“You said there were a ‘couple of things.’ What was the other thing?”
Laura took her eyes from the tiling. “Oh yes. Well, it was more of an apology, really. I didn’t think . . . when I invited you to come. I know the airlines put their prices up really high for last-minute tickets.” She waited a moment, but Cherry said nothing. “It was thoughtless of me. Not to have considered that. And I just wanted to say, next time I’ll check. . . .” She laughed. “They can be extortionate, can’t they! Six hundred pounds sometimes. Just to get to France and back!” She looked concerned, as if she’d put Cherry under undue pressure. “Oh, goodness, it wasn’t as much as that, was it?”
Cherry watched her. It was pathetic, the way she was fishing forinformation. She noticed Laura stood under a spotlight and it lit her head with a halo effect. It also highlighted her forehead and threw shadows under her cheekbones, and she was intrigued to see that she could almost see the shape of her skull.
“That was exactly how much it cost,” Cherry said.
“Really?”
“Did Daniel not tell you? He paid.”
“Oh. Good.”
“Why are you so interested?”
Laura managed a baffled laugh. “I’m not!”
“You seem to be asking me a lot about it. As if you think there’s something I’m not telling you.”
“No! No—”
They were suddenly plunged into darkness; then there was a scream and the sound of glass smashing, followed by a loud splash. The strong smell of wine permeated the air and the splashing was joined by heaving gulps. Then the emergency lights switched on.
* * *
“I’m not exactly sure what happened,” said Cherry cautiously, standing dripping in the garden, a towel wrapped around her. “There was a power cut and neither of us could see much. . . .” She looked at Laura strangely. “I think Laura stumbled . . . maybe because of the dark . . . and knocked against me.”
Laura stopped midway with the glass of wine she was pouring for Cherry and looked up, bemused. “Sorry? I don’t think I did.”
Cherry shivered, snuggling into Daniel. “I don’t know what to say. . . .” She looked up at Daniel apologetically, gave an awkward shrug. “You did,” she said in a low voice.
“Cherry, I was nowhere near you.”
“Oh, God, this is a bit embarrassing. I didn’t just fall into the pool, you know,” she murmured.
“You’re not suggesting . . .” Laura gave a small, incredulous laugh, shaking her head. “I don’t think so.”
“I’m sorry I spoiled your birthday dinner.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, this has nothing to do with that,” said Laura, irritated.
“I didn’t know, okay, I didn’t know it was your birthday. If I’d known, I would’ve picked a different weekend.”
“It all sounds like a bit of an accident or something,” said Daniel quickly.
Laura was aware of feeling like a villain at her own party. Whathadhappened down there? The only explanation she could come up with was that Cherry had thrown herself into the pool deliberately, but that was so manipulative, soextreme . . .and then in a rush, she remembered the painting and was brought up short.Did Cherry damage it herself? Just to cast doubts onme?
She looked around and saw that people were watching, noses in glasses of wine. She saw awkward faces and embarrassed glances, people who weren’t sure what to believe. When she turned to Isabella for support, she got a puzzled smile.
“Daniel, any chance I could have a word? In the house?” Laura asked.
“I’m afraid she thinks I’m a gold digger,” blurted out Cherry, her voice cracking.
“No!” Laura tried to keep it light, gave a small laugh of disbelief.
Cherry turned her big brown eyes up to Daniel and tears sprang. “She thinks I’m after your money.”
“Daniel, please could we go inside?” insisted Laura.
