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‘Nicholas and Matthew would have been around six and eight then. They’re twenty-five and twenty-seven now. Both with lives of their own.’ She pauses, pushing back her hair with one hand. ‘We had a daughter, Saskia, but she died. Cot death. Or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome as it’s known now. She was six weeks old.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ says Tanya. Her most recent appraisal might have suggested that she was lacking in empathy but she has no problem feeling sympathy for the woman sitting next to her. The name of the charity, Little Lives, suddenly makes sense too.
‘It was awful,’ says Alice calmly. ‘Leo and I. . . I think we went almost mad for a while. But then we had Nick and Matt and life carried on. I was so grateful to get pregnant again. I was forty-three when Matthew was born.’
That makes her around sixty-eight now, thinks Tanya. She asks if Alice has any memories of Emily.
‘It sounds awful now,’ says Alice, ‘but I don’t especially remember her. She was just another of Leo’s students. They all merged into one after a while. Clever, polite, a bit intense. The sort of girl who’d have been head girl at school.’
Tanya has often regretted that her school didn’t have a head girl. She would have had the badge, if so. ‘You were a lecturer too, weren’t you?’ she says.
‘Yes. I taught English literature. I still do a bit of private coaching.’
‘Did you have tutorials at the house too?’
Is it Tanya’s imagination or does Alice stiffen slightly? ‘No, I saw my students in my college rooms.’
‘Is it unusual to have students coming to your house, babysitting your children?’
‘No,’ says Alice. ‘Not especially. Students are generally short of cash.’
‘I have to ask you, what was your husband’s relationship with Emily Pickering?’
‘She was his student. That’s all. Leo took a great interest in his students. As any good teacher does.’
‘Emily’s parents thought he took an unnatural interest.’
Alice turns to look Tanya full in the face. She has very blue eyes, undimmed by age. ‘I feel very sorry for Emily’s parents. They lost a child. I know what that feels like. Believe me, my heart breaks for them. But Leo had nothing to do with Emily’s death. His relationship with her was purely pastoral and educational. And I don’t want you using any cod psychology and thinking that Emily was a replacement for his dead daughter. He was her teacher. That was that.’
It wasn’t what Tanya was thinking. But it’s definitely an idea worth considering.
Nelson sits in his office thinking about sisters. His two older daughters, Laura and Rebecca, have always got on well, often forming an alliance with their mother against him, the only male in the household until George came along– and Bruno, of course. They are both fond of Katie too, although her existence was initially a great shock. What will their relationship be like as Katie gets older? Nelson has two older sisters, Grainne and Maeve. He wouldn’t say he was close to them, exactly, but they are blood relations and that counts for something. He wonders what Ruth really thinks about her newly discovered sister, Zoe. They seem delighted with each other now but will it last? For himself, Nelson finds Zoe’s presence rather intrusive.
His phone buzzes. Nelson knows it will be Ruth. He hasn’t heard from her since her trip down the mines, apart from the rather cryptic message saying that Leo Ballard had told her to ‘look to the sister’. Nelson passed this on to Tanya, despite not having a clue what it means.
‘Ruth. Back on dry land?’
‘I wasn’t under water, Nelson.’
‘You know what I mean. How was it?’
‘Very interesting. I actually went down into one of the shafts.’
‘Was that safe?’
‘Totally. I wore a helmet and it was all very organised. There’s even electric light down there. It was a bit spooky, though.’
‘Did Ballard come down into the mine with you?’
‘Yes. That’s partly what made it spooky. You know he said that thing about “look to the sister”? Well, he said something else too.’
‘What?’
‘He said that Cathbad had an affair with Emily.’
‘Did he?’ says Nelson.
‘You don’t sound surprised.’
