You Can Trust Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

feel lost. I’ve never been this close to a body before—neither Dad nor Mum had wanted me to see Kara’s. Yet it is obvious Julia is dead. There is no doubt in my mind, but I can’t say the words. It feels like too huge a truth to own.
    A few more questions. The 999 woman says an ambulance is on its way and asks if there is any evidence of a struggle, if the front door lock was broken.
    â€œNo,” I say. This hasn’t occurred to me. “There’s just a drink.”
    As I speak, Hannah reaches for the glass.
    â€œDon’t touch that,” I snap.
    Hannah snatches her hand back. She starts crying. The 999 woman tells me to take my children into another room. She tells me again that an ambulance is on its way. She tells me to stay on the line. But I need both hands to deal with Zack, whose arms are clamped around my waist as if he’ll fall over if he lets go.
    I lead the children out of the room. We go into Julia’s bedroom. This is Hannah’s favorite place in the whole world. Normally, she would wander around, trailing her fingers over the huge vanity table overflowing with Julia’s jewelry and cosmetics, but today we huddle together on the bed.
    I put my arms round their shoulders. “Julia has had an accident,” I say. I still can’t form the words.
    â€œIs she dead?” Zack peers up at me, his huge blue eyes round with shock.
    How dare my children be put through this. Fury fills me for the second time in twelve hours. And yet here, there is no Catrina. Here, there is no one to blame.
    I nod. “I’m sorry, baby.” I pull him closer. Hannah too. She is still weeping, the tears falling unchecked down her cheeks, splashing onto Julia’s blue silk comforter. The bed is made. Unslept in. I register this with the same sense of detachment that I’d abstractly noticed the Jack Daniel’s.
    A few minutes later, the intercom buzzes. I get up. Zack stays with me as I walk into the living room to let the paramedics in. All at once, the atmosphere changes. The paramedics—an older man and a younger woman—are unfazed by what they see. It takes them just a few seconds to process what I am only just beginning to absorb, that Julia has been dead for hours.
    Now they are more concerned with the three of us. The woman ushers Zack and me back into the bedroom, where Hannah is huddled at the far edge of Julia’s bed. The paramedic sits us down and talks quietly to the children. She offers sympathy for the shock we have experienced.
    Zack is more fascinated than upset now. “Is she really gone, not waking up? Why did she pee herself?”
    Hannah sits in silence, chewing on a strand of hair. Normally, I would tell her to take the hair out of her mouth. Right now, I can barely formulate the thought. At this point, the male paramedic beckons me back to the living room. We stand in the doorway. I can see Julia’s legs from the knees down. Her sweatpants are rolled halfway up her calves. Her toenails are painted silver. The same shade she put on Hannah’s nails on our last visit.
    â€œThe police are on their way.” He speaks with a strong Northern accent. His voice is soothing. “They’ll want to take a statement.”
    â€œPolice?” I stare at him.
    The man nods. “It’s procedure in a … when there’s a suspicious death.”
    My mouth is dry.
    â€œHow old was your friend?”
    â€œThirty-six. She was my sister’s best friend. I’ve known her since my sister…” I trail off.
    â€œWell, thirty-six is very young to die so suddenly if, as you say, she was in good health?”
    â€œAs far as I know…” Could there be something Julia hasn’t told me? My mind lurches back to the text she sent last night just as Will and I arrived at the Harburys’ house.
    PLS CALL. I NEED TO TALK TO YOU.
    â€œThere are no signs of a struggle or a break-in, but the police