Chapter 11
ELEVEN
With a strong sense of déjà vu, I listen to Leo telling me that he’s checked the camera and I’m the only person who’s been in the house.
‘I don’t know how they got in,’ he says, wrapping his arms around me.
He holds me tightly, and I’m grateful for his support, but all I want is for him to believe me. To know what I know to be true.
Eventually he pulls away and fills a glass with water, handing it to me while I stand by the bifold doors, staring at the indigo sky and the shadows cast on to the garden. Under any other circumstances, it would be a beautiful scene.
‘And you definitely don’t remember closing the blinds?’ he asks, his words laced with hope. ‘Is there any way at all? Maybe it was too bright? This house does feel like a sauna at the moment.’
Despite Leo finding the antifreeze in my drawer, I can sense his desperation for me to have forgotten I closed them.
He paces the kitchen, already dressed in his shirt and tie, while I’m still in my short pyjamas.
I open the door to let some air in, but even this early in the morning, there’s no breeze.
‘I definitely didn’t close them,’ I say, keeping my voice measured; it’s imperative that I’m not hysterical.
I need to keep Leo onside; losing control would only make him more convinced there’s something wrong with me.
‘Even if I did close them to keep the house cool, why would I light candles in the bedroom and leave them burning when I was out all day? They could have started a fire. And they’re hand-made, from an Etsy seller.
Candles by Tonya. I’ve never heard of that company, and I don’t have an Etsy account.
They’re not my candles, Leo. I don’t have any in the house. ’
‘I can’t explain any of this. Neither of us can. We just need to . . . I don’t know. Maybe I should tell Giles what’s going on? There might be something he can do to . . . to put our minds at rest.’
‘He won’t believe me,’ I say. ‘Even you’re struggling to, and you’re my husband!’
Leo grabs my hand. ‘It’s not that I don’t believe you, Ria. I honestly don’t know what to think.’ He frowns. ‘If there’d been a fire, then we might have lost the house.’ He stares at me for a moment, and I know what he’s thinking before he says a word.
‘Are you suggesting I did this on purpose? I know I said I wanted to leave Silverleaf, but I’d never do anything like that!’
He pulls me into a hug. ‘I know,’ he whispers, but his voice is too quiet, too uncertain. ‘I’m sorry you’re not happy here. Please just give it a chance. We can sort out everything that’s been happening. I know we can.’
‘Everything that’s happening is because of the woman I saw. I know it, Leo. I know that’s hard to hear when you love this place so much.’
‘We just need to wait to hear from Ethan. We can deal with whatever the scan shows.’
‘It’s not my head that’s the problem, Leo – it’s this place.’
With a heavy sigh, he looks up at the ceiling. ‘I’ve already said you mean more to me than this place.’
‘Then prove it!’ I stop pacing and grab his arm. ‘We can leave. Too much has happened, and what’s next?’
Leo lets out a sharp breath. His body has been tense up until now but finally seems to relax. When he looks at me, his eyes brim with tears.
‘I love you, Ria,’ he says. ‘But we can’t run away from this. This is our home now.’
From the living-room window, I watch Leo leave for work. We’re becoming untethered from each other, and it’s all because of being here. Leo just can’t see that. I have to convince him to leave, but the chances of that are shrivelling by the second.
As soon as his car has disappeared through the gate, I march over to Eleanor’s. Rufus is out the front, putting his laptop bag in his car. He gives a weary nod and waits for me to speak.
‘Is Eleanor at home?’ I ask, skipping the greeting I’d normally start with.
‘Yes, she is. But she’s in the shower.’
I glance up at the house. ‘Of course she is.’
He ignores my comment. ‘I heard about poor Willow. You have to be so careful with dogs. Such a terrible shame.’ He shakes his head and looks past me. ‘Ah, there’s Eleanor. Have to go. See you, Ria.’
I turn to their front door, where Eleanor is watching us, her arms folded.
She’s wearing a white silk dressing gown, similar to the one Leo bought me, and she pulls the cord tightly around her waist. Her hair is neatly wrapped in a white towel and her face is free of make-up, making her look younger.
‘Can we talk?’ I say, making my way towards her.
She hesitates, scanning the green before giving a faint nod.
Surprised that she’s agreed when she’s been so good at avoiding me, I step inside before she can change her mind.
‘What can I do for you, Ria?’ she asks, closing the door. ‘And do you mind taking your shoes off?’
I do as she asks and she wanders into the living room and undoes the towel around her head, letting damp strands of blonde hair fall across her shoulders. I feel a sharp pang of sympathy for what she’s been going through with her struggle to conceive. But that doesn’t excuse her odd behaviour.
‘I’ll get to the point,’ I say. ‘You don’t like me – I’m not sure why, when we only met two seconds ago – but still, I’m a good judge of what people think of me.’
‘Is that what you’ve come here to say? You think because I didn’t make it to your coffee afternoon one time that I don’t like you?’
‘We both know it’s more than that. You warned me to make sure I looked after Willow properly.’
Eleanor frowns. ‘And what’s that got to do with anything?’
‘Do you like animals?’ I think of that white bottle Leo found in my underwear drawer and a cold shiver runs along my spine.
Eleanor glares at me. ‘Why are you asking me that? What’s going on, Ria? Are you feeling all right?’
‘How can I be okay when someone poisoned Willow with antifreeze? And a woman was murdered right out there.’ I point to the window.
She shrinks back, undoing and retying the cord of her dressing gown.
‘I came here to say that I won’t stop until I find out who that woman was. And who killed her. I don’t care about the warnings I’ve been sent – I’ve already survived one traumatic attack. I won’t be scared off.’
Eleanor stares at me. ‘Ria, I’m sorry, but you’re sounding a bit unhinged. And you’re scaring me. I think you should go now.’
‘Rufus works for Alphabet, right?’ I ask. ‘Maybe I should find him and tell him I saw you sneaking out of Giles’s house in the middle of the night.’ It’s an effort to force these words out; they don’t make me feel good in any way.
The room falls silent, and it’s unclear which of us will break the spell. Eleanor’s face is flushed red; I’m sure there are many things she wants to yell at me, and I prepare myself for her onslaught.
But it never comes. Instead, she folds her arms and sits on the sofa, perching on the edge. ‘Please don’t tell Rufus,’ she says, her voice barely a whisper.
If I’ve never questioned my sanity before, I do now, when Eleanor speaks these words. It’s not just what she’s saying – her tone has shifted and she seems like a different person.
‘What’s going on, Eleanor?’
She lets out a long puff of air. ‘I’m . . . I’ve been seeing Giles.’ She hangs her head and stares at her bare feet.
‘But—’
‘I know. You don’t have to tell me.’ She pauses for so long I wonder if she’ll clam up. ‘I’m already ashamed of myself,’ she continues. ‘I never thought I’d do anything like that. I always thought I had morals.’
‘It’s really none of my business,’ I say. I only came here to find out why Eleanor was leaving Giles’s house in the middle of the night, and now I know it wasn’t about me.
Eleanor stares at her hands and avoids looking at me. ‘I know what you must think of me.’ She clutches her stomach. ‘But things with Rufus have been . . . difficult. He told me he doesn’t want to keep trying for a baby after everything I’ve been through.’
‘Please, Eleanor, you don’t need to explain yourself.’
She looks up. ‘You can’t tell anyone this. Please, Ria. My life here will be over. And everything Giles has worked so hard for. His reputation will be ruined.’
I should tell her I want no part of this, but the way her eyes silently plead forces me to reconsider. ‘I won’t. How long has it been going on?’ I ask.
Eleanor leans forward. ‘Not long. It’s over now anyway. It didn’t last long.’ She falls silent again, appraising me as if she can’t decide how much to tell me.
‘I won’t say anything,’ I assure her again.
She nods. ‘Thank you. After Moira died, Giles was crushed. And Georgia and I spent a lot of time with him. Just helping him around the house. Making sure he ate. He lost a lot of weight and just didn’t want to eat.
Moira was his whole life. I mean, yes, he’s a businessman, too, but Moira gave his life meaning, and without her he just didn’t cope well.
’ She pulls a tissue from her pocket and blows her nose.
‘So Georgia and I would cook for him. I was running my business and focusing on the IVF, so I was grateful for the distraction from my problems.’ Eleanor stares at her hand, twisting her diamond-encrusted wedding ring around her finger.
‘Georgia went back to Ireland for a couple of weeks. I think Patrick’s mum was having some health issues so they went to help her out. ’ She looks up at me.
‘Declan went, too, even though he didn’t want to.
So it was just me and Giles.’ She takes a deep breath.
‘I got to know him on a level I never had before. And . . . I suppose I was broken. Rufus had told me that he didn’t want to do any more IVF.
I begged him for one more go but he insisted that had to be the last one.
’ She wipes tears from her cheek. ‘It crushed me. And there was Giles, also broken from Moira’s death. We just . . . found each other.’
‘Found each other?’ I know exactly what she means, but I want Eleanor to say it.