Bella glanced at Ed. She could see it in his expression, a narrowing of his eyes. A tightening of his lips.
He’d not told her.
82
Lexi
Lexi stood with her arms hugged to her middle. Unseen in the dark, a chorus of cicadas trilled. Thousands of them calling together, a crashing sound that left no space in her head.
She wanted to leave. Exit stage left – like it was only a performance, and she could return to the dressing room and it’d be over. None of it mattering.
Except everything, right now, mattered.
Eleanor looked at Ed. ‘Sam told me that after the stag, he’d checked out and was leaving the hotel. He was hungover and tripped over his luggage. Fell down the concrete entrance steps, landed on his shoulder. That’s what happened, isn’t it?’
Ed picked up the bronze sculpture, his grip loose, as if at any moment it could slip through his fingers, dashed onto the terrace flagstones. Lexi watched the quick dart of his eyes, thinking: he’s stalling, working out what to say. Her voice cut through his silence. ‘Answer your sister.’
Ed’s eyes widened at Lexi’s tone. ‘Look, Sam did trip,’ he explained, ‘but it happened a few hours earlier, okay? That’s all. We were on our way back from a club. We didn’t know Bournemouth well. Could barely remember where the hotel was. Sam was steaming drunk. He tripped, fell. It was an accident. Sam decided to tell you that it happened after the stag – I suppose he was embarrassed that he’d let himself get in such a state – so what could I do? I had to follow his lead.’
The way he said it, Lexi thought, it almost sounded magnanimous.
Almost.
Eleanor’s lips barely moved as she asked, ‘How did he fall?’
Ed pushed his free hand into his pocket, then took it out again, opening his palm. ‘It was the normal boys-on-a-stag routine – all of us drinking too much, you know? His other mates had bailed early, so we were walking back. There was an underpass, which we thought would lead us back to the hotel. Sam came at it wrong. Tripped. I feel bad because I should’ve booked us a cab. Made sure he got back safely.’ He lifted his hands in surrender, Lexi’s sculpture raised to the night. ‘I take full responsibility.’
‘You blindfolded him,’ Bella said, her voice deadly cool. ‘You made him walk home blindfolded – and he was supposed to trust you to steer him right.’
Eleanor blinked.
‘You called it Blind Person’s Trust, but instead of looking out for him, you steered him towards an underpass, didn’t you? You didn’t warn him that he was nearing a set of concrete steps. You led him there – and waited for him to fall.’
A cold wave of horror washed over Lexi.
‘No!’ Ed said.
‘Sam told me about it when I came on duty. How his brother-in-law had plied him with drinks. That his other friends left early because of his domineering attitude. That there was a dangerous edge to his brother-in-law that he didn’t like. I remember asking, “You sure you want to marry into a family like that?” And Sam smiled and said, “Ah, but his sister. She’s worth it.”’
Eleanor was staring at Ed, fingers curled at her sides, her face white.
‘It was an accident,’ Ed said, stepping towards her. ‘Sure, Sam was blindfolded – and I should’ve been more careful with where I led him – but I was about to tell him there were steps coming up when he stumbled. I didn’t mean for Sam to get hurt! He was my brother-in-law. I liked him. We were mates.’
Slowly, Eleanor’s head shook from side to side. ‘No, you weren’t mates.’ Her voice grew in volume as she went on, ‘Sam never said a bad word about anyone. But you – oh, he didn’t like you. I never told him what it was like growing up – how you used to throw things at me from the back of the school bus, encouraging your friends to do the same, or how you’d stand behind me in the school canteen, whispering, Freak. Move. You’re putting me off my food! But Sam sensed you were a bully.’
Lexi felt the blood draining from her face as she remembered a passing comment Eleanor had made about being bullied at school. She’d assumed Eleanor had been talking about her classmates – but it had been Ed. Instinctively, she took a step towards Eleanor.
‘Sam said you talked down to me. Dismissed me. And he was right. He saw you. Really saw you. I’ve been the blind one, trusting you.’ She looked sadly at the sculpture that was still in Ed’s hand. ‘We’ve all made a mistake, trusting you. Lexi is far too good for you. We all are.’