After the Accident: A compelling and addictive psychological suspense novel

by Kerry Wilkinson

  I’m not a perfect person. I’ve never even claimed to be a nice person. I should have done things differently – but there wasn’t much I could do nine years on.

  Lander: She told me they were back for her parents’ anniversary and her mum’s birthday. She said her mum was ill and that this might be her last holiday. Then she said that her dad had fallen two nights before.

  It was one thing after another, no time to take anything in and then—

  Emma: Then I met Rhea.

  Lander: I love my wife very much.

  Emma: You know when you’re walking along the street and you feel that awful squelch? You probably smell it before you see it and then you look back and realise you’ve just stepped in a dog poo?

  That’s more or less how Rhea looked at me.

  Lander: Rhea is a very passionate woman.

  Emma: On an island like Galanikos, the local lads and the white girls only tend to know each other for one reason.

  As soon as Lander saw Rhea, he shot up as if he’d been electrocuted. He said: ‘This is Emma. We used to be friends.’ He might as well have said nothing because Rhea knew right away who I was.

  Lander: I had forgotten that I had work to do.

  Emma: I don’t think she actually said anything. She might have coughed, or perhaps she just stood there. He mumbled something like ‘goodbye’ – and then the two of them hurried off along the road.

  They were almost out of sight when Rhea turned back to look at me. You know that saying about how looks can kill? She could have committed genocide that day.

  Chapter Fifteen

  THE GLUTTONOUS TURNIP OF A MAN

  Emma: I got back to the hotel at the same time as Victor was strolling in. He was in flip-flops and long pants, almost as if he’d been out for a morning stroll. I had to remind myself that the last time I’d seen him, he had been dragged away from a fight. It was only as I got closer that I noticed his shirt was ripped, there was a scratch across his face and he had a black eye. The oddest thing was that his shirt was still buttoned all the way up, even though it was flapping open.

  He clocked me a little after I spotted him.

  Victor Dorsey (son of Daniel and Liz Dorsey, husband of Claire Dorsey): I’m a nice guy. I asked her how she was doing. When she said she was fine, I asked about her dad.

  Emma: I said there was no change with Dad’s condition, then asked what had happened to him. Vic didn’t know that I’d seen everything from the balcony and he said that he’d had ‘a disagreement’.

  Victor: There was a disagreement. The other guy thought I was a massive arsehole, which was admittedly because I was trying to kick him up his massive arsehole.

  Emma: He asked if I’d seen Claire, but I hadn’t since reception that morning. We ended up walking together through the lobby, out towards the pool. I didn’t have much choice because that was the only way back to the cottages. I think he was still a little drunk. He kept giggling to himself.

  Claire: I was hoping for a peaceful day by the pool. I had a book about a missing wife to read and, to be honest, being a wife who went missing felt incredibly appealing that morning.

  His parents were hanging around, doing their own thing, then I saw Vic walking towards me and I knew it was going to go off.

  Emma: It was like one of those Westerns where the two gunslingers walk towards each other. You get a moment where they eye up one another – and then the shooting begins.

  Claire: Vic marched over and started pointing in my face, asking why I’d not come to the station to bail him out. I told him the toilet was backed up in our room, so I’d already dealt with enough massive shits for one day.

  Emma: I laughed.

  Claire: He went through the old hits. I’m a leech. I’m after his money. I’m a whore. He never loved me.

  His mum and dad are sitting on one side, with Emma standing on the other. He didn’t care. I told him I was flying home.

  Emma: Claire points at Vic and goes: ‘I am so sick of you.’ Then she turned and pointed to Daniel and Liz and adds: ‘And I’m so sick of your family.’

  Daniel started to speak, but she talked over him. She said: ‘You are a gluttonous turnip of a man and the biggest mistake I ever made was marrying into your money-obsessed, piss-stained crotch of a family.’

  She then twisted back to Vic and goes: ‘You are the worst human being I’ve ever known.’

  After that, she turned and walked off.

  Claire: It’s fair to say that had been building.

  Emma: I thought she had a well-argued point.

  Victor: I told her we were finished and that she should pack her bags and go.

  Emma: Vic didn’t get a word in. He had no idea how to reply.

  Daniel: Good riddance to bad rubbish.

  Emma: There was a moment of silence where I don’t think anyone could believe what had just happened. I thought Claire was off to pack her bags, but when I looked up, she was storming back. She stopped in front of us and then tipped her bag upside down and dumped everything on the sun lounger.

  She goes: ‘You left the safe unlocked. I thought you might need this the next time you get caught in a gay brothel.’

  There was about three or four hundred euros in that pile, plus a gold chain and a couple of other things.

  Victor: I’ve never visited a gay brothel…

  …

  I’ve never visited any brothel.

  Emma: Vic looked to his dad and then back to Claire and then down to the pile. I followed his eyes – which is when it felt as if the table was rushing towards me. The sun was glinting from the stone and the gold was bright and shiny. I was in no doubt: Dad’s emerald ring was sitting neatly on top of Vic’s things.

  Chapter Sixteen

  THE MAD WITCH

  Victor: I know how it looked, OK? I’ll tell you now what I told Emma then: I didn’t steal her dad’s ring.

  Emma: I picked up Dad’s ring from the pile and held it up to the light. It’s so heavy for what it is and there were little bits of dried skin stuck to the inside. I scratched them away with my nail to reveal the ‘GM’ initials.

  Claire: I don’t know exactly what happened with the safe in our room – but I can guess. Vic would have tried to seal it but not closed the door all the way. Instead of locking it closed, he locked it open. When I got back from the bar the night we argued, the door was wide. I’d rolled my eyes and thought it was typical of him.

  When I went down to breakfast the next day, I scooped everything into my bag, to be on the safe side. I’d not noticed the ring. I thought it was cash and Vic’s chain. As soon as Emma picked up that ring, I knew it was her dad’s.

  Emma: I asked why Vic had Dad’s ring. His mouth was hanging open and, for once, Daniel’s big mouth was shut. He looked at his son and he looked at the ring and nobody had an answer. Eventually, Vic managed to croak something out.

  Victor: I found that ring close to the pool on the first night. I put it in my pocket and didn’t think much about it. At some point, I emptied everything into the safe.

  Emma: He told this story about finding it by the pool and then nodded across to Claire and went: ‘You were there.’ Claire was having none of it.

  Claire: I had no idea what he was on about.

  Emma: Vic’s a forty-year-old infant. He’s got through an entire life with his parents bailing him out of any problems that might come his way. When he was standing there, faced with facts that couldn’t be explained – and even his Dad was silent – he didn’t know what to say. That’s why he ended up doing the only thing he knows how to do well.

  He threw a tantrum.

  Victor: I don’t throw tantrums.

  Claire: He chucked a right tantrum.

  Emma: He started shouting, pointing and stamping his feet. Some of it was aimed at Claire but most of it came my way. He didn’t know who he was angry at. He goes: ‘What are you trying to say? Are you saying I pushed your dad?’

  Claire: Emma shot right back with:
‘You’re the only one who said that.’

  Emma: Obviously, the gluttonous turnip had to chip in at that moment. God forbid a conversation happens in his vicinity that doesn’t need his input.

  Claire: Daniel piped up and said something like, ‘I’m sure Emma’s not accusing you of anything.’ That went down about as well as a stripper at a funeral.

  Daniel: I was trying to calm the situation. It was obviously a misunderstanding – but guess who had to try to blow it out of all proportion? When it comes to Emma, you only need to know one thing: everything has to be about her.

  Emma: If you’re in trouble with the law, you have a solicitor speak for you because they’re the expert and they know what they’re talking about. If I had some sort of issue with gelatinous crustaceans, rampant heart disease, or I wanted to be a massive racist, then I’d invite Daniel Dorsey to speak on my behalf.

  Other than that, I’m perfectly capable of stringing together a sentence by myself.

  Claire: Emma glared at Daniel, ignored him and then turned back to Vic.

  Emma: I asked him where he got the ring.

  Victor: I’d already told her that I found it. How many times did she want me to say it?

  Emma: Vic’s not the sort of person who hears ‘no’ a lot. If he gives an answer, that’s the end of it. Asking him a question for a second time tipped him over the edge.

  Claire: I saw what he was going to do about half a second before he did it. He picked up a coffee cup from next to the lounger and threw it across the patio, where it smashed into a wall.

  Victor: It slipped.

  Claire: He goes: ‘Made up your mind already, have you, you mad witch?’

  Victor: I said: ‘I can’t believe you’re accusing me of this. I respect your father and would never steal from him.’

  Emma: He called me a witch. Claire shook her head and said that’s why she was leaving. She actually did walk away that time. Victor shouted something after her, but she carried on walking. Then he threw up his hands and said he was going to the bar.

  Claire: I never should have gone on that holiday – but I suppose it cemented what I already knew about marrying into that family. When you’re in love – or think you are – you can only see the person in front of you. What you should really do is look at that person’s parents. That’s what you’re going to get in the end. That’s what I got.

  Emma: I left the gluttonous turnip and his wife on their loungers and finally made my way back to the cottage. It was difficult to reconcile Daniel snooping behind the cottage – and then his son having Dad’s ring. I didn’t believe either of their explanations but there didn’t seem much point in pushing it with them.

  It had been such a busy morning – and I hadn’t slept well because of the storm – so I had a bit of a nap when I got in. I’d not really planned it, but I’d settled on the bed and then it was suddenly hours later. I only woke up because Mum was struggling to get her key to work in the cottage next door. The metal was scratching the lock in my dreams and then I realised it wasn’t a dream at all.

  I don’t know if it was symptoms of her condition, or that she’d barely slept since we got to the island. Either way, I went outside and she was struggling to get the key to fit. I opened her door for her, then asked about Dad. She shrugged and said they were going to try to bring him out of the coma the following day. I thought that was good news, but she yawned it away.

  I remember looking at her and thinking about how I’d never seen anyone look more tired. Her eyelids were drooped and it was as if her entire body was sagging. I had to stop myself from saying all the usual things about looking after herself because it wasn’t going to do any good. You can’t force someone to eat or sleep.

  I think…

  …

  Maybe I’m wrong, but I think there was a big part of her that had given up. It had been one thing after another, year after year. I know I started it, but it wasn’t only me. Her diagnosis and Dad’s fall were the final straws.

  That’s why I almost didn’t tell her about Victor having Dad’s ring.

  Almost.

  I handed it back to her and said that Claire found it in their room safe. I also told her Victor’s story about finding it on that first night.

  I don’t know what I expected, but I got… nothing. At most, she blinked. Then she said: ‘Maybe your dad took it off?’ That would have been fine, except the day before, at the hospital, she’d said: ‘He never takes it off.’

  I thought about pushing it, wanting her to be as curious as me – but there was no point. In the end, I helped her into the cottage. She insisted I keep the second key so that I could let myself in and out – and then I left her to catch up on some sleep.

  Julius: I’d not seen Emma since the previous night – but when I spotted her walking around the side of the pool, I knew there was something different about her. A determination, I suppose. She looked annoyed.

  Emma: Julius was on a lounger close to the small pool, where the twins were playing on the waterslides. He was reading a British newspaper in a not reading it kind of way. There were three blonde women in tiny bikinis sunbathing on the other side of that pool and he wasn’t being too subtle about watching them.

  Julius: Amy and Chloe wanted to play on the slides, so we went to the small pool. I didn’t choose that spot.

  When Emma came over, she sat on the edge of the sunbed and said that Dad was being brought out of his coma the following day. I’d spoken to Mum as she went past, so already knew that. I figured that would probably be it. We’re not the type of brother and sister who say we’re best friends and have deep conversations. I’ve always found those families weird. Emma sighed and didn’t seem ready to move, so I asked her if the girls had really been good the night before.

  Emma: I told him we’d chatted a lot and he said something about all women loving to gossip. I probably rolled my eyes. Julius is full of comments like that. He’s a ‘while you’re down there, love’-type.

  He wanted to know if the twins had asked me about prison, so I told him that of course they had. They’re kids – and kids are always intrigued by the things adults decide should be kept from them.

  Julius: My biggest worry about leaving the girls with Emma was that I didn’t want them having nightmares about prison. Simone would be fuming if that happened and I didn’t want to deal with it.

  Emma: After that, he goes: ‘Did they say anything else?’ I replied: ‘Like what?’, not knowing what he meant. He didn’t reply.

  Julius: I thought Emma would go after we talked about the girls, but it looked like she was set. She wanted to talk.

  Emma: Mum didn’t want to listen, so who else was there? I told him about Victor having Dad’s ring and his explanation about finding it on the first night. I was trying to get someone to understand that it was important – but Julius brushed it off the same way Mum had.

  Julius: I didn’t think it was that big a deal. Dad dropped something and Victor found it. That’s perfectly believable. Even if Dad rarely took it off, it was a hot day and a hot night. I have a ring that gets too tight when it’s warm.

  Emma: I told him about seeing Jin on the cliffs the day before and how he seemed to think that Dad had simply fallen.

  Julius: At that time, with the information we had, it was the most likely outcome. Dad had been drinking wine at dinner, gone out to the cliffs for some peace or to watch the sunset, and then accidents happen.

  I tried to tell Emma that the reason Jin was thinking that is because that’s the natural thing to believe. When Alan fell, the sensible voices were saying the same thing. We were the sensible voices then – now she’d gone the other way.

  Emma: I told him I’d spoken to the person in the village who’d found Dad. That he’d heard more than one voice coming from above.

  Julius: When you’re on the beach below the cliffs, the noise of the whole island swirls around. Emma should know that better than anyone, considering the amount of time she used to spend
there with her island boyfriend.

  She kept pushing the point, saying someone was with Dad on the cliffs and that Victor had his ring. There was something about Daniel walking by the cottages. There were all these little incidents that weren’t connected that she’d somehow turned into a conspiracy. I wasn’t going along with any of it, but, at the same time, it felt like she wasn’t coping too well with being back on the island. I could hardly tell her it sounded like she was losing her mind.

  Emma: I couldn’t tell whether Julius was humouring me or if he had some of the same doubts. I don’t think we’ve ever been on the same wavelength as brother and sister.

  He was dropping in little nuggets that would feed what I was saying. He said that, when they were at the airport, he’d heard Daniel complaining about Dad’s spending. He wasn’t clear on details but said that, since Mum’s diagnosis, Dad hadn’t been as strict with budgets as he used to be. I’d not thought about that, but I suppose the holiday was an example. He’d also bought Mum a new car and I remembered a pair of shoes she’d shown me. There were probably other things.