Pause

There was a long pause. Christine looked at Bethan who was gazing at the horizon, her foot still firmly placed on Dave's back, rocking him, almost absentmindedly. Silence ruled across the quarry, only broken by small rocks being nudged and sent running and then a faint plop as they landed in the pool.

"Admit it, Dave," Bethan said, softly. "I know it but I need you to say it. Were you married to us at the same time?"

*

Dave

I don't know what to do. How have I got here? What do I say?

Do I really think that Bethan will push me into the quarry if I don't come clean? I don't think so but fuck! I'd never, NEVER, have thought that either of them were capable of this. Never.

Bethan

It's funny the situations you find yourself in. When I set out today, I never thought that I'd be here, now, holding my husband captive, having survived his murder attempt, his current wife by my side. I mean, it beggars belief. And yet, here we are.

I'm finding rocking him quite soothing, which is weird. There's something about the rhythm of it: predictable. And it's the control aspect too. For once, I hold the cards. I can decide. I've spent years wondering, my mind absorbed by theories and imaginings, thoughts about Laney and where she is and who has her and what's being done to her or if she's still with us...So much not knowing. I've been lost, just floating through a semblance of life in a world without light. It's been tiring and empty...uncertain...

I could push him off now. I have a choice: in a life that gave me nothing to grasp, I have this. Something certain that I can do. He doesn't deserve Christine. He never deserved me or Laney. And he definitely doesn't deserve Katie. Perhaps I should send him down there...

Do I need him to tell me he's a bigamist? Do I believe it when he says he didn't kill Laney? I don't know. I don't know.

What I do know is that I am not a killer.

Christine

I think the pause says it all.

***

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