Chapter 17
Zoe looked in on Billie to find her feeding Louisa. Both of them seemed brighter than they had that morning.
‘Dad made me loads of hot drinks,’ Billie said. ‘Like all day he’s been forcing them down me, but I think they’ve done the trick because I do feel better.’
Zoe sat on the edge of her bed. ‘How do you think he seems?’ she asked. ‘I suppose he’s told you we went to look at the accident site. And…’
Zoe wondered whether Alex would have told Billie about the hole being Zoe’s fault – Grizzle’s, she supposed, if she were to split hairs, but under her watch – and what he might have said about it.
‘He said you thought someone had dug the hole out deliberately. It’s a shitty thing to do if it’s true.’
‘I only said I thought it looked that way.’
‘He said Grizzle might have done it looking for the rabbits, and he didn’t know for sure either way. He said it didn’t matter because he couldn’t prove anything, but he took some photos…’ Billie screwed up her face. ‘Has she gone yet?’
‘Virginia?’
‘The solicitor… whatever her name is. Dad Skyped her for advice, and the next thing she’s downstairs choking me with her gross perfume.
I mean, we’re ill – the last thing we need is some rando in our kitchen.
I feel like shit, and I look like shit, and I have to be all smiles and polite conversation?
Not to mention having my hands full with Louisa, and she’s not well. Dad should have told her not to come.’
‘I think he did, but I don’t think he put up too much of an argument because he’s feeling desperate right now.
She as much as admitted downstairs just now that it’s not her area of expertise, but having a legal eye over things might give your dad some reassurance.
I suspect that’s what he was looking for and that’s why he called her.
It’s someone he knows, isn’t it? So it’s easy to reach for any port in a storm. ’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, when you’re uncertain and lost, you go to the first sign of safety and security you can find.
He knew she was qualified, and it didn’t matter what area of the law it was in because he knew she’d at least listen and give him some idea of what he might be up against. I suppose it helped him to calm down.
He seems a lot calmer now than he did this morning, at least.’
‘I get that,’ Billie said finally. ‘It doesn’t mean I have to like her.’
‘You don’t like her?’ Zoe tried not to let the sneaky feeling of triumph take hold. It wasn’t dignified, and Virginia had done nothing to deserve it. Not yet anyway.
‘I don’t know – it’s just a feeling. Dad doesn’t need her; he needs someone who knows what they’re doing. In fact, he doesn’t need anyone at all until he knows what the campers are going to do.’
‘I forgot to ask him – has he heard any more about that?’
‘Not yet. They left without coming to the house. Dad went over and they’d already packed up. I think he was glad, to be honest.’
‘He said as much to me this morning.’
‘I messaged Maisie to see how she was doing. You know, with Ezra…’
‘What did she say?’
‘She’s all right,’ Billie said. ‘I mean, she’s sad about Ezra, but she’s, like, I’ll have to learn sign language and it will be OK. It sounds as though her mum is more bothered about it than she is.’
‘I can believe that. Her mum didn’t react too well to the idea there might be a problem.’
Billie raised her eyebrows, and Zoe cursed herself for being so comfortable talking about this to her. There and then, she resolved that this would be the last time she’d share what she knew, friends or not.
‘I’ll go and see her when I feel better. Or she can come up here, or whatever.’
The sound of the back door shutting and then an engine starting up reached them, and, involuntarily, Zoe and Billie exchanged a look of relief.
It occurred to Zoe, all of a sudden, that she hadn’t even noticed Virginia’s car outside when she’d arrived home.
She wondered vaguely where it had been. Perhaps she’d parked out of sight, or perhaps Zoe really was so distracted these days that she hadn’t seem a great big metal box on wheels right in front of her face.
She got up from the bed. ‘I’ll go and see if the coast is clear. How are you feeling about food? Could you eat?’
‘A bit. So long as it’s something plain.’
Zoe nodded, the door handle smooth in her palm as she pulled it open. ‘Something plain, right. I’ll see what I can rustle up if I can get round the kitchen now.’