Chapters (78)
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Remarkable Praise for Nicci French
- Also by Nicci French
- About the Publisher
Jude took a sip of her wine and thought as she did so that she had better eat something before she left. Her head swam.
“Things obviously get much more complicated when you get to know people.”
“How do you mean? When you get to know them? Do you know us?”
“Not really. But I know there are tensions and conflicts in this house.”
“Like what?”
Jude drank some more red wine.
“It’s just what happens with any group, and you lot turn out not to be so marvelous after all,” she said, only half-registering that she was being rude. “For instance, Jan told me he was moving out.”
He frowned. “I didn’t know that. Why? What did he say?”
“I think he just needs somewhere more peaceful. But you should talk to him about it.”
“He should have talked to us,” said Vin. “We could have sorted it out.”
“I don’t think so.” She heard herself give a laugh. “He believes you’re all mad.”
“Oh, does he now?”
She told herself to stop talking.
“And that something is wrong with this house,” she said.
“Do you think that as well?”
But Jude didn’t want to continue with this.
“Do you want me to take a couple of those bottles?” she said.
“To be continued,” said Vin.
“What do you mean?”
He took two bottles from the box and handed them to her. She clutched them awkwardly.
“This conversation.”
Jude wasn’t at all sure that she wanted this conversation to be continued. She was glad to take the bottles and go back up the stairs.
Forty-Four
When Jude got back to the ground floor, she put the bottles down on a shelf in the hallway. She would eat something to counteract the alcohol she had never intended to drink and then she would leave. She should have left at once. She should never have come in the first place.
She pushed her way through to the kitchen. Plates and bowls of food were laid out on every surface. Jude took a paper plate and heaped it with hummus and aubergine and rice and various salads and slices of bread. That would soak up the wine. She took it out into the garden, carefully avoiding looking to the right or to the left. As a result she bumped into someone, started to apologize and move on, and then noticed it was Erika.
She said sorry and hello and started to walk past her when she looked up at her face.
“Are you all right?”
Erika just shook her head. Jude saw that her eyes were brimming with tears and she clearly didn’t trust herself to speak. She sniffed and took several deep breaths.
“Wait,” Erika said finally. “Don’t go away.”
Jude stood awkwardly as Erika ran back into the house. She reemerged a minute later, clutching a bottle of wine and a glass.