You don’t want a scandal, do you, Rowan? No sordid affairs, no foul play, no criminal investigation. Just a tragic accident. Nothing that might derail your precious business deal – and your multi-million-pound payout.

Chapter 73

73

Jennifer seemed to come to her senses, sitting up straighter in her seat.

‘OK.’ She looked pointedly at me. ‘What else will the detectives want to know?’

‘I don’t know too much about French police procedure,’ I said, ‘but I’d assume they’ll want to take statements from all of us, establish some facts, look at the scene and make a decision from there.’

‘And what else, Kate?’

‘What do you mean?’

Jennifer looked at her sons, slumped on the sofa. ‘Hey, why don’t all the young folks go downstairs to the games room while the grown-ups talk about this? What do you think, guys, get some drinks and put a DVD on or something? Would you do that for me, Jakey?’

Jake shrugged and stood up, followed by his brother. Then Lucy and Daniel were on their feet, Lucy taking her brother by the hand and leading him out to the staircase. Of the five children, only Odette remained, thumb in her mouth and anchored to her mother’s lap, head against her chest. Normally a babbling spring of chatter, I had not heard her utter a single word since returning to the villa after the fire, and she didn’t speak now – but neither did she move. Rowan stroked her daughter’s long red hair, a gesture that said to everyone: my baby stays with me.

Jennifer gave Rowan a sympathetic smile and turned back to me.

‘Listen, Kate, I know it was an accident, we all know it was an accident; I just think there are certain things we don’t need to tell the police.’

‘Such as?’

‘Do you really want me to say it?’

With most of the children gone, that left an even half-dozen of us: me, Jennifer, Rowan, Odette, Russ and Sean. And now all eyes were on me, on the blush rising up in my cheeks. But why not? Why not just put it all out there? It didn’t matter any more, none of it mattered, not really. The events of the past week were distant and trivial compared to the tragedy of today.

‘If you have to.’

‘Well, like what we discussed at the café yesterday.’ She hesitated, then ploughed on. ‘That you thought Izzy was having an affair with Sean.’

Russ looked up sharply.

‘What?’

Beside me, Sean put his head in his hands. ‘Jesus H Christ,’ he said. ‘No, no, no.’

Russ said, ‘An affair? What the hell?’

I turned to my husband.

‘I found the messages on your phone, Sean. From CoralGirl. The day we got here. Messages saying you couldn’t stop thinking about her and you couldn’t go on like this and did Kate suspect anything?’

The silence in the room was absolute.