Page 28 of After the Accident
His mum and dad are sitting on one side, with Emma standing on the other. He didn’t care. I told him I was flying home.
Emma:Claire points at Vic and goes: ‘I am so sick of you.’ Then she turned and pointed to Daniel and Liz and adds: ‘And I’m so sick of your family.’
Daniel started to speak, but she talked over him. She said: ‘You are a gluttonous turnip of a man and the biggest mistake I ever made was marrying into your money-obsessed, piss-stained crotch of a family.’
She then twisted back to Vic and goes: ‘You are the worst human being I’ve ever known.’
After that, she turned and walked off.
Claire:It’s fair to say that had been building.
Emma:I thought she had a well-argued point.
Victor:I told her we were finished and that she should pack her bags and go.
Emma:Vic didn’t get a word in. He had no idea how to reply.
Daniel:Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Emma:There was a moment of silence where I don’t think anyone could believe what had just happened. I thought Claire was off to pack her bags, but when I looked up, she was storming back. She stopped in front of us and then tipped her bag upside down and dumped everything on the sun lounger.
She goes: ‘You left the safe unlocked. I thought you might need this the next time you get caught in a gay brothel.’
There was about three or four hundred euros in that pile, plus a gold chain and a couple of other things.
Victor:I’ve never visited a gay brothel…
…
I’ve never visited any brothel.
Emma:Vic looked to his dad and then back to Claire and then down to the pile. I followed his eyes – which is when it felt as if the table was rushing towards me. The sun was glinting from the stone and the gold was bright and shiny. I was in no doubt: Dad’s emerald ring was sitting neatly on top of Vic’s things.
Chapter Sixteen
THE MAD WITCH
Victor:I know how it looked, OK? I’ll tell you now what I told Emma then: I didn’t steal her dad’s ring.
Emma:I picked up Dad’s ring from the pile and held it up to the light. It’s so heavy for what it is and there were little bits of dried skin stuck to the inside. I scratched them away with my nail to reveal the ‘GM’ initials.
Claire:I don’t know exactly what happened with the safe in our room – but I can guess. Vic would have tried to seal it but not closed the door all the way. Instead of locking it closed, he locked it open. When I got back from the bar the night we argued, the door was wide. I’d rolled my eyes and thought it was typical of him.
When I went down to breakfast the next day, I scooped everything into my bag, to be on the safe side. I’d not noticed the ring. I thought it was cash and Vic’s chain. As soon as Emma picked up that ring, I knew it was her dad’s.
Emma:I asked why Vic had Dad’s ring. His mouth was hanging open and, for once, Daniel’s big mouth was shut. He looked at his son and he looked at the ring and nobody had an answer. Eventually, Vic managed to croak something out.
Victor:I found that ring close to the pool on the first night. I put it in my pocket and didn’t think much about it. At some point, I emptied everything into the safe.
Emma:He told this story about finding it by the pool and then nodded across to Claire and went: ‘You were there.’ Claire was having none of it.
Claire:I had no idea what he was on about.
Emma:Vic’s a forty-year-old infant. He’s got through an entire life with his parents bailing him out of any problems that might come his way. When he was standing there, faced with facts that couldn’t be explained – and even his Dad was silent – he didn’t know what to say. That’s why he ended up doing the only thing he knows how to do well.
He threw a tantrum.
Victor:Idon’tthrow tantrums.
