‘Anyway,’ Zack said, ‘this is all conjecture. We’ll know what happened once we find Jasmine. She’ll be able to tell us if Lewis tried to shove her to her death.’
‘If we find her,’ Holly said. ‘Sorry, Dad. It’s just—’
‘She’ll be somewhere safe,’ Charles said, interrupting her. ‘Do you know how many hardships she’s faced during her life? Her family…’ He puffed out air. ‘Her mother has beenmarried more times than a soap-opera character. Her father was a deadbeat. Did she tell you he died of an OxyContin overdose?’
I wasn’t sure that was the sign of being a ‘deadbeat’.
‘What are you saying?’ Miranda asked.
‘I’m saying she’s like us. Whatever shit life throws at us, the Grants get through it. Your mum dying. All that stuff that happened with that other boy.’ I assumed he meant Jimmy. ‘Having to abandon our plans for the arts centre. Everything else. We survive. We thrive. Isn’t that right?’
Together, both Holly and Miranda said, ‘Yes, Dad.’
Arts centre?I wondered.What was that?
‘Zack’s right. We’ll know the truth when Jasmine shows up,’ Charles said.
Then he turned to me. ‘Patrick. Can we trust you?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You’ve heard things today, things no one outside this family knows. We don’t want the press getting wind of Lewis’s circumstances. His lack of success at Gravitas.’
‘You don’t want anyone to know you fired him?’
‘Exactly. The official line is that Lewis and I did a deal. He and I agreed that he would make a go of things on his own and if, in five years, he hadn’t succeeded, I would welcome him back with open arms. He was happy. All was good. It would be very disappointing if anything were to damage my, and the company’s, reputation. Especially now.’
Why did he keep saying that? I remembered something Zack had said earlier in the week, about how the company was on the verge of something big.
Charles put his hand on my shoulder. ‘Well, Patrick? Can I trust you? Are you one of us now?’
I was startled. This was what I wanted, wasn’t it? To beaccepted. For my girlfriend’s folks to like me. It was what I had always wanted: to be part of her family. Charles’s hand was warm on my shoulder and, despite everything I’d heard him say about Lewis, I found that I wanted him to like me. He was offering to welcome me in, to let me feel the warmth of his attention, to be a trusted member of the inner circle. I looked over at Holly, who nodded slowly, encouraging me. It appeared to be what she wanted, too.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I won’t say anything.’
‘Good man.’ He clapped me on the back, hard. ‘Now, where’s that coffee?’
22
Miranda went back to making the coffee, and Charles said, ‘Zack, call that policewoman. Find out what the fuck she’s actually doing to find Jasmine. She’s already been missing for, what, two hours?’
Like an obedient puppy, Zack pulled out his phone and called Susan. He began to ask her questions, being polite but firm, trying to get an update. He nodded while Charles, his good mood vanishing again, bounced in his seat with frustration.
‘For God’s sake, give it here.’
He snatched the phone from Zack and left the room with it. From the hallway, I heard him raise his voice, his Brummie accent coming out thicker and more prominently than I’d heard it before. He yelled something about the chief constable, his voice becoming fainter as he moved further into the house.
Holly sat down next to me. She put her head on my shoulder, just for a moment. My promise to keep the family’s secrets appeared to have mollified her.
Then she and Miranda talked about Lewis for a while. Remembering funny things he’d said and done when he was a kid. The time Miranda had called him a dickhead and he’d picked up a piece of broccoli from his dinner plate and thrown it, intending to hit Miranda but striking their dad in the facewith the vegetable instead. The five attempts it had taken him to pass his driving test. Sweet stories that hardly seemed to match up with the man I’d known. All the stories were from before Elizabeth had died. Maybe it had changed him. In fact, no one in the Grant family ever told a happy anecdote from any point after that.
Charles hadn’t come back. Holly glanced towards the door then said to Zack, ‘Why do you keep talking about how important things are going to happen with the company? What’s going on?’
He shifted in his chair. ‘It’s confidential. And not for me to tell you about.’
‘Did Lewis know about it?’
‘No, of course not. Why would he?’
