Jail Bird

at Oli and thought, Is something wrong with her? And that frightened her very badly. Worse than the prospect of any ghost. Had what happened here in fact unhinged her lovely daughter, was she–and, oh fuck, now she was seeing Alice Blunt in her mind’s eyes, Alice with her adult nappy and her scarred wrists and vacant eyes–was she showing early signs of some awful mental illness?

Please God no. Not Oli.

‘I’m having a hot paraffin wax manicure,’ said Oli, seeming relieved by the change of subject. ‘They’re great, you tried them?’ And then she realized the stupidity of what she’d just said and stood there looking awkward. ‘Oh damn, I’m…’

Sure I’ve tried them, Oli. We lags get manicures all the time.

But she just smiled. Oli was upset, she wasn’t thinking straight.

‘No,’ said Lily. ‘But I will.’

Oli nodded soberly.

‘Got your keys and everything?’

‘Yeah, got ‘em.’

‘I’ll catch you later then.’

Looking embarrassed, Oli nodded and quickly left the room–leaving Lily sitting there and wondering if her daughter, her darling precious daughter, was in the first throes of madness.

34

Just after the builder left, saying that the plasterer would be in within a week to skim the wall, Jack phoned. She picked it up in the kitchen.

‘Money’s running out,’ he said.

‘I’ll see you right,’ said Lily. Money–thankfully–was the least of her problems.

‘I know you will. You okay now?’

‘Yeah. Fine. All things considered.’ Lily still felt embarrassed that she’d weakened in front of Jack. ‘You?’

‘So-so. Monica’s still giving me earache; nothing new there.’ She could hear a smile in his voice.

‘You ought to get back with her,’ said Lily. ‘If you still love her. Which I think you do.’

‘Maybe. You could be right. But only after we’ve wrapped this case up.’

‘Wasn’t that the trouble in the first place? You working too hard?’

‘Hey, what do you want? Me romancing Monica, or helping you?’

‘Helping me,’ she sighed.

‘That’s all I needed to hear. Because I’ve got another one,’ he said. ‘Another one of Leo’s women.’

Lily sat down. ‘Right,’ she said.

‘Listen, I’ve been thinking this is maybe not such a good idea, you talking to these women on your own, or with me. Maybe I should talk to them first, what do you think?’

After I nearly took Reba Stuart’s head off, thought Lily, filling in the blanks.

‘Whether it’s a good idea or not, I’m doing it,’ said Lily, although she wanted to end this; she felt weary and worried the whole time, and the strong feeling of distaste–even sickness–she felt as each new flaw in Leo’s character was revealed, was draining her of strength.

‘I talked to Alice Blunt’s relatives,’ she said.

‘Okay. And?’

‘And Alice was anorexic, needy and mentally weak. To Leo it might have been a fling, a bit of light relief, but for her it was serious. Probably she clung on too hard and he said, whoa, what is this? It broke her when he dumped her, Jack. Broke her in two.’

Jack was silent.

‘You think the government’s putting out the loot for the clinic?’ asked Lily. ‘Only it’s nice. Good furnishings, nice grounds, even a lake. I just wonder.’

‘I can try and find out.’

‘Can you do that?’

‘Sure.’

‘This other one…’

‘Oh. Yeah.’ He sighed. ‘This one’s a bit closer to home, Lily. Might cause trouble.’

‘What, more than I’ve had already?’ Lily was almost smiling at that. Was he serious?

Leo’d had Reba Stuart, and dull Matt the accountant’s wife Adrienne, and he’d had poor deluded little Alice Blunt who’d worked in one of his offices back in the day. Now what?

‘What is it, some girl who worked in the club?’

‘It’s worse than that. You’d better brace yourself.’

‘Oh yeah?’ She was thinking that he was just building up his part, getting ready to stiff her with an ever- bigger bill.

‘Yeah. We’re talking shitting on your own doorstep here. Not very clever.’

Now Lily wasn’t smiling. She straightened and clutched harder at the phone. ‘Who is it?’

‘You know Julia, Leo’s cousin?’

‘Yeah, I know her. Of course I do.’ Leo had a large extended family, all fairly close-knit. Unlike her own. All she had left–apart from Oli and Saz–was her mother. She thought again that she ought to call the old bat. But really, she admitted to herself, it was the last thing she wanted to do. She had liked Leo’s big family when they’d first got married. Felt she was getting not just a man, but a whole clan too. Then, when it all hit the fan about Leo’s death, there had been a whole raft of drawbacks. You crossed one, you crossed them all. You killed one, they wanted you dead too.

‘Well–it’s her. It’s Julia.’

Julia was the beauty of the family, with long, thick, ash-blonde hair, a terrific figure, stunning blue eyes. She was like Nicole Kidman’s twin, Lily had always thought, whenever they had spotted her at family weddings, christenings, birthday parties. Julia was so arrestingly beautiful that people stared in the street. Her parents had fawned on her too much, and as a result her petulance and vanity were legendary.

Julia was strictly high maintenance, but then most of the women in their group were. These men–bad men, hard men, the sort of men who were used to running the show and pulling no punches–expected high maintenance from their women. Keeping a woman in an expensive manner was all part of the game, giving them extra kudos with their mates. If your wife or mistress was driving around in a Beamer and flaunting her designer labels, then you obviously had the biggest balls in Essex and your pals would pat you on the back and say, you old dog, good going. And what’s she like in the sack?

Lily had always found Julia to be tediously self-absorbed and thin on brain matter. She was like a great painting–fabulous to look at, but no better at conversation than a block of wood. A pretty thick block of wood, at that.

But men weren’t interested in conversation when it came to mistress material. Shit, they could get that from their mates. With women it was the looks that counted, and Julia had those in spades.

The last Lily had known, Julia had married Nick O’Rourke. Nick had been a bit of a playboy in the years after Lily, so when he settled suddenly for Julia, their whole social circle had been in a state of shock. Were they still married? Lily didn’t know and she didn’t want to think about it. She’d felt hurt when Nick married Julia, and the hurt had surprised her; she’d believed–all right, she had forced herself to believe–that the feelings she’d had for him were dead and gone.

So Leo had been boffing Nick’s wife. And if that wasn’t a motive to blow his brains out, what was? Nick had been sidelined by Leo over Lily. And now over Julia, too? How would any man take that, coming from a friend?

‘I’ve got to think about this,’ said Lily, feeling bewildered.

‘Yeah, well, take all the time you want,’ said Jack with a sigh. ‘So long as the payroll’s sweet, and you’re comfortable to continue with this, I’m in.’

And he hung up. At the same moment, the buzzer beside the sink started ringing off the wall. Someone was