The Birthday Girl: The gripping new psychological thriller full of shocking twists and lies. Sue Fortin
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bringing Alfie into it. She’s out of order.’
‘I can speak to her, if you like?’
‘No. Don’t do that.’ I shake my head vigorously. ‘I can deal with her. But thanks anyway.’
Andrea gives my shoulder a squeeze and kisses the side of my head. ‘Right, no more talk of Darren. Not for tonight anyway.’ We exchange a smile before she continues, ‘This game of Joanne’s. What do you think to it?’ Andrea gets up and takes her washbag from her rucksack and extracts her face-wipes. ‘She’s gone to a lot of trouble.’
‘That’s Joanne for you.’ I resume my horizontal position on the bed and stretch out my legs, thankful that my hobby of cross-country running has stood me in good stead for the ramble up the hillside and through the forest earlier.
‘Do you want to team up?’ says Andrea with a grin.
‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours, type of thing?’
‘You got it.’ Andrea rubs her face with the wipe.
‘Appealing as the idea may be, I think we should at least try to work out who each other is,’ I say. ‘It’s a bit unfair on Zoe if we team up.’
‘Spoilsport,’ says Andrea with good humour. ‘Maybe tomorrow we should try to find the clues Joanne mentioned.’
I think back to the photograph of Charles and Diana. I’m pretty sure that’s a clue about my character, left for one of the others to find. I take out my notebook and go back over the information I’ve found out about the other characters. ‘We get to ask each other three more questions tomorrow.’
‘I’m going to need more help,’ says Andrea. ‘I haven’t the patience for all this. I’m never going to be able to work it out. We’ll have to ask Joanne for a clue.’
‘Good idea. We’ll consult the Oracle.’
‘That’s if we make it back from the all-day hike she has planned for us.’ Andrea drops the used face-wipe into the bin and picks up her washbag. ‘Where did she say we were going?’
‘Archer’s Path,’ I reply. ‘She said it’s a fabulous walk and takes a couple of hours. I hope the weather holds out, it wasn’t looking so good this afternoon.’
‘I’m going to brush my teeth,’ says Andrea. ‘Won’t be a moment.’
I pull back the duvet and climb into bed. I need to think of something other than Alfie. I don’t want to spend the night replaying my confrontation with Joanne and worrying about what Alfie may or may not have said to her.
Andrea comes back into the room. The look on her face instantly alerts me, something is not right. I sit up. ‘You OK?’
‘No. I’m not. Look what I just found in my washbag – and I sure as hell didn’t put it in there.’
How are you feeling now? Enjoying the weekend? Probably not, and that’s such a shame. You don’t think anyone has noticed, do you? That no one has seen your body language, the way the pallor of your face changes when you’re upset. The way it goes from a pinky glow to a deathly white, almost translucent. And the way your pupils dilate and your breathing quickens when the ‘D’ word is mentioned. They are only small modifications to your behaviour, small enough to go undetected by those who are not looking for them, but not small enough for someone like me to miss.
I don’t mind admitting this is giving me much more of a thrill than I thought it would. I love how I have the power over you. I have the control. I am the puppet master. I am Geppetto and you are Pinocchio.
Are you unnerved? You probably don’t know why, but you can sense something is wrong. I like the thought of the fear and panic this makes you feel. I wonder if that’s how you reacted before? When you had to confront your worst nightmare? Did you panic then? You never speak about it. Why is that? Don’t answer. I know why that is. If you speak about it, people will feel entitled to ask you questions, awkward questions. Ones you’d sooner not face. You’ve never told anyone your secret.
And the reason for that? Because you feel guilty – and rightly so. You are guilty. You have ruined my life and I am about to ruin yours. I’m coming for you, so you’d better watch out.
Any idea that I might be able to sleep in the following morning is dashed by Joanne banging on the bedroom doors at eight o’clock and then poking her head into the room to announce breakfast will be ready in half an hour.
‘Is she serious?’ groans Andrea, snuggling further into her bed. ‘I was hoping I’d have a nice gentle wake-up call, breakfast in bed, even.’
I laugh. ‘Oh, she’s serious all right. I think she wants to head off on this hike at about ten.’
Andrea pulls the duvet back down. ‘I suppose I’d better show willing.’
I swing my feet out of bed and perch on the edge of the mattress. ‘Are you going to show the others what you found last night?’
‘I guess so. It must be part of the game. Although, I don’t know what the significance is.’
I reach over and pick up the dollar bill that Andrea found in her washbag. ‘It’s definitely meant for you, no mistake. I was wondering last night if that wedding ring Zoe found was put there by Joanne as part of the game. It could be a clue.’
‘Yeah, I thought that too. But again, I’ve no idea what the significance is. And if both Zoe and I have had something left for us, that means you’ve got something coming to you.’
‘I’m a bit nervous now,’ I say with a laugh. ‘I’m going to be on edge the whole day, waiting for something to turn up.’
I get up and make my way to the bathroom. As I stand under the shower, I let my mind drift to the game and the clues so far. Something is nagging at the back of my mind and I can’t quite put my finger on it. Something to do with the wedding ring.
It isn’t until I have finished showering and am brushing my teeth that it suddenly comes to me.
My character card, Diana, Princess of Wales, the wedding ring and the out-of-place photograph of Diana and Charles must all be connected. My card said I was an adulteress. The wedding ring signifies the marriage, the photograph is the out-of-place thing in the house.
I spit the toothpaste down the sink and rinse my mouth while musing over the US dollar bill Andrea has been left. Obviously something to do with money. I think back to yesterday where we discovered that Andrea’s character had committed a crime but not a violent one. Was bank robbing a non-violent crime? Was she a famous bank robber? Bonnie and Clyde come to mind straight away. I’ll have to look at my notebook to check. Then I will look around the house for another clue.
I can’t help grinning to myself. I quite like this game now. Of course, I won’t be able to tell Andrea. No. I’ll have to keep this to myself.
Ten minutes later, I’m downstairs with the others, tucking into a cooked breakfast Joanne has been kind enough to prepare. ‘This is really good of you,’ I say, trying to get the new day off to a fresh start. ‘I wouldn’t normally eat this at home, but somehow it’s different when I’m away. I can always manage a full English.’
‘I’m exactly the same,’ says Zoe.
‘We need to have our energy levels high for today’s hike,’ says Joanne.
‘Notice she didn’t say walk,’ says Andrea, raising an eyebrow. ‘The word hike is slightly unsettling me.’