee while we’re waiting.’ My phone starts ringing again and I groan. ‘Tamsin again. Maybe I should just answer it, get it over and done with?’

‘You may as well. But don’t take any stick from her. I’ll make the coffee.’

‘Thanks.’ I take the call, loving that he feels comfortable enough to take over.

‘Alice, don’t hang up!’ Tamsin’s voice comes urgently down the line. I don’t say anything, just wait for her to continue. ‘You said you were doing this for Oliver’s sister.’

‘That’s right,’ I say, hoping she feels guilty.

‘Oliver didn’t have a sister.’

I laugh. ‘Nice try.’ Thomas turns from the sink and gives me a smile, pleased to hear me stand up for myself.

‘Look, I knew Nina and Oliver really well and he told me he was an only child,’ Tamsin says. ‘Nina also mentioned it, his lack of a family, because his mother died when he was young and his father lived abroad.’

‘Don’t phone me again, Tamsin.’

‘Wait, there’s something else! The man that you said turned up at your party?’ My heart sinks. She and Eve must have seen Thomas walking around the outside of the square. ‘If it’s true that Lorna let him in,’ Tamsin goes on, ‘if he did exist, why did you never think that he might be Nina’s killer? Shouldn’t he have been the first person you thought of, instead of suspecting us? Because why would he have turned up at your housewarming, otherwise?’

For one terrible moment, the world stops moving.

‘Alice?’ Tamsin’s voice comes down the line. ‘Are you there?’

Thomas looks over at me, gives me a smile. It jolts me back to reality.

‘As I said, don’t phone me again,’ I say, cutting the call.

I put my phone in my pocket, wishing I could have told her that Thomas is a private investigator looking into Nina’s murder and that he’s found her killer.

‘I take it her apology wasn’t good enough?’ Thomas says.

I shake my head. ‘No, it wasn’t.’

‘I don’t suppose you managed to find out anything about her therapist?’

‘Only what I told you. But he’s hardly relevant now, as Tim is the culprit.’ I smile at him and he smiles back but Tamsin’s words won’t stop crashing through my brain. Oliver didn’t have a sister.

I take out my phone. ‘I need to tell Leo what time I’m leaving so that he can move back in, he’s been hassling me to let him know. I was going to leave in about an hour but maybe I should wait, in case the police come.’

‘Why don’t you tell him you can’t give him a time, so he’ll have to wait until tomorrow?’

‘Good idea,’ I say, already texting Leo.

Can you find out if Oliver had a sister? It’s urgent, really urgent.

He texts back almost immediately. You told me he did. And how am I meant to find out?

‘I knew he’d moan,’ I say with a rueful smile. ‘He’s not happy about having to wait until tomorrow.’

‘Tell him he doesn’t have a choice.’

‘Alright.’

I don’t know! I text back. Just find out. Please!

I’ll do my best. Btw, I spoke to Ben. He didn’t know the Maxwells. He’s only been with Redwoods two years. Ours was the first house he sold in The Circle.

My heart begins a slow, dull thud in my chest. I look over at Thomas, Tamsin’s voice echoing through my brain.

Why did you never think that he might be Nina’s killer?

‘What did Leo say?’ Thomas asks.

‘That I win,’ I say, putting my phone face down on the table so that he won’t be able to see what Leo says when he texts me back about Oliver having a sister. ‘He’ll wait until tomorrow.’

‘Good.’

He finishes making the coffee and brings it over to where I’m sitting.

‘Did you tell Helen that I’m looking forward to meeting her on Wednesday?’ I ask.

‘I did, and she said to tell you that she’s looking forward to it too.’ He pulls out the chair opposite me. ‘I’ve been thinking – I know it might seem a bit – well, early – but I’d love you to meet my parents at some point. And Louis.’

‘I’d like that,’ I say, lifting my cup to my lips. I try and sort through the thoughts careering through my mind, colliding with each other, cancelling each other out. Thomas had shown me a photo of him and Helen at university together. No, he had shown me a photo of him with a young woman.

‘It will be great if you can tell Helen you’ve found the person responsible for Nina’s murder. If it does turn out to be Tim,’ I say.

‘I’m a hundred per cent sure that it’s him.’

‘What would his motive have been?’ I raise my eyes to his face, a face I’ve come to know well, the green specks in his eyes, the way his hair falls onto his forehead. He looks too kind, he has a son, he has parents, he wants me to meet them. He can’t have murdered Nina, it’s not possible, how would he have even known her? Unless she hired him to investigate Oliver. Or Oliver hired him to investigate Nina, because he suspected her of having an affair. The one thing I do know is that Thomas Grainger is a private investigator, because I checked out the address he gave me. Unless he lied, like Leo did. Maybe his name isn’t Thomas Grainger. Maybe he’s not a private investigator. Maybe he doesn’t have a son, or parents.

‘Who knows?’ he says. ‘Maybe he fell in love with Nina when she and Oliver moved in here. Maybe they had an affair, and when she tried to end it, he killed her.’

Is that what happened, I wonder? Is that his story? Did Thomas, if that is his name, have an affair with Nina? If he did, when and how? How come nobody saw a stranger, coming regularly to the house? But then, Thomas has been visiting me once a week for the last five weeks and nobody saw him coming to the house on any of those occasions, not even Eve, and she lives next door. And I realise – she wouldn’t have seen him because, apart from today, Thomas always comes to see me on Wednesday afternoons, when Eve goes to yoga with Tamsin and Maria. Nina used to go with them but she stopped, because on Wednesdays, she saw her therapist.

And that’s when I know.

He is the therapist.