Chapter 14
The next morning, New Year’s Eve, Lewis was in the kitchen with Jasmine, the two of them acting like nothing had happened the night before. He was making porridge, saying we needed to have it the authentically Scottish way, with water instead of milk and salt in the place of sugar.
‘Just a wee pinch,’ Lewis said, in his ridiculous attempt at a local accent. He ladled porridge into a bowl and placed it in front of Jasmine, then did the same for me and himself, joining us at the table.
‘I like it,’ Jasmine said, after a tentative taste. ‘I usually have fruit for breakfast, maybe some low-fat yoghurt.’
‘That’s how you have such a great figure,’ Lewis said. ‘Sorry, is that inappropriate? I just mean you obviously look after yourself.’
She forced a smile. Sitting opposite her, I could now see the tension on her face. Stiffness in her shoulders. I couldn’t blame her. She was going to have to encounter Miranda today.
Lewis joined us at the table. I studied him. He was clearly unaware that I’d overheard his phone call during the night. I could hear his words: I’m a good actor. What were he and Miranda planning?
And then he said, ‘I’ve got an exciting plan to tell you about. Something to make New Year’s Eve extra special.’
‘Oh God.’ Jasmine pulled a face. At the same time, I tried not to look shocked, or even like I was that interested. Was this the plan he’d been discussing on the phone?
Lewis beamed, oblivious to my concern. ‘I think you’ll love this more than the porridge. In fact, I know you will. An excursion.’ He pushed his empty bowl aside. ‘I’m going to take you to to the caves to see the Serpent Stone.’
‘The—’
It was at that moment that Miranda arrived, wrapped in a fleece dressing gown. She paused in the doorway and said, with a hand on her forehead, ‘The whisky gods are punishing me. I don’t remember anything about last night.’
‘That’s handy,’ said Lewis. He winked at me.
‘It’s all a blank from about halfway through playing that stupid game.’
Jasmine concentrated on her porridge. She wore what I came to think of as her ‘hotel reception’ expression, one that she must have learned doing her job: calm, giving nothing away.
Miranda came into the kitchen, took one look at the pot of porridge, steam rising from it, and suddenly put her hand over her mouth. ‘I think I’m going to—’
She ran from the room.
‘Well,’ Lewis said. ‘I know I’m not a great cook, but that’s a bit rude.’
‘I guess rudeness is her thing,’ Jasmine said quietly.
Flicking a glance at me first, Lewis said, ‘I’m sure she didn’t mean it. She was pissed. Upset with Dad and Zack for going on their hunting trip.’
‘Oh, she meant it.’
‘Are you going to tell Charles?’
If Lewis’s plan involved Jasmine, he was certainly proving himself to be the good actor he claimed to be.
So good that I found myself confused. He was so relaxed and friendly with Jasmine.
Maybe, I thought, the plan he had mentioned had nothing to do with this trip to the caves.
Perhaps it was something to do with work.
With business. He must have been referring to Charles or Zack when he said ‘he’ll be back by the evening’.
Perhaps he was planning to ask them to invest in a new business idea?
I relaxed a little. Maybe he hadn’t even been talking to Miranda.
After all, Zack wasn’t here. Why would she need to take her phone into the bathroom for a private conversation?
Jasmine was speaking. ‘I haven’t decided whether to tell him yet.’ She looked at me. too, like she wished she was having this conversation privately with Lewis, I guessed because I wasn’t one of the Grants. I was a little hurt. Did Jasmine view me as even more of an outsider than her?
We heard the toilet flush.
‘Can I ask you something?’ I said to Lewis. I felt far less suspicious of him now, sure what I’d overheard was something to do with a business plan. ‘Miranda and Zack. They don’t seem very happy. Do you think they actually are on the brink of divorce?’
Lewis laughed. ‘They’re always like this. I bet they argued even when they were having their affair.’
Holly had told me about this, but Jasmine said, ‘Affair?’
‘Oh yes. Miranda was married to a chap named Bill. A lot older than her. Freddie, Miranda’s son, is Bill’s. That’s who he’s with at the moment.’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘Zack has worked with Dad for years. He was there when I worked at Gravitas, not that that was a long time ago. A few years.’
‘Why did you leave?’ I asked. Holly had told me ‘it hadn’t worked out’ but hadn’t given me any more details.
‘I left to pursue my own ideas. Nepotism, hanging on to Daddy’s shirt-tails, wasn’t for me. Plus computer hardware – fuck me, it’s boring. I had much better ideas.’
‘You were telling us about the affair?’ Jasmine prompted in a whisper.
‘Oh, yes. Miranda met Zack at the company’s summer party, and I guess they started secretly seeing each other after that. Apparently it came out when some intern walked in and found them shagging on Zack’s desk.’
‘How romantic.’
Lewis grinned. ‘Honestly, I feel for the poor bastard. He must be a total masochist. Dad at work, and Miranda at home. At least the dog seems to love him.’
‘Charles seems to like him a lot, too.’
I said it without thinking and instantly regretted it, because Lewis scowled. More than that: he looked at me with real hatred. It was as if I’d located his sorest spot and prodded it.
‘He’ll certainly never like you as much,’ he said to me. ‘To my dear father, you’re inconsequential.’
I stared at him, anger rising inside of me. Inconsequential?
‘That isn’t true,’ Jasmine said to me, reaching across to touch my arm. ‘Charles told me he likes you.’
‘Really?’ I was appalled by how needy I sounded.
‘Yes. I think he’s just a little wary. He told me he doesn’t really like the idea of there being a documentarian in the family. I get the impression he’s worried you might be planning to make a film about him.’
‘You can assure him I have absolutely no plans to do that.’
‘Oh, I have. I told him you were looking into that poor young guy’s death, but I think he’s still a little worried.’
Lewis said, ‘I personally think you’re wasting your time with this idea about that frozen kid.’
I was growing irritated with people telling me what I should or shouldn’t be making a film about. Jasmine clearly detected this because she changed the subject back to Lewis’s plan.
‘Did you say Serpent Stone? What is it?’
‘It’s a piece of rock art.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yeah, it’s way cooler than it sounds. You know people lived on this peninsula during the neolithic area, thousands of years ago?
There’s a sandy beach a little way along the coast where they found evidence of a settlement from 7500 BC, tools and even jewellery.
It was one of Scotland’s first settlements, from just after the end of the Ice Age.
There were people here nearly eight thousand years ago. ’
I was still seething after Lewis’s remark about me being inconsequential, and only half-listening to their conversation.
I was wondering if I should reassure Charles that I had no interest in ever making a film about him.
I was feeling more determined than ever to pursue my investigation into what happened to Samir.
If there’s one thing that drives me on, it’s being told I shouldn’t do something.
I was going to leave the kitchen, but Lewis said, ‘You haven’t finished your porridge.
Listen, mate, I’m sorry I said that thing about you and my dad.
I was being an arsehole. I guess everyone’s right.
I’m jealous of his relationship with Zack, and maybe I was worried about someone else coming along and jumping ahead of me in the queue for my dad’s attention. ’
I was so taken aback I didn’t know what to say.
‘Are we good?’ Lewis asked.
‘Um … yeah.’
‘Cool. Now finish your breakfast.’
I continued eating the lukewarm porridge while Jasmine asked Lewis for more details about this Serpent Stone.
‘It’s actually a rock carving,’ he said. ‘In a cave. Because it’s a little awkward to get to, it hasn’t been photographed and gawped at by millions of tourists. The locals organize guided trips into the caves in summer – but it is actually possible to visit in the winter.’
‘I’m … not sure I would like that,’ Jasmine said.
Lewis waved away her objections. ‘Honestly, it’s fun, and easy. You don’t have to abseil into it or anything mad. You just walk through some tunnels. There’s one point where you have to crawl—’
‘Crawl?’ Jasmine’s eyebrows went up.
‘It’s a piece of piss. Like I said, I’ve been in there loads of times.
We used to hang out there when we were teenagers.
It’s amazing in there. You go through these tunnels and they open up into this big cavern, and there it is on the wall: the carving.
The Serpent Stone. Here’s the best part.
According to locals, the Serpent Stone brings good luck to women who are about to be betrothed or who have just got married.
They say that any bride-to-be who visits and touches it is destined to have a long, prosperous life and a happy marriage. ’
‘A big snake that brides have to touch for good luck?’ I asked, eyebrow raised.
‘Admittedly the symbolism is rather on the nose,’ Lewis continued, not looking at me, ‘but I still think it’s cool. What do you think, Jasmine?’
‘It does sound cool. It’s different, right? We don’t have any cave art in Miami.’
Lewis was clearly delighted. ‘This is going to be so much fun. We can go this afternoon.’
‘Cool.’ Jasmine frowned. ‘Although I’m not sure any of my clothes are going to be suitable’
‘I’ve thought of that. Mum’s hiking gear will fit you. It’s still here somewhere. I’ll find it.’
I expected Jasmine to blanch at the idea of wearing Elizabeth’s old clothes, but she said, ‘Okay.’ She pushed her half-eaten bowl of porridge away and left the kitchen. Lewis went outside for a cigarette, and I was left on my own.