Trust No Bitch: Part 3

Gemma Akintola

"So Charlie isn't even Clara's full brother?"

It had been quite a lot to take in, the past minute or so. Charlie had inadvertently fed them so much information that Gemma felt she was back in secondary school, trying to make notes from the powerpoint of the teacher that always switches between slides too quickly. All of them striding out the front door and down the driveway, Gemma grabbed Alice's shoulder and asked her again.

"Alice! Did you hear me? Charlie isn't Clara's full brother, right? That's what he just said, isn't it?"

"And Alice!" Lilly chimed in. "Matilda King was back in there! We can go and speak to her about-"

"I know, Lilly!" Alice interrupted, halting in the middle of the road and turning round to address them both, her eyes narrowed as if she were looking upon a particularly involute equation. "I saw her! But Matilda King's not going to tell us anything. Charlie Wright on the other hand, just did."

"I'm not going to lie...After he said the thing about Clara's dad not being his, I didn't hear much else, apart from the slap heard in Australia." Lilly said. "Clara has no idea, does she?"

"No!" Cried Gemma, holding a hand to her forehead. "Christ, who's going to tell her that when she wakes up? Because it's not going to be me."

"It doesn't matter right now!" Alice exclaimed. "Cleo's dad didn't leave because he hurt Matilda and Eleanor found out about it, or anything like that. He left because he had an affair with Clara's mum! And Charlie told Eleanor about it and so she scared him away!"

"And? I'm sure he had time on the side of being a cheating piece of shit to fuck up his daughter. He still could have been the one that abused her, Alice." Gemma replied, Alice shaking her head vehemently.

"No. That's not it...Charlie did say that Dylan set the dog on him,right?"

"Yeah..." Said Gemma slowly, Lilly shrugging.

"Why?" She asked as Alice turned back round and began to march towards the King house. "Alice, where are you going?"

"The law firm gave me this case to work on at the beginning of the year..." She murmured hurriedly over her shoulder, not answering Gemma's question despite the urgency which she had made so sure to convey in her voice. "And I completely forgot about it until just now. I mean, the names were blanked out for confidentiality and it seemed completely irrelevant."

"Wait!" Gemma called, picking up her pace to a slight jog to keep up with Alice, who was talking almost as fast as she was moving. "Alice, what are you saying?"

"This case! It was defending a boy who left his half-brother for dead by attacking and then setting the family dog on him! And in the case file, it said that the boy's younger sister had previously gone to the police about him abusing her." Reaching the King doorstep, her head whipped fervently from one side to the other, waiting for Gemma and Lilly's response. When it did not come, her eyes only increased in size, Gemma noticing that slightly demented look in them again, the dark of her pupil and iris consuming the whites. "Don't you see it?"

"See what? Alice, look, slow down for a minute-"

"Dylan! Dylan King is the boy!" Alice yelped, jamming her finger on the doorbell. "The whole case matches up with what Charlie just said about Dylan. Dylan abused Matilda! Her own brother!"

"Alice!" Gemma hissed, grabbing her friend by the shoulders and jerking her slightly. "You can't just...What if he...When he comes to the door, what exactly are we going to-"

Too fucking late.

Lilly positively dropped 2 foundation shades at the sight of Dylan, holding the door open with a misty eyed smile.