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“Not since dinner last Saturday. I might go around tomorrow.” Iris hesitated, because she didn’t want to go back to talking about Laure. But there was something bothering her. “When Laure told me she’d resigned, she said she wouldn’t be a financial burden on us because she has savings. But we wouldn’t expect her to pay for anything anyway, and even if we did, a few groceries wouldn’t break the bank. Why would she think she might be a financial burden on us, unless she intended to stay for a very long time?”
“Try not to get ahead of yourself,” Gabriel said. “Let’s just take it one day at a time. If it becomes too much, we’ll sort something out.”
17
Another tug and the withered roots of a small pear tree that Gabriel was sure had never borne fruit emerged from the earth. A final heave and out it came.
Puffing from his exertions, Gabriel stopped to catch his breath. It had taken a huge amount of digging to release those woody tentacles. The crater in front of him must have been six feet wide by four feet deep and the tree had been tiny. It seemed to Gabriel that roots, like lies, were insidious.
In hindsight, he should have told the paramedics—and the police when they’d asked—the true message Charlie had burdened him with. That way, it would have been their decision whether or not to tell his mum, and Gabriel was pretty sure they wouldn’t have. Instead, they would have pretended to her that he had never regained consciousness. Now, Gabriel had the burden of knowing he’d betrayed Charlie.
His death had been recorded as an accident, but sometimes, in the dark of the night, another fear haunted Gabriel, that maybe it hadn’t been an accident. BecauseTell Mum I’ll never forgive herwasn’t all that Charlie had said. In the silence that had followed, as Gabriel satwith Charlie’s hand clasped in his, cursing that despite all his medical training, he was unable to alleviate Charlie’s suffering, Charlie had whispered the final part of his brutal message—This is her fault. She shouldn’t have done what she did.And then—He shouldn’t have told me.
The wooden door scraped open. Looking up, Gabriel saw Iris approaching with two steaming mugs of coffee balanced on a small tray. He smiled gratefully, glad that his mind wouldn’t return to the eternal question—what could Maggie Ingram possibly have done to cause her son so much distress?
“You couldn’t have come at a better time,” he said, peeling off his green gardening gloves and wiping his brow with the back of his hand. He noted Iris’s black running shorts and T-shirt. “Good run?”
“Yes, great,” she said, handing him a mug.
“Thanks.” He looked behind her. “Where’s your shadow?”
“In the shower. I’ve got it down to a fine art. Now, when we come back from a run, I don’t jump straight in the shower, I wait until she’s had hers, then I have mine. That way, I get half an hour’s peace. And I don’t get to see her naked,” she added.
Gabriel smiled. “Clever.”
She nodded toward the fallen tree. “It must have taken quite a lot of work to get that out.”
“It did. But I enjoyed the challenge.” He paused. “I’ve decided to go and see Pierre.”
“Did he reply to the message you left?” Iris asked, because as soon as Laure had told them she wasn’t returning to Paris, Gabriel had called Pierre. As usual, he hadn’t picked up, so Gabriel had left a voicemail offering to go over.
“No, which is why I’m going. This whole situation between him and Laure is driving me crazy. I don’t understand Laure’s decision not to go back. Doesn’t she want to see Pierre?”
“I think she’s worried about what Pierre might tell her. When will you go?”
“Friday, so that I can spend the weekend with him. I should havegone before, right at the beginning.” He moved to the bench, put his mug down, and sat with his arms resting on his knees, staring at the ground. “This business with Charlie—it’s made me take my eye off the ball.”
“Stop beating yourself up. Pierre told you not to go and you respected his wishes.”
“I know, but now I’m kicking myself. Pierre’s my best friend, I should have been there for him.”
“You were,” Iris protested. “Look at the number of times you called, the number of messages and voicemails you left him. He only had the decency to call you once, and he’s barely replied to your messages.”
“Which is so unlike him, it should have been a warning.”
“Stop. You’ll be seeing him soon enough. Have you booked your ticket?” Gabriel nodded. “Great.” She opened her mouth to say something else, then hesitated.
“What?” he asked.
Iris flushed. “There was something I wanted to run by you.”
“Go on.”
“You know I popped in to see Esme yesterday? Well, she mentioned that there wasn’t enough for Joseph to do, and—”
“Joseph?” Gabriel interrupted. “Oh yes, their gardener. I thought you meant Hugh for a moment.”
“No, Joseph. Anyway, Esme was saying that they didn’t really have enough for him to do, so I said he could come here three days a week and give you a hand.”
