Bright Air - Barry Maitland [32]
My shoe sent a stone skittering noisily away and Owen opened his eyes, pushed himself marginally upright and stared at us. For a moment we were frozen, the four of us, then Owen said, ‘Aw, fuck.’
I muttered, ‘Sorry,’ and turned away, following Luce, already retreating around the outcrop.
I followed her back to the cliff edge, where Damien was standing now, pulling in the rope on which Anna was secured. I reached for Luce’s hand, feeling the tension in her, not sure what to say. Finally I whispered, ‘Things happen.’
She turned slowly and stared at me. ‘Poor Suzi.’
Anna called me the day after I’d visited the nursing home to arrange to discuss the report. We settled on Saturday afternoon at the hotel. I said it’d be private and convenient, but the truth was that I wanted Mary to have time to meet her, and tell me if she thought Anna was making too much of this.
It was another beautiful warm spring day, the air still, but Anna didn’t like the idea of working on the terrace where we might be interrupted. Instead we moved in to Mary’s sitting room, Anna setting her stuff out on the table like someone preparing for a major presentation. As she was unpacking her bag Mary came in with a pot of coffee. They seemed genuinely pleased to see each other again, as if there had been some earlier bond of understanding or sympathy that they both remembered.
‘Josh has told me all about your trip to Christchurch,’ Mary said. ‘You poor thing. It must have been a terrible experience.’ I could see the appraising look in her eye. ‘I’m so sorry you’ve had to deal with all this, Anna. You were a good friend to them, flying out like that. And then to hear that terrible confession. You’re quite sure he wasn’t just confused or hallucinating? People say strange things when they’re drugged and in shock and as desperately ill as he was.’
‘I know, I’ve been wrestling with that ever since. It’s just that he was, briefly, so lucid.’
My aunt nodded sadly. ‘Well, you were there. Couldn’t you speak to someone about it, though? Perhaps the police officer who looked into the matter? We have a regular guest here—a good friend—who’s a Supreme Court judge, and I was saying to Josh that I’m sure he would pull a few strings to help you get the ear of the right person.’
‘That’s very kind of you,’ Anna said cautiously. ‘But I think we should try to be as clear as possible in our own minds before we go as far as that.’
‘Maybe that’s wise.’ Mary hesitated, unwilling to let it go. ‘Of course, the other aspect of this is, what happens if what Owen said was true? They’re all dead now—Lucy, Curtis and Owen. What good can it do? And think of the possible harm, the distress to Lucy’s family, for instance.’
‘But they aren’t all dead, Mary. There were two other people in their group, Damien Stokes and Marcus Fenn. They’re very much alive.’
Mary looked shocked. ‘Oh, but surely you don’t imagine they …?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Well …’ Mary stared at her, then turned to go, catching my eye with a look that I took to be a warning to be careful.
‘So, what did you come up with?’ Anna asked as I poured the coffee.
‘Not a lot.’ I’d wanted to avoid talking about how Luce had been depressed, but in the end it was all I had to say.
Anna looked at me pointedly. ‘Yes. They shifted their ground, didn’t they? And in the end Damien put the blame onto you.’
I took a deep breath. ‘Was he right, do you think? You saw her after I left, didn’t you?’
‘Yes, she was down. But she wasn’t suicidal. She was looking forward to going on the trip. I mean, she was really fired up about how important the work was, and about doing