TOYL

the door – he was soaking wet, his face and shirt were dripping, like he had been swimming fully clothed. He let me in and took me through to the lounge, and Stephen was just lying there on the floor. Dead.’
    Will’s words didn’t seem real. Stuart was a murderer? ‘Did he say how it happened?’
    ‘He told me that Stephen had come around, forced himself into the flat and then pulled a knife on him. They fought, and as they were fighting Stephen fell over onto the knife. I assumed he was telling me the truth.’
    ‘But he wasn’t?’
    ‘No,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t true at all. Stuart Harris used me. He said what he needed to so that I would help him dispose of the body. And I did. I was so stupid. We wrapped Stephen up in bed sheets, then took him down to Stuart’s car and put him in the boot. Then we drove up to near Stephen’s home. Stuart thought we could make it look like suicide. We found a really isolated stretch of canal and dropped him in, along with the knife.’
    Emma looked out the window, taking some deep breaths. Her brother was an accessory to murder.
    ‘Say something, Em,’ Will said.
    ‘I don’t know what to say,’ she admitted. ‘This is all so… oh, I don’t know. So unbelievable.’
    ‘I hate myself for what I’ve done.’
    Emma turned around to face him. ‘How could you have done it?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘Everything happened so fast, but I guess at the time I was just trying to help. Stuart and you were going to get married, and I thought that him killing Stephen was just an accident. I was trying to help him out – I thought he was innocent.’
    ‘But he wasn’t innocent. You said that Stuart hadn’t been telling you the truth about what happened with Stephen.’
    ‘No, it didn’t happen how he said.’
    ‘How do you know?’
    ‘Because one day when I was round at yours, I found something. The set of photographs showing Stuart with the girl.’
    ‘The photos the police just showed us?’
    Will nodded.
    ‘He found me looking at them and told me the truth. He’d started an affair with a girl he’d met at an audition – it had been going on for a couple of months. Then one day Stephen came around, with the photographs, threatening that unless Stuart left you he’d show you them.’
    ‘So he killed him to stop me finding out about his affair?’
    ‘Exactly,’ Will confirmed. ‘When he told me, I didn’t know what to do. I was already panicking about what we’d done, but knowing the truth made it worse. I wanted to go to the police, but I was scared of what might happen to me.’
    ‘But what I don’t understand,’ Emma said, ‘is if Stuart was willing to kill Stephen just so we could be together, why would he then walk away?’
    ‘He started losing it. I mean, really cracking up. At first I thought what he’d done hadn’t affected him, but it had.’
    ‘And all the time I thought it was to do with not getting work.’
    ‘Eventually I think he just decided that he needed to get away from anything that reminded him of what he had done, including you.’
    ‘But he decided he wanted me back now. Why?’
    ‘A couple of months ago he called me,’ Will said. ‘I hadn’t heard from him for years, so it was a shock. He started threatening to call the police and tell them everything that had happened. He said that he was prepared to take me down with him, unless I gave him money. So I did.’
    ‘Will!’ Emma said.
    ‘I know. I know it was stupid. But I was frightened. I just wanted him to go away. He said he would, but he kept coming back, asking for more. Then he started talking about wanting to get back with you. And then Dan disappeared.’
    ‘You thought it was Stuart from the start?’
    ‘I… I wasn’t sure,’ he replied. ‘But, yes, I did wonder whether he had done something. I found something in your bathroom. A photograph.’
    ‘A photograph?’
    ‘One of the set taken by Stephen. I found the photograph next to Richard.’
    ‘And you didn’t tell me?’ said Emma, her anger rising. ‘You found something like that and kept it to yourself?’
    ‘Yes,’ Will said, hanging his head. ‘I’m sorry – I’m a coward, Em.’

    ***

    Emma watched the steam rise from the kettle. She had retreated into the kitchen, needing to get some space from Will. She made two cups of tea and brought them through to the lounge. Will was standing up, looking out of the window.
    ‘Here you go,’ Emma said, handing him one of the