The Role Model: A shocking psychological thriller with several twists by Daniel Hurst (big ebook reader txt) 📗

‘Have you got the money for Jimmy? I ask as Mum turns on one of the taps and starts to clean the sink.

‘Yeah. I’m meeting him today,’ she replies, scrubbing at the porcelain.

‘Do you want me to come with you?’

‘No, you stay here.’

That was a firm command, and I know better than to challenge it.

‘Are you sure he’s going to recognise you when you turn up?’ I ask, referring to her new look.

‘I’m sure it’ll be fine,’ she replies, not taking her eyes off the sink as she cleans.

‘Okay, be careful. And call me when it’s over,’ I tell Mum, trying not to worry though that’s easier said than done.

‘Will do.’

She’s still busy with her work, so I decide to leave her to it and exit the bathroom, returning to my room and closing the door. But something is troubling me, and it’s not just the feeling of guilt I have had since that night with Rupert or the sense of unease I have battled ever since Jimmy approached me on the street. It’s something else.

It’s the fact that I feel like Mum is keeping something from me.

She might have played down the change in hair colour and passed it off as something she wanted to try before she turned forty, but I’m not buying it. Of all the days she could have done something like that, why has she done it on the day when she is going to hand over thousands of pounds to the man who is blackmailing us?

That doesn’t make much sense, nor does the way she almost snapped at me when I suggested that I accompany her to the meeting. I get that she might want to protect me and think it is safer if I don’t go, but then who is going to protect her if she’s alone? And it’s not as if I haven’t met Jimmy before. Surely there is less chance of something going wrong if we both drop the money off together.

I hear Mum leave the bathroom and listen to her footsteps as they move past my door and go into her bedroom. Checking the time, I suspect that she will be leaving soon, and that’s when I decide that I am going to follow her.

Of course, I will tell her that I am staying here and waiting for her to return, but I’m secretly going to tail her and see what is really going on, because one thing is for sure, she hasn’t told me everything. She’s been acting strangely ever since she came back from that first meeting with Jimmy yesterday, and I don’t just mean with the sudden change in hair colour. The fact she sat and drank wine so brazenly in front of me last night at the kitchen table was a sure sign that she wasn’t thinking straight and had bigger things to worry about than setting a good example to me. If Jimmy’s request for money really was as easy to deal with as Mum has made out, then why was she hitting the booze so hard? I know she went back downstairs and had more of it last night when she thought that I was asleep too. And why is she spouting some nonsense about wanting to know what it’s like to be blonde? She is not behaving like the woman who has brought me up over these last seventeen years.

That must mean she is lying, so I am going to find out why.

I will wait until she leaves before sneaking out of the house and following her. I’ll watch her as she meets Jimmy and gives him the money. And I’ll see if there is anything else to this story than she has let on. There must be. I know her too well for there not to be.

Lying down on my bed, I stare up at the ceiling and decide that I will wait like this until Mum tells me she is going. I should be revising. There’s the small matter of my sixth form exams to get through if I want to get out of here and go to university at the end of summer. But you try concentrating when you have all this going on in your life. Between Rupert, Jimmy and Mum, I’ve got more than enough to think about, never mind the fact that Zara is constantly messaging me with rumours and fake news about what may or may not have happened to the missing teen from our college. I can’t even go on social media without being bombarded with posts from people I know appealing for information or stating how bad the whole situation is for Rupert’s family. And if I have to see that photo of him sitting by the sea one more time, I think I’m going to scream.

Needless to say, with all of that on top of me, I can’t quite find the brain capacity to read my English Lit books and prepare for an exam that I know I should be able to pass anyway without too much trouble. All I can think about is following Mum and making sure that the money drop goes okay, if that is really what she is doing. But if not, then I am going to find out.

I just need to wait for her to leave.

27

HEATHER

I managed to say goodbye to Chloe by only sticking my head around her bedroom door, meaning that she wasn’t able to get a good look at what I’m wearing and question me about it.

I have the red dress on, although I have covered it with a coat in case she did see me, but I will make sure to remove it before I get to the hotel so as not to risk disappointing Jimmy and breaking the clear rules he set out for me. I will also need to slip on the black heels that he requested I wear, which are currently in the small rucksack slung over my shoulder,