Kat’s care and then sending her to boarding school had been his way of dealing with her; until he had realised that he could profit from her talent.
Her fingers rubbed back and forth over the familiar shape of the perfume bottle. She knew all the lines and curves of it by touch alone and usually the contact with one of her mother’s possessions brought her comfort and sometimes more – images of her mother, an echo of her emotions. Not tonight, though. Tonight she felt nothing. There was no comfort. She felt utterly alone. The old scar on the palm of her right hand itched viciously, a reminder of Amelia, and Oakhangar, and the nightmare of the wedding.
‘I don’t know where you’re taking me,’ she said, ‘but I want to see Jules. She’ll let me stay for a few days.’
It was the place she always ran to when she was in trouble. Her cousin Juliet Carey was the only person who treated her as though she was normal. Not that Lizzie knew what normal was any more if she ever had, but Juliet’s chaotic household was the closest to it that she could find.
She saw Bill and Kat exchange a look and then Kat gave a tiny nod and Bill dove in his pocket and extracted her phone. Lizzie saw him scroll through the numbers and punch in the one for Jules before he handed it to her.
The number rang and rang. Jules didn’t believe in answering services.
‘Didn’t Jules say they were all going to France for a couple of weeks camping?’ Kat said. Both her tone and her expression conveyed her utter bafflement at the thought of spending any time in a tent. For Kat, even the most luxurious glamping would be too primitive.
‘Oh yeah…’ With a sigh Lizzie ended the connection. She really was on her own then. Her only close friend was working abroad and there was no one else she would want to turn to at a time like this, no other friends, no family, only a raft of acquaintances who would sell her out to the press as soon as look at her.
Immediately her phone rang.
‘Don’t answer it,’ Bill said. ‘Turn it off.’
Lizzie thought about ignoring him and calling Dudley but then Kat exclaimed: ‘Dudley’s giving a press conference!’
Lizzie switched off the phone and stuffed it into her pocket. Kat glanced up at her then back at her screen. Once again, the tinny sound of voices filled the car:
‘I’m distraught at the loss of my beautiful wife, Amelia.’ Dudley’s voice sounded blurred by tears. ‘It was a terrible accident. I don’t even want to address the other horrible rumours which have already sprung up and are nothing but hurtful lies. I only ask that my family and I are given respect whilst we grieve.’
‘Dear God,’ Bill said, ‘he looks terrible. And he sounds like one of those guys whose wife disappears, and he makes a public plea for her to come home knowing all along that he’s murdered her and hidden the body. Jeez.’
Kat’s reply was overwhelmed by the cacophony from the phone as reporters scrambled to ask questions.
‘Turn it off,’ Lizzie said irritably. ‘Please, Kat. I’m begging you.’ Tears stung her eyelids. She wanted to speak to Dudley, to comfort him and draw comfort from him just as she had when they were growing up together. She wanted to hug him and feel his arms about her. They made each other feel safe. Yet she had a horrible suspicion that everything had changed and they could never be so close, or so happy, ever again. It had all seemed so simple; the two of them against the world. Yet Amelia had always been there even when Lizzie had almost forgotten her. Her shadow had always been cast across them, the figure glimpsed out of the corner of her eye, the spectre.
Kat finally snapped off the sound on her phone just as Bill’s mobile rang again. He listened in sharp silence.
‘There’s been a change of plan,’ he said, as he ended the call. ‘We will be going back to London, after all. The police want to interview you tomorrow, Lizzie.’
‘Fine,’ Lizzie said sulkily. ‘Whatever. I don’t know anything anyway.’
‘The lawyers will brief you first thing,’ Bill said.
‘Fine,’ Lizzie said again with a half shrug.
‘This is serious,’ Bill said with a warning note in his voice. ‘They haven’t dismissed the possibility of murder.’
Lizzie rolled her eyes. ‘Bill, this is ridiculous.’
‘Just do what the lawyers tell you,’