Moreau had arrived with a gendarme, whom he ordered to stand guard outside the gate. The officer looked ridiculously young, with cropped black hair, small round glasses and a peaked cap which was too big for his head.
‘I am under no obligation to do this for you, monsieur,’ Moreau directed his comments at Marcus. ‘But we must be keeping you from journalists, same as keeping them from you.’
‘Bloody cheek,’ muttered Nick.
‘The publicité is no good. It does not aid us.’
‘It’s not a barrel of laughs for us, either,’ said Nick. ‘Do you still not know who the man was?’
The policeman glared at him. ‘We have our thoughts, monsieur. We have progress.’
‘Did the notebook help?’ asked Lizzie.
Moreau shrugged and made a puffing sound. ‘C’était inutile.’
‘Useless,’ said Marcus. ‘So, can you tell us more?’
The inspector stared at him, his eyes narrowing slightly, as if weighing up whether or not there was any point in continuing with this conversation. Eventually he drew in a deep breath. ‘There was a man, sans-abri – vagabond – in the town. Many peoples have seen him in the last weeks. C’est possible this was our victime. But we cannot know for sure, because nous n’avons aucun moyen d’identification.’
‘No means of identification,’ translated Marcus. ‘But did he look like our guy here, in the pool? Dark hair? Jeans? Tatty top?’
The inspector shrugged again. ‘Peut-être. There was trouble, in the town. He was stealing. Drinking. We believe he was looking for somewhere other to stay.’
‘So, he came up here to look round, but the house was shut up?’ said Hannah.
‘Tests have shown il y avait de l’alcool dans son système.’
‘Even I can understand that,’ said Nick. ‘So, if he was drunk, he may have fallen into the pool. It was an accident.’
‘But if it was a homeless guy, someone passing through, that means they may never identify him?’ said Lizzie. ‘How sad for his family.’
‘We will be cooling down the investigation,’ the inspector said. ‘There are no more avenues to explore.’ He touched his finger to his forehead, in a half-hearted salute. ‘Now mesdames et monsieurs, I must be telling you good day. Please, no more discussion with the journalistes.’
They stood and watched as he got into his car and reversed it out into the lane, barking an order to the young gendarme through the open window, before accelerating away down the lane in a cloud of dust.
‘He looks like Harry Potter,’ said Jimmy, peering up at the officer, who was standing with his feet apart, hands behind his back, his eyes fixed on the disappearing dust cloud. He looked over-dressed and under confident.
‘Hello, Harry!’ said Jimmy.
The gendarme ignored him.
‘He has no idea what he’s doing here either,’ said Lizzie. ‘Come on, let’s go back into the garden. It must be embarrassing for him to have us all standing here looking at him.’
‘Do you think he has a gun?’ asked Jimmy. ‘If he’s guarding us, he might need one.’
‘I’ll take him out a chair in a bit,’ said Lizzie. ‘He might collapse in this heat.’
‘I’ll do it,’ volunteered Suzy.
‘No, you won’t.’
‘Actually, Harry Potter wouldn’t have a gun,’ said Jimmy. ‘He’d have a wand. But I don’t think a wand would work against those men with cameras.’
Shocked by their experience at Chateau de Lanbec, the previous day, none of them wanted to do anything other than stay close to home. They rearranged the loungers and chairs around the edges of the pool, facing away from the house in order to catch the afternoon sunlight; books and towels were found, drinks were brought out, phones and iPads were positioned close at hand.
‘I can’t believe it’s Thursday already, and we’ve only got one more full day here,’ said Hannah, her eyes closed, the heat stroking her face. ‘It’s been so strange – I don’t feel I’ve even started to relax. It hasn’t been a proper holiday.’
‘What time is your flight back on Saturday?’ asked Lizzie.
‘Afternoon sometime; we’ve got a taxi booked for midday.’
‘At least we think we have,’ pointed out Nick. ‘The car we’d booked to meet us at the airport didn’t turn up, so it’s possible no one will turn up for the return journey. We ought to make some calls to check.’
Hannah had her head turned to one side and watched Marcus’s bronzed stomach rise and fall as he dozed. Lizzie was on the lounger beside him, and Hannah noticed their fingers linked casually in the space between the two plastic sunbeds. The sight caused her a pang of envy: she and Nick didn’t hold hands, let alone do it with that sort of spontaneous intimacy.
We’re just different types of people, she thought, turning her head away and shutting her eyes. Not everyone needs displays of affection; a relationship isn’t any better because it’s played out in public.
But deep down she knew it would make her happy if she and Nick were like that. There was something comforting about knowing that you and another human being went so well together, fitted each other with such ease.
‘We’re still trending,’ announced Suzy loudly, the tinny hum of music buzzing from her headphones.
None of the adults responded.
‘We’re now the third most-searched-for news story on Google, after gun control and whether Kim Kardashian is pregnant again.’
Silence.
‘This is stellar! There’s a guy from Dubai tweeting about us who thinks we were the ones who murdered the bloke in the pool!’
‘Suzy, none of this is a good thing!’ Hannah couldn’t hold back any longer. ‘Someone has died here; our holiday has been ruined because we’ve been questioned by the police and run to ground by the world’s press. What exactly is “stellar” about that?’
‘Chill, Aunty Hannah. This holiday has been amazing. There’s all this stuff going on about us. Don’t you like being a minor celebrity? I posted a video of the house on YouTube and I’ve got half a million views, and it’s going up all the time.’
‘What?’
‘And 5,567 likes, which is even better.’
‘What kind of video? Do you mean of this house?’
‘Yup, this one – of course. Where else? I did a guided video tour, and I recorded a voiceover describing the pool and where the body was floating, the view from our bedroom, the kitchen. I even included your broken fence, Jimmy!’
The little boy grinned. ‘Thank you. Does that mean I’ve been on the telly?’
‘Hang on a minute.’ Hannah was now sitting up and swung her legs over the edge of the lounger. ‘So, you’ve been putting up videos on the internet, about where we’re staying, so anyone can watch them and see what’s going on?’
Suzy looked at her as if she was stupid. ‘Well, yeah… that’s the point of YouTube.’ Hannah opened her mouth, then shut it again, her brain struggling to keep up. ‘But this is appalling. Lizzie! Marcus! Did you know about this?’
Lizzie had pushed herself up on her elbows. ‘No, but it’s not a big deal, is it? You didn’t say where we are exactly did you, Suzy?’
‘So, have I been on the telly?’ asked Jimmy again.
‘No, of course not. I just said near Avignon – which is miles away.’
‘But that’s not the point,’ insisted Hannah. ‘She’s sharing videos of this place, of us…’
‘You’re not in any of them.’
‘…with the entire bloody world out there! I can’t believe you’ve done this, Suzy. I also can’t believe you let her get away with this kind of thing, Lizzie!’
Marcus had now sat up and taken off his sunglasses, and was blinking in the glare of the sunlight. ‘Come on, Hannah, does it matter? So long as no one can identify where we are. It’s not like she filmed you skinny dipping in the pool, parading your tits for the French police.’
Jimmy snorted.
‘How dare you!’ Hannah stood up, fury causing the muscle underneath her eye to flicker. ‘I wasn’t parading anything for anyone. I was just having a swim, and when I got into the pool there was no one around. Anyway, that’s not what we’re talking about here. Aren’t you going to stop her behaving like this?’
‘Behaving how?’
‘Putting our lives on display!’
Suzy rolled her eyes at Alice. ‘Fuck’s sake! Your mother is so uptight.’
Alice smirked and nodded, glaring at Hannah. ‘Mum, it’s no big deal.’
‘Yes, it is a big deal, Alice. It’s not acceptable to make all of this so public.’ She turned back to Marcus. ‘And of course you’re just letting her get away with it, as always. Because whatever Suzy does is fine.’
‘Oh, lighten up, Hannah, this is ridiculous,’ said Marcus, getting up from the lounger. ‘She isn’t getting away with anything. She’s a teenage girl who lives her life through social media. It’s what they all do. It’s the way the world works nowadays, and to be honest I think you’re being a bit old-fashioned about it all.’
‘Well, you would do,’ said Hannah, putting her hands on her hips. ‘Mr so-bloody-right-on Alexander. Have you tweeted about this yourself, Marcus, or loaded some pictures onto Facebook to show your hundreds of friends who aren’t really friends at all. Because they wouldn’t be your proper friends if they knew you better, would they? That’s the thing about Facebook.’
Her heart was racing so fast she could almost feel blood pulsating through her chest, pounding up the back of her neck and rocketing around her skull. She felt light-headed and slightly woozy, and swiped a streak of sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.
‘Actually, I have put a couple of things on Facebook,’ said Marcus. ‘But what’s wrong with that? You might not have caught up with the modern world, Hannah, but when people are on holiday, they take photos of where they’re staying and what they’re doing, and they put them online to show their friends. And yes, they are all my real friends! Is it that strange that I’d actually have some friends? I know you don’t have much time for me, but a lot of other people do.’
‘I find that hard to believe,’ she retorted.
‘Why? I’m not a bloody monster, Hannah, I’m just an ordinary bloke. Why do you find that hard to believe? Most people seem to like me, except you. So, does that tell you something? Have you ever thought that this must be about you as well as me?’
Lizzie stood up suddenly and moved forward to stand between them. ‘Stop it, you two, right now,’ she said. ‘This is getting out of hand.’
‘Lizzie’s right,’ said Nick. ‘Let’s all calm down.’
Hannah shrugged his hand off her shoulder, still glaring at Marcus. ‘What do you mean, it’s about me?’
‘You’ve always resented me, from the moment Lizzie met me. I remember that first time she took me back to see Jean, and you stood there, sizing me up, pretending to smile, but finding it really hard. Even then you’d decided you didn’t like me, hadn’t you? Why, Hannah? What the hell had I ever done to you?’
She didn’t know; she honestly had no idea what it was that had made her dislike him. But he was right: it did go that far back. How extraordinary, twenty years of being related through marriage and they were finally getting the opportunity to admit they couldn’t stand each other. The thought made her want to laugh, but at the same time she wanted to smack him, or kick out at his shins or slap his wobbly, sunburnt belly. It was pathetic – she was pathetic, she knew she was being childish, but he made her so angry she wanted to scream.
‘Don’t try and pretend you liked me any better,’ she said, instead. ‘I was only wary of you because it was so obvious you disliked me from the moment you met me.’
‘You’re turning it round!’ he howled. ‘You’re making it all my fault, when it was you who started it and put the knife in from the beginning.’
‘I didn’t start anything! You breezed in with your fancy car and your grand job, and your bloody arrogance. You just knew it all, Marcus, always. Everything anyone ever asked about, you knew the answer. Your charm might have worked on Mum, and on poor innocent little Lizzie, but it didn’t work on me. I saw through you, and you always knew that and hated it.’
‘I wasn’t innocent,’ said Lizzie.
‘Maybe it’s not about me,’ said Marcus, taking a step back. ‘Maybe it’s about Lizzie? You’ve always been jealous of her, haven’t you, Hannah? Your beautiful younger sister who did so well at everything and made a success out of her life.’
‘Oh, Marcus, don’t be silly…’ started Lizzie.
‘Fuck you, Marcus,’ yelled Hannah. ‘This is about you, not about oh-so-perfect Lizzie. Yes, she’s always done better than me, been nicer than me. So bloody what? That’s a different issue – right here and now we’re talking about why you are such an arrogant shit!’
‘That says it all,’ said Marcus, holding up his hands as if to ward her off. ‘Listen to yourself, Hannah, you’re so insecure it’s terrifying. Can you hear how much you envy Lizzie, how jealous you are of her? It’s just oozing out of you.’
‘Now you’re the one who’s turning everything around,’ shouted Hannah. ‘As always. You’re putting words into my mouth.’
‘This is what Jean was afraid of,’ he said. ‘This jealousy of yours, and the fact that it would eat away at your relationship with Lizzie. You can’t let things go, Hannah, you can’t move on. This is why Jean hoped you’d never find out about Derek. She knew you’d blame her forever.’
Suzy sighed loudly and started to put her headphones on again. ‘Let me know when she’s done. God, how do you put up with this, Alice?’
Alice glared at her. ‘Actually, she’s not always like this.’
‘She’s never like this at home!’ added Jimmy cheerfully.
‘No wonder you’re such a nerd,’ Suzy muttered.
‘What did you say?’
‘I said it’s no wonder you’re such a nerd, Alice, when your mum is so stressy.’
‘I’m not a nerd!’
Suzy looked at her belittlingly. ‘Er yes, you are actually. You’re a real geek.’
Alice had gone red, her cheeks flaming with indignation, making her look as sunburnt as she had at the start of the week. ‘Well, you’re a slag!’
‘Alice!’ said Lizzie. ‘That’s a dreadful thing to say.’
‘It’s all just a big show with you, Suzy, isn’t it?’ she continued. ‘All the boys and the talk about having sex…’
‘What do you mean, having sex?’ asked Lizzie.
‘Mum says you’re a spoilt little slut, and I think she’s right,’ Alice continued. ‘She says it’s just bragging and none of it really happens. You want to make yourself out to be cool and more interesting than you really are.’
‘What’s sex?’ asked Jimmy.
‘That is such a lie!’ shouted Suzy. She turned to Hannah and glowered at her. ‘Just because your daughter is a prude and so ugly no boy would fancy her, you can’t bear the fact that I get all the attention.’
‘What do you mean, having sex?’ said Lizzie again, grabbing Suzy’s arm. ‘You’re only fifteen. Dear God, don’t tell me you’re already sleeping with someone?’
‘Get off me!’
‘Not just one!’ said Alice with relish. ‘At least three of them. Isn’t that right, Suzy? Let’s see, there’s Martin who’s in the sixth form, and Toby who she met at the Isle of Wight Festival…’
‘Suzy, is this true?’ asked Lizzie, her voice sharper than before. She grabbed her daughter’s chin and pulled it towards her, forcing her to meet her eye.
‘Get off me! Mind your own business,’ said Suzy, pushing the hand away.
‘Did you really call her a slut? That is totally out of order,’ said Marcus, turning to Hannah. ‘I can’t believe you’d talk about your own niece like that.’
‘Don’t tell me to mind my own business; it is my business! How many boys have you slept with?’ screamed Lizzie, shaking Suzy’s shoulders. ‘Come on, don’t try to hide it from me. I have the right to know, I’m your mother. Have you been using anything? Contraception – have you been using contraception?’
Marcus stepped forward and tried to pull Lizzie away. ‘Come on, love, back off a bit. We need to stay calm. This isn’t getting us anywhere.’
‘Marcus, our fifteen-year-old daughter has apparently slept with three boys already! How can I be calm about that? God, this is horrendous, I can’t believe I didn’t know what was going on.’
‘Is contraception the same thing as the immaculate conception?’ asked Jimmy.
‘I haven’t slept with anybody!’ shouted Suzy, battering away her mother’s hands. ‘I honestly haven’t. She’s making it all up.’
Alice gasped in amazement. ‘You know that’s not true – you told me all about them.’
‘Well, I wasn’t quite telling the whole truth, okay?’
‘The whole truth, or any of the truth?’ asked Alice.
‘Any of it then. Is that better? Happy now? It wasn’t true, but you were just so pathetic and bloody young. You irritate the hell out of me, Alice. Why don’t you just grow up? I wanted to wind you up, that’s all, make you feel like the stupid little geek you are.’
‘Suzy, that’s a horrible thing to have done!’ said Nick.
Lizzie stood back. ‘So, you haven’t had sex?’
‘No! Now leave me alone. For fuck’s sake, you’re all completely bloody mad!’ Suzy got off the lounger and stormed across to the far side of the pool. ‘I hate you all, and I hate this holiday.’
Marcus turned and glared at Hannah. ‘Happy now?’ he said.
‘Oh, so this is my fault?’ she snapped. ‘Your tarty daughter has been making Alice feel insecure and unattractive, telling her all sorts of stories about boys and sex and things that were designed to make her hate herself, and it’s my fault? Maybe you should be paying more attention to what’s going on with your own kids, rather than blaming me for everything. If you’d paid more attention to them over the years then maybe they wouldn’t both be going off the bloody rails – making up lies about their love lives and burning your house down.’
‘Han, that’s not fair. I think you’re over-reacting…’ started Nick.
‘Shut up!’ She surprised herself with the vehemence in her words. ‘Stop telling me I’m over-reacting. Stop putting me down in front of everyone else. Just stop being so bloody pathetic, Nick. It’s great the way you just sit back and accept everything, and play at being the peacemaker, but if it wasn’t for you, our life wouldn’t be a fucking mess. We wouldn’t have a potential court case hanging over us, we wouldn’t have to worry about spending money in case you end up losing your job! We’d even have our car here – a car that hadn’t been written off and wasn’t sitting in some police compound, in case it needs to be produced as evidence to prove or disprove that you nearly killed a five-year-old girl.’
As she stopped talking, she was aware of the silence around her. It was as if none of the others dared breathe, let alone speak. Nick was staring at her like she’d slapped him, Lizzie had buried her face in her hands.
Stop now, a little voice inside Hannah’s head told her. Walk away and don’t say another word. But she couldn’t. There were words still bubbling up in her throat, unsaid grievances that were fighting their way to the forefront of her mind, urging her to voice them. She felt strangely free and empowered by her outburst, reckless to the point where she didn’t care anymore.
‘You’re acting like the injured party in all this, Nick, but it’s not just about you. We’ve all had a shitty time as well. What you did has affected me, Alice and Jimmy in so many different ways. We get shunned in the street. Jimmy’s friends aren’t allowed to play with him anymore. I know people are talking about me when they see me in the supermarket. We’re all suffering as a result of what you did!’
‘It was an accident!’ he roared. ‘A fucking accident, Hannah. I didn’t do it deliberately.’
‘I know!’ she screamed back. ‘I know you didn’t…’ A sob tore itself from her throat, almost choking her, forcing her to pause mid-sentence. ‘Of course I know you didn’t. But why did it have to happen to us?’ Her voice was now a whimper, her lips were trembling, her cheeks felt taut and wouldn’t move properly. She started to sob uncontrollably, her shoulders shaking with the force of it. ‘It’s not fair.’
She collapsed onto the lounger behind her, the plastic seat bowing beneath her weight. Through her tears she looked across at Lizzie, and saw that she too was crying; her pretty face twisted with misery, the sunlight glinting on the tears on her cheeks. She wanted to go across and hug her sister, wrap her arms around her and hold her tight. But she couldn’t move.