‘One thing at a time,’ said Kim. ‘How did he dope us? Where was it?’
‘Is that you changing the subject?’ said Paul. ‘The only one of us who knew we were coming here? The one who swears Sasha didn’t know.’
‘I can’t swear what Sasha did or didn’t know,’ Kim said. ‘But I swear I didn’t tell him. And I swear I’ve got nothing to do with any of this.’
‘You swear on…?’ said Peach.
‘Buck’s children’s lives,’ said Kim.
There was a long silence.
Peach broke it. ‘That’s enough swearing. So, like Kim said. One thing at a time. Donna, have you washed everything up from last night?’
I grimaced and nodded. ‘Every last pickle fork. Everything’s been through the dishwasher on a hot wash. But I don’t see how Sasha could have got dope into the food either. He wasn’t skulking round the kitchen.’
‘Did he bring anything?’ said Buck. ‘Kim, did you bring any food with you?’
‘We didn’t bring anything,’ Kim said. ‘That was you, remember.’
‘Wait a minute,’ said Buck. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘We can’t pussy-foot around,’ Kim said. ‘You two brought bags of food. And Peach is the one who knows about drugs. Dosage and everything.’
‘Don’t be a moron,’ said Buck. ‘We bought the food in Tesco and brought it straight here. Peach wasn’t out of my sight for a minute except to go to the bog and – funnily enough – she didn’t take three bags of shopping to the petrol-station toilets with her.’
‘So she left them with you?’ Kim said.
‘This is daft,’ said Rosalie. ‘Obviously – obviously – it was something in that mysterious hamper.’
The truth of this hit us all in a huge wave of relief.
‘Of course!’ I said. ‘And I used the caviar and the foie gras and all the rest of it in the canapés! Which Sasha wouldn’t eat.’
‘Whose idea was that?’ said Peach. ‘I don’t remember Sasha or Jell suggesting it.’
It was my idea. I remembered clearly thinking the hamper was a godsend to me. I asked if I could use the food. I shot a look around them, wondering if they remembered, and saw Paul staring at me.
‘I’ve been thinking the worst thing about this is feeling you can’t trust people you’ve known your whole life,’ he said. ‘But then, Donna, we’ve known you precisely two days.’
‘And,’ Kim said, ‘you were alone in the house for a long time yesterday, weren’t you? Much longer than the rest of us. Plenty time to put a nightie in a cupboard and a rabbit in a tin. Plenty time to do the trick with the party hat. And you had months to put the box up the chimney.’
‘Why would I do any of those things?’ I said. ‘I don’t know what any of them mean. I had no idea any of you had ever been here before. I’m the only one who definitely didn’t know that.’
‘You didn’t have to know what it means,’ Paul said. ‘You just had to do what Sasha told you.’
‘What are we swearing on now?’ I asked. ‘How about if I swear on my precious new business that’s my lifelong dream and would go tits up if I did anything half this mad?’
‘I believe you,’ Kim said. ‘Sorry, everyone. I just do. But I don’t think Sasha masterminded this. He was terrified.’ She shivered. ‘If I could believe what that sergeant said. If I could believe Jennifer was still alive – instead of believing my own eyes – then I’d believe Sasha was still alive too. But—’ She was beginning to shake, big hard judders that went through her whole body, ‘Donna, you saw her. And you saw him. And I—’ She stopped speaking and her eyes flared. She pointed out the window. I don’t know about anyone else but I was sure, when I turned, I’d see Sasha black-faced and streaming with water, Jennifer blue-grey and sodden, both of their mouths wide around the stones.
What I did see – what we all saw – was a cop car coming slowly up the drive.
‘They’ve found the bodies,’ Kim said. ‘They’ve found the bodies again.’
She put her hands over her face and bent forward until her head was resting on her knees.
Ramsay went to answer the door as Sergeant Wilson strode towards the porch.
‘Sorry to burst in on you all again,’ Wilson said. ‘But we’ve got some news. We’ve located the cars. We got a couple of good clicks on the M8 and followed a hunch. They’re at Prestwick airport.’
‘Sasha and Jennifer?’ Kim said. She leaped to her feet as if she’d been pulled up on a wire.
‘No!’ Wilson said. ‘Sorry. “They” meaning the cars. The cars are at the airport. See, I’ve got a good friend on the airport security force, such a good friend he didn’t mind going out and having a wee scout round the car park for me. There’s a navy-blue Range Rover and a mid-blue Escort parked side by side in the long-term.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Kim said. ‘Are you saying Sasha has run off with Jennifer? Left me for her?’
‘Looks like it,’ Wilson said. ‘They’re not on a plane. I think the airport car park was a bluff, but … off the record, Mrs Mowbray … if you’ve got joint accounts you might want to think about shifting some dosh before he does.’
‘My brother’s not a joint-account sort,’ said Rosalie.
‘Well, actually,’ Kim said, ‘he prefers them to me having my own. And I’ll take great pleasure in clearing him out and maxing his credit card.’
‘Good girl,’ said Wilson. ‘Anyway, they were determined. I’ll give them that.’
‘What do you mean?’ said Rosalie.
‘The reason we got such a clear CCTV shot as well as the ANPR is they were going very slow, because the Range Rover was towing the Escort.’
‘Towing?’ said Paul. ‘Why wouldn’t they drive their own two cars?’
Wilson shrugged. ‘Breakdown’s the usual reason,’ he said. ‘Or – possibly – if one of them didn’t feel up to it.’ He shifted from foot to foot. ‘If there was any chance Ms Mowbray was incapacitated,’ he said. ‘If this was an abduction. It doesn’t have to be her next of kin who reports it. One of you could, if you’re concerned.’
‘If we think Sasha kidnapped Jennifer?’ said Rosalie.
‘Or the other way round,’ said Wilson. ‘Theoretically.’
‘I can’t get my head round that,’ said Kim. ‘Abduction? Is that something that even happens? Apart from divorced dads, I mean.’
‘Not often, no,’ said Wilson. ‘Professional hazard, Mrs Mowbray – casting around for every possible answer.’ He smiled and the tension in the room seemed to let go. ‘You don’t need to decide tonight. If you don’t hear from either of them soon, you can get in touch.’ He turned to leave, then reconsidered. ‘But you shouldn’t leave the cars there too long, racking up fines.’ And this time he really did go.
‘That’s weird about the towing,’ said Rosalie. ‘Why not dump a car if it breaks down when you’re only going to dump it anyway?’
‘If it was just Sasha,’ Ramsay said, ‘and he didn’t want to leave Jen’s car behind…’
‘Why would leaving her car behind be a problem?’ said Rosalie. ‘Oh! If she’s dead in the boot, you mean?’
‘Or if Jen’s driving and Sasha’s dead in the boot,’ said Ramsay, nodding.
‘Or, like the sergeant said,’ Peach put in, ‘the Escort broke down at the worst possible moment and they panicked.’
‘To be honest,’ said Paul, ‘Sasha kidnapping Jennifer, Jennifer kidnapping Sasha, either killing the other or the two of them holding hands and walking off into the sunset together … they all seem equally bizarre to me.’
‘Sasha and Jennifer up a tree,’ Buck said.
‘Does any of that change anything or do we go back to where we were?’ said Peach. ‘Where were we?’
Rosalie tutted loudly. ‘That bombshell about the cars put the question right out my head again,’ she said. ‘We forgot to ask Wilson about the drowned girl.’
‘How many times?’ I said.
�
�Call Anna and Oliver,’ said Paul. ‘Not to tell them Sasha’s moving on to wife number three, necessarily, but it was them who told us about the kid drowning after the party. It was them who made us promise not to speak about it.’
‘And ask them if they can remember her name,’ said Buck. ‘It’s driving me crazy. It starts with an L. And the big one was called something musical that starts with a C … Oh, God, it’s on the tip of my tongue!’
‘Ask them if they’ve got the original of the picture,’ said Peach. ‘Could they scan it and email it maybe? That might jog our memories.’
Rosalie left the room and we all listened to her heels clip-clopping along the corridor towards the study.
‘Meanwhile,’ said Paul, ‘we need to work out how he did it. Okay, first, he definitely knew we were coming here. Definitely. He had to set it up. He had to put the box up the chimney.’
‘When was the first time anyone noticed the picture?’ said Buck. ‘Was it before Sasha and Kim arrived?’
‘Did anyone look in the cupboard in the billiards room before Donna saw the party hat?’ said Ramsay. ‘Can we narrow down when it got in there?’
‘We’d have smelt the Eternity if it was there on Friday night,’ said Buck.
‘Kim, was the nightie in your wardrobe on Friday or did it appear on Saturday?’ said Paul.
‘Slow down!’ said Kim. ‘No point wondering how he did it before we’ve established that he really did. And I keep telling you I’d bet my eyes that Sasha didn’t know we were coming here!’
‘He must have,’ Paul said. ‘He got a sodding hamper delivered before he even arrived.’
‘No one knew except me, Home From Home, and my friend Tia from my book group,’ Kim said. ‘She helped me plan it. She might have found The Breakers actually. Or she forwarded me the link anyway. But she wouldn’t have told Sasha. They don’t even know each other.’
‘Can you phone her and double-check?’ said Buck.
But before he could say more, Rosalie opened the door and sidled in. ‘They’re sending the photo,’ she said. ‘Hopefully. Once they’ve dug it out. They might need to call back and be talked through the process. But it’s on its way. Against their better judgement and against all their advice.’
‘Are you okay?’ said Paul.
Rosalie looked at him long and hard. Two tears brimmed and then splashed down her cheeks. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I asked Mum and Dad about the drowned girl. And they were pretty clear. They said there would be nothing but trouble from raking it up, and since the trouble wasn’t mine, I should show some family loyalty and let it be.’
‘Whose trouble is it?’ said Buck. ‘We’re all family.’
‘They wouldn’t say.’
‘Well, can we at least talk about the stuff that’s nothing to do with the drowned girl?’ Peach said. ‘Can I talk about that nightie before I burst?’
‘Oh, darling,’ said Rosalie. ‘Of course. What do you need to say?’
‘Because I was wearing a nightie like that, that night,’ said Peach. ‘I had the jeans and T-shirt on earlier, for the picture. Jesus, I’m scared to look in case I’ve been zapped.’ She squeezed her eyes shut.
‘Don’t worry,’ said Buck. ‘You’re still there.’
‘But when I got drunk on the famous schnapps, blacked out and came to, sprawled on the floor in a pool of peachy goodness, that’s what I had on. A long white cotton nightie with pink ribbon. The question is, why did Sasha want to remind me?’
‘General rottenness?’ said Rosalie. ‘Reminding us all of a rough old time?’ Her words were casual but her voice was shaking. ‘Donna, do you remember I said my over-the-top party dress was my mother compensating?’
‘I do,’ I said. ‘I didn’t know what you meant.’
‘Well, briefly, my mother bought me clothes like that to make up – in her mind – for my blemish. My imperfection, my blot, my defect, my deform—’
‘Not now,’ said Paul.
‘My ever so slightly questionable gender identity,’ Rosalie said, on a downward beat, like a death knell. Paul leaned forward and cupped her shoulder in his hand.
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Sorry. I—’
‘Nothing to be sorry for,’ Rosalie said. ‘I didn’t know then, of course. I thought I was late starting my periods and for some reason my mother dressed me like a baby doll. I was just about to find out, of course.’
The room had gone quiet.
‘In fact, I’ll back my “awkward first sexual encounter” against anyone’s “awkward first sexual encounter” ever.’
‘Ouch,’ said Buck.
‘But that’s not anything to do with his birthday party, is it?’ I said.
‘Well,’ said Rosalie, ‘I think it maybe contributed to my mother’s extreme … What would you call it? “Protectiveness” is the kindest word. “Secrecy” is neutral. “Reflexive defence” is the term, if we’re being cynical. Is there just one single word for “reflexive defence”?’ She tapped her teeth, looking into the distance.
‘Rosie,’ said Buck. ‘You’re not playing fucking online Scrabble. It doesn’t have to be one word. What are you talking about?’
‘Well, my mother was already rather disappointed in how one of her children had turned out of the mould.’
‘Cow,’ I said, without meaning to.
Rosalie smiled at me. ‘And I think she’d have done anything to keep the other one unsmirched. Un-be-smirched? Inviolate. Sorry!’ Buck had heaved an extravagant sigh. ‘Also, all psychobabble aside, Sasha’s party was when the awkward encounter took place,’ said Rosalie. ‘Paul swept me off my feet.’
‘During a game of Postman’s Knock,’ said Paul.
‘You’ve been together since then?’ I said.
‘Since we were fourteen,’ said Rosalie. ‘Except we broke up between the ages of sixteen and nineteen and then again between twenty-one and twenty-three and for six months when we were thirty. In fact, we’re overdue for another hiatus, aren’t we?’
Paul laughed and pulled her closer.
‘Look at that, eh?’ said Peach. ‘I did everything right. Waited until I was qualified and found another nice doctor to marry. And now I’m headed for the divorce courts. Rosalie bags off with her own cousin at a party and they’re all set to grow old together.’
Rosalie started laughing. ‘I can’t believe I’ve never talked about this before,’ she said. ‘It took Sasha leaving to get it out in the open.’
‘God, it feels good to get to the bottom of things,’ Kim said. The rest of them shared another of those fleeting looks that ricocheted around. If I read it right, they knew we were nowhere near the bottom yet. But Kim’s next words showed that she knew it too. ‘So tell me straight. Did Sasha drown that little girl?’
‘No,’ said Rosalie. ‘But he didn’t take care of her. He was with her. He was supposed to be taking her home. And she drowned instead.’
‘What about the other sister?’ Kim said. ‘Shouldn’t she have been looking after the little one?’
‘She was only fourteen herself,’ Paul said. ‘And Sasha started pouring drink down her neck as soon as she got in the door. It was a bad night, Kim. We were hammered. We were all set for trouble.’
‘I remember the state of the house the next morning,’ said Rosalie. ‘We were hustled away before the press got down here about the drowning, but I still remember the state of the house. Flies all over the party food, booze spilled everywhere.’ She shuddered.
‘I know this is a minority opinion,’ I said, ‘but I really don’t think—’
‘Why would Anna and Oliver say she had drowned if she hadn’t?’ Rosalie said.
I thought about it for a minute. ‘To draw a line,’ I said. ‘Like Sasha and Jennifer’s final prank. Dead is dead. Don’t you feel a bit more like you’ll never see either of them again because you kind of sort of think they’re maybe dead?’
‘No,’ Kim said. ‘And it’ll be really easy to tell if Sasha’s using his credit cards.’<
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‘But if Sasha hacked into your emails to your friend Tia, he’s obviously techy enough to hide financial things too,’ said Ramsay. ‘Ask her at your next book club if she’s noticed anything funny.’
‘I could ask her right now,’ Kim said. ‘It’s an online group. But it’s a hard thing to work up to, isn’t it? Asking if—’
‘Wait a minute!’ said Ramsay. ‘Wait a minute! It’s online? Do you ever meet in person? Do you ever Skype?’
‘No,’ said Kim. ‘Why?’
‘Because what if Sasha is Tia?’ Ramsay said. ‘Or what if Jennifer is?’
‘Of course they’re not! This book group’s been running for years. We’re friends.’
‘How can you have a friend you’ve never met?’ said Paul. ‘How could you be so reckless, this day and age?’
‘What about what’s-his-name from that course?’ said Rosalie. ‘Ray Ban?’
‘Li Ban?’ Paul said. ‘But he’s a genuine person. He lives in Barnsley.’
‘But you’ve never met him face to face?’ said Ramsay.
‘You’ve been gaming with random strangers on the other side of the world since your computer needed two people to lift it,’ Paul said. ‘There’s loads of people I’ve never met face to face.’
‘And what do you talk to him about?’ said Ramsay. ‘Li Ban.’
‘What are you getting at?’ said Paul. ‘What do you think we talk about? Football, whisky, music.’
‘The best ointment for your knuckles if you’ve scraped them on the ground,’ said Rosalie. ‘Did you talk to him about coming away on this weekend? You were moaning your head off and then you suddenly changed your mind.’
‘He was all for it,’ Paul said. ‘Actually, yeah. I moaned about it and he was all for it. Why the hell would that be?’
‘Listen,’ I said. They all fell silent. ‘I can hear a fax coming in.’
‘That’ll be from Mum and Dad,’ said Rosalie, standing. ‘I knew they’d never get their heads round a scanned email.’
She was studying the picture when she came back in again. ‘It’s really strange to see it whole,’ she said. ‘We’ve been looking at it doctored all weekend.’ She sat back down on the footstool and the rest of us crowded round her.
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