Chapter 21
When we pulled up outside the house it was as if I was arriving for the first time all over again.
The butterflies that had been going crazy in my belly when we’d arrived had returned.
Charles’s Jeep was parked on the driveway, meaning he and Zack were back, too.
Miranda would also be here. I knew the moment I entered the house they would all start to demand explanations.
After telling us the snow was going to make it difficult for any more police to get here, Susan – who was already starting to act like she was out of her depth – had made several more phone calls from her car while snow continued to build up around the caves.
‘I’ve arranged for you to go and see our local doctor,’ she said to me. She handed Holly a sheet of paper torn from her notebook. ‘Can you take him there?’
‘What are you going to do?’ Holly asked.
‘I need to go and talk to your family. Break the news about Lewis.’ Unsurprisingly, she didn’t look thrilled at the prospect of this. She met Holly’s eye. ‘I’m hoping Jasmine will have found her way back there.’
‘So we can get some answers,’ Holly said.
‘Well, yes. But also so we know she hasn’t come to any harm.’
She had gone over to her car again and Holly had driven me to the doctor’s house, coming inside with me, but waiting while the doctor, a bearded man in his sixties whose name was Mackenzie, led me into his study and checked me over.
‘You’re very lucky,’ he said after taking my temperature and asking me a series of questions about how I was feeling.
He also gave me some of his clothes: a pair of beige trousers and a thick woollen sweater.
‘We had a young man around here earlier this year who wasn’t so fortunate,’ he said as I got dressed.
‘Samir Anand?’
‘Oh, you heard about that? Terrible business. His parents …’ He must have realized he was being indiscreet because he stopped.
‘What about them?’
‘I didn’t actually see Samir. He was taken to the hospital in Inverness. But I met them when they came up here. They kept talking about how much potential the lad had. They said that Samir had ideas that would change the world.’
‘What kind of ideas?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. I guess we all think our kids are special, right?’
He had seen me out, talking to Holly and telling her to ensure I stayed warm. Before we left, he had said, ‘You’re Charles Grant’s lass, aren’t you?’
‘That’s me.’
‘I remember your mother. A lovely woman. PC Williams told me about your brother.’ A shake of the head. ‘Please accept my condolences and, well, pass them on to your sister, too.’
There had been no mention of expressing sympathy to Charles, I noticed.
While I had been talking to the doctor, Holly had received a flurry of texts from Miranda, who had just heard the news about Lewis. Holly had replied to ask if Jasmine had returned.
No, she fucking hasn’t, came the response.
Now, I sat beside Holly in our rental car, outside their holiday home. Swollen clouds hung overhead, threatening to break at any moment, and the snow was showing no sign of abating.
If I hadn’t been scared for Jasmine before, the blast of icy air that hit me as I got out of the car brought home just how much danger she was in. If she was hiding, or hurt, unable to move – if she wasn’t somewhere warm and dry – she stood very little chance of survival.
‘You’re back.’
The front door of the house had opened and Miranda stood there, arms folded, face stony. Her eyes were red and puffy.
‘The policewoman just left,’ she said. She looked at me but didn’t ask how I was, though I couldn’t blame her. Lewis’s death trumped everything.
Holly said, ‘Any more news?’
‘None.’
And then Charles was there, dressed down in a hoodie and trainers, and he was striding towards me. And to my great surprise, he threw his arms around me, pulling me close.
‘Patrick,’ he said, his mouth close to my ear. His body was solid. Muscular. ‘You found my son.’
He let go of me as rapidly as he’d embraced me. There was no sign that he had been crying, though I knew, of course, that grief hits people in different ways, at different speeds. He was probably still at the denial stage.
‘Why did you follow them there?’ he asked.
I hadn’t been expecting to be hit with this question so soon. I looked to Holly, who shook her head almost imperceptibly and said, ‘Can we go inside? It’s too cold to even think out here.’
We all went inside, into the kitchen. Zack was there, on his laptop at the table, the dog at his feet. Their hunting rifles were propped against the wall, the overnight bags they’d taken hunting sitting unzipped beside them. The sight of the guns made me feel even more on edge.
‘I’ve been in touch with Nathalie,’ Zack said to Charles. ‘She’s preparing a statement about Lewis, although it’s mostly telling everyone to respect the family’s privacy. You’ll need to take a look at it.’
Nathalie, I gathered, was the head of Gravitas’s PR department.
‘I’ve spoken to the chief constable, too,’ Zack went on.
This was the highest-ranked officer in the Scottish police.
No ordinary mortal had any chance of communicating with him, but this was Charles Grant.
‘He assures me they are going to do everything they can to find Jasmine and to find out what happened to Lewis. I’m afraid he also backed up what Williams said.
The weather is making it impossible to get anyone here right now.
They can’t even get a helicopter out. The snow is supposed to stop later, around midnight, at which point … ’
‘She’ll be back by then.’ Charles sounded confident. ‘She’s a survivor, my Jasmine.’
I noticed how Miranda’s eyes narrowed at the mention of her name.
‘Obviously, we need to decide exactly what to say when the news gets out,’ Zack said. ‘About Lewis, but also, well …’
Miranda folded her arms. ‘The news that you are married.’
Charles’s tone was impatient. ‘How many times do I have to say it? I was going to tell you tonight. Now please, stop nagging me. Put the kettle on. I need coffee.’
She flinched, but obeyed.
‘I expect you could use a coffee, too, eh, son?’
He patted me on the shoulder.
‘Sit down. That’s it. Now, talk to me. What made you go to the caves?’
So Susan Williams hadn’t told them about my suspicions of Lewis. I wondered why. Was she waiting for more evidence? Afraid of upsetting the family? Perhaps she was going to wait for the detectives to arrive from Inverness, let them deal with it. Or maybe she thought my story was unbelievable.
I took a deep breath and glanced at Holly.
‘Go on, then,’ she said. ‘Tell them why you went there. You’ve already told the police.’
Everyone was staring at me.
‘I … I was worried about Jasmine. I thought Lewis might be planning to … harm her.’
Miranda dropped the teaspoon she was holding, the noise as it struck the counter surprisingly loud in the silent kitchen. Zack looked at me the way a nightclub bouncer eyes a drunk.
The only person who didn’t seem alarmed was Charles. His voice was calm. Even. ‘You think he was going to try to kill her?’
‘I …’ I tried to catch Holly’s eye, but she wouldn’t look at me. And then I made up my mind. I needed to be firm. Jasmine was out there. If we wanted to find her, lying, trying to protect feelings, was only going to harm her chances of survival.
‘Yes, I do.’
I told him what I’d told Holly. He listened, his face impassive. When I’d finished, he said to Miranda, ‘Is it true? Did Lewis indicate he was planning something?’
‘No! I mean … he said something about how everything would work. He didn’t say he was going to push her to her death. This is nonsense. And I didn’t speak to him on the phone last night. That’s absurd.’
‘What exactly did he say this afternoon?’ Charles demanded.
I answered. ‘He said, “I promise you, Miranda. It’s not going to turn out like that. I’m going to fix it. Trust me.”’
‘I wasn’t asking you. I was asking my daughter.’
Miranda glared at me. ‘He’s lying. Lewis didn’t say that at all.’
‘Then what did he say?’
‘I don’t remember. Something about how everything would turn out for the best.’
I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt because she had just lost her brother, but I was 99 per cent sure she was lying, about that and the phone call.
Charles must have read it in her body language. Or maybe it was because my testimony was much clearer. But he appeared to believe me over his daughter.
He clamped a hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Thank you for being brave enough to tell me.’
Then he faced both Miranda and Holly. ‘Do you really think Jasmine is going to “steal” your inheritance?’
‘No, Dad, of course not.’ That was Holly. ‘We were shocked, that was all, when she told us you were married already.’
‘And planning to have more kids,’ Miranda added. ‘And move to Florida.’
He took half a step towards his two daughters and they both shrank away.
It was the first time I’d seen it: their fear of him.
Suddenly, the pair of them looked like children, cowering in their father’s shadow.
I was certain Charles was going to explode, yell at them for being greedy and selfish and spoiled.
I was prepared to step in, to protect Holly.
I had my argument prepared. How could he expect them not to be worried when he had sprung Jasmine on them, lied about being married, not told them his plans?
But he didn’t explode. Instead, in that calm voice that was somehow more chilling than a shout, he said, ‘I’ve always looked after you.
I sent you to the best schools. I’ve given you everything you’ve ever wanted.
All the things I never had. You have nothing to worry about.
Even if Jasmine and I had ten kids there would still be plenty to go around.
Especially now, with everything that’s about to happen. ’
Zack nodded.