Finally, Dominic reappears. His face is chalk white. Sweat darkens his navy running vest and he’s breathing heavily. He must have run up the hill.
‘Well?’ Victoria demands.
For a moment he doesn’t answer. When he does, his voice is so low it’s barely audible. ‘Maria was right. They’ve found a body by the pool. I saw it. Him.’ He shuts his eyes briefly, his voice catching.
‘It’s… it’s Felix.’
45
AMBER
For a moment, everyone stares at Dominic. Then Willow surges forwards, tugging his arm.
‘No, no, no. You’ve got it wrong. It can’t be Dad down there. It can’t be!’
He wraps his arms around her trembling frame and holds her tightly. ‘I’m so sorry, angel. I’m so, so sorry.’
Simone, always so controlled, so together, is shaking too and her eyes are huge in her face. ‘Are yousureit was him, Dominic?’
Dominic nods. ‘I’m sure.’
Willow lets out a howl so anguished my own eyes fill with tears. She starts to sob, her shoulders heaving. Maria appears by my side and gently prises Willow away from Dominic, her voice low and tender.
‘Come with me, little one. Come back inside. I’ll look after you.’
The housekeeper nods curtly at Simone, then leads Willow back towards the villa, propping her up as if her legs are made of jelly.
‘I want to see him,’ Simone says once they’ve gone.
Victoria catches Dom’s eye. ‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea, darling.’
‘I don’t care. I want to see my husband.’ She sounds calm and in control but the tremor in her hands and the vein throbbing at her temple betray her.
A flicker of indecision crosses Dom’s face, and I can guess at the battle raging inside him: one half understanding that seeing Felix’s body might help Simone accept what’s happened, the other half wanting to protect her from the shock of it.
Eventually, he runs his hands through his already messy hair. ‘OK. I’ll take you. But they might not let you very close. The foreman told me he’s been asked to secure the site until the police arrive.’
‘When will that be?’ Victoria asks.
‘As long as it takes them to get here from Thalassia. An hour? Maybe two?’ Dom turns to Simone. ‘Are you sure about this?’
She nods and he guides her around the side of the villa, a hand in the small of her back. The moment they’re gone, Victoria starts theorising.
‘What d’you think happened? I reckon he broke into the building site on his way back from the jetty last night and tripped and fell while he was having a nose around.’ She looks scandalised. ‘Maybe it happened yesterday when he went for a walk to clear his head, and he’s been lying there ever since. In this heat.’ Her nose wrinkles.
Something is niggling me, but I can’t think what it is. I mutter, ‘I don’t know,’ when what I really want to say is, ‘Perhaps if you’d shown more concern when Felix first went AWOL he’d have already been found by now.’
Barney’s face is grey and his hands are plunged deep into his pockets. ‘What d’you think’ll happen to the Wapping development now?’
Victoria gapes at him. ‘Too soon, Barney! For goodness’ sake, the man’s barely cold. Show some respect!’
‘I’m being pragmatic, Vic. He has two and a half million pounds of our money tied up in that place. Who’s going to drive the project now he isn’t here?’
‘I don’t know. But now is not the time to worry about that. And don’t mention the money when the police get here, for Christ’s sake.’
‘Why not? He fell, didn’t he? It was an accident.’
‘I only said that’s what might have happened, but we don’t know for sure, do we? Not until they’ve done a post-mortem, and God only knows how long that’ll take in a backwater like this. So don’t tell them all our money is tied up in one of Felix’s dodgy property investments just in case it wasn’t an accident, OK?’
