Page 66 of Old Girls Behaving Badly

The first drops of rain began to fall as we all walked back out into the garden, so we gathered up glasses and bottles and took everything back inside.

‘I’m going to take the golf buggy over to the tower in case he’s decided to hole himself up in there until the morning,’ Paul said.

‘Good idea,’ said Miles. ‘I’ll come with you. He might need persuading to come back, which will be easier with two.’

I thought about a scuffle between the three men and was glad Dorothy wouldn’t be around to witness it.

‘Is it okay if I go to my room?’ Sandra asked.

‘As long as you’re there when I get back,’ Paul said.

‘Of course I will be,’ she said, but Paul just gave her a long look.

After they’d gone, the rest of us decided to sit in the music room and I offered to make some coffee. It was as I walked back up the stairs with the tray that the first flare of lightning lit the sky and it illuminated the darkening hallway as it flashed through the window. It was shortly followed by a crack of thunder and then the rain really came down.

We sat in relative silence as we waited. The coffee was drunk, the biscuits ignored and it was an hour and a half before the men returned without Leonard. They were soaked through and I went to make more hot coffee as Lavinia found towels and dry clothes.

‘He’s not in the tower, nowhere we can see driving around his land. His bike, his car and the minibus are here, so wherever he’s gone is on foot in this storm,’ Miles said.

‘It looks as if he rummaged for some clothes in his room,’ Sophie said. ‘A couple of drawers were pulled out, so I’m guessing he must have left pretty quickly after he realised the painting had been found. He’s had a good head start and, to be honest, he could be anywhere by now.’

‘Should we phone the police?’ I asked tentatively.

I wasn’t entirely sure how I would be received as the person colluding with Dorothy all week. Juliet luckily had kept her mouth shut about her small part in it so far.

‘I think we should leave it until the morning, get some sleep and decide what’s best to do. This is far more than just Leonard being a thief. There’s much more to consider,’ Miles said and Paul looked relieved.

I wanted to point out that the longer it was left the further Leonard would get, but decided that it was their business. We all dispersed then and I was very glad to slip inside the covers of my bed. I was exhausted, but sleep wouldn’t come easily and I lay awake listening to the storm crashing outside for hours before I finally drifted off.

28

GINA

I woke at six-thirty to a tapping noise outside the bedroom window. I’d not slept well, with the storm raging all night and my dreams had been a mangled mix of art, fire and death. The thunder had finally rolled away in the early hours and now the sun was shining through the gap in the curtains. I pushed the covers back and then pulled the curtains open. The tapping was the last of the rain dripping from the roof and onto the windowsill.

I wasn’t sure what they were going to do today. Nothing had really been decided. Sandra had been suitably contrite, but what would happen to her once the police arrived? Surely they would phone the police. Leonard had to be found and would need to answer for his part in all this, not to mention the stolen items in his home. But he’d be long gone. He had money and if he’d thought to take his passport he could be anywhere by now.

Most importantly I needed to check on Dorothy. She’d had a huge shock last night and I hoped she’d managed to get some sleep. I wrapped my dressing gown around myself and walked to Dorothy’s bedroom.

I tapped lightly on the door, not wanting to wake her if she was asleep, but her voice came out clearly and very much awake.

‘Come in.’

‘Good morning,’ I said, closing the door behind me. ‘How are you feeling this morning?’

Dorothy was sitting up in bed with her pillows pushed up behind her back. She had a book in her hands, open at the first page. I guessed she didn’t really have the headspace to concentrate on a story. Not when she had her own going on.

‘I did sleep quite well, surprisingly. Now I feel both relieved and sad and that won’t change. How could it possibly?’

I sat down on the end of the bed and folded my arms across my chest.

‘How do you see things playing out today? How would you like things to be resolved?’

‘I’d like Leonard to turn up and accept responsibility for everything and I’d like to go back to that time yesterday evening before I found out that Sandra was actually the person responsible for the death of my husband, even if it was an accident. I do see it was an accident; I always have. I was so fixated on Leonard that I took my eyes off the thief themselves. Sandra is clearly incredibly sorry and it’s obvious she didn’t want to do it, but she still did. She chose to do Leonard’s bidding to save the reputation of her son. A mother’s love should only go so far.’

‘But you do have the painting and evidence that Leonard had it in his possession. That was what this was all about, so don’t lose sight of that victory in all of this other mess,’ I said.

‘You’re right, and I’m so grateful to you for that.’