Page 65 of After the Accident
Amy said: ‘Is that like how Mum and Dad have had a falling out?’ – but I wasn’t sure what to say. Julius and Simone were divorcing, which was a lot past a ‘falling out’. Then again, I wasn’t sure how much I would be talking to my family in future.
I probably repeated that I hoped we’d work things out, but that, if not, I wanted them to know it was nothing they’d done.
I was going to leave it at that, but, as I went to move, the two girls exchanged a glance that was so full of self-awareness that it left me stumbling a bit.
They’d done something similar on the cliff when I’d found them. Amy had started to say: ‘The other night…’ when that look had passed between them the first time and she’d stopped herself. In the end, she’d told me she’d overheard her mum saying that Julius had lost his job.
On the cliffs, I thought they were entrusting me with that secret, but, in that moment in the lobby, I realised there was something else and that the girls were asking each other’s permission to share it.
Amy whispered: ‘Go on,’ but Chloe was still staring wide-eyed at her sister.
I said: ‘What is it?’ and Amy replied: ‘It’s a secret.’
I waited and it was like they were having a long back and forth, even though neither of them spoke a word.
I said: ‘It sounds like you want to tell me…’ – and they looked to each other one more time before Chloe finally said it.
Chloe:I don’t know what I told Auntie Emma in the lobby.
Amy:I don’t know either.
Emma:Chloe said: ‘We woke up on the first night.’
And then Amy added: ‘When Granddad fell.’
There was a pause and I could picture those two little girls sitting on the secret for almost a week, desperate to tell someone. They’d almost told me on the cliffs and they probably knew this was the last opportunity.
Chloe finished the sentence – and she said: ‘Daddy wasn’t there.’
Chapter Thirty-Nine
THE EVEN SMALLER THINGS
Julius:I don’t know if Emma made them say that, or if she made it up all by herself. If either of the girlsdidsay that I was out of the room on that first night, then all I can say is that I would have been in the bathroom, or possibly on the balcony. I never left the room.
Emma:Have you ever done a Sudoku puzzle? It’s the one where there are nine boxes of nine squares – and you have to fit numbers one to nine into each row and column.
When you’re doing one, there comes a point where you’re so far into completing the puzzle that the final ten or twenty numbers almost write themselves into the grid. You’ve done all the hard work – and it’s that which makes the final bit seem so easy.
It felt like that when the twins told me that Julius was out of the room. I’d had so many little bits of information – and then this last little piece suddenly made the rest make sense.
It was past checkout time, but Julius wasn’t in the lobby. I asked the twins where their dad was, and Amy said he was still packing in the room, so I took the lift upstairs and headed along to his door.
There was a maid’s trolley towards the other end of the corridor, but the floor was otherwise quiet. I almost knocked before I realised that the latch had been locked in place and that Julius’s door was open a crack.
Julius:It had been a busy morning. Everyone had breakfast together, except my sister, and then the girls had wanted one more hour at the pool before we went back up to pack. I’d sorted them out first but hadn’t quite finished my own packing. I was only running a few minutes late – and the taxis weren’t due until half-past twelve anyway.
Emma:Julius’s suitcase was open on the bed and there was a scattering of clothes and other things around the room. It was a bit of a mess – and I couldn’t see Julius. I moved inside, looking around the corners to see if he was in there somewhere.
I found myself over by the balcony door, which was open – although Julius wasn’t out there either. The door to the bathroom was closed and I figured that was the only place he could be. I was about to move, which is when I spotted the bin at the foot of the bed. It was almost full, mainly of food wrappers – but sitting on top was the necklace that Julius had bought at the airport on the first day.
I picked it up and shook it around – and it made the same whooshing sound that it had when we were in the shop. The noise that had entertained the girls so much. Julius had been wearing it at the first dinner, and then I’d not seen it since. I’d not even thought about it.
The necklace was still in my hand when I looked up and realised Julius was standing in the middle of the room.
He said: ‘What are you doing?’
Julius:That’s a reasonable question, isn’t it? I’d not heard her come into the room and then, all of a sudden, I come out of the toilet and she’s standing right there.
