‘Jealous!’ sang out Nikki, revving again. There was a massive bang. She screamed and let the engine stall.
‘Fuckin’ hell!’ Bill shook his head and clutched at his heart. ‘What have you got in that tank? Barbecue briquettes?’
‘She just backfires a bit sometimes,’ muttered Francis, helping Nikki out of the driver’s seat. ‘I haven’t had time to fine-tune the engine yet.’
‘Well, you can fine-tune my engine anytime, sweetheart,’ said Nikki. Kate wondered if she might actually pull a feather boa out of her shoulder bag and go into a burlesque act.
‘Come on everyone!’ protested Craig. ‘Let’s go and find Handy Bendy Julie!’
Francis locked up the car and five minutes later they were all weaving down the grass strip between the chalets, giggling and singing, and occasionally shushing each other. Kate, though, was running out of steam. The revelation from Death was fighting for her attention and all she really wanted to do was turn in now and mull it over. As soon as she’d said hi to Julie, she was planning to fake a migraine and escape. Francis could hang on and party if he wanted to. Although she hoped he wouldn’t end up shagging Nikki… not when there was so much unfinished business between her and Bill.
‘SHHHHHH! Kiddies will be asleeeeep,’ warned Craig in a stage whisper that could probably be heard back in the car park. He found chalet 28 at the far end of the line, next to his own at 27, and rapped on the door. ‘Julie! Juuuuuuulie! Come out and join the Magnificent Six! We’re waaaaiiiiting! Handy Bendy Julie! Juuuuuulieeee!’
There was no reply from Julie’s chalet, even though the lights were on. The curtains were drawn across the patio doors that served as the entrance but there was no sign of shadowy movement behind them. Kate felt a prickle of unease. Then she stamped on it. This suspicion of death and disaster around every corner really was getting out of hand. She took a deep breath and shoved her hand into the front pocket of her handbag to locate her lump of plasticine. She found it and mashed it hard between her fingers.
‘I bet she’s hanging out with the new Bluecoats or the punters,’ said Talia. ‘Fickle cow!’
‘No — she’s gone all New Age these days, hasn’t she?’ said Nikki. ‘All connected with her chakras and whatnot. I reckon she’s gone down the beach to do tai chi in the moonlight or something.’
‘Well, let’s go down and see!’ said Craig. ‘We used to go down the beach at night all the time. It’s the best time, when there are no screaming kids and beached whale parents. Come on!’
Kate groaned but Francis grabbed her by the arm. ‘Don’t you drop out on me,’ he said. ‘I’m not missing this!’
‘But I’m really tired,’ she whimpered. Really spooked, too, she wanted to add, glancing at Julie’s unanswered door.
‘Look, you’re always telling me I should get out more,’ said Francis, propelling her along behind the others, who were skipping drunkenly towards the coastal path. ‘And now here I am… getting out right now! You can stay awake long enough for this! You can always lie in tomorrow.’
She knew he was right. It was a warm night in early summer. A crescent moon was hanging like a jewel in the sky amid a scattering of stars. It was beautiful and inviting and, despite the tragedy they’d encountered on their arrival, she owed it to Francis — and herself — to unwind a little and have some fun. She bent down and unzipped the high-heeled boots and took them off, depositing them in her capacious satchel bag — glad she hadn’t opted for some glittery clutch with only a lipstick, tissues and mobile in it. Then she grabbed his arm and they both ran along in the wake of Craig, Bill, Talia and Nikki. She could already hear the sea and smell the salt in the night air. She let out a long exhalation and made the decision to chill the hell out.
She was on holiday and yet she had been so tightly wound, so obsessed by recent events in her life, that her subconscious had even conjured up the ghost of Lucas Henry in the bar. This kind of thing had to stop.
‘Wait for meeeeeee!’ she sang out, letting go of Francis and breaking into a barefoot run with her arms in the air as if she was literally fleeing from her wild imaginings.
13
‘Seriously?! I mean… what the actual fuck?’ Lucas was so freaked out he was berating Sid at full volume as he got back to the Triumph.
He had been so shocked at what he’d just seen, he’d seriously doubted his own faculties for a moment there. After all, he’d had a bit of concussion a few months back and they did say there could be long-term effects. Maybe this was one of them. Hallucinations.
That was all blather though. He knew he had actually seen Kate Sparrow — Detective Inspector Kate Sparrow now, he’d recently learned — singing karaoke in a sexy red dress and high-heeled, black patent leather boots. Her ensemble could have been something he’d concocted via an online menu for his own furtive entertainment. For a second, as he’d stood there — waiting to catch the bartender’s attention and get himself a Coke while he pondered on his findings in that pool house — seeing Kate reflected in the mirror tiles beneath the gin optics had seemed perfectly natural. After all, Sid had been buzzing like a demon all evening and had dragged him out here, across the county border, on the flimsiest of pretexts. Why should he care so much about some stranger’s boyfriend topping himself? People died every day. He must have encountered newly bereaved people all the time and not felt the urge to investigate the circumstances of their loved ones’ deaths.
No. This whole thing had a Kate Sparrow flavour to it.
All of this passed through his
