Chapter 23
Leo frowns at the chess board and makes a showy move. ‘Check,’ he announces with a flourish.
Euan smirks, makes a move of his own and Leo’s face falls as he realises his mistake.
‘Did you hear me?’ Alex demands. ‘I’ve got something to say about Genevieve’s death and it involves you all. You’ll want to listen, Leo – you’re up to your fucking neck in everything too.’
The wind has got up; I can hear it whining in the chimney. A deep rumble shudders overhead.
Thunder-snow. Just what we need.
Though the fire is roaring, and the drawing room cloyingly warm, I shiver at the association of the sounds.
I imagine being outside, in the epicentre of the storm, snow and wind whipping around, erasing the landscape, shaking the trees to their roots.
And I imagine all that must be going on beyond our strange bubble of gaiety: the rail networks grinding to a halt, the roads blocked and treacherous, emergency services under pressure.
People struggling through the snow to reach hospitals and isolated family members, weather forecasters in a frenzy.
Becca tries again to placate Alex but he’s having none of it. He hurls himself into a chair – still between me and the door, I notice, and try not to panic. I want out of here.
Leo looks uneasy as he shifts a chess piece. Euan scents blood and makes his next move with a grin. ‘Checkmate.’
Leo throws down his king then tells Alex wearily, ‘Let’s just leave it, yeah. You’re fucking obsessed with Gen’s death. I thought we came here to have fun, not play some sort of fucked-up murder mystery.’
Alex shifts his gaze from Leo to me. He gives me a nod. I don’t understand the gesture, like I didn’t get all the looks and hints he had given me today.
‘Perhaps we’ll be able to relax more if we get all of this out in the open, get it off our chests,’ Alex says. ‘I hear confession is good for the soul.’
‘Get what off our chests?’ Becca asks. She picks up her glass, and I notice her hand trembling slightly.
‘The reasons we all had to hate Gen.’ Alex’s gaze roams over each of us in turn. ‘The motives we all had for killing her.’
‘For fuck’s sake!’ Leo slaps a hand on the table, upsetting the chess board. Euan leans down to collect the pieces impassively.
Alex draws his shoulders back. His eyes gleam. ‘Genevieve didn’t drown herself, and she wouldn’t have attempted to cross that estuary. Those are the facts we all agree on, right?’
A murmur runs around the room, but no one contradicts him. Jameson mutters, ‘This isn’t a game, Alex.’ But he seems powerless to stop what’s happening. Alex is right; Gen was no serious swimmer, but she could hold her own and she would never die by her own hand – she loved life too much for that.
Some might say she loved herself too much.
‘Let me lay it out for you.’ Alex takes centre stage, and no one stops him – why isn’t anyone stopping him?
‘Leo, you and Gen were in a trainwreck of a relationship – we all remember the crazy fights you used to have. You’d just fucked Kimmy, Gen was incandescent with rage at the pair of you.
We all know the road her revenge took her down, right?
’ He looks at us in turn again, and we all nod slowly.
I can’t believe we’re letting this happen, but I’m powerless to stop it.
‘She set about destroying Kimmy’s reputation, until she couldn’t show her face on campus – those pictures were pretty believable fakes …
Motive 1, right there.’ He points at Kimmy with his wineglass, but she just stares back at him, impassive.
‘Except Kimmy wasn’t even in St Andrews the night Gen died,’ Leo growls. ‘She was in America. But go on, Poirot.’
Alex’s eyes narrow; he doesn’t like Leo making fun of him. ‘Right, but you were there, and maybe your protective instincts were roused. Plus, she’d just reported me and Leo for academic dishonesty. She knew exactly how your dad would react to that, didn’t she, Leo? Motive 2.’
Leo’s face goes purple. He breenges out of his seat, knocking into the chess board and toppling pieces again. Euan gives an irritated sigh. Leo’s fists are clenched but he stops himself inches from Alex. I watch him breathe slowly, getting himself under control.
He gives a brittle laugh. ‘My relationship with my father is not up for discussion,’ he says evenly.
‘And since we’re doing this, surely you’re not going to miss out Motive 3 – you suffered more than I did from Gen reporting us.
You had more reason to want her dead than me.
I loved Gen, even though we fought. I loved her. ’
Alex shrugs. ‘Sure. Motive 3 is mine. I’m not disputing it. The girl fucked me over, good and proper.’ He swings to face Becca. ‘Motive 4,’ he drawls.
She laughs like she still thinks we’re playing a game – and perhaps we are, I can’t tell anymore. She perches on the arm of Euan’s chair, rests a hand lightly on his shoulder. ‘Go on, then. Pray tell.’
‘Jealousy, pure and simple.’
‘Why would I be jealous of her?’
‘Because she was popular; she called the shots. And you, for all your wealth and status, couldn’t compete. Also she didn’t like you, which made things difficult for you.’ A smile hovers uncertainly about Alex’s lips as though he’s considering his next move. ‘Plus, you had feelings for Leo.’
Both Becca and Leo burst into too-loud laughter. Euan shifts beneath Becca’s hand, displacing her touch.
‘I did not fancy Leo,’ Becca says defiantly, looking around as though garnering support. She shakes her head, like this is the most ridiculous theory Alex could have concocted.
‘For the record, she didn’t,’ Leo says, shooting an anxious look at Kimmy.
‘What happened between Leo and Kimmy pushed you over the edge,’ Alex says softly.
‘If he was going to be unfaithful to Gen, it should have been with you, right? To add insult to injury, he was prepared to take her back, even after she threw her hissy fit – grassed him up to the university authorities, destroyed Kimmy’s image, acted like a complete psycho.
I mean, pig’s blood in her locker – so melodramatic. ’
Kimmy shivers. ‘I actually thought she meant to hurt me. It was pretty scary.’
Alex ignores her. ‘So, Lady McBex here decided she’d had enough of being overshadowed and passed over in favour of Gen. She was a nobody, compared to you, right, Becca? And yet, she had it all.’
Becca rolls her eyes. ‘Talk about melodramatic. Nice theory, Alex.’
Alex turns to look at me again. My heart sinks. ‘I think we’ve heard enough,’ Jameson interjects sternly.
‘Oh no,’ says Alex. ‘We haven’t. Of course you think so, when I’m just about to get to you and Princess Eilish. Motives 5 and 6.’
There’s disbelief on Jameson’s face, like he doesn’t recognise Alex – the guy who’s stood by his side on so many adventures. They’ve camped together, hiked wildernesses, relied on each other. Jameson was there for him throughout his addiction issues.
I tug at Jameson’s hand. ‘Let him finish,’ I say. Jameson already told me what my so-called motive was – he thinks Gen controlled me and kept me for herself. Presumably Alex will say that I got fed up of being treated that way.
But I am curious as to Jameson’s reason for resenting Gen. I’d rather hear it from him, but Alex seems hell bent on continuing with this drama.
‘Who’s first … your motives are tied to each other. We’ll start with Jameson, I think. Buckle up, Eilish, this is going to hurt.’
I glance at Jameson’s tense profile. Perhaps I don’t want to know after all.
‘Motive 5: Jameson Lawton. Gen didn’t want you and Eilish to be together because she felt threatened.
She wanted to be the one Eilish loved most …
needed most. She tried keeping you apart, discouraging Eilish from telling you how she felt, pushing her towards other guys …
guys she knew wouldn’t treat her the way Jameson would, guys she knew Eilish would never fall for.
But you defied her and got together anyway.
We could all see it – you were this epic love story waiting to happen, way more compatible than Leo and Gen.
You had the potential to go all the way.
So she set about dismantling your relationship. ’
My mouth goes dry as I stare at him.
Oh Gen, what did you do …?
Jameson takes a deep breath. He clearly knows exactly what Alex is about to say.
‘The night Jameson kissed that girl in a dive of a bar, it didn’t seem possible to you, did it, Eils? That’s because it wasn’t. Jameson would never have done something like that. He didn’t really do it at all. I mean, he did, but he was set up. By Genevieve.’
The bottom falls out of my world.
‘Wait,’ Jameson says hoarsely. ‘Let me tell her.’
Alex considers this briefly, then acquiesces with a nod. Jameson turns to me and takes my hand in his. I’m vaguely aware of the others on the periphery but I’m drowning in the pain of his gaze.
‘I wish you weren’t finding out like this, Eilish,’ Jameson says.
‘Gen persuaded me to come for a quick drink with her. I was supposed to be meeting you after you’d finished at the library, and I didn’t want to go, but she was crying, upset after another argument with Leo.
She begged me. So I went, just for one drink.
I did think it was odd that she insisted on that bar – we’d never been there before, but I suppose she didn’t want anyone to see us who might recognise her.
She insisted on buying the drinks, and brought them over to the table I was sitting at.
She got me a bottle of beer and I drank it while she went on and on about Leo.
I just wanted to finish our drinks and get out of there, get back to you.
But I started to feel weird. Really drunk, after just one beer.
Everything was blurry and I couldn’t focus.
Gen disappeared, and suddenly this girl was there.
She lunged at me, started trying to kiss me.
As soon as I got my wits about me, I pushed her away.
She laughed and ran off. Gen was gone too.
I … I stumbled back to the dorms and went to sleep.
I felt awful. I never meant to stand you up. The next morning—’
I interrupt. I know how this story ends. ‘I was already mad at you because Gen had shown me the photo of you kissing her. She said she’d seen you talking to the girl in the street and thought it looked sus, so she followed you into the bar and took a photograph in case you tried to deny it.’
I glance around and see that I am the only one who’s been in the dark about this. Becca winces and looks away from me. Leo shoves his hands in his pockets and stares at his feet. Even Kimmy looks vaguely sympathetic and Euan screws up his face. Alex watches me with a ghastly sort of smile.
‘Why didn’t you tell me this before? Why would you let me go on believing you’d cheated?’
‘You’d never have believed me over her. Plus, I didn’t know for sure what had happened.
I couldn’t remember parts of the night. If I’d accused Gen of drugging me …
’ He shrugs. ‘It would have sounded crazy, wouldn’t it?
She had the photo, and she always had your ear …
I thought it was easier just to apologise and hope you’d forgive me. ’
‘But it seemed unlikely,’ Alex interjects.
‘I mean, Jameson – a love rat! No … So I did a bit of digging, tracked down the girl, persuaded her to tell me the truth. Gen had paid her to do it. All she had to do was show up at the bar at the designated time, wait until Gen left the table and then go up and kiss Jameson. The drugs – sorry, I gave Gen those. She said they were for her own use, her’s and Leo’s.
Just recreational. I had no idea she was going to use them on him. ’
‘When did you find this out?’ I ask Alex, my voice weak.
‘The day before the beach party. I told Jameson and we agreed we’d sit you down and tell you the truth about Gen.
But, we decided to let you have one last night with your best mate pretending to be all sweetness and light …
By the next day it was too late: Gen was dead, and you were gone.
Jameson and I overheard her on the beach, telling you not to give him another chance …
a cheater always cheats.’ He points at Jameson.
‘Motive 5.’ Then points at me. ‘Motive 6?’
‘I don’t understand. How could this give me a motive when I didn’t know about it?’
Alex licks his lips, looking almost apologetic as he continues to stare at me. ‘Truth time, Eils. This innocent I didn’t know bullshit won’t cut it. You did know, because I told you. That night on the beach. I sat you down after we’d taken the pills and told you everything.’