‘I need to get ready for the beach, if that’s all? I told the police everything yesterday. I don’t know anything else,’ Jasmine said, walking away before anyone had a chance to stop her. She really didn’t want to talk about it anymore. She tried to remember if Morrell had given any indication that he was thinking about ending his life, replaying that evening over and over in her mind. Then she remembered something else she hadn’t told the police, something that seemed so inconsequential at the time, something that she had almost forgotten. She remembered the darkness in Tim’s eyes when he’d glanced towards the cliff path; it had been chilling. When she got to her room she looked out of the window towards the guest house. Had Tim done this? Had he done it for her? Something about that idea excited her. She felt bad because she was glad Morrell was dead and she didn’t want to say it out loud.

Chapter Twenty

The beach was, as Jasmine had suspected, a nightmare. The first few hours were fairly normal, but as the day went on and the news spread the looks and whispers got more obvious. The only thing that was stopping Jasmine from going home was the fact that her father had decided to work from home for the rest of the week just to make sure she was OK. She couldn’t handle being around him all day.

‘Want a drink?’ Felicity asked, pulling a bottle of vodka out of her bag.

‘Jesus, Flick, you’ll drown if you go in the sea drunk.’

‘Your loss,’ Felicity said, knocking back the vodka as though it were water.

Felicity wore a red bikini and was getting just the amount of attention she wanted with it. A group of boys hovered nearby with music blasting also looking to get noticed. Felicity kept positioning herself in a way to get them to notice her and it was working. She stood up and walked over to the bin, throwing away something that didn’t require the journey, but it gave her an opportunity to pass the boys and make sure they were fully aware of her.

She stood in front of Jasmine and scooped her jet black hair onto her head into a messy bun.

‘Oh my God, Flick, you are shameless. I just want to chill and sit here for a bit.’

‘Why do you care if he’s dead? He’s messed up things for you much more than you messed up things for him.’

‘How do you figure that?’

‘Well, he’s out of it now, isn’t he? You’ve still got to deal with this shit.’

‘You really think he killed himself?’

‘Don’t you?’ Felicity asked, tilting her head to one side, still with one eye on the boys. ‘He just couldn’t live without you,’ she said in a fake sad voice.