‘No,’ I said, ‘these things are hard to prove – and disprove. I don’t think she’ll take it further, she’s just trying to scare him.’ I wasn’t surprised at Joy’s inability to see any fault in Dan despite his past record, but surely Joy would now see Ella’s true colours?
‘Oh dear, it looks like you were right all along about her, Clare.’
‘I knew, I knew when I saw her taking your earrings,’ I said, feeling stronger now Joy was with me and could see Ella for what she was.
‘Yes, she’s evil – evil.’ Joy was understandably quite distressed by all this. ‘What has Jamie got himself into? Blackmail and these terrible accusations!’
‘She’s just stirring it all up, Joy. It’s all lies, don’t let it upset you,’ I said, putting my arm around her. She felt quite frail and seemed on the verge of tears.
‘She’s said things to me, Clare, and now they make sense.’
‘What things?’
‘She said to me a couple of days ago that one of my sons has betrayed the other – in the worst way was what she said.’ Joy looked at me. ‘I think it’s this – all this about Dan touching her – disgusting, how could anyone say that?’
I shook my head and covered up my chest with the cushion.
‘She said, “Ask Clare,” like you’d know.’
I shook my head again and tried to look puzzled, but I knew my neck was probably turning blotchy and giving me away. I stood up and went to get us both a drink from the sideboard, mainly to give me time to think about my response and hide the redness that was no doubt creeping up my décolletage. ‘I… I really don’t think – I don’t know what she’s talking about. You can’t trust anything she says, Joy,’ I said, and poured us both a very large gin. ‘We just have to get through today, I think she’s getting a flight home tomorrow,’ I said, handing her the drink.
‘Ahh, good. I popped upstairs to see Jamie last night, check if he really had sunstroke – he’s been all over the world and never had sunstroke. So while she was in the kitchen, I went to see him. He seemed upset, said she was talking about joining a reality show or something?’
The reminder of my own hand in all this felt rather uncomfortable.
‘Something like that,’ I sighed. ‘I think she’d have gone anyway – if it wasn’t some vague promise of fame, it would have been something else. Ella thought we were super-rich, she thought you and Bob owned this villa and that the “family business” was just a quaint way of describing some global architectural firm. She fell for Jamie, got caught up in the idea of eloping to Italy and knew it would make a great story for her Instagram. It’s what she lives for,’ I added. ‘You have to ask why someone would spend their life trying to lose themselves in foreign places where no one knows her, where she doesn’t have to explain. And, from what she told me, I think she’s earned her money the hard way, if you know what I mean.’
‘Oh, God, a prostitute and a blackmailer—’
‘I don’t think she was a prostitute,’ I said, ‘more a romantic tourist. She just finds someone to be “in love with” for a while, lives off them, gets embroiled in their lives for a season and moves on.’
‘But she married Jamie, why do that if she only saw him as a summer romance?’ She looked horrified, and I felt bad for her.
‘Men are a career for someone like Ella,’ I said. ‘She doesn’t need money, they’re rich, buy her gifts, feed and clothe her and provide somewhere to stay for a while.’
‘Oh dear, I knew she wasn’t right for him. I never thought it would last. I never said anything to Jamie, but I wasn’t very keen, Clare.’ The words tumbled out like she’d been holding them in too long. This was the Joy I knew, gossipy and open – willing to trash anyone just for the fun of it over a glass of gin with ice and a slice. ‘I’ve been nice for Jamie’s sake,’ she continued, ‘but have you seen the way she pulls her bikini bottoms up? Disgusting,’ she hissed.
‘Yes, it’s how they’re wearing them these days though, Joy,’ I said, bonding afresh. She’d finally realised, and I also felt like I’d finally been forgiven for calling her bossy.
‘If the ladies at the golf club ever saw her bottom like that I would die.’
In the great scheme of things, Ella’s bottom was the least of our problems, and in spite of everything, I almost smiled at this.