Page 33 of One Last Night

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I head downstairs just in time to find Sean coming up the stairs. “Mary. There you are. The children are asleep, then?”

I nod. “Luann just went to bed. Are the police still here?”

“They left a few minutes ago. Julian and Victoria are in the great room drinking some coffee. I wanted to see if you’d join us. I think the adults should discuss what happened without the children here.”

I nod again. “Before we go in, can I talk to you?”

His eyes narrow slightly. “Did the children say something?”

I take a deep breath. This is the right thing to do, but I feel horrible for revealing Luann’s secret, even if I am completely justified in doing so. “Luann’s boyfriend is the son of Julian Bellamy’s business rival, Robert Cartwright. Did I tell you that?”

“You did. And their family rivalry goes further back than the two of them. The police asked about Robert Cartwright straight away when they took his statement.”

“I see. So this is an old family feud.”

“Well, I only meant further back than Luann and Kevin, but it’s likely that they’ve been rivals since at least Parker Bellamy’s day. What did Luann tell you?”

I take another deep breath. “Kevin overheard an argument between their fathers. When it was over, Robert said that they had to do something drastic and stop taking baby steps.”

Sean frowns. “When did he tell Luann this?”

“Yesterday.”

“Yesterday? I thought they weren’t seeing each other anymore.”

“He’s been sneaking over here.”

“Without you noticing?”

His words are a knife to my chest. I’ve been failing these children. Even if Kevin and Luann are wholly innocent—and I still believe they are—the situation is too volatile for them to continue in this way. I should have paid closer attention. I thought that by preventing Luann from sneaking out, I had handled the situation. I assumed that if Kevin were to try to sneak in, I would notice him, but I was clearly wrong about that.

“They’ve managed to sneak around my back, it seems,” I reply. “I should have noticed, but I didn’t.”

He chuckles ruefully. “Kids are good at sneaking around when they get to this age. I’ll have to share some of my own stories with you later. In the meantime, this puts us in a bit of a predicament. Julian feels very strongly that Robert is behind this. Victoria feels just as strongly that Robert couldn’t be involved.”

“Victoria’s perspective might be a little… skewed.”

He stares at me. “Don’t tell me they’re sneaking around too.”

“I don’t have any evidence that the affair has continued,” I reply, “but they certainly had an affair when they were younger. Victoria all but admitted it to me the other night.”

He runs his hands through his hair. “Bloody Hell. It’s the damned Desperate Housewives here.”

I don’t think that’s an entirely accurate analogy, but I understand his point. “We need to tell them, Sean. If anyone had been outside when those charges went off, it could have killed them.”

“They would have had to be hugging the water lines for that little bit of ANFO to kill them, but the water pressure was no joke. It wouldn’t have killed anyone, but if it caught someone in the face, it could have meant an eye. You’re right. We need to tell them.”

He turns to head back to the great room, and I grab his arm. “Is there a way to keep Luann out of this? She’ll be so devastated.”

He meets my eyes. “I think you know the answer to that question.”

I lower my head. He’s right, but this is terrible. Those poor children.

The two of us enter the great room just in time to catch Victoria shouting, “You can’t blame Robert for every bad thing that’s happened in our lives! He’s an arrogant asshole, but he’s not this… stupid.”

“You and I have different opinions about his intelligence,” Julian retorts.

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