WHYTE LIES by KC Acton Read Free Book Online Page A

countryside whizzed past as we sped along the motorway towards the ferry at Holyhead. Everything was moving too fast. I couldn’t catch up. Part of me couldn’t wait to see Granny Rose again. It had been a year since I had last seen her; she never visited us. Later, she told me she’d never approved of my father. She’d always thought there was something untrustworthy about him. She called him a bad egg.
    “Finally, we arrived in Ireland, and a few hours later we were at our grandmother’s house. Granny’s house was at the end of a lane, surrounded by acres of fields. I was used to having a next-door neighbour in Manchester and seeing people of all backgrounds and ethnicity. I was used to walking to my friends’ houses to play. Here, there were no children to be seen, just trees and fields.
    “Granny Rose greeted us with big smiles and tight hugs. Her house was an old, rambling farmhouse with lots of rooms to explore. Our little house in England was two-up, two-down.
    “I tried to ask Mum about what was going on, but she said I was too young to understand. I had to trust that she knew what she was doing, but I couldn’t help feeling scared. I had no one to talk to; Tim was just a baby, and I had no friends. I tried to pretend that everything was okay, but it wasn’t. All I wanted was our family back together. My Dad wasn’t the best father in the world, far from it, but he was the only one I had.
    “As the weeks passed, I became more adept at eavesdropping on the conversations between my mother and grandmother. Apparently, Dad had left us because he wanted to be with Laura — the woman I’d met at McDonald’s. When he finally called, I asked him why he’d left. He said that Laura made him happy. I was heartbroken. I didn’t understand why he couldn’t have been happy with Timmy, Mum, and me.
    “Christmas came and went. I hated my new school. Everyone had  made their friends, and there was no room for the English girl with the funny accent. Granny did her best to make us feel welcome, but I didn’t want to call her house home.
    “I didn’t see Dad for months. Apparently, he had a new job that was keeping him busy and out of trouble, according to my grandmother.
    “He came to see me on my birthday in May; it had been six months since I’d last seen him. I didn’t know what to say to him. Part of me was happy that he wasn’t around, but another part of me wished we could all be a family again. Dad sensed my aloofness, and he paid extra attention to me. I didn’t want to be the centre of his attention, knowing how quickly he could turn. He told me he was sorry for leaving, but he couldn’t help falling in love with Laura. I begged him to take us home. I wanted to go back to my old life, my old house, my friends, and my school.
    “One morning, Mum burst into my room, all excited. I hadn’t seen her looking happy in months. She couldn’t stop smiling as she told me that Dad was coming to take us home. I shot up in bed, not sure what to think. Mum’s excitement was infectious as she ran around the house, throwing clothes into a suitcase, while Granny Rose looked on disapprovingly. ‘You’ll regret this,’ she warned. ‘That man is no good, you’ll see; once a cheater, always a cheater.’
    “We hovered by the window, waiting for him, expecting him to arrive at any minute. The hours wore on. Mum went to the bottom of the drive a few times, searching the road. Eventually, she told us he wasn’t coming. I felt a strange mixture of disappointment and relief; I’d always known he didn’t love us the way he should. Granny Rose had been right all along: he was a bad egg.”

12

“How is she?” asked Faith. Every evening, after work, Faith had stopped by the hospital, willing the girl to wake up. Lucy was the only one who could give them an accurate description of the killer. A child psychiatrist had tried talking to Megan, but she was too young to understand what had happened. Megan talked