‘My swimming costume. Why?’
‘It’s grotesque.’
‘Posy, we’ve had this conversation many times. I for one will not wear a skimpy little bikini and practically invite skin cancer to invade my body – I just won’t.’
‘Is it really that or is it because you’re a prude?’ She does this infuriating duck-lips thing like she’s scored a win. I don’t rise to it. OK, I rise to it a little.
‘Excuseme?’
‘You heard.’
I scoff. ‘How am I a prude?’ I ask, knowing full well I may have prudish sensibilities but don’t want to be called on it.
‘You’re in a baking climate but you’re covered head to toe like you’re about to trek the Himalayas!’
‘And whenI’meighty I’m going to have fabulous skin, unlike some people who will wrinkle and wither like a prune.’
‘Now now, girls. We don’t have time for this. I do have a legal firm to run you know,anda wayward mother to wrangle; the last thing I need is to referee you two.’
‘Mom, surely you need to advise her on the dangerous effects of sunlight on the body? If not you, then who?’
With a sigh worthy of an Oscar, Mom says, ‘Posy, wear sun cream and, Evie, your swimming costume looks great. There, satisfied?’
We’re not, but we remain silent.
‘I’m meeting my friend at the beach, and while it’s always illuminating chatting, what’s the reason for your call? Let me guess, you want to know if I’ve found another job?’ I’m being facetious – they never ask about my life and I’m not upset about it. I just wish they’d leave Gran alone the way they leave me to my own devices.
‘Don’t be ridiculous, I know you’ll find another job when the time is right. I’m calling because my sources have tracked down Gran’s husband, if you can call the yellow-bellied bottom feeder that—’
‘—he’s in Mexico,’ Posy says gleefully.
Mom nods. ‘Yes, he’s in Acapulco. But get this, two days ago he was in Santorini for twenty-four hours and departed from there to Mexico.’
‘Konstantine washerein Santorini?’ I count back to two days ago. That was the day Lucy Strike arrived.
‘Yes, briefly, but we don’t know why.’
‘Weird! We haven’t seen him; at least I haven’t and surely Gran would have mentioned it if her husband popped by. Why did he then go to Mexico? Did he get work on another oil rig, do you think?’ My mind is spinning with various scenarios, hoping I’ll land on one that makes sense.
Posy scoffs. ‘If you call a casino an oil rig.’
Another casino? Internally I groan. Is Gran hoping that betting on black this time will get her out of a bind? She promised me she’d lay off the gambling! ‘Umm, maybe he was on a break from work?’ Perhaps the second oil rig job didn’t work out either, but I can’t tell them about that.
‘With another woman?’ Mom says sharply.
‘What do you mean?’
Mom sighs. There’s a real sadness to her eyes, as if she knows this intel is legitimate. Could it be? ‘OK, I’ll come clean. The PI from our firm has been following Konstantine, and let’s just say he puts the ‘con’ into his name. The dud of a hub drained Gran’s bank account not long after they were married. From the evidence we’ve gathered it looks as though she managed to pay for most of the interiors for Epeolatry before he took the remainder. There was no oil rig. He escaped to Corfu for a bit and now he’s in Acapulco.’
It can’t be! Gran said she gave him the money to bet so they’d get out of a spot of financial bother. If Mom knew that she’d hit the roof, so I stay quiet for now. But why is he popping up at another casino?
‘And the woman, is she an Uber driver?’ Is this Gran’s secret weapon? The woman she sent to spy on her husband and make sure he did what she asked with her large sum of money while assuring her husband the woman was merely a mode of transportation.
‘An Uber driver? Where do you get this stuff from?’ Posy says with a sarcastic laugh. Sometimes I’d really like to shake her but I don’t condone violence. Not unless it’s absolutely necessary.
She’s managed to rile me up and I accidentally blurt, ‘FromGran, Posy. She’s not as uniformed as she’d have you imagine, you know.’
Mom says, ‘No, the CCTV footage is quite clear. It shows they met playing roulette at the casino in Corfu and this woman has since hitched herself along for the ride.’
