Katie looks at me, one eyebrow raised. ‘You just found them, Helen?’
‘All right,’ I mutter.
‘What did they say, these notes?’
‘Nothing really. I couldn’t understand them. One said “wear to show me”。 I never read the other one – just saw the initial.’ I pause. ‘But you’ve got to admit it’s weird. Finding them in his house and then in her suitcase.’
‘I guess so.’ Katie nods slowly, but I can see she is unconvinced.
‘It’s not just that that made me think it,’ I add. ‘Do you remember how Lisa thought she remembered Rachel?’
Katie furrows her brow. ‘Oh yeah. I thought that was odd.’
‘And the way Rory reacted, when he saw Rachel in his kitchen. Remember, when he dropped all that glass?’
‘You don’t know that was because of Rachel.’
I sigh. She is right.
‘You think I’m an idiot.’
‘No, Helen. I don’t think that. You need to stop putting yourself down. But I mean – I just think it doesn’t prove anything. And it certainly doesn’t explain what was going on with her and Charlie – unless – hang on … If Charlie knew her from the club – could Rory have met Rachel through him?’
I consider this. ‘I suppose that would explain why Charlie was told to keep it secret that he knew her.’ I chew my lip. ‘Oh God, Katie. Do you really think Rory could have been having an affair with her? And hiding it, all this time?’
‘I don’t know. None of it makes any sense.’ She shifts in her seat. ‘Where is Rory, anyway?’
‘Home. They’re back now, from Italy. I went to Serena’s exhibition the other night.’
I’d finally told Serena about the notes. It hadn’t gone well. She just looked at me, white as a sheet, then muttered some excuse about wanting to lie down. And I haven’t heard from her since.
‘Didn’t that seem a bit odd to you?’ Katie is saying, wiping her mouth with a napkin.
‘Didn’t what seem odd?’
‘Rory and Serena. Going abroad so soon before her baby is due. I’m surprised she was even allowed to fly.’
‘She got some private doctor to sign it off, I think.’
‘But why would they want to go away? When the baby is due so soon?’
‘I hadn’t really thought.’
The rain gets louder, and we both glance up at the skylight. The taste of the pizza is so comforting. The food of sleepovers, when Katie and I were teenagers and she’d come over, and we’d watch Clueless and Scream on repeat. After we’ve finished the pizza, Katie collects the boxes while I head to the kitchen to scoop ice cream into bowls.
‘Anyway, I’m sick of thinking about it,’ I say, when we are both back on the sofa. ‘Tell me what’s going on with you. I saw your front page. That interview with the girl in the rape case, it was amazing. You must be really proud.’
Katie smiles, looks away, but I can tell she is pleased. There’s been a lot of talk about the interview, about how Katie persuaded the girl to waive her anonymity.
‘Helen,’ she says, swallowing a mouthful of ice cream, ‘you know I asked you before about that other rape case years ago. When you were at Cambridge. The boathouse rape?’
I nod slowly.
‘Did you really not remember it?’
I start fiddling with my spoon, avoiding Katie’s eye. It’s pointless trying to hide things from Katie when she is in this sort of mood.
‘I mean, it was such big news at the time. And it all happened the summer you –’
‘All right, all right.’
Katie stops. I shift on the sofa, the baby digging under my ribs. I suppose it doesn’t matter now.
‘I’m sorry, Katie. I wasn’t entirely honest with you.’
Katie frowns. ‘What do you mean? Why not?’
‘I suppose I knew you’d want to ask questions, and Daniel … he hates talking about it. We were interviewed about it, you see. By the police. The four of us. Daniel, Serena, Rory and I.’
Katie’s eyes widen. ‘Why?’
I shrug. ‘They thought we might have been in the boathouse. That we might have seen something.’ I look her in the eye. ‘We hadn’t seen anything, obviously. We’d been out punting all day. None of us had anything helpful to tell them.’ I sigh. ‘I wish we had. That poor girl.’
Katie considers this. ‘So why does Daniel hate talking about it so much?’