Chapter 44 Fenna – Day 10
Fenna can’t believe what Rosie is saying. ‘You think the Frasers have something to do with Carla disappearing, too?’
‘I don’t know. It’s too much of a coincidence for it to happen again, whilst the same family are here on their summer holiday.’
Fenna tries to keep her voice steady. ‘Danielle vanished fifteen years ago. No one else has gone missing since then.’
The men in the restaurant who accused the Frasers of being involved in Carla’s disappearance leaps to the front of her mind. She pushes the thought away.
Fenna nods at the giant rock on Rosie’s finger. The inherited heirloom that she had no qualms accepting. ‘Have you been looking for clues or are you too caught up playing the role of Theo’s sweetheart?’
‘I had no idea he was going to propose. It’s as much of a shock to me as it is to you.’
‘You still said yes. You’ve played everyone.’
‘I haven’t. I promise.’ Rosie fidgets with the mosquito repellent band on her wrist.
Fenna clenches her jaw. ‘So what have you done to find out who this “Fraser” is?’
‘It’s been harder than I’d imagined.’ Rosie gazes at Alba who giggles and chases a white butterfly. ‘They’ve all made me suspicious at certain times.’
‘The Frasers have been nothing but kind to you,’ Fenna mutters. She doesn’t know why she’s still listening to her.
But something is keeping her here.
‘This is a family I never had, especially Marianne. She . . .’ Rosie stops talking and clears her throat. Swallowing emotion that’s emerged from somewhere.
‘What about Marianne?’
She shakes her head. ‘Nothing, it doesn’t matter. All I wanted to say was how hard it’s been to keep this lie going. I’ve watched and observed. Waiting for someone to slip up. I’m not alone in my doubts. I spoke to Julietta who told me the family are covering up what happened to Dani.’
‘Julietta said that? Are you sure?’
A dart of hurt flickers in Fenna’s chest. She has known Julietta for years. Trusted her. Why would she say something so explosive? Let alone to the new girl?
‘Yes, that’s what she said.’ Rosie brushes her hair from her face. ‘She looked scared.’
‘Julietta? Scared? Pfft.’
This is nonsense. She’s the toughest woman Fenna knows.
Rosie clears her throat. ‘The taxi driver who brought us from the airport also told me to be careful. He said it in Italian and I only understood his message when I heard you say it to Alba by the pool.’
So that was why she’d reacted so strangely. Giovanni’s equally ominous command zooms to the front of her mind. She brushes it away and calls Alba to come and top up her suncream. The coconut holiday scent fills her nose as she squeezes a thick blob on her daughter’s wriggling arms.
‘Danielle’s case is fifteen years old. How are you going to discover anything that the police haven’t?’ she asks, rubbing the cream in. Alba’s protests cut over Rosie.
‘I know it’s a lot to take in but there must be something they overlooked, something that someone isn’t saying, which will lead us to the truth.’
Us. Fenna could laugh at the absurdity of the situation. She’s on a family holiday; she’s not here to solve crimes. Especially one that might implicate her in-laws.
‘. . . I’ve looked around the house every day.
I nearly got caught once or twice. I’m sure Gerry suspects that I’m up to something,’ Rosie continues.
‘I was planning on speaking to everyone who was here at the time, but trying to figure out how to bring it up in conversation without making them suspicious has been tough. And then Theo proposed, which made it even harder.’
Fenna drops to sit on an old sleeper tucked in the shade of a fig tree. The wood is rough against her bare legs. Alba brings her a stringy bunch of flowers she’s plucked from the ground. Fenna pretends to hold them to her nose and sniff them. Her head is spinning.
If what Rosie is saying is correct, and one of the Fraser family knows what’s happened to Danielle Dixon, then Gerry, Marianne or Luke could potentially be complicit.
Rosie is basically accusing Fenna’s husband of murder.
Luke was not that much older than Danielle.
And he was here when she vanished.
As if reading her mind, Rosie tentatively perches beside her, hitching up her denim sundress. ‘Do you have any doubts about Luke? About what happened that summer?’
‘Is this to do with him pulling down that appeal poster? You know that was stupid, childish behaviour. Showing off. It doesn’t mean anything. You’re getting carried away with this detective role you’re playing.’ She folds her arms and inches away from her. ‘My husband is not involved.’
This is unreal. She’s known the Frasers for six years, yet some woman who’s been here for five minutes is alleging that one of them is behind the greatest tragedy of this town.
A bird takes flight from a bush nearby, making her jump.
Rosie wrings her hands. ‘You know this family better than me. I need you to help me.’
‘Then what?’ Fenna asks.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean . . . If we prove your dad’s innocence and find out what really happened to Danielle, then what? You can’t stay in this family. You have to make a choice. This life with Theo or clearing your dad’s name.’
Rosie throws a longing glance at the house.
The wooden shutters are all open. There is a faint clanging of crockery and Italian music playing on a radio from one of the open kitchen windows.
A lizard the size of her palm skitters over the sun-scorched bricks.
Julietta has pegged bright white sheets on the washing line that barely move in the still, muggy air.
A lengthy silence follows Fenna’s ultimatum.
‘If we find out the truth and that the Fraser family are innocent and my dad was wrong, I’ll break it off with Theo,’ she says resolutely. ‘I’ll tell him I’ve got cold feet. He’ll never need to know my connection to Dani. I’ll leave it to the police to discover what’s happened to her.’
Fenna allows herself to breathe. Of course the family are innocent, she doesn’t need to hear the alternative. All she has to do is play Miss Marple for a few days and this woman will leave their lives forever.
‘So, what’s the plan?’ She sits taller.
‘I don’t know. If Carla hadn’t gone missing, maybe I would have given up.’ Rosie swats a mosquito. ‘Don’t you find it weird how they reacted to the news? Her name is barely mentioned. No one seems concerned with trying to find her. What are they not saying?’
Fenna is growing frustrated. ‘They’re in shock. It doesn’t mean they have something to do with it.’
Rosie stays silent.
‘. . . Unless there’s something you know that I don’t?’
Rosie refuses to meet her eye. ‘Maybe you should talk to Luke about Carla?’
‘Why?’
‘How well does he know her?’
‘Luke? He doesn’t know her at all.’
‘Doesn’t he? Maybe ask him about that . . .’ Rosie brushes her hair from her face. Her forehead is dotted with beads of sweat.
Fenna gets to her feet. This conversation is over. She’s heard enough.
‘Wait. Please. Julietta knows more than she would tell me. Perhaps if you spoke to her in Italian she will open up?’ Rosie chews her lip. ‘And one final thing, do you know where the key to the basement is?’