Lonely Girl by Josephine Cox

am to take the responsibility off your shoulders we have to get our story absolutely straight. Can you do that, Molly? Can you stay calm and convince them that it was me who hit him with the spade, and not you?’
    ‘Yes … I think so.’ Smiling, she took hold of his hand. ‘Thank you, Tom. I will never forget what you’re doing for me.’ She wanted to laugh out loud at how easily she had duped him, but she knew she had to appear sombre and vulnerable. Not once did she look down on her husband lying still and bloody on the ground: that good, hard-working man who had adored and cherished her, regardless of her many faults, some of which no other man would ever have forgiven.
    ‘So … who should run to call the police – you or me?’
    ‘I was coming to that.’ Tom took a moment to think. ‘We should call the ambulance first, as quickly as possible … tell them there’s been a terrible fight. Your husband is unconscious and we can’t seem to wake him.’
    He was now beginning to panic. ‘Hurry, Molly. Do it now! We’ve already lost too much time as it is.’
    ‘What should I say?’
    ‘I told you, just tell them there was a fight and your husband is badly hurt. Let them see that you’re in shock, crying … hysterical, even. Can you do that, Molly?’
    ‘I think so.’ Ever the vulnerable innocent.
    ‘Go on then … hurry.’ Fighting his rising panic, he took a deep breath, then let it out in a rush of words. ‘Tell them how we tried to wake him … to help him. That should explain how we lost precious time before calling them out. Go, Molly. Run as fast as you can.’
    Molly was impressed. ‘You’re more capable than I realised,’ she told him proudly. ‘You seem to have thought of everything.’
    Tom smiled wryly. ‘To tell you the truth, I think I’ve surprised myself, but I honestly wish that none of this had ever happened. The only good thing is that it has brought us back together, and that’s all I ever wanted.’
    He held her face between his two hands and kissed her full on the mouth. ‘Don’t forget, my darling,’ he whispered, ‘it was me who killed him. It was never meant to end that way, and if this goes to court I have no option but to plead self-defence. You can back me up; tell them how violent John was … that he was tearing into me like a crazy man. You were shouting for him to stop. I was in fear for my life. You were sure he would kill me … and then somehow I found the strength to grab the spade and hit him across the head, but I never meant to kill him.’
    Molly nodded. ‘Don’t worry, Tom. I’ll tell them everything.’
    ‘Good girl!’ He held her close a moment longer. ‘You go now, Molly. Call the ambulance. When the police are brought into it – as they surely will be – we must keep to the plan exactly as we’ve discussed.’
    ‘Yes, Tom!’ She played along. ‘He had you trapped and he would have killed you, I’m sure of it!’ She looked at his bruised and damaged face, and the trail of blood trickling from his nose and mouth. ‘The police will only have to look at you to see how vicious he was.’ Then she gave a heavy sigh. ‘I don’t like you taking the blame for me, though, Tom. I’m worried about what might happen to you.’
    Tom drew her closer. ‘Now you listen to me, Molly.’ He looked her in the eye. ‘Whichever way you look at it, what happened here tonight was truly my fault, and to be honest with you, I was so afraid he might finish me off that if I had been able to reach the spade when he was battering me into the ground, I would not have hesitated to grab it and knock him down.’
    ‘But you didn’t, did you?’ She lowered her voice. ‘I was the one who hit him with the spade, and I don’t know that I should let you take the blame.’
    Tom quietened her. ‘This is not up for discussion, Molly. The decision is made, and we’re not turning back now.’
    ‘I really wanted us to be together tonight … and I had hoped it might