Page 71 of You Lied First
‘I agree it’s not for everyone, but it’s an incredible part of the world,’ Guy says. ‘Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.’
‘Hmph.’ Adele clearly doesn’t agree. ‘Well, glad you made it back, eh? Unlike that poor girl who went missing. Did you see about that? Selena or something? Lived out there?’
‘Yes, that teacher in Muscat? Yes, we heard about that,’Guy says without missing a beat. ‘Awful for everyone involved. I hope they find her soon.’
‘You know they found a body? I wonder if it’s her.’
‘Well, I hope it isn’t.’
‘In a way, I hope it is,’ Adele says. ‘It’d give closure to those poor parents. Imagine your child missing in the Middle East.’
‘Mmm,’ I say in agreement, although, to my own ears, the sound comes out strangled. Guy picks up the auction catalogue and scans it. ‘So, anyone got their eye on anything tonight?’
‘The signed cricket bat,’ Ali says. ‘My dad collects them. I’d love to get this one for him.’
Freddie’s index finger lies across his top lip. ‘Mary-Jane and I are looking at the luxury weekend break. How about you?’
‘I don’t know,’ Guy says. ‘What about you, darling?’
Margot raises an eyebrow sardonically. ‘If you’re actually asking whatI’dlike, Guy, I’d take the golden cone, thanks.’ Her words are strangely weighted but she smiles brightly, takes another sip of her wine and raises the glass in a mock cheers.
‘That’ll be hotly contested,’ Freddie says.
‘It’s always the hot ticket,’ Adele says. ‘If anyone’s thinking of placing a bid, by the way, the ballpark is about £2,000, going on last year.’
‘I’m sorry, what is that?’ Inara asks. ‘A cone?’
‘It’s a reserved parking space inside the school grounds at drop-off and pick-up times,’ Adele says. ‘Like gold dust, obv.’ She actually says that – I’d thought it was just a teenage thing.
‘And is there an actual golden cone?’ Guy asks with a smile. ‘Because if I spend two grand on that, I’ll want something tangible to show off.’
‘I could make sure you have something to show off,’ Adelesays flirtatiously. I glance at Margot but she appears not to have noticed.
‘Oh, wow, I had no idea there was such a thing,’ Inara says. ‘Pick-up issucha zoo.’ She raises her eyebrows hopefully at her husband but, looking at Ali’s impassive face, I don’t fancy her chances.
‘Well, let’s see what the evening brings,’ Guy says, rubbing his hands together as waiters start to bring round plates of gelatinous-looking starters. ‘Now this looks delicious. Does anyone know what it actually is?’
56
MARGOT
The guests are given half an hour after the starters to take a last look at the auction lots and get their bids in. Margot doesn’t bother getting up. She can see that there’s a cluster around the cricket bat, and she hopes Guy doesn’t bid on it when he’s not even into cricket.
‘I don’t know what to bid on. What does Sara Say?’ she hears Guy say to Sara, who’s seated next to him.
‘Well, do you fancy anything?’ Sara asks.
‘Come with me. Let’s go and look.’
Guy holds out his arm like the type of gentleman who would never pin his wife to the bed and Margot turns away, trying to blot him out. She just can’t deal with that now – her mind is full of the body found in the desert. Of course it’s Celine, she thinks. But then she oscillates the other way: Guy did make a good point when he said it was an obvious camping spot. They’re not going to be the only ones who camped there.
But they are probably the only ones who buried a body there.
Of course it’s her.
She looks around the crowded room, seeing friends,community and joy as this body of people comes together to raise money to improve the lives of those less fortunate, and she suddenly feels like an outsider. Not one of them knows what it’s like to bury a body and run from the authorities. Compared to what’s on her plate, their worries are so trivial. Sitting there, Margot begins to understand that what they did has put a chasm between them and the rest of the world. But they’re not bad people. They didn’t kill her and neither had they left Celine Cremorne’s body to the mercy of the elements, as they could well have done. She sighs inwardly and takes a deep slug of her wine. What’s done is done. There’s nothing she can do to bring Celine back. She needs to focus her energy on matters closer to home: what to do about her marriage. What Guy did this evening has brought that to breaking point.
Guy and Sara return, giggling, and take their seats.
