The Woman Who Lied(56)
Every time she closes her eyes she sees Louise’s dead body, her too-pale skin, her slim, bare calves in the cut-off jeans and the branding on her ankle, so she deliberately stays up late with her father, chatting about her books or his time in the RAF. It’s the closest she’s ever felt to him. Wilfie is delighted that there is a dog in the house and spends most of the weekend playing with Lloyd in the garden, until Lloyd gets too tired and flops down onto the grass and she has to remind her son that he’s old.
On Saturday, Elliot asks his dad, Trevor, to arrange to have someone change the locks, murmuring that they can’t be too careful now that Louise is dead. Not to mention the concern over Elliot’s bike being stolen. She still can’t be sure it was Louise, and she didn’t see the bike at Louise’s flat. Elliot oversees the work, standing with his arms folded in the hallway while some guy in dirty overalls with dark patches under the armpits drills in a new lock. When it’s done, Elliot retreats to his office, professing to be bogged down with work, only coming out to eat, but on Sunday he does make them all a huge roast, in his element at the compliments he receives from her parents, even though her mother gives him advice on producing a crisper Yorkshire pudding.
‘It’s rude that Elliot is spending all weekend working,’ says Jasmine, as she helps Emilia unload the dishwasher. ‘I’ve not gone out because Granddad and Grandma are here.’
‘He hasn’t spent all weekend working, only yesterday because he has a deadline. And you haven’t gone out because I want to keep an eye on you,’ Emilia reminds her archly. ‘And keep your voice down. I don’t want them to hear.’ She nods in the direction of her parents who are sitting with Wilfie at the family-room end of the kitchen.
Jasmine tuts. ‘You can’t keep your eye on me for ever.’
‘I can until I find out who’s doing this.’ She still hasn’t told Jasmine that Louise was murdered. On one hand she wants to prepare her daughter for what might be out there, but on the other she doesn’t want to scare her. She thinks about the visit she had from the female detective on Friday, DI Janine Murray. She wonders if they’ve questioned Kristin. She tries to visualize Kristin going over to Louise’s house, knocking on her door, being let inside, and then grabbing something heavy and hitting her on the back of the head with it. Would Kristin really do something like that? And, if so, why? She visualizes the two of them outside the bookshop at her launch. She can’t get over the nagging feeling she’d been interrupting some kind of heated discussion: their body language seemed off, as if they weren’t meeting for the first time that night. Louise had said Kristin had been grilling her for information about Jonas, but she can’t help wondering if there was more to it. Is that what Louise was going to tell her, on the day she died? Something about Kristin?
She’s listened to Louise’s voicemail message over and over and over again, hoping she’ll hear some clue she missed the first time around, but mainly just to hear her voice, her slight northern accent in the way she pronounced some words. She still can’t believe she’ll never get to talk to her again.
‘Earth to mother.’ Jasmine’s voice brings her back to the present. ‘Are you okay?’ Her daughter’s pretty face is scrunched in worry.
‘I’m fine, sweetheart. Just thinking.’ She reaches for her and pulls her in tightly, kissing the top of her head until Jasmine squirms and moves away. She’s never loved being hugged.
‘It will be okay,’ says Jasmine, solemnly, which breaks her heart. She doesn’t want her daughter to worry about her and all of this. Now that she’s finally starting to make new friends, Emilia has to clip her wings to keep her safe. ‘They’ll find whoever is doing this soon. I just know it.’
‘They will,’ agrees Emilia, hoping she sounds more convinced than she feels.
The hot weather breaks on the morning her parents leave, and Emilia tries not to see this as an omen as she waves them off in the rain. And even though they didn’t speak about anything deep and meaningful, she’s grateful they came. She vows to make more effort to travel down to Guildford to see them in the future.
When she gets home, after dropping Wilfie and then Jasmine at school, Elliot is sitting at the kitchen island.
She places a palm on her chest. ‘You scared me. I thought you were in your office.’
He hasn’t shaved this morning and runs a hand across his stubble. ‘I just came in to make a brew.’
She frowns. The kettle isn’t even on. She pushes back her hair, which has got wet after running from the car to the house, and walks behind him to massage his shoulders, which are stiff with tension. He jerks away from her and jumps down from the bar stool to switch on the kettle. She tries to push away the hurt. He’s usually loving, always holding her hand when out walking – much to the embarrassment of Jasmine – yet now he can’t get away from her fast enough.
‘Are you okay? I know it wasn’t ideal having my parents turning up unannounced this weekend, not after Louise and everything …’ He has a distracted air about him, as if he’s worrying about something, and then her heart twists. ‘What is it? What’s happened?’
‘It’s nothing.’
She moves across the kitchen to wrap an arm around his waist.
‘I suppose I’m just worried,’ he admits. ‘Louise’s murder has knocked me for six. When you told me about that marking on her ankle being from your book …’ she feels him shudder ‘… it brings it all closer to home.’ He moves so that he’s facing her now, holding her at arm’s length, his eyes dark with intent. ‘And I want you to know that I’d do anything – anything – to protect you and the kids.’