Shilpa wrapped her long cardigan around her. She was wearing shorts and a simple T-shirt, perfect for a day of mooching around the house and garden, but now on the water’s edge, in the cool morning air, before the sun had broken through, she felt a slight chill.
‘Graham? John?’ she called from the slipway.
Graham emerged on deck. He motioned to her to stay where she was. He was heading over to collect her on their tender. The tide was in, so she couldn’t just walk along the muddy floor of the estuary in wellington boots to their boat, like she sometimes did. It was an odd way to live. But only odd to her because she was so used to living on land, in a house. So many people lived in narrowboats and out on the water. When Dipesh was alive, he had told her about the couple that lived on a boat attached to his mooring, but she had never stopped to consider it.
‘Jump in,’ Graham said as he approached her.
‘Look, I don’t want to take up much of your time,’ she said. ‘But I’ve been meaning to show you something – to ask you something, really.’
‘You’d do me a favour by coming on board. We are in the middle of packing.’
‘Packing?’ Shilpa asked.
‘Well, stowing things away for France,’ Graham said, like she should have known. ‘Our annual summer trip.’
‘I like your thinking,’ Shilpa said. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a holiday. She hopped into the tender, looking back at her house as she made the short trip to Graham and John’s boat. Brijesh and Tanvi were standing at the window, waving. She waved back. She hadn’t caught up with Tanvi about Jason. It sounded like they had kissed and made up and that Tanvi would be staying with Jason in Hope Cove before heading back to London. She hadn’t asked her friend for any details like she ordinarily would have. She had been so shaken up by her ordeal last night.
Shilpa looked back at Graham, who was tying the tender to the boat, and considered telling him about Alison, but then decided against it. She didn’t want to answer more questions about what had happened, and she didn’t want him to worry like she knew he would. She slipped her hand into her pocket and checked her phone. Nothing from Theo. It was nice to be out on the water with Graham, and her uncle’s lover was a good distraction from what had happened yesterday.
Graham climbed up onto the deck and held out a hand. Shilpa took it. In her other hand she held tightly to Dipesh’s photo album. She saw Graham looking at it curiously.
‘This is what I wanted to ask you about,’ Shilpa said, handing the album over as she followed him into the lower cabin. She looked around. There were several brown boxes labelled with various provisions. She felt a stab of jealousy. How carefree it would be to sail to France with your loved one. She looked back at Graham, who was studying a photo in the album.
‘Where did you find this?’ Graham asked.
‘In amongst some of Dipesh’s possessions.’
‘Just one album?’
Shilpa nodded.
Graham made a face. ‘He probably took the rest.’
‘Who? Do you know who that is? The whole album is full of pictures of Dipesh and this guy. And later on, there are a couple of the four of you on your boat.’
Graham swallowed. ‘That’s Craig.’
‘Craig. A name, that’s great. I knew you’d know. Looks like they were in a serious relationship and travelled together quite a bit. We always thought Dipesh went alone to all these places. It’s lovely to know he had someone. Sad that he felt he couldn’t tell us about him, but still.’
Graham was silent. He put the album down and started packing a box. ‘Need to wrap some of these ornaments up. Sailing can cause a bit of havoc in here,’ he said.
‘But who was he?’ Shilpa asked. She stepped over to where Graham was and handed him a paperweight.
He took it from her and sighed. ‘Dipesh loved Craig for a time, but then he left without so much as a goodbye. It broke your uncle’s heart. I’m afraid I can’t tell you much more than that.’
‘How long were they together?’
‘A year, perhaps.’
‘Didn’t my uncle try to find him?’ Shilpa asked.
Graham stopped what he was doing and looked up. ‘I don’t think Craig wanted to be found.’
‘But he left a note?’
‘I don’t know the ins and outs of their relationship. Your uncle was a reserved man. Kept his private matters to himself. That’s probably why you didn’t know about it.’
Shilpa could see that Graham wanted the conversation to end, but there was so much more she wanted to know. There was a part of her uncle’s life that he had kept hidden. But she was living in his house. She wanted and needed to know more about him. He wasn’t just an old bachelor who led a lonely life, as her mother had made her believe. He had a life filled with love and laughter. Before Craig there may have been someone else.
‘Craig must have left for a reason,’ she continued. ‘It would be good to hear why. I mean, he must have had his reasons. They seemed so well suited in those photos.’
‘It was one album,’ Graham said as he wrapped a porcelain vase in tissue and put it in the cardboard box. ‘You didn’t even know…’ he mumbled under his breath.
Shilpa looked away. The boat rocked gently, telling her another vessel must have passed them. She steadied herself and watched Graham wrap another ornament to put in the box. He was right. Dipesh had kept Craig a secret for a reason. He didn’t want her snooping around his private matters in life, so he wouldn’t want it in death either. It was time to drop it, but she couldn’t help herself. She pursed her lips. She was her mother’s daughter, after all.
‘I can’t help thinking that–’ she started.
‘If your uncle didn’t tell you about him, he either didn’t want you to know or he didn’t want to be reminded of that weasel.’
Shilpa picked up the photo album that Graham had discarded on the table and nodded. ‘I guess you’re right. There wasn’t a mention of him in his will, although he had written it some time before his death, and it probably needed updating. You don’t expect your life to end in your late fifties.’
Graham walked over to Shilpa and put a hand on her shoulder. ‘If I were you, I’d put that album up in the loft or something and forget about that man. Remember your uncle how he wanted to be remembered. Now, let me take you back.’
Shilpa looked around her as Graham busied himself with a box. ‘Yes, you need to get on with things here. When do you leave?’
‘In a few days.’
‘And when’ll you be back?’ Shilpa asked, feeling a sense of loss. She had grown used to having Graham and John around. They would be the first people she would call if she ever needed help, and with people like Alison around, she needed people she could trust close to her. Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She immediately retrieved it, expecting it to be Theo. It wasn’t. She walked up and out onto the deck and looked up at her house. Tanvi was on her balcony, waving frantically, pointing to her phone. Shilpa looked at the message her friend had just sent, then she felt a hand on her shoulder, which made her jump.
‘Sorry,’ Graham said, immediately removing his hand. ‘Didn’t mean to startle you.’
‘Oh, don’t worry,’ Shilpa said. ‘I’m a little jumpy after last night.’
‘Last night?’
Shilpa shook her head. She couldn’t get into that now.
‘I’ll take you back,’ Graham said.
‘Sorry,’ Shilpa said. ‘I’ve interrupted your day.’
‘Nonsense. Don’t be sorry,’ Graham said with such warmth that Shilpa had to refrain from giving the man a hug.
‘Will I see you before you go?’ she asked.
‘We’ll certainly wave,’ Graham said as he climbed down into the tender. He held out his hand and she took it.
Five minutes later she was climbing up the steps to her balcony. She walked through the bi-fold doors to see Tanvi on her sofa, staring intently at her phone. Tanvi looked up when she heard Shilpa say hello.
‘You’ve got to see this,’ she said, passing over her device.
Her friend was looking at a local news site. ‘Body found at Fish Cove,’ she said, looking over Tanvi’s shoulder at the screen.
‘Not that,’ Tanvi said. ‘I didn’t know it was so dangerous here. Apparently, the body of a man was found washed up weeks ago. The body is so decomposed they can’t identify who it is. Creepy. Sounds like he was pushed overboard.’
‘He could have fallen in. You’re being overdramatic.’
‘Overdramatic!’ Tanvi said. ‘That’s rich coming from you, who found a bloodstained knife. I don’t think you can be over the top around here.’
‘When I found the knife, I didn’t just assume someone was murdered.’
‘You kind of did… eventually, like within twenty-four hours,’ Tanvi said with a smile.
Shilpa couldn’t help but smile too. She thought back to last night, to Alison holding a knife against her neck. She could have been a decomposing corpse right about now. The smile quickly faded from her face.
‘It’s the story below that you need to see,’ Tanvi said.
Shilpa scrolled past the story of the body found at Fish Cove. She saw now why Tanvi was so excited. It showed a block of apartments in an area of Otter’s Reach she was unfamiliar with. Police tape surrounded the entrance, and there was a picture of two men carrying a stretcher. There was clearly someone on it, but it was partially blocked by the paramedics, so you couldn’t quite see. Theo too was pictured, looking towards the ambulance. No wonder he hadn’t been in touch. Shilpa slumped down on the couch, barely registering that Brijesh had appeared from somewhere and was making a sandwich in the kitchen. Her hands started to shake as she found her phone and dialled Theo.