Vivienne tilted her head. ‘I didn’t think he told the whole truth, but I didn’t feel any threat or risk from him.’
‘That’s a fair assessment, as long as you only consider physical threat or risk. He’s certainly caused a lot of other problems.’
‘I have a child. If I had felt we were at risk, I wouldn’t have invited him into my home. Liam was the perfect house guest. Alain, my son, adored him. Liam spent time with Alain, and didn’t treat him as a child.’
Tom looked at her more intently, and Vivienne laughed.
‘Yes, we slept together. We had a relationship, but I am not stupid. Liam always had the faraway look in his eyes. I knew this was a stop on the road to somewhere else. It was chance that I saw him and stopped that day. We had wonderful months together, but I always knew he would leave.’
‘Why did he stay here? Sorry, I sound rude again. You’re very attractive, but Liam has troubles in England. Bad enough for him to leave and get as far away as possible. I don’t understand why he would stay so close. I know there’s only a small chance anyone would find him here, but I thought he would have gone much further.’
‘I asked him that one evening. He laughed and said he stayed for me. I told him I knew that wasn’t true, and I didn’t need cheap compliments. He said he had to make sure everything was okay for his brother, before he could leave.’
Tom stared at her in disbelief. Certainly she told the truth, Liam had uttered those words, but what the hell did he mean?
He shook his head. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘That is what he said.’
‘I didn’t mean the comment for you, just that what he said is so obviously untrue. He left me with a lot of lies and debts.’
‘That is most often why they leave in the first place.’
‘He was good to you?’
‘Yes, as much as it was in his nature. He made Alain and I laugh. He was patient with Alain, and kind and loving to me, but I never let myself fall in love with him. I knew it would only be me that got hurt.’
‘I’m glad about that at least. That someone has something good to say about him. What happened the last time you saw him?’
‘We had a lovely meal out, and when we came home he tried to give me some money. I would not take it. He paid his share of the food and bills, but I did not want his money as a gift. I am not rich, but I have enough. I went to bed that night, and Chris,’ she stopped. ‘Liam said he would be up shortly. That was the last time I saw him. I woke the next morning and he had gone.’ Vivienne stood. ‘You still look very pale. I will make us something to eat.’
‘You don’t have to do that, besides I’m not sure I could eat.’ A wave of tiredness hit him, and he knew that while he still had questions for Vivienne, he needed to sleep. ‘Is there somewhere in the village I could stay the night?’
‘An elderly couple take in visitors, I will ring them.’ She came back a few minutes later. ‘They have a spare room. Would you like me to drive you there?’
‘That’s okay,’ said Tom. ‘I’ve got the hire car, and the village isn’t far. If you give me some directions, I’ll be okay.’
The house was one street away from the Boulangerie, and the room pleasant enough. Thoughts and fears ran through his head so fast he could hardly keep up. Andi and the twins, the threats Dave had made and the memory of Liam in the casket. He needed to speak to Andi and make sure they were safe.
She answered after the first ring. ‘How are you? I’ve called you, but it went straight to your voicemail.’
‘The signal’s weak in places. How about you and the twins?’
‘We’re fine and Steven’s with us.’ She brushed aside his enquiry. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Long story. This will sound weird, but Liam’s dead. Really dead.’ Tom heard her sharp intake of breath.
‘Dead. How? Where? How did you find out?’
He explained the call from Vivienne, and seeing Liam.
‘I don’t know what to say. How are you?’
An impossible question to answer.
*
He didn’t think he would sleep, but felt marginally better when he woke the next morning.
He paid the couple for his room, and wondered what he should do next as he unlocked the hire car. He’d mourned Liam since the day Jago and Old Bill had found Kalina, and all that time Liam had been in this village. His thoughts were so mixed up; he wasn’t sure what he felt.
He had to figure out what to do about Liam. It wouldn’t be easy to take his body back to England. Would it be simpler to let the funeral go ahead here? But there was the problem of his name. No doubt there were laws about false names and funerals. He didn’t care about that at the moment, and he was sure Andi wouldn’t be upset if she missed Liam’s funeral.
He needed to see Vivienne again, he still had questions. Would she want to talk to him? It must be hard for her to talk to a stranger about Liam.
As he started the car, his elderly host limped down the path towards him. Tom wound down the window.
‘Vivienne call. She says please to visit her before you go.’
Tom thanked him, and drove out to Vivienne’s. He might be an intrusion on her grief, but at least she had given him the opportunity to ask his questions.
‘Have you eaten?’ she asked, as soon as he arrived.
He shook his head, and she gestured for him to sit.
‘Can I help you?’
‘Thank you, but I am fine.’
He sat at the dining table, and watched as she made coffee, and placed croissants and fresh bread on the table.
‘Do you mind if we talk about Liam?’ asked Tom.
Vivienne pulled plates and cups out of a cupboard. ‘It isn’t easy, but I understand there are things you need to know.’
‘I forgot to ask yesterday, but if Liam left, how come his body is here? You mentioned he was involved in a car crash.’
Vivienne raised her hands, palm upwards. ‘One of life’s coincidences, or we may never have known what happened to him. He crashed on the motorway heading towards Lyon. One of our local gendarmes, Jean-Paul Routier, saw the crashed cars and stopped to help. He recognised Liam. I think he organised for Liam to be taken to Dubois. The accident wasn’t suspicious,’ said Vivienne, as if to allay his fears. ‘There is a police report. It was misty, and three cars had crashed. Liam couldn’t slow down in time. Jean-Paul said there were skid marks on the road.’
His vision blurred and buzzed. He took one of the croissants and ate some of it, waiting for the dizziness to pass. He looked around the room, now noticing evidence that a child lived in the house, games on the bookshelf and some cars in the corner.
‘How did you find me?’ he asked.
‘When I woke, I realised Liam hadn’t come to bed. I looked for him down here, and thought maybe he had gone for an early morning walk. Later, when he hadn’t come back, I checked and saw his car wasn’t in the usual place. He didn’t have much with him when he arrived, but when I looked in the wardrobe he used, it was empty. Much later, Jean-Paul came and told me about the accident. I couldn’t sleep that night, and came down to read for a while. I found two envelopes in my book.’
She went to the fridge and poured some juice into a jug. Perhaps she needed a few minutes to compose herself. He sat quietly at the table, although he wanted her to carry on.
‘Thank you for breakfast.’
‘It is not a problem.’ She ate a few mouthfuls, and then continued. ‘One envelope was addressed to me. Liam left the money I would not take on our last evening. There was also a note. He said he was sorry he had to go, and if I didn’t want the money I should put it away for Alain. He enjoyed the time he spent with us, and it was hard to leave. It said, if circumstances were different, if he were different, he would choose to stay.’ She was the closest to tears Tom had seen her. ‘He was good with words, not so good with the truth.’
‘Yes,’ said Tom. ‘But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t the truth.’
She managed a smile, and shrugged her shoulders eloquently.
They ate a little more, before Tom asked his question again.
‘So how did you know about me?’
‘I’m sorry, I forgot that part. The second envelope was addressed to you in Poldrayth. I had it ready to post, but then I thought if you were close, it would be better to tell you what happened. If I just sent the letter, you would think he was still alive.’ She opened a drawer in the dresser behind her, and passed Tom a cream envelope with his name and address in Liam’s handwriting. He’d had more notes from Liam since his supposed suicide than he’d ever had before.
Tom ripped open the envelope and pulled out a single sheet of paper.
Tom,
Things haven’t worked out quite as I planned. You’ll now know more about me than I’d like. I’m not sorry about the money, they made it too easy. That’s not an excuse, just a reason. The gambling was fun, and I enjoyed it.
I’m sorry to leave you in so much trouble. I never planned it to happen that way, things just rolled along a little faster than I’d expected. This will help.
Dave will be close so I need to be cryptic, but then I always enjoyed a good treasure hunt.
You might not remember Chris Toogood, we were good friends, but his trail ends here. Don’t try to find him. Chris and Liam have both gone.
For your sake, I hope you remember the good times we had together in those long-ago summer holidays that feel like yesterday.
Try not to think too badly of me. I would have liked you to be proud of me at least once, but I guess that won’t happen now.
Liam.
Beneath this was a series of numbers that made no sense.
‘Does it help?’ asked Vivienne.
‘Liam says it will, but I don’t know how. What the hell are these numbers supposed to mean?’
He showed the letter to Vivienne, and she frowned over it before she handed it back.
Tom read the note again, and then put it back in the envelope.
‘What will you do about Liam and the funeral? His death was registered under the name Chris Toogood.’
‘I’m not sure. I guess I’ll need to see your policeman friend and sort that out.’
A car drew up on the gravel driveway.
‘That will be my parents with Alain.’ Vivienne didn’t indicate whether he should go with her to be introduced, so he stayed at the table, pushing crumbs around his plate.
The car drove away, and Vivienne returned with a young boy, who looked to be about five or six.
‘Alain, this is Tom, Chris’s brother.’ She looked at Tom, as if asking him not to correct her with the name.
Tom smiled at him. ‘Hello, Alain, have you had a good time with your grandparents?’
The boy nodded, and Vivienne ruffled his hair. ‘He’s shy with new people.’
Alain retrieved a book from the shelves, and sat on the couch.
‘I guess I should go and see the gendarme you mentioned, or maybe the funeral home,’ said Tom. ‘You know, to see what we need to do about Liam.’
‘Jean-Paul would be the best person to see first. If he doesn’t know what to do, he will be able to find out.’
Alain walked to the door with his mother and Tom.
‘I like your brother,’ he said to Tom. ‘I miss him. He made up good stories to tell me.’
Tom smiled, and patted his head. ‘Li- Chris was good at making up stories, but I’m glad you enjoyed the ones he told you, and your English is perfect. Your mother is a good teacher.’
He drove to Dubois and found the station. Jean-Paul wasn’t around and they told him to return at lunchtime, as Jean-Paul would most likely be there then.
Tom wasn’t sure what to do. He briefly thought about the Chapel of Rest, but he didn’t need to see Liam again. He drove to a park on the edge of town, and sat in the shade of a tree. He studied the map from the hire car. When Liam crashed, he wasn’t far from Lyon. He could have been driving to Lyon airport, or across Europe. Nothing made sense, least of all the long break with Vivienne. Liam might have said he wanted to make sure things were okay for his brother, but he could have done that from anywhere. And how had he made things better? It was another of Liam’s stories.
He pulled out the note, and read it again. What the hell did Liam mean? Hints and cryptic messages appealed to Liam, but right now things needed to be plain and simple. Liam must have been worried Dave might get hold of the note, but he could have made it easier to understand. The series of numbers at the bottom of the letter made no sense at all.
He sighed, and looked around the park. It obviously hadn’t rained for some time, with long cracks in the dry grass.
Long-ago summers? Tom pulled out his wallet, and looked for the card that came with the flash drive. Remember the good times – like the summer I was ten. What had happened that summer? Nothing stood out in Tom’s mind. He and Andi had spent ages trying to work out the password to the webmail account. And they still didn’t know.
He walked back to the car, and sat in the driver’s seat. The childhood summers melded together in his mind. All one long day spent exploring the beach, rocks and cliffs. He and Liam swam, ran, shouted and laughed together.
*
He woke in the driver’s seat, his mouth dry and neck sore, while the faint wisps of a dream taunted him.
He felt the sand beneath his feet as he ran along Poldrayth beach with Liam. Every day like summer, as they climbed the lower reaches of the cliffs, and pretended it was their own private Everest.
One summer they’d devised a new language. Goodness knows how old they were. He might have been fourteen, but maybe younger. Liam could have got it wrong. Kricken. That’s what they’d called the language. Stupid idea, although they’d worked hard at it. Eventually they’d given up, and just kept some phrases and names, but they’d never written any of it down, and it didn’t have anything to do with numbers.
He remembered Alain, sat on the couch with a book. When he was that age he only read Super Hero comics, but the chicken pox episode had introduced him to books.
I always enjoyed a good treasure hunt.
One summer, he and Liam had made up a few treasure trails and left clues. They’d used his favourite book for the code.
He rang Andi.
‘You said Steven’s cousin had children. Are there any children’s books in the house?’
‘I guess so.’
‘I really need you to find a copy of Lord of the Flies. Right now. It’s important.’
After the call, he checked through Liam’s note again. Please let me be right. Andi, find that book.
Chapter 22
Andi
Andi fell asleep with her head on Steven’s chest, his arm wrapped around her. She woke on her side, but still felt the warmth of his body against hers.
‘Did you sleep okay?’
She hadn’t realised he was awake, and turned to gaze into his grey eyes. ‘Yes, I did. I didn’t expect to with everything that’s happened.’
‘Good.’
She wanted him so much. Part of her heightened arousal was fear, but she wanted him, no one else. She only had to give him the slightest hint. A sigh escaped her.
‘What’s the matter?’
Only she could ruin a moment like this. Only she had to be so black and white about things.
She pulled the sheet around her and sat up, hugging her knees.
‘I broke the trust you had in me. I know that’s not easily repaired, if it’s even possible.’ His gaze and expression were steady. ‘Nothing you’ve done can be as bad as that.’
She reached over and touched his cheek. ‘It did damage the trust between us, but you told me. I think in the heat of that I overreacted. It was one occasion, not an affair and loads of lies.’
‘You don’t have to tell me anything.’
They were so close. If she said something now it might wreck any chance they had.
But that’s not
who she was, although sometimes she wished she didn’t think in such absolutes. ‘I went out with this guy a few times. Nothing more than a couple of dinner dates and a goodnight kiss. I guess I was flattered, but he wasn’t you. Much as that irked me at the time.’
Steven’s expression was carefully neutral until her last sentence, and then he laughed. ‘I love you so much.’
‘I love you too.’
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. ‘That’s all I need to know, that you still love me and still want me.’
‘It took me a while to realise.’
‘Just a while?’
‘Yes, I’m still as stubborn, but I’m working on it.’
They made love as the sun lightened the room, and she felt the weight of the past weeks lift. She lay cradled in his arms, as if that was all the protection she needed.
‘While we were apart, I realised you’re my best friend,’ she said. ‘I can talk to you about things I couldn’t tell anyone else. That’s too precious to give up for one mistake.’
‘Do you think we should get up now, or can we leave the rest of the world downstairs for a little longer?’
She recognised his grin, and kissed him. ‘The world can wait.’
When they went downstairs, Sophie and Kristen were eating breakfast and telling Barbara what they had been doing. Andi hoped it was a sanitised version. But Barbara and Martin’s sons were only a little older, so no doubt they caused as much trouble.
‘Have something to eat,’ said Barbara. ‘Martin’s outside.’
Steven went to join him. They returned a few minutes later discussing Martin’s new car. Everything must be okay.
The morning stretched endlessly. Sophie and Kristen roamed around the house like caged tigers, and out of desperation Andi asked Barbara if they could use the computer. She told them not to update any location details, or tell their friends where they were.
They ate early. Afterwards Martin disappeared out to his shed, and Barbara said she had some sewing to do.
‘Can we go to town?’ asked Kristen. ‘I’ve got money.’
Lies of the Dead Page 15