One of Us Is Lying: A totally gripping psychological thriller with a brilliant twist

by Shalini Boland

  ‘Don’t worry, Tia. You and I didn’t actually do anything together – I’m not that desperate. Although I wouldn’t put it past you to pretend that we did. That seems to be a thing with you girls – making stuff up. Crying wolf.’

  My skin crawls at this, so I can only imagine how Tia must be feeling. I look across at her and try to convey my support, but she’s shaking with rage as she glares at Greg.

  ‘And finally… Kelly. Well, you’ve probably guessed what your personal hell was. My sister here is a good little actress, don’t you think? She certainly fooled you. And now you’re facing a prison sentence for holding her against her will. And when it comes out that she’s Brian Lawson’s daughter, the case against you will be even stronger.

  ‘We’ve got it all worked out. How the three of you lured us here tonight because we discovered you lied about our father. I’m going to remove your gags in a minute and each of you is going to confess what you did back then. I’m going to record you and take your confessions to the police, to the papers and to the school. They’re going to clear our father’s name. He might not be alive to see it, but we’ll make sure everyone else knows he was an innocent man.’

  Thirty-Eight

  FIONA

  Sophie walks over and uses the knife to slice off my gag. I swallow and gulp down air as she does the same to my friends. I try to catch her eye, but she still won’t look at any of us. Kelly and I are quiet for the moment while we catch our breath, but Tia immediately lets out a torrent of abuse.

  ‘What the fuck, Greg? You’re Rosie’s teacher! You’ve had access to my child! How is that possible? Are you even qualified or did you lie to the school to get the job? And spiking my drink! How do I know you didn’t take me home? That you didn’t take advantage of me? It’s your word against mine!’

  ‘Yes, Tia,’ Greg replies. ‘Funny how that works, isn’t it?’

  ‘You’re a fucking nutter. Just like your dad.’

  Greg strides over and slaps Tia’s cheek, hard. She gasps, but the fury still shimmers in her eyes.

  Greg turns to me as Sophie joins him once again. ‘Got anything to add, Fiona?’ he asks.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I say, my voice weak and wavering, ‘but you’re wrong.’

  ‘About what?’ He seems bored by the question.

  ‘About your dad.’

  ‘It’s only us here now,’ he says. ‘You don’t have to lie any more. That’s what this whole evening is about.’ He waves his arms around. ‘Being honest. Owning up. Confessing to your teenage misdemeanours.’

  ‘But I didn’t lie.’ No matter how angry I might make him, I can’t let him carry on believing his dad was a saint.

  Greg’s mouth tightens. ‘This is getting tedious.’

  ‘Your dad, I liked him. I thought he was good-looking and cool and a great teacher.’

  ‘I know you did,’ Greg says. ‘That’s what I’m talking about. You flaunted yourself at him, didn’t you? And he rejected you, so you got your own back by making stuff up.’

  ‘That’s not what happened.’ My mind reaches down for the memories I’ve suppressed for so long. I pull them out tentacle by slimy tentacle and force myself to face it all again. To make this man understand who his father really was.

  ‘School had already finished for the day. But I went back to the classroom – I’d forgotten my history book. When I got there, Mr Lawson was still at his desk. We talked about the upcoming weekend. He wasn’t like most teachers; he was easy to talk to. I told him there was a party going on, but I didn’t know if I wanted to go to it or not. He said if he was my age, he’d go to all the parties because all he had time for these days was household chores and marking homework. We laughed.’

  I’m back there in that room, the sunlight slanting through the high sash windows, falling in wide stripes across his desk.

  ‘He… stood up and he kissed me. And for a split second I kissed him back. But it felt wrong. It felt gross. He smelled… grown-up. Nothing like the boys I’d kissed before. I tried to pull away from him, thinking we’d both be mortified, and he would apologise, and we’d never talk about it again. But instead, he started groping me and saying all this awful stuff. He wouldn’t let go of me. He said he knew I fancied him. He said that he wanted to do all this stuff to me, which I’m not going to repeat here. And his hands were everywhere, and it was horrible. So I kneed him in the groin, and I ran.’

  ‘Liar!’ Greg cries.

  Sophie is staring at me wide-eyed. I try to hold her gaze for a good long time. Try to get her to understand that I’m telling the truth.

  ‘I’d never been so scared in my whole life,’ I stutter. ‘I felt physically sick. And terrified. I thought it was all my fault. It was only years later that I realised it wasn’t anything I did. That Mr Lawson was in a position of trust. And even if I had wanted to kiss him, that he was still in the wrong. I was a child, a pupil at the school. I was under their care. Even if I hadn’t been a child, the minute I pulled away, he should have let me go. Not forced me to carry on. Not put his hands on me. What he did was wrong.’

  ‘Dad wouldn’t have done that,’ Sophie mutters, but she doesn’t sound too sure of herself any more.

  ‘Sophie, I’m sorry, but he did.’

  ‘Fiona’s telling the truth,’ Kelly says. ‘I know it must be a horrible thing to hear. Impossible to believe, especially if he was a good father. But you were children back then. Innocent. You’re not responsible for what he did. You don’t have to do this out of some sense of loyalty. I’m sorry for what you both went through, but you have no idea what it was like for Fi. She was a mess back then. She was so traumatised by your dad. And it wasn’t just her. You must have known that other girls came forward after Fiona reported him.’

  ‘All liars.’ Greg glares at Kelly. ‘Attention-seekers.’

  ‘Fiona was our best friend,’ Tia says. ‘We were with her right after it happened. We saw how upset she was. We saw what she went through. You didn’t see the effects of his behaviour. You didn’t see how her personality changed. How she became nervous around boys. How she became more serious and stopped wanting to go out.’

  I’m shaking now; my whole body trembling inside and out. I hadn’t realised that my friends had noticed such a difference in me after that day. How they’d almost lived it with me. How they really tried to support me back then. I don’t think I ever gave them enough credit for that.

  ‘I didn’t want your dad to die,’ I stammer, ‘but I’ve always told the truth. He shouldn’t have come on to me like that. He shouldn’t have touched me. And like Kelly said, it wasn’t just me – he did the same to at least two other girls. If I hadn’t reported him, he might have gone on to do it to even more.’

  ‘Shut up!’ Greg snaps. ‘Just, all of you, shut the fuck up. I should’ve known you wouldn’t admit the truth. That you’d all have your stories straight. Like when you lied to the police back then.’

  ‘Actually,’ Kelly says, ‘Fiona didn’t want to tell anyone. Straight after we got the truth out of her, she said she regretted telling us and she begged us to keep it quiet, but Tia and I persuaded her to report him because it was the right thing to do.’

  ‘Why would we have made something like that up?’ Tia says. ‘It makes no sense. Before that happened we thought your dad was a great teacher. We liked him. All the kids did. And a lot of them were horrible to Fi afterwards. To all of us. Even some of the parents.’

  Kelly clears her throat. ‘We’ve told you the truth, now please just let us go. If you wanted revenge, you’ve got it. You’ve made our lives a living hell these past few days. We’re good people. We did nothing wrong. Untie us now, drop the charges, and we’ll say no more about it. We give you our word we won’t go to the police.’

  ‘Just, all of you, be quiet. I can’t think.’ Greg holds his head and walks away for a moment, out of the lantern’s pool of light and into the dark shadows of the room.

  While he mutters to himself, Sophie stands root
ed to the spot as though she’s paralysed. I can’t tell whether she believes us or her brother. I think maybe she’s torn. Maybe we’re making her realise that her father wasn’t the man she thought he was. Or maybe that’s wishful thinking on my part.

  Kelly tries talking to Sophie again. ‘I know it must have been awful for you hearing that stuff about your dad back then. And then him committing suicide. It’s a terrible thing you went through. But taking it out on Fiona and the rest of us isn’t the answer. She’s as much a victim as you.’

  Sophie scowls at Kelly. It may be my imagination but I’m sure her cheeks flush, as though she’s embarrassed. As though she knows she’s in the wrong.

  ‘Talk to your brother,’ Kelly pleads. ‘Listen to me, Sophie—’

  ‘Listen to me, Sophie,’ Greg mimics, stepping back into the light. ‘As if she’s going to be fooled by your pathetic lies. I should have known you wouldn’t do the decent thing and admit to what you did.’

  But Kelly isn’t giving up. ‘Sophie, your brother’s angry. He’s lashing out at us. But don’t let him drag you down. Don’t let him ruin your life. I thought we were becoming friends before, back at the house. If you won’t let us go for me, then do it for Ryan and Sonny. They really bonded with you. Do you want them to grow up without their mum as well as their dad? Do you really want that for them? Could you live with yourself knowing you destroyed their childhood?’

  ‘Boo fucking hoo,’ Greg sneers. ‘What about our childhood? Mine and Sophie’s? Who’s responsible for destroying that? Oh… yeah… it was you.’ He stares at us each in turn before grabbing his sister’s arm and pulling her towards him.

  I wince as I see Greg’s rough treatment of Sophie. ‘Does he hurt you, Sophie?’ I call out. ‘Did he force you to do all this?’

  ‘Shut up, bitch.’ Greg’s face is a mask of frustration and in that instant, I get a clear-as-day flashback of his father looking at me in the same way. The exact same expression when I wouldn’t go along with what he wanted. It knocks the air from my body, and I feel as though I’m shrinking into myself.

  Sophie follows her brother out of our view, and I can hear them having a whispered, heated discussion in the corner.

  ‘Can you believe this?’ Tia hisses, looking from me to Kelly. ‘They’re both insane. What they’ve put us through is—’

  ‘Shh, hang on a minute, Tee,’ Kelly replies. ‘We need to hear what they’re saying.’

  Greg and Sophie are arguing. She’s telling him that maybe they got it wrong. That they should listen to our side of the story. That deep down she always suspected their dad might not have been completely innocent.

  But Greg isn’t budging. ‘How can you even think that?’ he hisses. ‘They need to admit that they lied. We need to see this through. You’re just losing your nerve, that’s all.’

  ‘You’re being stubborn, Greg. You should open your mind to the possibility that we’ve got it wrong.’

  Kelly and Tia exchange anxious yet hopeful glances. I try to reciprocate, but I can’t make my face work. I’m still in shock at the similarity between Greg and his father. It’s like déjà vu. And I can hardly make sense of who is who.

  ‘I’m not arguing with you, Sophie. We’re doing this.’

  ‘No.’ Her voice rings out loud and firm.

  ‘What do you mean, no?’

  ‘I mean, I think we should let them go. I’ve had enough of this. It’s enough, Greg. We need to stop before it goes too far.’

  ‘Give me the knife, Sophie.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Just…’

  There’s a scuffling sound.

  ‘I don’t want to hurt you,’ Greg growls. ‘Just let go of it!’

  There’s another scuffling sound and they come into view, both of them gripping the knife handle, but Greg looks far stronger than Sophie. I’m jolted back to the present day, and I’m worried for her safety. The knife is perilously close to her face.

  ‘Let go of the knife, Sophie!’ Kelly cries. ‘You’ll get hurt! Leave her alone, Greg!’ Kelly turns to me, her eyes wide. ‘I can’t look.’

  As Greg wrestles the knife from his sister, she jerks backwards and falls. There’s a thunk as Sophie hits her head on the corner of the bar. She goes down onto the floor with another dull thud.

  I can’t help crying out, wondering if she’s okay. Realising selfishly that she was our only hope of getting out of here unharmed.

  Greg falls to his knees to check on her. ‘Sophie! Soph!’

  She’s making moaning sounds, so at least she’s alive. But she must be badly concussed. ‘Call an ambulance!’ Kelly shouts. ‘Greg, that’s your sister. What have you done? You need to call for help.’

  ‘I told you to shut up!’ He gets to his feet but he’s out of breath and his eyes are glazed. He seems disoriented, slightly manic. He brandishes the knife and I notice blood dripping from his hand. He must have cut himself in the tussle. ‘It’s her own fault. She wouldn’t listen.’

  ‘Greg,’ I say, trying to stay calm, ‘you’re bleeding. You need to bandage that cut. I know where there’s a first aid kit. If you untie me I can—’

  ‘Shut… the fuck… up,’ he pants. ‘This is your fault. First you drove my father to his death, and now my sister’s on the floor unconscious. You made her believe your lies, but I’m not taken in by any of you. You’ve made some sort of pact, and you don’t care whose lives you destroy to save your skins.’

  ‘Just take a breath,’ Kelly says, ‘and think about what you’re saying.’

  ‘Don’t patronise me, you hippy bitch.’

  ‘I… I’m not. I’m just saying—’

  ‘Shut up, shut up, shut up! I should have left you all gagged.’

  I cringe back in my chair. Black spots float before my eyes. This man isn’t in control of his thoughts. I’m sure he’s going to do something stupid and I’m bracing myself for whatever it is. If only Sophie would wake up. She could at least continue trying to talk some sense into her brother.

  Greg comes closer, leering at us, blood from his hand dripping scarlet spots onto the floor. ‘I want to bring misery to your families the way you brought misery to mine after you killed my father. My sister’s been sucked in by your lies but I’m not quite as gullible.’ He makes a twisting motion with the knife. ‘I’m going to kill each of you slowly, one at a time.’ He locks eyes with me, and my heart goes cold. ‘Starting with you, Fiona.’

  I lean back as far as the zip ties will allow me. Kelly and Tia are yelling at him to leave me alone. To not do anything stupid. To not do something he’ll regret. But Greg’s eyes are wild, and I can tell that he’s in no state to listen to reason. Blood whooshes in my ears.

  In the few seconds I might have left, I think about my life. My real life, not the life I show everybody else. About how everything changed when Brian Lawson assaulted me. How I never trusted men after that day. How my relationship with Ed never even got off the starting blocks because I wouldn’t let him in emotionally. How he tried so hard, but I was as cold as the lake in January. And then Nathan came into my life and managed to get past my defences. He was relentless in his pursuit of me.

  But I screwed up. I let the wrong man in. Nathan isn’t any better than Brian Lawson. How come I’m only seeing this now? Now that I’m only moments away from death?

  Thirty-Nine

  KELLY

  Tia and I are pleading with Greg not to hurt Fiona. I realise that he’s never going to accept the truth. That he’s been on this journey of bitterness and revenge for so long that it’s impossible for him to admit he could be wrong. He has his father up on a pedestal, and he won’t let mere truth get in the way of that.

  ‘Okay, Greg!’ I cry. ‘Okay, you win. We’ll admit it that we lied. You’re right.’

  Tia’s looking at me like I’ve lost the plot, but I glare at her, trying to make her understand what I’m doing.

  Finally the penny drops, and she nods at me. ‘Greg, Kelly’s right. Don’t hurt us. We
’ll do what you want. We’ll go to the police. We’ll admit it, okay?’

  Greg turns away from Fiona and looks from me to Tia and back again, his eyes suddenly sharp. I need to make him see that we’re serious. It’s the only way we’ll leave here alive.

  ‘Okay?’ I nod, trying to get him to agree. ‘Is that okay? We’ll do it. You win. We’ll tell the police and the school that Fiona made it up. That we all made it up.’

  He steps away from Fiona and walks towards me, jabbing the knife in my direction. ‘Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. You think I’m some deranged lunatic without a brain. You’re just saying this so I won’t kill you and your friends!’ He takes a breath and crouches down in front of me. ‘You think I’m blinded by revenge. But you’re wrong. I just want the truth. I just want…’ his voice fills with emotion and he has to clear his throat. ‘I just want my dad…’ He squares his shoulders. ‘I want my dad’s name to be cleared.’ He sniffs and stands once more.

  ‘And you can have that, Greg. We’ll clear your dad’s name. Why does it matter whether I’m saying it because I believe it or not? The end result will be the same – your dad’s name will be cleared.’

  ‘No it won’t,’ he sneers. ‘No it won’t. And do you know why it won’t? Because you’re a lying bitch, just like your friends. Just like my feckless sister who promised to help me, and then betrayed me at the last minute.’

  Next to me, Tia is shifting and writhing in her seat, straining to get free. But all three of us are trussed up good and tight. There’s no way we’ll get out of this without help. I need to do something. To cause a distraction. To yell for help. But I’m paralysed by fear. If I scream, there’s no knowing what Greg will do with that knife. And the chances of anyone being able to hear us in here are slim to none. But then I think about my poor boys and what their lives will be like growing up without either of their parents. And I realise I can’t allow that to happen. I can’t give up. Not without a fight. Instinct takes over and I begin to yell at the top of my lungs: ‘Help! Someone, HELP! HELP US!’