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‘Go ahead.’
‘I was wondering if I should offer, well, what I mean is that I sort of already offered to stay with Nicole for a few days now that Patrick has been sent away. Because I don’t think she should be on her own. But, of course, I won’t if that’s not okay with you and Olly.’
Sasha stirs her tea bag around her cup to give her a moment or two to think. The advantages of this are that Anna could help them get close to Nicole. It would look like a big favour they were extending Nicole, which it is because if Anna moves next door, Sasha will have to take on a lot of work around the Manor. Which is a disadvantage. Another is that they won’t be able to keep such a close eye on Anna. And that feels important just now. But if she’s only at the Barn during the evenings, that shouldn’t make too much difference.
‘How lovely of you,’ she says. ‘I’m all for it. I think poor Nicole needs all the help she can get. Of course you can go. Will you be helping her with the house, or just staying the night?’
‘Just staying the nights. I don’t want to let you down.’
Then why are you even asking? Sasha wonders, once again marvelling at the extent to which this woman behaves as if she has no agency. She says, ‘Well, that would be wonderful, but don’t desert Nicole if she needs you. We’ll be fine here.’
‘Thank you,’ Anna says. ‘Goodnight.’
‘Goodnight.’
After Anna’s gone, Sasha stays in the kitchen, thinking, until she’s finished her tea. Sometimes, she likes to get her own thoughts in order before she shares them with Olly.
Olly is in bed already when she gets upstairs, apparently asleep. She climbs in beside him and turns out the light. All the sounds of Lancaut are audible through the open window. She listens to an owl hooting, and another replying.
‘Are you awake?’ she whispers to Olly. He reaches for her, running his hand down her neck to her chest, touching her carefully. Her body responds and their lovemaking is quick. She’s desperate for the release and he gives it to her efficiently, as if he needed the same.
When they’re finished, he moves to the other side of the bed, where he lies, hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. She’s grateful he doesn’t want more intimacy. The night is too hot. Too much is happening, too fast. Her nerves are shot.
‘Anna is going to spend the nights staying at the Barn with Nicole,’ she says. ‘She asked me if it was okay.’
‘What for?’
‘To protect Nicole now that Patrick has gone.’
Olly snorts. ‘What did you say?’
‘I said yes. What else could I say?’
Olly is silent for a little while. She listens to his breathing. He says, ‘She knows.’
They’ve only managed to exchange a few words about this today.
‘Yes,’ she says. ‘But what does she know exactly?’ Although she’s panicking inside, she wants this conversation to be clear-headed.
‘She saw us move Kitty’s body,’ he says.
‘The journal says she isn’t sure what she saw.’
‘I think it’s crystal clear.’
‘Surely, she’d have run a mile if she suspected us of something like this, if she thought we were capable of murder,’ Sasha says. ‘I’m betting she’s not certain what she saw, or she might be exaggerating. She’d have gone to the police before now if she was.’
Olly shifts a little. Sasha can feel his eyes on her. ‘Unless she’s frightened of us,’ he says.
Sasha thinks of the way Anna asked her if she could stay with Nicole earlier. She didn’t need to do that. She could go to the Barn every night and they’d never know. They hold a lot of power over her and based on the journal Olly’s point is fair, but Sasha isn’t convinced it’s the whole story.
‘I don’t think she’s scared,’ Sasha says. ‘I think that whatever she saw, or thought she saw, she still wants us and needs us just like she did when we first met her. She has no life beyond these walls. She doesn’t know who she is without us.’
‘Maybe she knows what she saw, but she’s loyal to us,’ he says. Sasha thinks about this but considers it delusional. Olly craves grandeur. Submission in others is an attractive concept to him. He conflates it with loyalty. ‘She wouldn’t have sold the land to the Booths if she didn’t want to keep supporting us. She had an opportunity right there to say no. She could have sold the Manor, moved on, be done with it all. She’s loyal.’
‘Jesus. This isn’tGame of Thrones,’ Sasha says. ‘She hasn’t sworn an oath of fealty to us. If anything, it’s just not in her DNA to say no. She’s a pleaser.’
‘She’s weak.’
