Page 88 of Worse Than Murder
‘What the hell have you got yourself mixed up in, Lionel? What exactly do you know about the Pemberton twins?’
‘Tania, I’ve asked you nicely to leave. Don’t make me get angry.’
Tania sits back and looks at her former lover. She suddenly realises she doesn’t know who Lionel Bell is anymore.
I’m looking forward to joining Aaron and his team for a meal in Nature’s Diner. It’ll be the first time since I arrived in the Lake District where I’m eating a meal that isn’t resting on my lap in the living room. After the meeting with Lionel and Tania, I walk back to the restaurant, the voices in my head trying to make sense of what I’ve witnessed. I change and go for a run. I’m still clueless about much of what is happening around me and I still have no idea who I can trust, but it calms me down. My emotions are settled, and as I stand under the intense heat from the shower, I can feel my body relax.
I know I shouldn’t be getting involved in an investigation right now. My head is full of grief, horror and sorrow. What I don’t need is other people’s deceptions and manipulations playing tricks on me. I should leave. I should pack a bag and drive Adele’s Porsche somewhere new. But when I close my eyes, I can see Alison Pemberton sitting opposite me in the restaurant, begging, pleading for help. That’s my downfall. I need to help people. And if I can’t help myself, I may as well help someone else.
After my shower, I wrap a towel around me and lie down on my bed. I close my eyes.
The next thing I know, there’s a tap on the door. I sit up and notice the sun setting over the horizon.
‘Yes?’
The door opens and Sally pops her head through the gap. ‘Your guests are downstairs,’ she smiles.
‘What?’
‘Aaron and his team.’
‘Shit. Already?’
‘It’s eight o’clock.’
‘What? Oh, bloody hell. I must have nodded off.’ I jump off the bed and throw open the wardrobe. There’s nothing in there. ‘Shit. I was going to ask if I could borrow something to wear.’
‘Come with me,’ Sally says, holding out her hand.
* * *
It’s been a long time since I’ve worn a dress. On the odd occasion I go out for a meal, whether it’s with Adele or Scott and Donal, or even on a date with Odell, I dress casually in black trousers or fitted jeans. Sally grabs the perfect dress for me straight away. How she finds it among the millions of other dresses, I have no idea, but when she presents it to me, I know it’s the one. I quickly change, ruffle my hair up in a messy style and apply a tiny bit of makeup to hide the puffiness of my eyes. As I look at myself in the mirror wearing a deep-red floor-length dress with thin straps and a low neck, I don’t recognise myself. I hadn’t realised how much my appearance has changed in the month since I arrived here. My figure is trimmer, firmer, my hair is longer, my skin is tanned. I smile at my reflection. This change in my appearance is most welcome.
‘Bloody hell,’ Aaron says, taken aback when I greet him. He kisses me on both cheeks. ‘You look…’ he looks me up and down, ‘stunning.’
‘She does, doesn’t she?’ Sally says, standing behind me, beaming like a proud parent.
‘I literally cannot remember the last time I dressed up for a meal,’ I say, sitting down at the table. I’m surrounded by the six members of SRUK, all of whom are wearing thick utility trousers and polo shirts bearing the company’s logo. ‘I feel massively overdressed, but I don’t give a toss,’ I smile.
Conversation throughout the three courses focuses on the wide range of jobs SRUK are called out to. Aaron tells the story of searching Scafell Pike during a blizzard for two sisters who had gone out walking. It doesn’t have a happy ending. He then tells of the massive team effort to locate an eight-year-old boy who had been playing on disused ground in North Yorkshire and had fallen down a poorly maintained closed mineshaft. Another story with an unhappy ending.
‘I’m beginning to regret joining you all for dinner,’ I say as I tuck into my raspberry mousse cake. ‘Do any of your stories have endings that don’t make me want to drown myself in the bath?’
‘Scarlett, tell Matilda the story about your training on the Faultline in San Francisco.’
‘Which one?’ Scarlett asks. ‘The one where I fell down the ravine and broke my ankle or the one where I slept with the instructor?’
‘Ooh, can I have the one where you slept with the instructor? It sounds more fun.’
‘It was great fun on the first night in my hotel room,’ Scarlett says. She’s sitting directly opposite me. She’s small, possibly only just five feet tall. She has beautiful elfin features and shoulder-length chocolate-brown hair. ‘The second night, he invited me back to his place. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.’
‘Oh no. Why?’
‘He had a mirror on his ceiling.’
‘You’re joking!’
‘I wish I were. I didn’t notice it at first. It was only when he asked if I’d go on top so he could watch that I looked up to see what he meant.’
