The Accident: A heart-stopping thriller with shocking secrets that will keep you hooked

  THE ACCIDENT

  Dawn Goodwin

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  About this Book

  About the Author

  Table of Contents

  www.ariafiction.com

  About The Accident

  A tragic accident, an unbearable loss and a marriage in crisis – but who can she trust or is she all alone?

  Veronica Pullman's comfortable suburban life comes to a shuddering halt when her young daughter, Grace, tragically dies in a car accident. Months later, unable to come to terms with her daughter's death, detached from her husband and alienated from her friends and family, a chance encounter on a rainy street pushes her into an unlikely new friendship.

  Scarlet is everything Veronica could’ve been: feisty, adventurous, unpredictable. But as she approaches what would have been Grace’s 10th birthday, it becomes clear to Veronica that the friendship she thought was saving her life could be costing her everything.

  Consumed by grief and left questioning her own sanity, is there anyone she can really trust or is someone out to torment her as part of their twisted game?

  Contents

  Welcome Page

  About The Accident

  Dedication

  Veronica

  Felicity

  Veronica

  Felicity

  Tom

  Veronica

  Felicity

  Veronica

  Felicity

  Veronica

  Tom

  Veronica

  Tom

  Veronica

  Tom

  Felicity

  Veronica

  Felicity

  Veronica

  Tom

  Veronica

  Grace

  Veronica

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  About Dawn Goodwin

  Become an Aria Addict

  Copyright

  For my girls, Paige and Erin

  Veronica

  ‘It’s me, Veronica. Open the door.’

  The letter box rattled. I stood at the top of the stairs and pushed the curtain of lank hair out of my eyes.

  ‘It’s a beautiful day – open the curtains and see for yourself.’ Felicity’s voice was shrill.

  I lowered myself onto the top stair and wrapped my arms around my legs. If I sit quietly, she will go away. She always does eventually.

  The letter box rattled again, already with less force.

  ‘Has Tom gone to the hospital? Come on, open up.’ She paused. ‘We could go out? Do something together? I’m going into town with Zara tomorrow to get Tabitha’s new school uniform for next week. Come with us. A change of scenery will do you good.’

  She really didn’t have a clue sometimes. Begrudgingly, she had a point though; I should get that organised too. The summer was over; I hadn’t even noticed.

  I lowered my chin to my knees and breathed in the familiar smell of worn flannelette. When last did I wash these pyjamas? When last did I take them off? My mind tried to grasp onto yesterday, last weekend, last week.

  ‘Okay, fine. I have to go. The cleaner is coming. But this isn’t healthy, Veronica. It’s time to start picking yourself up.’

  The letter box rattled one more time for punctuation, then lay silent.

  I buried my face in my thighs and sat a moment longer before slowly making my way back to bed.

  *

  My phone vibrated on the bedside table, but I hid behind closed eyelids for a minute before reaching my arm out of the warm cocoon of the duvet and feeling around for it. I pulled it back under the covers, the artificial blue-white of the screen assaulting my eyes.

  Home soon. I’ll sort dinner. T x

  I sighed. It was a twenty-minute journey from the hospital, enough time for me to pull on some jeans and force a toothbrush around my mouth. I stretched, feeling joints creak and muscles groan. Then, with more effort than required, I pulled myself out from under the duvet and sloped to the bathroom.

  With yesterday’s jeans hanging low on my thin waist, I made my way into the kitchen. Dust speckles danced in the sun’s rays streaming through the glass doors to the garden. It was a warm August evening, but I felt cold and shivery. I flicked the kettle on, then retreated to the lounge to open the curtains before Tom got home, maybe straighten a cushion or two on the couch, make everything look like it should. I tugged back the heavy curtains and stared into the street. It was empty except for a little girl on a scooter, who whizzed past, her ponytail flying behind her. A short distance after her, a woman trotted to keep up. I could see her mouth moving, making large shapes of outrage, probably shouting for the girl to slow down – that’s what any responsible parent would do.

  I followed the girl with my eyes and saw Tom’s car pull around the corner just as the scooter reached the end of the pavement. I raised my hand in slow motion, but the child stopped safely on the kerb and waited as the car drove past. It pulled into the driveway, the gravel crunching familiarly, followed by a door thudding closed. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Felicity striding over from her house next door to intercept Tom. I noticed him glance across to our window and I retreated into the shadow of the curtain. Felicity was talking at him, her hands illustrating every word. He reached out and stroked her arm, saying words I couldn’t hear. He looked around again.

  When he pulled her into an embrace, I turned away from the window.

  Minutes later, the key scraped in the lock and the door opened with a draught of warm air. I was now sitting in the kitchen, a cup of tea in front of me, and I could picture him following his usual routine: briefcase under the side table; keys clattering into the bowl; jacket shrugged off and thrown over the banister. I’d watched him do this nearly every day for the last thirteen years, most of that time from the hallway where I would stand ready to greet him with affection, but things had changed.

  He tugged on his tie as he came to find me.

  ‘Hey, you.’

  ‘Hi.’

  He planted a brief kiss on my cheek, his hand hovering unsure over my head. ‘How are you? How was your day?’

  I shrugged. ‘Okay, you? How was the hospital?’ I tried to sound less weary than I felt.

  He shrugged and lowered his eyes. ‘No change.’

  I watched him as he went through the post, pausing at the letter from the lawyer, but not opening it. Instead, he waved it at me.

  ‘I spoke to them today. They have a date for the court case. It’s soon – end of October.’

  My silence spoke volumes.

  He sighed. ‘Why don’t I make us some dinner? Then I have some work to catch up on, some phone calls to make.’

  ‘Sure, thanks.’

  ‘Go and relax in the lounge. I’ll bring it through for you on a tray.’

  This had quickly become our new evening routine.

  *

  The next morning, after Tom left for work, I forced myself to get dressed. Felicity was right, Grace would need new school shoes. I moved on autopilot, not caring what I was wearing, but at the same time hoping I wouldn’t see anyone I knew.

  I went to grab my car keys from the bowl, then thought twice about it. Grabbing my handbag, I reached for the door handle and pulled it open, squinting in the bright sunshine. It was a simple task to put one foot in front of the other and leave the house, but I felt like an invisible hand was holding me back. School shoes… school shoes… played on repeat in my head.

  By the time I reached the shoe shop
on the high street, my hands were gripping my handbag so tightly that the straps were cutting into my fingers. The shop was full of vibrant children and harassed mothers. I stared steadfastly in front of me, cut through the noise and approached an assistant who was wandering around with a clipboard.

  ‘I need to buy school shoes.’

  ‘Yes, of course. Please take a ticket from the dispenser and we will get to you when they call your number. We’ll measure your child’s feet first, then see what style suits best.’ She turned away, but I seized her arm a little too aggressively.

  ‘I don’t need her feet measured.’

  The woman frowned at me, then smiled tightly. ‘In order to get the best fit possible, we advise measuring your child’s feet. Have them take a seat and I’ll get you a number.’

  ‘She’s not here.’ I was still gripping her arm.

  ‘We really need her here to fit the shoes correctly. It’s against our policy to sell you shoes without a proper fitting. Perhaps you can come back when she is with you?’

  ‘You don’t understand. I need to get the shoes today. I know her size – she’s a 13G. That’s what she was the last time anyway and her feet haven’t grown—’. My voice caught in my throat.

  The sales assistant took a step away from me, then gently removed my hand from her arm. ‘Perhaps you should come back when it is quieter. It’s very noisy and overwhelming in here today, isn’t it?’ She spoke slowly, enunciating every word.

  ‘I have to get them today. I can’t…’ My voice was too loud in contrast. I looked around. Faces were staring, eyebrows raised. ‘Sorry,’ I mumbled and backed away.

  My eyes wouldn’t focus. I rushed for the exit and collided with a bony shoulder. My handbag fell from my stiff fingers.

  ‘Oh! Veronica!’

  Felicity. Perfect.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Zara too. This just gets better.

  I ducked to the ground, scrabbling to gather the detritus that had fallen from my bag.

  Felicity knelt down to help me, her fingers stuffing used tissues and a stray pen into the pockets. ‘Hey, slow down! Let me do that.’

  Zara shuffled awkwardly behind her.

  I stumbled to my feet. ‘I… I… I have to go.’ I grabbed the bag from Felicity’s outstretched arm.

  ‘Wait!’ Zara called.

  I ran, head down, the handbag clutched to my chest.

  Felicity

  Seeing her like that was a bit of a shock. Her dark hair was lank and scraped back in a messy ponytail – not the charmingly messy kind; rather, the kind that looks like you slept in it. The circles under her eyes made her look haunted and her skin had the grey tone of someone who has been indoors too long.

  Not so perfect now, are we?

  ‘She looks awful, doesn’t she?’ Zara said, a concerned frown wrinkling her forehead.

  ‘I know, right? Didn’t I say to you last week how worried I was that she was pretty much in hiding? And now look at her. Frankly, she should’ve stayed at home.’

  ‘Yes, but can you blame her after what she’s been through?’

  Felicity immediately checked herself and quashed the warm glow of pleasure she had felt at seeing Veronica in such a wretched state. ‘Oh, no, of course not. I’m not being critical, just really worried.’

  Felicity had watched her bolt from the shop like a spooked horse, all jittery and white knuckles. She could hear the shop assistant speculating wildly to her colleague in low tones. ‘I don’t know what was up with her, but there was something not quite right. What if she’s done something, like… I dunno… kidnapped a kid or something and that’s why she couldn’t bring her in?’

  ‘Maybe she’s just had enough of shopping. Don’t be so dramatic,’ her colleague replied, bored already.

  ‘We should be doing something to help,’ Zara was saying.

  ‘I’ve tried. There’s no getting through to her just now. Anyway, are we done here? That’s rather killed the mood now, so I’m going to rush off.’

  ‘Yes, yes, you go. I’ve got some more errands to run.’

  Felicity turned to leave, immediately pulling her phone from her bag as she went. She scrolled to the recent calls list and dialled the number listed at the top.

  His voicemail.

  Injecting concern into her voice, she said, ‘Tom, it’s me. Call me, please – I’ve just seen Veronica in the shoe shop. She didn’t look good. We should talk.’

  Veronica

  I stood in the lounge in the calm after the storm that is the school run, staring out of the window and contemplating the emptiness of the day before me, a cup of steaming tea in my hands. The sky was dank and grey, with a steady, soaking drizzle falling. Hello September.

  Children had been safely escorted into class a week into the new term and the street was now quiet again, with just the occasional car splashing through the puddles.

  In a blaze of colour, a woman wandered into my line of sight. Completely alone in the miserable street, she was wearing a bright red raincoat, with black wellies covered in multi-coloured butterflies, and I found myself thinking, Grace would love those wellies. I followed her with my eyes as she stepped off the pavement and into the road. She was smiling to herself and splashing in the puddles like a carefree toddler. Then she lifted her face to the sky and flung her arms out wide. With complete abandon, she began to spin in the rain with her face turned up to the steadily falling drops, like a scene from a feel-good TV commercial. I was captivated. My stomach ached with envy at how trouble-free she seemed. Then she stopped spinning, shook her wet hair so that droplets of water sprinkled in every direction, and looked directly at me with a wide smile. My grip on the hot tea nearly slipped. I looked behind me, although I knew I was alone. All I saw was my perfectly tidy, perfectly orderly lounge. When I turned back, she was gone.

  *

  Days passed before I saw her again. I can’t say what I was doing with my time in between; hours blurred into each other.

  I don’t know why I had chosen today to do it, but I had braved the great outdoors again after the disastrous shoe shopping debacle a few weeks earlier and was standing in the supermarket with an empty trolley, contemplating the cereals aisle and trying to decide which brand would suit Grace’s fussy tastes. Should I give in, knowing she would prefer something chocolatey or could I convince her into porridge? Perhaps a chocolate-flavoured porridge?

  Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a flash of emerald green and turned to see the woman standing next to me, studying the back of a packet of muesli. For a second, I struggled to place her, but knew I had seen her before. Then it came to me: the woman in the wellies. I was taken aback at the coincidence.

  She glanced over at me and smiled; I looked away.

  ‘I hate raisins. Any dried fruit really, but especially raisins. Why do they have to put raisins in everything?’ she said with a roll of her eyes.

  I looked back at her and smiled with polite reservation.

  ‘I mean, I get that it’s good for you, but not in everything,’ she continued, warming to her topic. ‘It’s like coriander – why do they have to put it in everything these days? Are you a fan?’ Her piercing gaze made me uncomfortable.

  I blinked at her, momentarily thrown by the question. ‘Of raisins or coriander?’ I asked in little more than a whisper.

  ‘Both, I guess. On the whole, I don’t think I’m a fussy eater, although my mother would probably say otherwise, but the things I don’t like seem to be in everything and very much in fashion at the moment. Fennel, for instance!’

  ‘I quite like fennel,’ I said. ‘Not a lover of raisins though.’

  She leaned in and touched me feather-soft on the elbow. ‘Well, we’re going to get along famously then,’ she said with satisfaction, as though I had just pledged allegiance to Raisin Haters Anonymous.

  That brief physical contact from such a confident, beautiful woman startled me and I flinched, my arm warm from her fingers.

  ‘I’ve just moved into
the area and need to stock up on all sorts of things for my bare cupboards,’ she continued, apparently oblivious to my reaction.

  I glanced into her basket and saw a bottle of wine, a slab of milk chocolate, a cucumber and a jar of Thai green curry paste.

  ‘You’ve got the basics covered,’ I offered, nodding at the basket. I could feel a blush creeping up my neck at my uncharacteristic attempt at humour.

  She laughed. ‘Too right!’

  ‘Well, I…’ I paused and turned back to the shelf in front of me.

  ‘Yes, must get on…’ she said with an easy air of distraction. ‘Nice to meet you.’ She turned to walk away. ‘I’m Scarlet, by the way.’

  I looked back at her to see a small smile tickling the corner of her lips.

  ‘Veronica,’ I replied.

  She waved, then floated down the aisle towards the crisps section.

  I watched her go, thrown by our brief encounter. I looked down into my trolley and found I couldn’t quite remember what it was I needed from the shop and why I was there at all. I thought back to my kitchen cupboards and all the food stacked on the shelves patiently waiting for Grace to decide whether to try it this week, and thought better of it.

  I left the trolley where it was in the middle of the aisle, turned on my heel and walked out.

  *

  Two days later, I found myself taking fortifying breaths outside a coffee shop as I worked up enough energy to put on my happy face. I had been relieved to notice that the impromptu visits, pestering calls and texts feigning concern had dwindled away, but Tom was worried enough to persuade me to meet up with my old friends after Zara Newton had called him and suggested it. Apparently, according to Tom anyway, Felicity agreed with Zara and thought it would do me good, help me to move on, but I had the irrational feeling that she wanted to parade me like a freak.

  Look what can happen if we don’t take care, ladies. Watch and learn.