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Iris knew Esme was right, so she’d agreed. It was only as she’d been getting ready this morning—it had been a relief to be forced into wearing something other than jogging bottoms and a T-shirt—that her mind had looped back to the circumstances of baby Hamish’s birth. It had been a welcome respite to be able to think of something other than the horror of Pierre’s murder, but Iris wished her thoughts hadn’t focused on Esme, and a possible relationship between her and Joseph. The fact that he’d been present at the birth, rather than Hugh, made her uneasy. That he had taken Esme to the hospital made sense. But to have stayed, to have been with her while she gave birth, to have been the one to hold the baby in the first seconds of his life—it felt somehow wrong. It couldn’t have been contrived; Esme couldn’t have planned to give birth while Hugh was up a mountain so that she could have Joseph by her side. But still.
It made Iris uncomfortable about seeing Joseph, and as they neared Esme and Hugh’s, she prayed he wouldn’t be there. There was also the problem of what she’d said to the police, about hearing him and Laure arguing. She felt she owed him an apology, but she wanted to talk to him on his own, not in front of everyone.
That morning, Gabriel said he wondered how Joseph was feeling, given that he’d been in a relationship with Laure, and Iris had realized that she’d been so caught up in her own emotions that she’d never once thought of Joseph in all of this. In her defense, she thought that his feelings couldn’t have run very deep in the space of a few weeks. Itmust have been a huge shock, however, for him to learn that Laure had murdered Pierre.
The pavement was too narrow for the three of them to walk abreast so Iris slipped behind and ran a worried eye over Beth. Despite being in shock when she’d first arrived, she had looked wonderfully healthy, her skin tanned a golden brown, her mahogany hair braided into a thick glossy rope. Now, despite spending most of the day outdoors in the garden, her face had an ashen pallor and there were hollows under her eyes. She had lost weight, they all had. Gabriel’s clothes hung off him, he needed a belt to keep his jeans up.
In their desire to be away from prying eyes, their pace quickened as they approached Esme and Hugh’s house. They were quickly swept into warm embraces and introduced to Hamish and Marcus, who was the image of his father but with a head of hair and no beard. As she watched Beth walking in the garden with Hamish in her arms, laughing at something Marcus was saying, Iris felt some of the tension leave her.
“Thank you,” she said, as Esme pressed a glass of chilled white wine into her hand. “I didn’t know how much we needed this.” She glanced over to where Gabriel was talking to Hugh. “Gabriel especially. He and Pierre had a special bond, and to think of his life ending in such a violent way is torture for him.”
“I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it must be for you all.”
Iris moved to a wicker chair and sat down. “We think that for Laure to have been driven to such an extreme act, there’s more to the story of Pierre having a child. Gabriel said he had doubts at one point. The problem is, we’ll never know.” She took a welcome sip of wine. “I feel so confused about everything, about how I should feel. Despite what she did, Laure was my friend. And I feel partially to blame for what happened. I should have noticed, paid more attention to her state of mind. When she came back from Paris, there was this feverishness about her which was totally at odds with how she’d been when she called me from Gare du Nord. To be honest, I was just glad that shewas no longer depressed and crying, and I didn’t think to question the change in her mood.” Iris paused. “At the time, Gabriel wondered if her distress when she called me was an act. It obviously was.”
“You can’t blame yourself, Iris. Even if you had realized that Laure was mentally unstable when she came back from Paris, it would never have occurred to you that she had murdered Pierre.”
“There must have been a trigger. I don’t believe Laure went to Paris with the intention of killing him. He must have told her something that made her spiral out of control.”
“We saw her the day after, at yours, and she was as cool as a cucumber. It seems incredible that less than twenty-four hours earlier, she’d killed Pierre in cold blood.”
“She’d started drinking early that day, I remember. Maybe she was trying to blank out what she’d done.” Iris looked for something else to talk about. “Your garden is looking so much better.”
Esme nodded. “Having Joseph working full-time for the last three weeks has certainly helped.”
“How is he?”
“Devastated. Her death hit him hard, and being taken in for questioning was a huge shock. A shock to me and Hugh too, as we hadn’t known they were in a relationship.” She paused. “You tried to tell me but I’d hoped it wasn’t true. I didn’t think he would be good for Laure—yet it seems that he loved her. He couldn’t believe the police thought he might have had something to do with her death.”
“I need to apologize to him.”
“He’s not here today, he’s gone to see his mother.” She hesitated a moment. “You’ll be going to Paris this week?”
Iris nodded. They hadn’t gone to Laure’s funeral last week, but they were going to Pierre’s. “Yes, on Tuesday. The funeral is on Wednesday. Then back on Thursday.” Esme nodded slowly. “What?” Iris asked.
“It’s just that Joseph doesn’t believe that Laure killed Pierre.”
“Neither did we. And yet it seems that she did.”
“He said she wouldn’t have been capable of it.”
“There was a lot more to Laure than any of us knew.” Iris’s voice was sad. “And I’m sorry, but Joseph only knew her for a few weeks. I don’t think he could have known the true essence of Laure in such a short a time.”
“I agree. It’s probably his grief speaking.” Esme looked toward the garden. “Beth is lovely. You must be so proud of her.”
Iris smiled. “Thank you. Yes, we are, we’re tremendously proud of her. It’s lovely having her around, although it’s probably not so great for her. Gabriel and I aren’t much fun at the moment.”
“I’m sure she understands. And if she ever needs a change of scene, she can always come here and cuddle Hamish.”
“They’re so lovely,” Beth said, as they walked home two hours later. “Esme says I can go around whenever I want.”
Iris nodded. “She’s amazing like that. Her door is always open, literally. She’s fine about people just walking in.”
Beth smiled. “That’s so cool. I would hate it. Imagine someone dropping by when you’ve got a face mask on, or are still in your pajamas.”
“Neither of those things would faze Esme at all. Whereas I can’t think of anything worse.”
“Yet you coped really well when Laure turned up uninvited and made herself at home.”
