Chapter 22
Saturday morning arrived sooner than I would have liked. I lay in bed contemplating the ache in my head and the glasses of champagne I’d consumed at the garden party. In the end I had enjoyed myself and made sure Dorothy had done the same. She seemed to have perked up a bit as the day went on. There was no further talk of the painting, I didn’t mention the crippling disappointment I’d experienced after the Chinese cabinet incident, but I did have a bird, one beady eye and a bad job of taxidermy rolling around my head. I also had the added problem of how I would get Peter’s stick back. Today, though, there would be a wedding and tomorrow I would be going home to a house that would not be mine for much longer. I felt both relieved and rather twitchy about that.
Dorothy’s kind suggestion of me staying in her boathouse was actually rather appealing if I was honest, but I needed to square it all in my head. Was I just running away from the problem of where to live long term, or did it offer me some breathing space to decide?
There was a knock at my door and without waiting for me to say a word, Juliet walked right in.
‘Morning,’ she said brightly. ‘We don’t have long now and we should be looking. I wondered about the temple, after what Harry said, although I get that plain sight might be more Leonard’s style. Either way, we’re running out of time. Did you tell Granny about Rufus?’
‘Morning, Juliet, do you not usually wait for someone to invite you in before you do actually come in?’
‘I’m not a vampire! I knew you’d be awake – you don’t really lie in. So, where are we going to look? It’s seven-fifteen and Granny’s still asleep.’
‘Good,’ I said, taking stock of what I was wearing – pyjamas – before pushing back my covers and swinging my legs around until I was sitting on the bed. It was only as I stood up that I realised my arms were uncovered and saw Juliet’s eyes move straight to my scars. I pulled my robe around me and she looked away. ‘I don’t want your grandmother bothered; she seems very tired. I think this whole week has been too much for her and I can’t even imagine what your uncle Miles, let alone your own mother would think about what we’ve been doing.’
‘They’d be made up.’
‘I’m not so sure, but it’s a bit late now anyway. It’s not in Leonard’s bedroom; I looked yesterday, again. Maybe it is in the temple, maybe it’s in a barn somewhere on his land. Personally, I think we have enough, with the photos and the voice recording, to go to the police and let them sort it. I’ll wait until Harry has left; I feel I owe him that.’
‘Even if he murdered someone?’
‘I don’t think it’s anything like that,’ I said, quietly. ‘I think it’s probably theft and on the scale that Leonard is dealing, it would come with a heavy sentence, but to be honest that’s not why I’m here.’
‘You’re here to find a painting. Come on, Gina! Think how happy Granny would be if we found it.’
‘She’d be made up,’ I said with a smile. ‘Okay, give me ten minutes to wake myself up and we can go and look in the temple if it makes you happy. Will you be a love and get me a coffee?’
We didn’t see Harry in the kitchen when we went down to pinch some breakfast. The place was swarming with the catering staff, though, and we only managed to grab a couple of bananas and cereal bars from the pantry. I made another coffee to take with me.
We passed through the main entrance hall as Sophie was walking down the stairs. She was wearing her pyjamas and it reminded me that it was still early.
‘Juliet, have you seen your father? He came down for coffee ages ago and seems to have disappeared. Why are you up so early?’
‘I said I’d show Gina the temple and thought it best I keep out of the way. I haven’t seen Dad.’
‘Out of the way in case you get talked into being a bridesmaid?’ Sophie asked with a gentle smile on her lips.
‘I’d rather wash my face with an angry hedgehog,’ was Juliet’s response and I bit down on my lip to stop myself from laughing.
Sophie sighed and shook her head.
‘Is it okay with you if we pop out for a walk?’ I asked. ‘Dorothy is still asleep, but I won’t be long.’
I couldn’t help remembering Sophie’s voice on Juliet’s recording and how she didn’t think I was needed, which was why what she said next surprised me.
‘Of course, Gina. You’ve been wonderful. Mum has loved having you around. I do think she needs her rest, though. This has been a very exciting week.’
I nodded while a horrible guilty feeling flushed through me and Juliet rolled her eyes.
‘Exciting? Do let me know when that starts,’ she said dramatically.
Sophie disappeared off in pursuit of her husband and some coffee and Juliet and I left through the front door to avoid the beginnings of the wedding production going on in the back of the house. We took a slow walk around the side of the house, past the beautiful herbaceous border, the gravel path that led to the rose garden and along the line of yew hedging that was so perfectly cut into rectangles that you’d be forgiven for thinking it was fake.
The storm Lavinia had spoken of at the beginning of the week showed no sign of appearing. The sun was already a blazing ball hanging against a powder blue background and it reminded me of the colour of Dorothy’s boat.
We walked along the grass where the rhododendrons grew, because that was where the shade was. Even at this early hour the heat from the sun was penetrating. The temple, where we’d picnicked the other day, was also in shade and I glanced back towards the house before I ascended the steps. Could that be Leonard’s face looking out of his window? In truth, I couldn’t really see a face from this distance, but I was sure that two figures at the temple might be noticed.
‘So let’s have a look and see if there’s any secret hiding places here,’ Juliet said with a sparkle in her eyes. I prayed that it would be in a perfectly easy hiding space that we’d find in seconds and I could hand it to Miles who would be delighted or made up, as Juliet suggested, and Leonard would put his hands up and say fair cop.
It became apparent in those few prayed-for seconds that we would not find the painting in the temple. There were no hiding places, the stone was impenetrable and all we found in half an hour of further searching, was a woodlouse, a sweet wrapper that someone had dropped and a tiny weed growing in a crack. Harry had been wrong; there was nowhere here to stash a painting.
‘Right, well, I’m done,’ I said, irritated. ‘Shall we head back?’
‘I feel like you’re giving up,’ Juliet said.
‘With good reason.’
I sat down on the top step and peeled the banana that I had in my pocket.
‘This wasn’t the role I was expecting when I arrived on Monday, you know,’ I said between mouthfuls.
‘Defeatist talk,’ Juliet said, her hands on her hips.
‘I thought I’d just be looking after an older lady. Perhaps making sure she took her medication, help her into her slippers.’
‘Granny taught me how to do a cartwheel when I was five; that’s eight years ago. She was eighty-one. She’ll never need help with her slippers.’
I finished the banana and wrapped the peel in a piece of tissue I had in my other pocket.
‘My grandpa was the best,’ Juliet continued. ‘When he died, it ripped a huge hole in the family. You know, like a space that can’t be filled and will forever be this flapping void that we all feel, all the time. I was told, at the time, that he had a fall, like old people do, that he fell on his steps and it was just one of those things. But now, of course, I know that’s not the case. Someone is responsible and I’d feel I could help to fill that flapping void if I did what I could to find who. That means finding the painting.’
Juliet took her hands off her hips and sat down next to me and I put my arm around her shoulders.
‘I’ve seen some sheds out past the greenhouses. We could go and look in those,’ I said knowing I was humouring her and wasting time, but felt I ought to do it all the same.
‘Anything to get me out of being a bridesmaid.’
‘Surely it’s too late now anyway?’
‘Oh no, Mum has a dress for just in case I change my mind.’
I stood and held my hand out to Juliet who took it. I dragged her to her feet and the two of us left the temple and cut back through the trees, out of sight of the house towards the kitchen gardens.
Back in my room I rummaged for something to wear and pulled out a navy dress that had a high collar and a simple belt at the waist. No one was going to be remotely bothered what I looked like and I needed to be comfortable. I opted for a pair of ballet pumps that were light and quiet. Although, I had no plan now for further searching and, to be honest, I was playing a bit of a countdown until this would all be over. Dorothy would be disappointed, but what was I to do. I picked up my phone from the dressing table to put it in my bag and noticed another message I’d missed.
Georgina, I’ve spoken to Alice who said you’re working! News to me and might have been nice to know. Not sure why you didn’t say when we spoke. We need to make a decision on this offer. It’s not as much as I’d hoped, but it would mean we can both get settled in our new situation. Please phone me back ASAP. D
There was so much to process and I really didn’t have the headspace for it, so I packed all those thoughts inside that place in my mind where I’d go back later to retrieve. Some would be easy to access and action, and others might just stayed buried forever.
I looked at myself in the mirror, pulling the collar away from my neck as it was already making me feel too hot. The atmosphere was really becoming oppressive. A high neck coupled with long sleeves would not work on a day like today. Then, I took the dress off and dumped it on the bed, slid a different dress from its hanger in the wardrobe and slipped into that instead. It was a fairly simple pink and tan jersey dress, but nipped in at the waist in a flattering way with a braided belt. It did have a bit of a low neckline though, so I rummaged in the cloth bag where I kept some jewellery and pulled out my mother’s silver and tourmaline necklace, hoping it would disguise a few creases on my skin. I realised as I fastened it around my neck that I rarely wore it. It was quite a statement piece and I’d not had many opportunities for a while. I’d like to think that there was some significance to me wearing it today. I could consider it a lucky charm and this would be the day I’d stumble on the painting, but I didn’t feel that lucky.
I held the stone in my hand for a moment and remembered my mother: her gorgeous auburn hair, her smile and the way she looked like a statue of Persephone when she was deep in thought. I remembered her hands too and how they were never lined and old because she’d never become lined and old. The ring that belonged to her own mother, she used to wear on the third finger of her right hand. It was gold with tiny garnets set into a flower design and now sits on the third finger of my right hand.
‘Where would you look for the painting, Mum?’ I asked the room and the room didn’t respond. It never did.
I stepped up to the mirror again and had a good look at myself, wondering how I compared to Douglas’s Little Miss Maidenhead. I decided that for my age I didn’t look too bad, then tugging the neckline of my dress up a bit, I slung my bag onto my shoulder and left the room.