Chapter 8

Mariah had another lucky day. Grayson was going to be out all day, so Mariah would be alone again. Mariah decided to head to a library, she could trust library staff.

Mariah grabbed her rucksack. The one with the diary and photos. Mariah also made sure she grabbed some keys before heading out. She decided to walk towards the village. She would have to be careful of all these crazy people. Up ahead Mariah noticed, Gabby she was talking to an older man with black hair, he was dressed in a suit. Gabby noticed Mariah.

"Mariah, oh my god, I haven't seen you in ages, how was Leeds?"

Mariah didn't understand

"Leeds, what are you on about"

"I came around a while back to see if you wanted to come out. Your dad answered the door, he said you were in Leeds visiting family"

"I haven't been to Leeds since mum died, I have no family there"

Gabby looked angry. Mariah started to remember that day when she thought someone was at the door. Grayson had said it was the TV. Mariah realised he was lying about it, but why was what she thought.

Just then the man that Gabby was talking to came up to them.

"Who's your friend Gabby?"

"Oh Matt, this is Mariah Sugden, her dad is Grayson Sinclair, she lives with him"

The man looked interested.

"Larry has a daughter. Hi Mariah, I'm Matthew King," he said shaking Mariah's hand.

Mariah looked confused.

"Nice to meet you, you escaped?"

Gabby and Matthew looked confused.

"Are you OK Mariah?"

"My dad told me a psychotic man called Eric Pollard kidnapped you back in 2007, and that you haven't been seen since. He also told me he helped you come over your gambling addiction and you were best of friends"

Matthew looked worried.

"Mariah your dad has been telling you lies, I wasn't kidnapped never have been and especially not by Pollard," he began to laugh on that bit and began again,

"Me and him were certainly not best friends and he is the one who's had a gambling problem"

Mariah couldn't believe it, Grayson had been lying to her.

"So if you're Matthew King, are you related to Jimmy King?"

Matthew laughed. "He's my brother, you might see him, he usually comes this way,"

"Gabby can I have a word with you, in private?"

"Of course, Matthew will you excuse us for a bit"

They went over to a bench and sat down.

"What is it Mariah?"

"Well its something my dad said about you and Jimmy"

"What"

"Well he told me that you were adopted by your dad, and that your real parents had been murdered by Jimmy King, he said he was a cold blooded killer"

Gabby didn't look happy.

"He said that, but why?"

"I don't think he liked me talking to you that day,"

Then Gabby laughed. "Jimmy a cold blooded killer, yeah right, he couldn't harm a fly"

"I came out to try and find out things, about someone, I found some things of interest in the attic in the house. Loads of photos and a diary,"

"Well I wouldn't know who they belonged to, Matthew might, come on"

Mariah and Gabby went back to Matthew.

"Mariah has some things like photos and a diary, you might know who they belonged to"

"I'll take a look, why don't we go to Home Farm"

They all got in Matthew's car and drove to Home Farm.

Home Farm was a huge place, it was like a mansion. Matthew showed them through to the living room.

"Do any of you want a drink?"

"Yes please"

Matthew brought out three cups of coffee. Mariah emptied the rucksack and took out all the photos and the diary.

Matthew picked one up and looked.

"Where did you get these?"

"I found them in the attic, locked away in a chest, do you know who she is"

"Of course, her name was Perdita Hyde Sinclair"

Mariah remembered that name, where had she heard it before.

"Who was she?"

"That was your dad's long suffering wife. She was married to him for years, she was a very lonely woman. She put up with everything you could imagine over the years. Then in sometime in 2007/08 everything wasn't going their way. The marriage broke up, she left him"

Then Mariah pulled out the diary.

"Do you think this was her's too?"

Matthew opened the book and read a few entries.

"Yeah, this is Perdy's diary all right. I remember this like it was yesterday"

"What happened?"

Matthew began to say what it was all about.

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August 2007

Perdy was alone at Mill Cottage, with her mother in law Rosemary.

"Here darling drink up," Rosemary handed a glass of juice to Perdy.

"Actually, I'm not thirsty, you see I know what you have been doing to me, drugging me, trying to make out I'm mad, how dare you

Rosemary looked smug. Then Perdy pulled her upstairs and took her in the attic. Perdy locked it.

"Now you're going to admit to me, why you've been poisoning me!"

An evil grin came over Rosemary. "Perdita, you're not fit to be a wife, you can never give him what he wants a child, so just face it"

"You evil witch"

Arriving at Mill Cottage was Grayson and Paul.

"Perdy, mother, where are you?" Grayson called out.

Up in the attic, Rosemary shouted and made some story up.

"HELP, GRAYSON, SHE'S GOING TO HURT ME, HELP"

Grayson and Paul ran up. "Perdy, darling its me, open up

Perdy opened the attic.

"I never touched her, oh you don't believe her now do you Gray"

Rosemary came out of the attic, in tears.

"Mother, what happened"

"She got me in the attic, she said she was going to kill me"

"Gray, she's lying, I wasn't going to kill her, she has been trying to do that to me, can't you see"

Grayson wasn't listening to Perdy. "Its alright now mother, you're safe"

Perdy then turned to Paul.

"Paul, surely you believe me, oh come on"

Nobody was listening to Perdy.

"Gray, I've been telling you, she needs proper help, call the doctor now"

Grayson didn't hesitate to his mother's words. He called up the doctor.

"Gray, you can't have them take me away, so now you believe her, you can't do this"

Soon enough there was a knock on the door. A bunch of doctors had arrived and an ambulance was waiting. Grayson and Paul took her out.

"You can't do this, Gray, please, listen to me, she's lying. I'll never forgive you for this Gray," Perdy screamed as they took her away, leaving Rosemary to look on all smug.


Matthew finished.

"Oh my god, that poor woman, he did that to her?"

"He did, he believed his mother over her, Perdy was released with my help, I told her to play along, pretend she was ill, when she wasn't. Then weeks later we caught her out. Grayson was horrified of what he had done to his wife, she was right all along. Then Rosemary had ended up dead in Miami, she had killed herself."

Mariah didn't know what to say.

Matthew continued.

"Then things started to happen. At the time the hunt for my dad's murderer was still on. Rosemary had been keen to stitch me up. Perdy and I had an affair. Then at Christmas that year, Grayson had found out, he was furious and started on revenge. He had this old cardigan of his mother's, he put the button in my car to try and frame me. It didn't work, we confronted him, me, Perdy and Carl, he's my other brother.

Grayson ran with the cardigan so we ran after him, we got it though, then weeks later I realised that Perdy had been keeping hold of the cardigan to blackmail him. I threw her out, she had no where to go."

"Oh dear," Mariah said.

"So what happened after that?"

"Well Mariah, this is where your mum comes into all of this. She had been a friend of the Sinclair's, had a share in the business with Perdy. Your mum had fallen in love with Grayson. This happened in 2008. She even moved in with them. Your mother had agreed to be a surrogate for them, but when you were born she had a change of heart, when she knew they had lied to her, your mum took you to Leeds and that's where you grew up.

Perdy had ended up in jail, not sure what, but she couldn't handle prison and killed herself."

Mariah started to cry. Gabby gave her a hug. "Its ok, Mariah, don't cry.

"Mariah I'm sorry to make you upset, but you had to know"

Mariah nodded, she understood.

Mariah felt betrayed, Grayson had been lying to her about everything.

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