AS SOON AS THE SKY shows a stripe of orange light the next morning, Gray appears in the doorway. Lily feels a last-minute pang, wondering if he will keep his word.
‘I’ll keep watch,’ Gray says. He already has the solemn bearing of an undertaker.
Taking one last look at Ronnie, and tucking the letters into her own pocket, she leaves the room and goes across to Tom’s. She knocks three times. ‘It’s almost light. And it hasn’t snowed all night,’ she says, loud enough to barge through even Tom’s deep sleep.
Tom opens the door, hair all over the place. He ruffles it and it stands up some more. ‘What time is it?’ he says, words distorted by a yawn.
‘Just after eight,’ Lily replies. ‘We’re going to move that oak tree.’
‘But how?’ he asks. ‘Without Ronnie to help lift it . . .’ he tails off.
He looks over to his brother’s room where Gray stands guard.
‘I know it’s hard,’ Lily says. ‘But we have to get out. Staying here is too dangerous.’
Tom nods. As they walk to the hallway, Gray approaches. He holds out his hand to Tom. ‘My sincere condolences,’ he says. ‘I am sorry for your loss.’ He then bows his head as they pass by.
‘Well, that was weird,’ Tom says, when they’re dressed up and trudging through the snow outside.
It’s still cold – when Lily exhales, her breath forms full stops in the sir. Grey clouds form a committee overhead, scheduling when to snow.
They need to leave now.
Lily walks faster, trying not to slip. ‘I think he’s just doing what he’s being trained to do.’
‘But Ronnie’s his cousin,’ Tom says. ‘Not a client. He’s acting as if he has no feelings. Like you, but with a worse dress sense.’
Lily has the sensation of a stake stuck through her solar plexus. ‘I’ve got a lot of emotions, Tom,’ she says calmly, when she can control the feelings fighting to get out. ‘You know that.’
‘I’m not saying you don’t, you just keep them locked up. Either Gray’s the same, or, and this is probable, he’s like his sister, and Ronnie’s death doesn’t matter to him. Or surprise him.’
‘You don’t think he could have killed Ronnie?’ But Lily’s mind takes her back to what Gray said the night Philippa died. That she was his first dead body. Now Ronnie is his second.
‘You never really know a person, but I’m not sure about leaving him alone with the body. He was the one who took Philippa away, remember.’
‘With Sara.’
‘True. And Rachel didn’t stop them.’ Tom pauses, then shivers. ‘Well, he’s in the right profession. His eyes remind me of the silver obols placed on the eyelids of the dead.’
They’ve reached the car. The tree doesn’t look as huge by daylight, although they are still going to need a chainsaw to cut it. ‘I’ll back the car up,’ Tom says. ‘Then we can see what we’re dealing with.’
Tom gets into the car and places the keys in the ignition. Nothing happens. He winds down the window. ‘The battery must have gone flat,’ he says.
‘Shouldn’t have done,’ Lily says, ‘you drove it a long way on Christmas Eve, and it started fine the other night.’
Tom shrugs. ‘Maybe it got frozzed by the cold. I’d give up if I were out in this.’ Getting back out of the car, he opens the boot and takes out the jump leads. ‘You bring your Mini down here, if you can, then I can jumpstart mine.’
‘You’d better check you can open the bonnet first,’ Lily says, pointing to how close Tom’s car is to the tree.
‘Easy,’ Tom says, leaning into the car and flicking a switch. The bonnet clicks open. He lifts it up. ‘Ta da!’ And then his face crumples.
‘What?’ Lily says.
Tom’s face mirrors the mardy sky above. ‘Open your bonnet.’
Lily frowns, but tramps over to her car and its carapace of snow to do as he asks. The bonnet sighs as it opens.
‘See anything?’ Tom calls over.
Lily doesn’t know what she should be looking for. Then she notices that something’s missing. ‘The battery’s gone,’ she shouts.
Tom slams his bonnet. ‘Mine too. And I bet the others have had theirs taken as well. We have to go back.’
Lily thinks of Ronnie and Philippa. This could be her only chance to get help. And to get away from a house that could end up killing her mother, her daughter and herself. She places her hand in her coat pocket, feeling the letter from her mum. ‘We have to go on foot,’ she says.
‘No, Lily,’ Tom says.
‘We’ll gather supplies, it’ll be fine,’ Lily replies. ‘We’ll take the map. Can’t be that far to the nearest village. Someone there will have a mobile. Then the police will find a way through. They’ll have to. It’s a double murder.’
‘It’s what, ten miles to the village? On icy roads, most of which are treacherous, downright impassable to pedestrians as well as cars, it could take ten hours to get there. Longer if we go over the fields and hills. We’ll only have good light for half that time. If one of us loses our footing, or gets tired and has to rest – which is likely given you are pregnant and look like you haven’t slept in weeks – well, we might not get back up again. It’s freezing. And we don’t have mobile phones. One or both of us could die of exposure. Do you want to put yourself, me or your little passenger, in danger?’
‘If we stay in the house, we’re in danger.’
‘I don’t know what to say, Lily,’ Tom says, his hands dropping to his sides. ‘I’ve lost my aunt, and my brother. I don’t want to lose you, too.’ His eyes glisten with tears. ‘I’m scared.’
Lily takes his gloved hand in hers. ‘Me too.’
‘And there’s one more reason to stay,’ Tom says.
‘What?’ Lily asks.
‘I’ve been thinking about all this. I want us to win the house, in Ronnie’s name. We set up a co-operative with Rachel and Holly, do whatever we can to not let Endgame fall into Sara’s hands. Or Gray’s.’
‘I can’t believe Gray could have killed them.’
‘In theory anyone here could have killed Philippa at night, or Ronnie in the day. But something else is going on. And I can’t help thinking Sara is behind it. Tell me you disagree.’
‘I can’t,’ she says.
Tom looks at the house, the sky darkening around it as the snow starts falling again. Then turns back to Lily. ‘You’re hiding something, I know you are. You’ve got to tell me.’
Lily sees the same softness in his eyes as Ronnie’s. Talking about Mum’s murder could have got Ronnie killed. Her instinct is shouting at her that it did. And she’s not going to ignore her instincts anymore. She’s going to keep Tom safe; even if it means keeping him in the dark. At least he’ll be alive.
‘I don’t know anything,’ Lily says, dropping his hand so she can take his arm as they walk back to the house. A study in strength. ‘Let’s find out what’s going on together.’