Dead.
90
Bella
Bella held Lexi firmly by the shoulders. She seemed like a spectre, as if she might drift over the edge, dissolve into the night.
‘Come away,’ Bella instructed.
Lexi allowed herself to be guided across the terrace, her body boneless and yielding as she was ushered towards a chair. She collapsed into it, spine rounding. Her expression was vacant, unreachable.
Bella crouched at Lexi’s feet, her wet dress clinging to her spine. She placed her hands on the cool skin of her knees. ‘I’m right here.’
Lexi’s eyes were wide, unseeing.
‘It’s okay, Lex,’ she said. ‘I’m here. I’ve got you.’
‘Is this real?’
‘Ed went over the terrace wall. No one could have survived that fall. He’s dead, Lexi. I’m sorry, but he’s dead.’
Lexi’s head shook from side to side, refusing the information. She blinked rapidly, her breath fast and shallow.
Bella gathered Lexi’s trembling hands. She squeezed, pressing them to her lips. She felt the cold edges of the diamond engagement ring. There was nothing Bella could do to make this better, other than hold Lexi.
Behind them, Robyn spoke in a rushed, frayed tone. ‘We need to call the police! An ambulance!’
Ana was beside Eleanor now, a gentle hand on her back, rubbing in slow smooth circles, like a mother soothing a child. She spoke in a calming voice, whispering words to try to reach her, but Eleanor made only a low, keening wail.
Earlier, in the rowing boat, when Eleanor had chosen to save Bella, hauling her out of the dark sea, she’d witnessed her capacity for love, for forgiveness.
I won’t forget, Bella had promised her.
‘We need to call the police!’ Robyn repeated, her tone growing shrill, hands rising around her face.
‘Yes,’ Bella agreed. Her voice was steady as she said, ‘They need to know there’s been a terrible accident.’
91
Robyn
Robyn stared at Bella.
No, she can’t mean what that statement implies.
Could she?
Bella was crouched beside Lexi, her wet dress ruched. Her expression was calm, focused as she returned Robyn’s questioning gaze. ‘He is dead,’ Bella said slowly. ‘How he fell changes nothing.’
Silence.
Even the cicadas had stopped their symphony. All Robyn could hear was the thunder of her own heartbeat.
‘I agree,’ Ana said clearly, locking eyes with Bella. ‘We tell the police there was an accident. If we say Eleanor charged into him … if they think she did it on purpose …’ She didn’t need to finish the sentence. They all understood: Eleanor would go to prison.
Robyn was shaking her head. ‘We’ve got to tell the truth! Tell the police what happened!’ She always told the truth. That was how she’d been brought up. She looked to Fen, who was staring over the wall, her expression unreadable in the darkness. But then Robyn had also been brought up to believe many things that needed questioning. Her thoughts whirled. ‘There’ll be a police investigation. Interviews!’
‘Yes,’ Bella said.
‘How can you be so calm? Ed is fucking dead! Right now! Down there! He’s dead, Bella! And we all saw what happened!’ Eleanor had charged at him. Sent him crashing towards the wall. She’d have gone over too if they hadn’t grabbed her.
Robyn couldn’t lie.
This is madness.
‘I’m getting my phone,’ Robyn said, breaking free of Bella’s gaze and hurrying into the villa.
It was a relief to step away from the others. She flicked on the light and stood in the centre of the kitchen, heart pounding, blinking into the glare.
She found her phone on the kitchen side, the screen coming to life at her touch.
Glancing towards the terrace, she saw her friends still framed in the flickering lantern light. Eleanor had been guided to the cushioned area and now sat hunched forward, fists gripping her top as if she needed something to hang onto.
When she’d charged at Ed, had she intended to send him over the wall?
Robyn didn’t think so, but how could she know for certain?
All she knew was that Ed was lying at the bottom of a cliff, dead.
Those were the facts.
She needed to stick to them.
Tell the truth.
Fingers trembling, she dialled.
92
Lexi
Lexi tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry. There was an intense throbbing pressure in her temples. She pulled her hands free of Bella’s and squeezed them against the sides of her head.
Ed. He was dead. Her fiancé was dead.