AMBER
At seven o’clock the next morning, I give up all pretence of sleep and, gritty-eyed and yawning, head to the kitchen to make myself a coffee. On the way, I detour past the front door to see if our police guard is still in situ. He is. The walls press in on me as I turn on my heel and tramp back down the hallway. It seems crazy right now that this beautiful, elegant, luxurious villa feels more claustrophobic than a prison cell. Demetriou claimed the security was for our own safety when it’s clearly just to make sure we stay put. Is he even allowed to keep us cooped up here against our will? It’s not like he’s arrested anyone.
Yet, whispers the small voice in my head.
I feel antsy, like I’m waiting for the results of a hospital test or to sit an exam. Perhaps I could make up a family emergency and tell him I need to fly home? But as soon as the thought arrives, I reject it. Dominic’s probably already told him I don’t have any family.
I take my coffee out onto the terrace and peer over the wall to the villa below. The police tent has gone and – presumably – Felix’s body with it, and the site foreman and a handful of builders are standing in a huddle by the footings of the swimming pool.
‘Amber,’ says a familiar voice, and I jump a foot in the air, yelping when scalding coffee sloshes onto my hand.
Dominic’s eyebrows shoot up. ‘Quick, you should hold it under the cold tap.’ He takes the cup and guides me back inside. ‘There. At least five minutes,’ he instructs, turning the tap on. I feel an almost instant relief as the cold water hits my skin.
‘Better?’ he asks.
I nod.
‘Good. I’ll make you a fresh one.’
I stare at the water sluicing over my hand and swirling down the plughole, there one minute, gone the next. Is that how Dominic sees what happened with Simone the other night? Like something so big, so important, can just disappear? Because it feels very much like he’s pretending it never happened.
But I’m done with pretending. It’s time to rip off the plaster.
‘Dominic—’ I begin.
‘Look, I know you’re mad at me,’ he interrupts, as if reading my mind. ‘But nothing happened between Simone and me.’
‘So Demetriou’s lying, is he?’
Dominic’s gaze flickers down. ‘I didn’t say he was. We did spend the night together, but not how you think. When I got back to the villa after you stormed off, she was in a bad place. I didn’t think it was a good idea to leave her on her own.’
‘Of course you didn’t,’ I mutter.
He moves across to inspect my hand and, seemingly satisfied, turns off the tap and gives me a clean tea towel to wrap around it. He motions me to take a seat at the kitchen table, and pulls out the chair opposite. ‘I told you before that she’s not as tough as she looks. Sometimes, her mental health…well, it’s not great. She’d just seen Felix hitting on you and she was pretty crushed.’
I bristle. ‘That wasn’t my fault.’
‘No one’s saying it was. It’s not the first time it’s happened, that’s all. Felix and his indiscretions, I mean. Simone was at the end of her rope. I spent the night with her to make sure she didn’t do anything silly.’
My eyes widen. ‘You mean like?—’
He holds my gaze and nods.
I drag my hands through my hair. ‘How do I know you’re telling the truth?’
He is quiet for a moment, then puffs out his cheeks and exhales. ‘Simone ended up in hospital at uni after downing a handful of pills with a bottle of vodka. I was the one who found her. I’m not joking, Amber, I thought she was dead.’ A look of anguish crosses his face. ‘When I felt for a pulse I found one, faint but there. I called an ambulance and travelled with her to the hospital. They pumped her stomach and put her on a drip. The doctors said another half an hour might have been too late.’ He presses his lips together. ‘She swore it wasn’t a suicide attempt and that she was just trying to get to sleep – she’s always suffered from insomnia – and I told her I believed her.’
I study his face: the bags under his bloodshot eyes and the fresh crop of wrinkles on his forehead, the slight tremble to his fingers and his agonised expression.
‘But you didn’t?’ I guess.
‘I didn’t.’
‘Why?’
He casts his eyes down. ‘Because it was my fault she did it.’
‘I don’t understand.’
