Free The House of Susan Lulham (Kindle Single) by Phil Rickman Page B

probably the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to Lou. Zoe killing Jonno, for Christ’s sake. Shit, what is she
like
?’
    Merrily said nothing.
    ‘It was my phone,’ Nattie said, ‘and I’m sorry. They’ve left, and I hope they don’t come back. I’ve come off Facebook, all right? Wiped it off this morning. For good. Takes you over and you come out with all kind of crap that you think about two minutes later and wish you’d kept it to yourself.’
    The screen lit up in Merrily’s head.
    Don’t!!! Don’t let her in. U hear me Zoe?
    ‘Can I talk to you?’
    ‘Look, I don’t really—’
    I’m not laughing about this. If u hear her saying let me in again, whatever u do don’t do it. DON’T U 4king LET HER IN!!!!!!!
    Merrily shifted the phone again, sitting up.
    ‘I don’t think you’re coming from quite the same place as the others. Am I wrong?’
    Silence.
    * * *
    ‘They worked together,’ Merrily told Sophie. ‘They worked for a firm that provided meals for schools. Nattie was the youngest. Lou was the most volatile and… irrational, probably. Zoe was the quietest. Also the best looking. It was Lou who encouraged Zoe to make a move on Jonno.’
    ‘And they kept in touch, presumably,’ Sophie said.
    ‘Mainly through social media. Social media at its best - or worst - is non-stop, personalised reality TV.’
    ‘Facebook friends are seldom your friends,’ Sophie said. ‘You don’t know what they really are, often just the glamorized side they want to project through glamorized pictures.’
    ‘Might not even be them in the picture. But these three obviously knew each other of old. So when Zoe got married and moved to Hereford with Jonno, leaving the others behind in the Forest of Dean, Lou was always keen to know what Zoe was doing in her posh new house. When Jonno was away, she’d go over and visit.’
    ‘She knew whose house Zoe was living in?’
    ‘Not in the early days. Neither did Nattie at first. Jonathan wouldn’t let her put outside pictures of the house on the Net. He said it was how some burglars targeted places. Then they went to visit, Lou and Nattie, and Nattie recognised the house from the papers, but said nothing because Zoe seemed so happy. So proud of her new home.’
    ‘You would have thought,’ Sophie said, ‘that Zoe would also have known about Susan’s death and where it happened. A minor celebrity. The Forest of Dean’s less than an hour’s drive away.’
    ‘Uh huh.’ Merrily shook her head. ‘The Forest’s… different. Separate. It’s in a different county and a different world. Could be a hundred miles away. Sure it was in the national papers because of the
EastEnders
connection, but Zoe didn’t seem to read papers at all, and Jonathan only read the
Guardian
. And it’s probably a different local TV news. Assuming she even watched the news, which is doubtful.’
    Nattie had sounded angry at first, then upset. She’d talked about Zoe’s first hints of something not right about the house. This, clearly, had not excited her the way it had excited Lou.
    ‘Because, you see, Nattie also knew Susan Lulham. As a teenager, she used to save up to have her hair done at the expensive salon in Gloucester, where Lulham trained. And found her… she was very much the junior, but it was like it was her salon. She’d make style decisions for you. She was very dominant. Nattie seems to have found her fascinating but scary. She read everything she could get hold of about the suicide.’
    ‘And did she believe what Zoe was saying?’
    ‘Mmm. I think she did. Very much. And unlike Lou, she didn’t find it exciting. God, this doesn’t get any easier, does it?’
    ‘You’re tired.’ Sophie came to her feet. ‘Go home, Merrily. Get some sleep. Having unplugged the phone.’
    ‘Mmm.’

14. Undawn
    The view from the doorway. Near the mirror in the white room. It might not have been a white room in Suze’s time there, but it was in this dream, even whiter than