Chapter 15 Elise
Elise
“How are you, darling? How’s the work going?”
“Really well, thanks, Gran. The house feels as if it’s gradually coming to life around us. I think, if walls could talk, it would have some interesting tales to tell.”
In actual fact, the house hadn’t spoken to Elise again these last few days—there had been no new supernatural experiences, and she’d slept peacefully at night, without any messages disguised as dreams.
“I bet they could,” her gran said now. “All that history.”
“How’s the party planning going?”
Elise heard her grandmother sigh on the other end of the line.
“Not so well, actually. Nonna hasn’t been so good lately. Nothing physically wrong, don’t worry, she’s as well as anyone her age is, it’s not that. She’s just been . . . well, in a bit of a state.”
“What about?”
Another sigh. “For some reason she seems to have decided she doesn’t want a party for her birthday, after all. Says she wants to go on holiday instead. Every time I bring the party up, she gets cross.”
“And I’m guessing the invitations have already gone out?”
“Of course they have. It’s only a month away now. And the thing is, I know full well if I were to write to everyone to cancel, she’d only change her mind back again. You know what she’s like.”
Elise did know. Her great-grandmother could be delightful but also very stubborn. Contrary too.
“I think she misses you, to be honest. Well, we all do, of course, but your great-grandmother keeps asking why you don’t come and see her anymore, and every time I try to explain that you’re away working, she says, ‘Poppycock. She could spare me one day. I won’t be here forever.
’ Sorry, I really didn’t mean to dump all of this on you, I promise. It’s been difficult, that’s all.”
“It’s fine, Gran, honestly. Maybe I could pop back to London for a day to come and see her sometime soon.”
“Wait and see how things go, darling. Don’t interrupt your schedule if it’s not convenient. I’m sure Nonna will come round.”
After the call, Elise went to start work for the day, with her grandmother and great-grandmother on her mind.
That the two of them loved each other, she had no doubt.
But their relationship had always been a bit fraught.
They had such entirely different personalities and values, that was the trouble, and as Nonna grew older, she seemed to have become more demanding, less easy to placate.
She certainly wasn’t the most popular resident in the care home where she lived, that was for sure.
And yet Elise knew Nonna adored her, just as she had adored Charlie.
She really ought to have found the strength to visit the old lady before coming up here.
It hadn’t been fair to leave her gran to make her excuses for her.
Poor Gran. Yes, she would definitely sort out a date to go and visit Nonna: find out how she really wanted to celebrate her birthday and help her gran make it happen.
But first of all, she needed to finish off the restoration of the marsh mural in the dining room—she was almost there; the mural was looking fantastic.
With Lilias’s brushstrokes restored, the whole marsh was practically shimmering with life.
“D’you know,” Sam had said the previous evening, “sometimes when I come in here, I feel I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lilias appear on the horizon and start walking towards me over the bridge.”
“That’s exactly how I feel,” she’d said, and they shared a smile. “As if I’m working with real life, not a painting.”
“Well, you’ve done an amazing job, Elise, you really have.”
“Thanks.”
“Oh, before I go, Jasmine’s school has a teacher-training day tomorrow, so I’m afraid I’ll have to bring her here with me for part of the day. I hope that’s okay with you?”
“Yes, that’s fine,” she said, and the truth was that it was fine to have Jasmine around the place occasionally.
It didn’t fill her with the instant stab of pain and loss it had at first, partly she supposed, because Jasmine was so different to Charlie.
And, anyway, the girl mostly kept to herself.
Or had done until Lulu arrived. Now, when she was here, Jasmine’s path crossed more often with Elise’s because Jasmine liked to play with Lulu.
And if, at first, that had brought back memories of the way Charlie had played with the dog, mostly Elise could just feel grateful that Lulu had company.
Sam arrived with Jasmine at around ten o’clock that next day, while Elise was busy working on the marsh mural.
At lunchtime, when she picked up Lulu’s lead to take her for a quick walk, the dog was nowhere to be found.
Elise called for her, but Sam was hammering at something in the studio, so, when the dog didn’t appear, Elise went upstairs, guessing Lulu was probably asleep on her bed.
“Lulu?”
Sure enough, when she put her head round the bedroom door, there was the dog, asleep in a sunny spot on the duvet. But, surprisingly, Jasmine was sitting on the bed beside her, playing a game on her games console.
“Oh,” said Elise, taken aback. “Hi, Jasmine.”
Jasmine looked up, spotting the lead. “I don’t think Lulu wants to go for a walk today,” she said, but Lulu instantly proved her wrong by jumping down from the bed, having a huge stretch and trotting to the door.
Jasmine watched her go, making no comment, returning her attention to her game.
“Would you like to come for a walk with us?” Elise asked, not really wanting to leave the child in her bedroom.
“No, thanks.”
“Oh, okay.” Elise turned to go, then turned back, uncertain what to do. She didn’t want to be stuffy, for what harm really was there in Jasmine playing a game on Elise’s bed, but even so, it did feel a bit strange to leave her there.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to sit at the kitchen table? I could make you a sandwich if you like?”
“No, that’s okay, thanks.”
“Right. Well, see you later,” Elise said, giving up.
Excited to be on her way, Lulu ran on ahead down the stairs, yapping when she found Sam in the hallway.
“Going for a walk?”
“Yes, just a quick one. We won’t be long. Jasmine’s in my room if you’re looking for her.”
Sam frowned. “Is she?”
“I think she probably went to find Lulu.”
“Sorry, I’ll fish her out. I expect she’s bored. I might finish early and take her out somewhere. She shouldn’t be imposing on you, though; I’ll make sure she knows not to go into your room in the future.”
“It’s really not a problem,” Elise said, clipping on Lulu’s lead and heading for the door.
But later on, after Sam and Jasmine had gone out and Elise went up to her room to fetch her sketchbook, she found that Jasmine having been in her room might actually be a problem after all.
Because her sketchbook—which Elise was sure she had left in her bag of art supplies next to the chest of drawers—was lying open on her bed at the sketch she’d made of the unknown man.
And somebody had scribbled all over it in green pen.
Elise sat down on the bed, staring at the ruined sketch in shock.
Bloody hell. Whyever would Jasmine do such a thing?
Elise had only ever been friendly to her—well, if not exactly friendly, then polite.
Kind, she thought. And yet . . . this. Because it must be Jasmine who’d scrawled over the drawing, mustn’t it? Who else could have done it?
To Elise’s imagination, the man in the picture looked sad about having been defaced; his smile drooping, his scribbled-over eyes lacking their previous sparkle.
Jasmine didn’t think there was more than just friendship between Elise and Sam, did she?
Perhaps she did; perhaps she thought Elise was trying to muscle in, to replace her mother in Sam’s life.
The night the two of them had gone out for a drink, Sam had told her the divorce was fairly recent.
Elise didn’t think she and Sam had done anything to create the impression they were more than friends. They were close, yes. She valued his company and his opinion very much. Could open up to him the way she hadn’t been able to with anybody for a long time. But that was as far as it went.
Ought she to tell him about this act of vandalism? Show him the sketchbook? No, what good would it do? The damage had already been done. And no parent liked their child to be criticised or shown in a bad light. She would just have to be more careful around Jasmine in future, that was all.
Still, she was sad about the ruined sketch, and she closed the book, not wanting to look at the destroyed image any longer, stroking Lulu, who had jumped up onto the bed beside her. “Oh, Lulu.”
When her phone began to ring and it was the unknown caller again, her sadness turned to sudden anger.
“Look,” she said. “I don’t know who you are, but I’m sick and tired of you ringing me. What do you want?”
There was a short pause. Then, instead of the usual silence, someone spoke. A woman. “My name is Kate,” she said. “I’ve been trying to get the courage to tell you . . .”
Elise frowned, something about the woman’s voice telling her she wouldn’t like to hear what she was about to hear. “To tell me what?”
“That . . . I’ve been having an affair with your husband for the last twelve months.”