The Devil's Feather - Minette Walters [46]
Once she found out who he was…? “Did he live in Winterbourne Barton?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
Peter stared into his coffee. “Work it out for yourself—it’s hardly quantum mechanics.”
I must have been extraordinarily dense, because I couldn’t see what he was getting at. “Why can’t you tell me?”
“Hippocratic oath,” he said with a good-humoured grin. “I’d lose patients if I couldn’t keep a still tongue in my head…particularly in a place like this where gossip spreads like wildfire. In any case, life’s too short to fight other people’s wars.”
Wars…? “I’ve only met two people who seem to be at each other’s throats—” I broke off as the penny dropped. “Oh, I see! Art school…panic attacks…Did Madeleine take Nathaniel from Jess? Is that why they loathe each other?” I saw from his expression that I was right. “No wonder Jess doesn’t like flattery. It must be a hell of a sore point if Madeleine laid it on with a trowel.”
“It was her own fault,” Peter said unsympathetically. “She was far too free with her criticism of Nathaniel’s work, and that’s not an easy thing to live with. Madeleine’s tea and sympathy was much more attractive.”
“If he’s lost his edge, then maybe he needed the criticism.”
“Without a doubt…but he’s a weaker character than Jess. He sulks when his ego’s not being massaged.”
“He sounds a pain in the arse,” I said bluntly, remembering one or two men in my past who were similar. “How long were they together?”
He didn’t answer immediately, apparently weighing up how much he could tell me with a good conscience. “It’s hardly a secret. Two years. She met him in her first term. It might have lasted if she’d stayed in London, but there wasn’t much hope for it after the accident. She set up a studio for him at the farm but he stopped using it by the summer of ninety-three.” He took a thoughtful sip of his coffee. “The only reason she took his departure badly was because he left her for Madeleine. She wouldn’t have turned a hair if it had been anyone else.”
“What did Lily say?”
His eyes creased with amusement again. “Why are you so interested in Lily’s reactions?”
I shrugged. “I’m wondering why Jess remained so close to her. If Madeleine had stolen a man of mine, I wouldn’t have gone on mowing her mother’s lawn. Supposing Madeleine and Nathaniel had turned up while I was doing it? Imagine the embarrassment. I’d be afraid they were laughing at me behind my back.”
“I’m not sure Jess would care. She’s completely impervious to what people say about her.”
“Now, maybe, but not then. If she was never fazed by anything, she wouldn’t have had panic attacks,” I pointed out.
Peter ran a thoughtful hand around his jaw, as if I’d reminded him of something he’d forgotten. “Lily never spoke about it,” he said, “but she did say once that Madeleine judged worth by how highly something was valued by someone else.”
It sounded like a good description. “So does Nathaniel still get undiluted admiration,” I asked curiously, “or did he lose his shine when his sales dropped off?”
“Pass.”
I laughed. “I’ll take that for a yes. I’ll bet he’s regretting his decision now. Did Lily like him?”
“She never really knew him. Madeleine always visited on her own.”
“You must have some idea.”
“Not really. Lily was a very discreet woman where her family was concerned, which is probably why she got on so well with Jess. I don’t think Jess blamed her for Madeleine’s behaviour, but I doubt they ever talked about it.”
“Except Jess slit her wrists in Barton House,” I pointed out, “which, at the very least, suggests she wanted Lily to know she was hurting.”
The good humour vanished immediately from Peter’s face. “Who told you that?”
“Madeleine.”
He looked angry. “In future I’d advise you to take anything she tells you with a hefty pinch of salt. She rewrites history to suit herself.” He took a breath through his nose. “I hope you haven’t repeated it to anyone.”
“Of course not. Who would I repeat it to?”
“Jess?”
“No.”
He relaxed a little. “If Madeleine heard that story from her mother, she must have misunderstood what Lily