‘What happened?’ Holly asked, eyeing the entrance to the caves. Tears glistened on her cheeks. Outside, the snow was already beginning to fall more heavily. ‘Why did you come here? It wasn’t really because you wanted to see the Serpent Stone, was it?’
This was not easy. She had just learned that her brother was dead. Maybe it would be better to wait till the police were here, or until we got back.
‘Patrick, for fuck’s sake. Tell me. Why did you come here?’
‘Because… this isn’t going to be easy for you to hear, but…’
‘Spit it out. Please.’
‘I thought Lewis was planning to kill Jasmine.’
‘What?’
I told her everything that had led me here. My sense that Lewis had wanted a witness to his conversation with Jasmine. Overhearing the call during the night and the conversation between Lewis and Miranda outside the pub. The words he’d used:Trust me. I’m going to fix it.
As I spoke, she kept shaking her head, her back and shoulders stiff with tension. I noticed, too, how she drew away from me– only an inch or two, but in the confines of the car her body language was clear. She was repelled by what I was saying.
She didn’t believe me.
‘No. It can’t be true. It’s insane.’ She shook her head again. ‘I know Lewis can be a selfish prick sometimes, but he would never murder someone. He likes Jasmine!’
She was still using the present tense, unable to accept that Lewis was dead. This wasn’t surprising. She hadn’t seen him. It was all too new. Seeing fresh tears in her eyes and the horrifiedway she was looking at me, I knew I’d made a mistake. I should have waited to tell her the real reason I had come here. Allowed her some time for it to sink in.
‘Holly.’ I said her name, reaching over to her, and she pulled away further. I was torn. I wanted to comfort her. I also felt compelled to tell the truth.
Except… Lewis was the one who was dead.
‘Maybe I’m wrong.’
‘You are,’ she said. ‘You must be.’ She repeated herself, still referring to Lewis as if was alive: ‘He really likes Jasmine. He doesn’t care that she and Dad are getting married and planning to have kids.’
‘I know.’
‘You still think he was planning to kill her, don’t you? You’re just trying to mollify me.’
I didn’t reply immediately. Right now, I didn’t know what to think. The wipers came on, shifting snow from the windscreen. How long would it take Susan to get here? I wanted her to arrive, for someone official to take over, but there was no sign of her.
‘I’m really sorry, Holly,’ I said, reaching across to her again, talking in a soft voice. ‘Maybe I’m not right about his… intentions, but what I found in the caves, it’s… there’s no question.’
She nodded, and that was when the tears came properly, and this time she let me put my arms around her, her tears warm against my neck, fingers clutching at the blanket I was wrapped in. She cried for two or three minutes and then pulled away suddenly, searching in the glove compartment for tissues. She blew her nose.
‘Talk me through it again,’ she said. ‘Why you came here.’
‘But I might have been wrong.’
‘Tell me. I want to hear it again.’
I went through it, knowing this wouldn’t be the last time I had to explain the train of thought that had led me to the caves.
When I’d finished, she said, ‘If he was planning to kill Jasmine, why is he the one who’s dead? And where the fuck is she?’
‘I don’t know. Perhaps… he tried to push her, but she fought back. Or she realized what he was going to do and shoved him before he had a chance.’
‘Orshewas planning to killhimall along.’
‘Why would she do that?’
‘I don’t know, Patrick. It makes as much sense as you believing my brother was planning to murder Jasmine.’ She put her hands in her hair. ‘Oh God, you can’t tell the police about your crazy suspicions. You can’t tell anyone. We have to think about the family’s reputation.’
