Page 67 of Old Girls Behaving Badly

‘Well, it was Harry who found it in the end – don’t forget.’

‘Yes, but he wouldn’t have even looked if you hadn’t approached him and explained the situation. This is all because of you, Gina.’

I wasn’t sure how I felt about upending a happy family on what should have been such a joyous occasion.

‘Can I get you a cup of tea?’ I asked her.

I wanted to be practical and helpful, but not give over my own opinion in what was going to be a very tricky situation to resolve.

‘I would love one, thank you. Miles said we’d all meet and talk at breakfast when everyone had had a chance to think about what was best to do, but I doubt that will be for a while and I’d love a drink.’

Dorothy had given up the pretence of reading the book and as I got up and left the room she closed it and rested her head back against the pillows.

The house was silent. All the wedding paraphernalia had been cleared up and removed yesterday afternoon. Harry was gone and all the family were asleep, or certainly in their rooms. I took a moment to wander the downstairs rooms alone, to soak up the beauty of the house on what was going to be my last day in it. I’d checked the train times and had a taxi booked for early afternoon. Dorothy and her family had more to deal with, but I was going home.

In the kitchen I boiled the kettle and pulled some cups down from the cupboard. I found a pot and a tray, some sugar and a couple of biscuits that I put on a plate. Then I stood with my back against the counter and waited for the kettle to boil.

I thought again about Dorothy’s offer of her boathouse. It was actually a very appealing offer and if I was going to rent a flat somewhere then could it be there? I’d talk to Alice and Chris and see what they thought about it. I needed to talk to Douglas and discuss this disappointing offer too. I sighed thinking about all I had ahead of me.

I thought it was the noise of a boiler groaning for a moment and looked around me to see where the boiler was, but couldn’t find one anywhere. I opened the dishwasher to see if someone had been up and put it on, but it was empty. I walked towards the window in case the noise was coming from outside. Perhaps an animal had wandered into the kitchen garden to eat the vegetables. Not my problem, I thought as I glanced out of the window.

There was a body at the bottom of the steps. I could see a body in a crumpled heap with limbs in positions they had no business being in. I yanked open the kitchen door and rushed to where they lay. It was Leonard. His clothes were soaking wet. There was dried blood in his hair and on the concrete steps. His right leg looked broken, the angle it was in. He was a pitiful sight.

‘Leonard,’ I said, crouching down next to him. ‘Can you hear me?’

He groaned again and I put my hand out to touch him, but then took it back. I had no idea what I was doing, but I’d seen enough medical TV programmes to know that trying to move a person after an accident like this wasn’t a good idea. If he’d fallen down all these steps, which it looked as if he had, he might have damaged his spine. I didn’t want to make his injuries worse.

‘I’m going to get you some help,’ I said, and brushing aside the thought that there was some kind of twisted justice in Leonard lying broken on the steps, I rushed back into the house to phone for an ambulance.

Leonard was carried out on a stretcher and into the waiting ambulance a couple of hours later with the whole party there to watch it happen. Paul climbed in beside him and then turned to Sandra.

‘Someone needs to go with him, if only to make sure he doesn’t try and do another runner. Will you be okay?’ he asked his wife.

He said this with a note of concern, but I was sure the concern was about whether she would try and run.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I have things I want to say to everyone. I’m not going anywhere.’

Dorothy seemed delighted when the paramedic closed the door. Not so much in Leonard’s injuries, I assumed, but more that he was found and could face the justice he deserved.

‘He’d fallen while trying to make his escape last night,’ I said. ‘It isn’t nice to think of him there all night, injured and with the storm going on around him. He was soaked through.’

I glanced around at the gathered group as the ambulance drove away, but I didn’t detect much sympathy.

‘He’s lucky to be going away in an ambulance for treatment. I’d like to break his bloody neck!’ Miles said.

‘This is the best way, though,’ said Lavinia. ‘A dead man can’t be brought to justice.’

All eyes turned to Sandra.

‘I know you’d probably all like me dead too and I do understand. I’ve thought about it myself over the last year. Can we all go in and I’ll tell you what I’m planning on doing?’

We all filed back inside the house and decided to go down to the kitchen to make coffee and sit around the table there. In an unsaid understanding we all seemed to realise a glamorous backdrop for this conversation was not needed.

I made the coffee again and rounds of toast, which got picked at by a few. Then I hung back.

‘Do you want me to go?’ I asked. ‘I shouldn’t really be here.’

‘You absolutely should,’ said Dorothy, motioning for me to sit down beside her.