Page 58 of You Lied First
‘Guy,’ Margot says warningly. ‘She didn’t know.’
My breath catches. ‘What? Did she say something?’
‘They phoned,’ Margot says. ‘Tom and Di. Happy to tell us how we might be able to help the Omani police with their search for Celine.’
‘Oh, God.’
‘Just wait. It gets worse.’
‘What can be worse than us helping with enquiries?’ I stop walking, but Guy and Margot carry on, and I scurry to catch up.
‘It seems the Omani police are way more efficient than our lot,’ Guy says. ‘Not to mention that a missing Brit doesn’t look good on them. Seems they’ve been going door-to-door, asking questions. Hotels, businesses …’
‘Car-hire firms,’ Margot adds. ‘Homes.’
‘They want answers.’
‘Oh my God,’ I say again. ‘I saw that article, but I didn’t think about Tom and Di.’
‘Yep. They knocked on their door.’
‘And?’
‘Di was home,’ Guy says. ‘Jesus, if only Tom had opened the door, he’d have handled it. So they ask if they know Celine, then mention the compound where Celine was living, and Di recognises that it was where we were staying – at the same time that Celine went missing.’
‘And she told them that?’ My mouth’s open behind the hand that’s covering it.
Margot nods sadly. ‘She thought she was helping.’
Guy takes up the story, his voice high-pitched and sing-song to mimic a silly woman.
‘So, she’s all like, “Oh, yes! My friends were staying there around New Year! Definitely the same compound. I think they even used to know Celine Cremorne when they lived here. I’m sure I remember them mentioning her. Maybe I’m wrong but I think they were actually quite close! They’ve moved back to the UK now. But they were out here for a week and I’m sure that if Celine was there, they’d have seen her. Maybe you could speak to them.”’
‘Shit,’ I say. ‘What about the camping gear? Did she remember that?’
‘Oh, yes,’ Guy says. ‘She left nothing out. “Guy borrowed our camping gear,” she told them. “He was planning a trip to the desert.”’
I realise that I’m shaking. ‘What do we do now?’
‘Well, I think it’s a matter of time – and maybe not long – till we get a visit from the police here.’
‘Really? Do they communicate like that between countries?’
‘I should imagine so, if there’s a Brit involved.’
‘So we need to plan what we’re going to say if and when that happens?’
‘And stick with it,’ Guy says. ‘Are we all in?’
‘All in,’ I say.
47
MARGOT
Margot, Guy and Sara sit in a row on a cold bench facing the sweep of muddy green that is the park and go through the story they’ll stick to should the police come knocking. They go over and over it until it comes naturally to them. Yes, Margot and Guy used to know Celine. Yes, they’d been saddened to hear that she’d gone missing. But no, they hadn’t seen her at the compound. They hadn’t even known she still lived there. Margot and Guy hadn’t been in touch with her for years – they hadn’t told her they were coming out to Muscat and they’d just assumed that she’d moved on. Like expats do. No one stays still for long. It’s news to them that she still lived there. She must have been away the whole time they were there as they hadn’t seen anyone. If it comes to it: yes, they borrowed some camping gear, but they hadn’t actually managed to go camping in the end. Hey ho, maybe next time.
Thank God no one else was at the compound over the holidays,’ Margot says. ‘And at least Land Cruisers are so generic that the Jeep Jamboree guys won’t have any memory of seeing us that day.’ She recalls how she stared straight ahead at the road, trying not to look conspicuous while Sara looked down at Celine’s phone.
