‘You make it sound so simple,’ said Erin. ‘You need to take off your rose-tinted spectacles.’
‘I’ve no doubt it will be a bumpy road,’ said Kerry. ‘No doubt at all, but isn’t it time you all stopped running and hiding from this? You can’t outrun it.’
Erin held her face in her hands. ‘I don’t know if I’m strong enough.’
‘Oh, you’re strong enough. I’ve witnessed that first hand. You are all strong enough,’ said Kerry. ‘What you’ve actually got to do is find forgiveness.’
‘Forgive Diana Marshall, you mean?’
‘And Roisin. Your father. Yourself. And Niall. It is no one person’s fault. It was a series of events, decisions and judgements that were made at the time with the best possible intent. Love. How can you not forgive love? Think about it, Erin,’ said Kerry. ‘It’s the only way forwards, for all of you.’
‘I’ve already made peace with Dad,’ she said.
‘You have? That’s great. And that must show you that you can do it.’
‘It’s all irrelevant now,’ said Erin. ‘What does it all matter without Sophie?’
‘I have a theory about Sophie,’ said Kerry. ‘And it involves Roisin.’
Chapter 39
‘Erin! You okay?’ Sean’s voice called from the foot of the stairs.
‘We’d better go down,’ said Erin.
‘We need to talk to you,’ said Sean as Erin and Kerry reached the bottom of the stairs. He glanced over at Kerry.
Erin held Kerry’s hand. ‘Whatever it is, I want Kerry to stay. I’ve no secrets from him. None at all.’
Sean nodded. He looked at Kerry. ‘Not impressed with that stunt you pulled back there.’
‘Sorry about that,’ said Kerry. ‘It was a kind of spur-of-the-moment thing.’ He held out his hand to Sean. ‘No hard feelings?’
Sean accepted the proverbial olive branch with good grace.
‘What did you want to talk to me about?’ said Erin.
‘Come into the living room,’ said Sean. ‘I’ve sent O’Neill outside. This needs to stay between us.’
Entering the living room, Fiona came over to her sister and grasped her hand. Kerry watched the sisters as they looked intently at each other and exchanged silent words. Fiona blinked hard but could not stop the tears from falling. Erin, a mirror reflection of emotion.
‘Nothing lasts forever,’ said Fiona. Her voice so quiet, Kerry could only just hear her.
‘I know,’ said Erin.
‘It will be okay, I promise. I’ll…’ Fiona looked over at Sean, stretching out her other hand to her husband. He moved towards her. Fiona continued. ‘We’ll make sure of that. All three of us. We’ll get through this, together.’
Kerry stood awkwardly in the living room as the three of them held onto each other. He thought he saw Sean wipe tears from his own eyes. Kerry turned away, not wanting to be a voyeur to their deeply private moment.
He walked over and looked out of the window. He wanted to be out there looking for Roisin. He had an idea where she might be and chided himself for not thinking of it earlier. Erin’s hand on his shoulder brought him from his thoughts. He turned round to her.
‘Okay?’ he said.
‘Yes. It’s fine. We all knew the truth might come out sooner or later. We just never expected it to happen quite like this. We thought we would be in control of the situation, rather than the situation controlling us.’ She rested her head on his shoulder and Kerry dropped a kiss on her head, holding her close to him. After a while, she pulled away. ‘Sean and Fiona are going to tell the family liaison officer the truth about Sophie. They’ve been pushing to make some connection already. We can’t keep it a secret any longer.’ She looked away out of the window. ‘Roisin wins, after all.’
Fiona looked round. ‘You don’t think Roisin has got anything to do with Sophie going missing, do you?’
‘It’s possible,’ said Erin going over to her sister. ‘Who knows? She’s desperate enough.’
‘Oh God, I hope she doesn’t do anything stupid,’ said Fiona.
‘I don’t think she will,’ said Erin. ‘She wanted to truth to come out. What would she gain from not bringing Sophie back? The more I think about it, the more I’m sure this is just a stunt to force our hand.’
Sean took his wife in his arms and guided her to the chair. ‘We’ll call the station and get someone onto this right away.’
‘I need to get off,’ said Kerry.
Erin followed him out to the hall. She picked up her jacket. ‘I’m coming with you.’