way to ask why drugs were dropping out of her clothes.
Georgia bolted out of the car with a quick thanks.
As I opened my door, Phoebe said, ‘You don’t need to get out.’
‘I’m just going to make sure she gets in safely. I’m not dumping her on the doorstep.’
Phoebe grumbled. ‘Don’t start banging on to Faye if she’s back. She doesn’t need to know Georgia puked. She just didn’t have enough to eat before we went out.’
‘Well, she’s got a bag of clothes covered in sick, so it’s not going to be a big secret.’
I slammed the door and followed Georgia up the drive.
Faye appeared in the porch.
‘You’re back early,’ I said. ‘I thought you’d be having a long lazy brunch.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘The fire alarm went off at six o’clock this morning and once Lee’s awake he can’t stay in bed. So we had an early breakfast and came back.’
‘Did you have a good time, though?’
‘Yeah, it was lovely, thank you.’ She held out her arms to hug Georgia, then took a pace back. ‘Good party? You look worn out.’
Georgia managed a wan smile, and again muttered, ‘Thank you for having me’ in my direction and disappeared inside.
I tried to ignore Phoebe’s eyes boring into my back from the car.
‘She had a bit too much to drink last night.’
‘She wasn’t sick, was she?’
‘A little bit, but I stayed with her until she sobered up. You might want to get her clothes in the wash.’
Faye folded up with mortification. ‘Oh God. I’m so sorry. You should have rung me.’
‘What, and ruined your romantic night away? Don’t be silly. They’re just experimenting at this age, aren’t they? We’ve all done it. It’s just a learning curve.’ I hoped she’d remember that I was kind and generous with Georgia next time Phoebe messed up.
‘Well, as long as that’s all they’re experimenting with. You hear all sorts about what they get into at these parties.’
Phoebe shouted out of the window. ‘Mum! I need to get on with my homework!’
I waved at her. ‘I’m just coming!’ I turned back to Faye. ‘Now you mention it, there was a strong smell of dope where they were last night.’
Faye threw her head back. ‘Really? Our two better not have been involved. Hopefully Georgia’s got more sense than that.’
I noticed she didn’t include Phoebe in the ‘way too smart for that sort of nonsense’ category.
‘There’s never been a problem with drugs at their parties before, has there?’
I shook my head. ‘Not that I’m aware of.’
‘How would they even get hold of drugs?’
I shrugged. ‘Maybe someone from another school? Who knows? They’re probably everywhere and we’re bumbling about oblivious.’
I could feel the tension seeping out of me as I told Faye a half-truth. After all, I wasn’t a hundred per cent sure Georgia had actually smoked the dope.
‘There weren’t any outsiders at the party, were there?’ she asked.
‘Not that I saw. I think it was just the usual crowd, but they all seem to take plus-ones these days, so it’s hard to tell.’
‘Some of the year above are eighteen now. They’re probably going to clubs and pubs. I guess they can get drugs down at the Kahlua Club in town if they look hard enough. You’ll have to keep an eye on Victor now he’s had his birthday.’
I struggled not to feel irritated that Faye was immediately passing the problem to me to worry about, shifting the focus on to Victor when in fact, the issue lay with Georgia. ‘I don’t think he’ll cause any trouble in that way. He’s a good lad. As you know, Ginny was a really close friend of mine, I’d known her for nearly thirty years. She never did drugs and would have been super-strict about that with Victor.’
She nodded. ‘You always said that she was a great mum. I suppose he might just be a bit more vulnerable if he hasn’t dealt with his grief. Might feel like a good opportunity to blank everything out for a few hours. And he’s used to living in a big city where drugs are so much more run-of-the-mill than they are here, so he might not find them quite as scary as our girls.’
I pushed back. ‘He hardly goes out at the moment anyway. And when he does, he’s always with Phoebe.’
Faye grimaced, as though Phoebe wasn’t much of a barrier to disaster. ‘I’m just saying you should be careful because you never know who might end up coming to the house. And it’s a