I stepped outside, drawn by the smells of olive trees, pine, and rich red earth cooling in the darkness. The chirping of crickets was a continuous soft background tone beneath everything else, the sky ink-black, a perfect blanket of stars stretching from one horizon to the other. More stars than I could ever remember seeing at home.

My eye was drawn down again, and from deep within the shadows I saw a tiny flicker of movement. An orange glow.

I wasn’t alone on the balcony.

Chapter 12

12

I flinched as something flew out of the darkness, fluttering close to my head.

‘The bats are out in force tonight,’ a deep voice said.

I turned towards it, the orange glow of a cigarette end like a firefly in the dark.

‘They come out for the insects,’ the voice continued.

‘Russ?’ I said, gathering the dressing gown more tightly around my body.

‘Evening.’ His voice was low and slow. ‘Couldn’t you sleep?’

‘I needed some water.’ As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I made out Rowan’s husband slumped in one of the big wicker chairs at the edge of the balcony, long legs splayed out in front of him, a bottle on the small table next to him, a brandy glass next to it with an inch of amber liquid in it.

‘Fancy a drink?’

‘I’m OK with water, thanks.’

He held up the bottle. ‘This will help you sleep. Twenty-year-old cognac, the finest sedative money can buy.’

‘Really, I’m fine.’

‘Works every time, guaranteed.’ He sloshed more brandy into his own glass.

Another bat flittered overhead, a tiny black shape against the dark sky. Arms crossed over my chest, I looked behind me at the villa. All the windows were dark; everyone else was asleep. It was just the two of us still awake. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a chat one-to-one with Russ, a conversation that hadn’t been an awkward few minutes at a barbecue or New Year’s Eve party. In fact, I’d seen Odette’s live-in nanny, Inés, far more often than I’d seen him at the family home.

I wanted to get away, go back to bed, but part of me was also intrigued.

‘Have you been out here long?’ I asked.

He plucked a new cigarette out of the packet and lit it straight off the old one before flicking the butt away with a practised snap of thumb and forefinger. The glowing orange butt spun in a high arc, end-over-end, and there was a hiss from the darkness below as it hit the swimming pool.

‘Not long enough for my darling wife.’

I didn’t know how to respond to that. A row, I guessed, although I’d not heard anything.