Chapter 48 #2
‘Were you with Jose last night, Grace?’ asks James.
She nods. ‘Yes, I’m with him every night – there are loads of us – you can check with them if you want – we sit around, sing, hang out – we don’t cause anyone any harm.’
‘Grace, tell us what happened,’ I say. ‘It’s best we hear your story from you.’
She sighs and looks to the ceiling, dabbing tears in her eyes.
Gus comes over to her and puts his hand on hers. ‘It’s okay – say what you need to say. Just tell the truth.’
Marianne says nothing, but I can see something in the quick glance she throws Grace’s way. Her mouth is a tight line, and her eyes are wide. Is she warning her or pleading with her? It’s hard to say.
‘Jose and I were together. We did nothing wrong, we’re doing nothing wrong…
but my mother can’t accept it. Won’t accept it.
’ She sighs and wipes her eyes with the back of her hand.
‘Last night, I went out to the woods after I came back here to drop my guitar and tell Dad that Stephen was in. When I got there, Mum was waiting for me by the lake. She told me to come back home with her that instant or there’d be consequences. ’
‘What kind of consequences?’ I ask.
‘I didn’t wait around to find out. We fought. I left.’
‘Marianne, did you go to the woods last night?’ Gus asks her, his tone firm.
She nods.
‘In the Fiat?’
She nods again. ‘But I came straight home. Just because I drove to the woods to protect my daughter doesn’t mean I burned down anything. I had a right to be there.’
Oscar the cat stares up at me with big yellow eyes as he scratches the toe of my shoe.
His claws click against the laces, and he makes a mewling noise.
When I scoop him up, James, who’s standing nearby, comes over.
He gently raises Oscar’s tail. The fur is dishevelled and clumped unevenly around it, and there’s something caught in the fur.
‘You’ve been doing some carpentry out there?’ James asks Marianne, nodding towards the cat’s tail.
Marianne’s eyes widen and she stands up quickly, her chair scraping against the floor. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ she exclaims, her voice trembling.
‘Wood shavings,’ replies James calmly. He picks off the wooden slivers from Oscar’s tail. ‘The fire brigade told us the fire was caused by a paraffin fire-starter.’
‘So?’ asks Stephen.
‘So, most are home-made, and are a basic mix of sawdust and wood chips,’ James explains as he holds up the tiny piece of wood for all to see.
‘I think we should take this to the station and get it analysed,’ says Jonathan.
Gus rushes over to the bin, opening the lid.
He rummages around for a moment before taking a deep breath and shaking his head, holding up a small, clear plastic bottle.
‘Paraffin,’ he announces. ‘I was using it to clean the engine of the car.’ He turns to his wife slowly, his face full of sorrow. ‘Marianne? What on earth…?’
‘Wait, just wait…’ cries Marianne, her eyes wide in panic. ‘I can explain…’ She looks around the room before she slowly sits down again, her face ashen.
Gus takes a deep breath. ‘Why would you do something like this?’
‘I had to!’ she cries, her face crumpling in despair.
‘You don’t understand what it’s been like…
’ Marianne swallows, her face serious. ‘Because it was all going wrong!’ she says, her voice breaking.
‘I was so sick of it all… We had the perfect plan! Ciaran would buy The Lake House, develop it and move into it, and we could hand the guest house business over to him – we could retire and he’d be set up for life.
That way he’d move back from Chicago and we’d be a family again.
He’d sort Stephen out – give him some tough love, not be an enabler like you – and…
he could talk some sense into Grace… he’d be here, back at home, where he belongs!
’ She turns to Daisy, her voice rising to a shout, ‘But then you came… And you ruined it all, turning down our bid! Letting Moya stay on! Turning your nose up to our offer. It was meant to be ours! You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you? ’
‘Marianne… how could you?’ asks Gus as he stares at her, disbelief in his eyes. ‘I told you I would come up with something, that I’d find a way.’
‘Well, I needed more than words. I had to do something,’ she replies, her voice shrill. ‘It was all falling apart… I couldn’t let that happen!’
‘So you decided to burn the house down?’ asks Stephen, his voice incredulous.
‘You could have killed someone!’ Gus trembles and his voice quivers.
‘I didn’t mean for it to happen. I set the barn alight; it was just a small fire – a warning! I didn’t know that it would take like that… but the wind… I didn’t want to hurt anyone; I just wanted Daisy to sell the place,’ she cries, tears streaming down her face.
‘And frame me to get rid of me in the process? Send me behind bars?’ Stephen exclaims with uncontrollable anger.
Gus wipes his hands across his face, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘I don’t believe this… I just can’t believe it.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Marianne sobs, tears still flowing down her cheeks. ‘Please, Gus, you must believe me. I did it for us and our family… but I didn’t think it would turn into such a mess.’ She covers her face with her hands and continues to cry inconsolably.