Page 38 of An Island in the Sun

Tabitha looked sharply at her and frowned, taken aback by the sudden and surprising question.

‘Who?’ She feigned innocence, although she was unsure why she felt the need to cover for him after he’d upset her so much.

Julie studied her for a moment. ‘Rufus and Cordelia’s son, Raff. I thought I saw him in the garden.’ She shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, I’m forgetting that they probably didn’t say a word about him. Believe it or not, they have a son.’ Her usually dulcet tone had an edge to it. ‘But they don’t talk about him and they’ve pretty much kept him out of their life for the last few years.’

‘Why? What happened?’ Tabitha felt uncomfortable hiding the truth, but she was intrigued to have the chance to hear Julie’s side of things.

Julie sighed. ‘I don’t know the full story, but from what I did manage to gather, they accused him of stealing – there was already plenty of tension, which made the whole situation blow up. We’re not exactly close to Rufus and Cordelia, despite making the effort. They, um, like to keep themselves to themselves. Socialise with their own friends.’

Julie said ‘friends’ in a way that Tabitha understood meant she and Anton weren’t included. It wasn’t hard to believe that Cordelia didn’t have friends like Julie – they were obviously very different – yet it made Tabitha wonder if there was a bigger reason for the divide between them. Cordelia had a troubled son who she’d erased from her life – things might not be quite as perfect as they seemed on the surface.

Julie sipped her coffee and cast a glance at Tabitha. ‘We bought this house a few months after Rufus and Cordelia had moved to Madeira. We thought they were a childless couple, didn’t even twig that they had a son until he came home for the Christmas holidays.’

‘Came home?’ Tabitha frowned, still feigning innocence.

‘From boarding school.’ Julie shook her head. ‘Raff was ten and they took him out of his last year of primary school in Surrey to move here before promptly shipping him back to England a few months later to start his secondary education. Most of the time, it was just Rufus and Cordelia here, working and socialising, the only inconvenience being when Raff came home for the holidays.’

‘That must have been difficult for him,’ Tabitha said, acknowledging the criticism in Julie’s words even though her tone was neutral. She remembered the upset Raff had been trying to control whenever he’d talked about his parents.

‘Oh, it certainly was. He’d come home most holidays, but sometimes he’d stay in England with his grandparents, particularly if it was Christmas or half-term. Sometimes his parents would fly over and join them.’ Julie folded her arms. ‘He was one troubled child. It wasn’t fair on him; he was given no choice about leaving their life in England and then was torn from his family. That was the hardest thing for him to deal with.’

‘How do you know so much?’ Tabitha was intrigued to find out more about Raff’s past and the stony look on Julie’s face. She didn’t seem to be the type of woman who would get het up about things.

‘I often used to look after Raff when his parents were out or went away. In the early years at least.’ Julie sighed. ‘He was a lost soul.’

Tabitha frowned. ‘So his parents left him despite him being home for such a short time?’

‘Surely they were entitled to continue their social life and not let a mere inconvenience of a son get in the way?’ Julie’s sarcastic tone matched the look on her face. She sighed again. ‘When he was older, they’d go away on business – or sometimes on holiday – and if he didn’t want to go with them, which he usually didn’t, then he’d stay here on his own. He was old enough and sensible enough, but I felt so sorry for him. I’d invite him over for dinner and he ate with us most days. I think he was glad of the company, the security too of having someone there for him when his parents weren’t.’

It was hard to ignore the bitterness in her voice.

‘You know him well then?’ Tabitha said softly.

‘Iknewhim well.’ Julie smoothed a hand down an invisible crease in her jeans. ‘He used to talk to me a lot, until he hit his mid-teens and closed up like so many teenagers do. And as he got older, he came back less and less. After paying for boarding school, his parents supported him through university, but by that time he didn’t need them, apart from their money. I strongly believe by that point the damage to their relationship had been done.’

Tabitha considered how different Raff’s upbringing was to hers. Although she’d never felt as if she had a sense of belonging anywhere, she had always been surrounded by the love of her parents and her siblings. Home had been wherever her family was. Raff had missed out on that entirely.

‘I honestly think his parents believed that by giving him the best education money could buy, they were setting him up for life,’ Julie continued, ‘and he would be grateful for the opportunity, but they failed to listen to his pleas.’ She pressed a hand to her chest. ‘What I’ve seen is a man who has been hugely let down by his parents. They uprooted him from his life, his school and friends at a time that’s so challenging for children, that tricky transition from primary to secondary school. Instead of him moving up with some of his friends to a local comprehensive or even starting afresh at a nearby private school, they moved countries, tore him away from his beloved dog – don’t get me started on that – and sent him back to England to boarding school while they made a new life for themselves here.’ She cupped her hands around her mug of coffee and looked quietly at Tabitha. ‘Of course, that’s just my take on it as an outsider.’

Tabitha bit her lip. Considering she was the one responsible for the house and animals while Rufus and Cordelia were away, Raff’s behaviour, putting that all in jeopardy, had been inexcusable, yet she was beginning to get an understanding of where his behaviour stemmed from and why he had little respect for his parents or their house. He doted on the dogs and cat, that much had been clear, and he’d seemed genuinely upset at being the cause of Fudge going missing.

Tabitha’s eyes travelled down the lawn to the gap in the bushes by Rufus and Cordelia’s garden. Her mind wound back to the earlier part of the conversation when Julie had mentioned seeing Raff. Raff had left three days ago.

Tabitha frowned and turned back to Julie. ‘You said you thought you saw Raff? When was that?’

His name felt familiar on her tongue and Tabitha wondered if it would sound that way to Julie. She had no idea why she felt the need to cover for him, but she wasn’t quite ready to confide in Julie yet.

‘Yesterday,’ Julie said, her quiet tone returning.

Tabitha nodded in what she hoped was a nonchalant way, despite her heart pounding. As she changed the subject to Misty and the dogs, she hoped Julie hadn’t spotted her surprise and confusion.

They talked a little more. The garden and its perfumed air was soothing, the sun deliciously warm, the distant ocean shimmering, the endless blue making Tabitha imagine sailing to faraway places. After a pleasant and eye-opening couple of hours, along with an invite to have dinner one evening, Tabitha said goodbye to Julie and headed back to Rufus and Cordelia’s villa. The walk back gave her time to ponder how Julie had thought she’d seen Raff only the day before when he’d actually left earlier in the week.

The house was quiet with Bailey and Fudge both fast asleep on the rug. When they barely raised their heads at her return, she immediately dismissed the idea that the dogs would know if Raff was still around. But how could he be?

The dogs woke up as Tabitha wandered past and opened the bifold doors to the pool terrace. The garden was large with hidden areas, the neat grass yellowed in places after the summer heat, broken up by pockets of verdant bushes and splashes of white trumpet-shaped flowers and large blue ones swaying on tall stems.

Her eyes travelled to the office tucked away in the bottom right corner. Barely visible from the house, with muted silvery-grey wood walls screened by tropical trees, she hadn’t paid it much attention. It was Rufus and Cordelia’s office and she had no reason to go there, which, when she thought about it, would make it the perfect place for Raff to hide out.

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