answers about the swimming were that satisfactory. He remembers that she had wet hair and was shivering, but not how long she might have been gone for. His body language said otherwise, in my opinion. I think he did know how long that interval was. And he didn’t confirm that he stayed at the campsite while she was away, even if he didn’t go with her at the time. Was he definitely there with the group the whole time? Or had he followed her and had some kind of encounter with her?”
“Good questions, Juliette,” Jonah agreed. “To be asked in good time.”
“You’re not going after him now?” she asked, looking between him and Lightman.
“No,” Jonah said. “We’ve got Daniel Benham to see in five minutes. I’m going to give Brett a little time to consider. He isn’t going anywhere.”
Hanson nodded, and gave him a slight smile. “OK.”
He ducked back inside the interview room. “I’ll have to be a short while, I’m afraid,” he said with regret. “I’m sorry to leave you hanging around. Can we get you a coffee? A tea?”
“Yes,” Brett said with a slight smile. “Yes, a tea would be enormously appreciated.”
“Sergeant, could you do the honors? And then I’ll need a few minutes of your time.”
14
Aurora
Friday, July 22, 1983, 10:45 P.M.
Benners was already snorting a line by quarter to eleven. Topaz was leaning over him, one hand on his shoulder, to say, “Go on. Cut me one.”
Aurora sat farther away from Benners, next to a banked-up pile of leaves at the edge of the fire. She felt a surge of disappointment in him, though she’d known the drugs were his. This was what he’d come to do.
There was a sudden boom of sound from Connor’s portable stereo. A fuzzy bass line Aurora didn’t recognize. Over the top of it an electronic sound, and a cracked, hoarse melody.
And then there was a sudden sound next to her, a rustling in the pile of leaves, and Aurora gasped and scuttled backward.
Jojo, squatting close to her with a beer bottle dangling from one hand, stood quickly. “What is it?”
“There’s…” Aurora pointed to the moving leaves, and Jojo moved forward instead of away. She picked up one of the sticks she’d been using to prod the fire, and lifted some of the leaves carefully. And then she grinned.
“It’s a hedgehog,” she said. “Look.”
The ungainly, backside-heavy shape was suddenly uncovered as it shuffled away from the campfire. Aurora watched it waddle off into the darkness, her heart pounding.
“You OK?” Jojo asked.
“Yes, sorry,” Aurora said, trying to laugh as she pulled herself slowly back to where she’d been sitting. She was overwhelmingly glad that the music and the drug taking had covered up her embarrassing response. “I was just being stupid.”
“You weren’t. Fear is a natural reaction. You need it sometimes. To tell you when something’s really wrong and you should be afraid. Imagine if that had been an adder in there. If you hadn’t moved quickly, it could have bitten you.” Jojo squatted back down. “That’s what fear is for.”
She’d stopped looking at Aurora. She seemed to be talking about something else entirely.
“Jojo!” Benners called. “Come on!”
Jojo rose. She walked round the fire to Benners. She bent low over the top of the stove and inhaled through Benners’s rolled-up note. Brett was right behind her, laughing as he brushed powder from Topaz’s nose.
Aurora felt a twinge of fear. They were all going to do it. They would be something other than themselves from now on. Not only drunk, but wired. High. Different.
The music changed, becoming faster. Upbeat and catchy.
Benners straightened up from the tin with a shout of “Great track!”
He bounced on his heels and then held a hand out to Topaz. Aurora watched her sister shake her head, smiling slyly, and take Coralie’s hand instead. The two of them pressed themselves up against each other, their bodies moving over each other in a well-practiced routine. Topaz turned her back and shifted her hips from side to side. She bent her knees to lower herself with each swing, and then raised herself back up again in stages. It was as if she were hearing a different music. A slower and more sensual melody.
Aurora saw Brett’s expression. She watched him watching them. She realized that Connor was frozen in place, too. The show wasn’t aimed at him, but his reaction was the same. And then she grew tired of that hungry look they all had, and went to find the marshmallows