White Nights - Ann Cleeves [111]
‘Is the woman mad? Playing some sort of crazy game?’
‘Really,’ Fran said, ‘I don’t think so.’
‘It’s so fanciful. Suddenly all these people who seemed unrelated turn out to have been in the same house at the same time. And Bella, who claimed not to know them, remembers as if by magic.’
‘I know,’ Fran said. ‘But I do understand what she’s saying. She’s been so caught up in the present that she’s had no reason to revisit those days. You know how self-absorbed she is. I understand what it’s like when I’m working. The art is all I think about really, even when I’m reading a story to Cassie, even when I’m spending time with you, it’s at the back of my mind. You’re the same when you’re working on a big case. She had no reason to think about the past. Now her memories of those times have become very clear. It’s her way of blocking out what happened to Roddy.’
‘It still seems preposterous to me.’ Perez drank some wine. ‘Like a kids’ game. Or Up Helly Aa after the parade. The guisers all wearing masks and running from one hall to another. I’m never part of the squad, so I bump into people and can’t quite recognize them, though I know they’re familiar. That’s how I feel now; I’m losing track about what’s real and what’s pretend.’
‘I know,’ she said again.
‘Am I talking rubbish?’
‘I think I know what you mean.’ She paused. ‘There’s a photograph. That might help pin things down. And masks figure there too.’ She laid a faded colour photograph on the table and turned the lamp so it was fully lit.
‘They’re dressed up for a dinner party,’ she said. ‘Fancy dress too, in a way. The masks must be significant, mustn’t they?’
Certainly that, Perez thought, but I’m not quite sure how. He’d thought he was inching towards a solution. Had he been wrong?
‘That’s Wilding,’ Perez said, pointing to the dark man. ‘He’s hardly changed. How can she not have recognized him?’
‘It was a long time ago, in a different context. But he must have remembered being here. Why didn’t he say something to Bella when he asked to rent the house from her? That seems most odd to me.’
‘And there’s Bella. She always wore red in those days. It was her sort of trademark.’
‘You knew her then?’
‘Knew of her, certainly. She was a local celebrity even in those days.’
‘Bella thinks that’s Booth.’ Fran pointed to a figure on the back row. With his long hair and beard, his rather thin face, he looked like a Renaissance representation of Jesus. The Last Supper, Perez thought.
‘Who are the others?’
‘I don’t know. She didn’t say and I didn’t ask. Lawrence isn’t there, though. She expected him to come. She thought he would propose to her that night, but he didn’t turn up. Isn’t it sad?’
‘It is if it’s true.’
‘You don’t believe her?’
‘I’ve told you, I don’t know who or what to believe.’ He drank more wine, a good mouthful, not a sip. ‘I should tell Taylor.’
‘Won’t he be asleep?’
‘I don’t think he ever sleeps.’ He took another drink. ‘Could I ask him over? We won’t disturb you.’
She didn’t hesitate. ‘Of course.’
And Taylor did pick up his mobile after the second ring, and his voice was as strong as it always was, the accent deepened somehow over the phone. Perez explained as best he could, realizing that he was stuttering slightly. ‘There’s a photo,’ he said. ‘It’s interesting. It would wait until the morning but you’d be welcome to come over if you like. You know where Fran lives.’
A moment of hesitation. Perez was preparing himself for a rebuff. Then Taylor’s voice came again, stronger than ever. ‘I’ll be there. Half an hour.’ Another pause. ‘Thanks.’
Fran took herself to bed before Taylor arrived. She set out a plate of food for them – cheese and oatcakes and a tin with home-made biscuits.
‘There’s no need for that.’ Perez reached out and touched her hand.
‘I think I’ve been in Shetland long enough to know how to behave with visitors.’
He heard her move around the bedroom, pictured her taking off clothes, pulling out the long earrings, reaching behind her head to unclip her bead necklace. Then she stood at the door in a long white cotton nightdress