Page 111 of The Christmas Retreat
‘There might be, because if Flint hasn’t changed his phone number, I can text him and ask exactly what went on that evening. I’ve only taken Verity’s word for it till now and I don’t think that’s worth much.’
I tried to work out what might have happened. ‘Do you think Annie could have meant that it was Verity who had made her suspect Flint was being unfaithful to her and caused her to follow him down to the cottage?’
‘It’s possible. Although it’s a long time since I realized she liked to twist things maliciously and plant poisoned darts into people’s minds, I never thought she’d do that to Annie, her best friend.’
‘Perhaps she couldn’t resist it,’ I suggested.
‘Yes, maybe the compulsion was too strong for her. If she had done that, inadvertently causing Annie to follow Flint to the cottage, where they had another row, he might well have lied to the police about her ever having been there, because he felt guilty.’
I contemplated the alternative scenario. ‘Yes, that would explain why she was driving away from the cottage, and also why she wasn’t concentrating on her driving.’
‘We can but try asking,’ he said, pulling out his phone and scrolling down for a number. ‘It’s all speculation unless we get an answer from Flint.’
And he began to tap in his message.
*
That evening after dinner Opal suddenly announced that she felt there was no point in her and Pearl staying on till Friday morning, now that her sister had decided to take an entirely different direction to that of performance art, and she needed to get back to her own studio to explore her new ideas as a solo artist.
‘Luckily our train tickets are valid any day, so we can leaveearly on Wednesday morning, if someone could drive us to the station.’
Pearl, who was as usual snuggled up on the sofa with Toby, stared at her in astonishment.
‘I’m absolutelynotleaving until Friday! I’m getting so much from working in the pottery, and anyway,’ she added, taking a firm grip on Toby’s hand, ‘I was going to tell you tonight that I wasn’t coming back with you on the train. Toby’s taking me to his house in Formby first, so we can decide if we want to live there or buy somewhere new together.’
‘Using what for money?’ demanded Opal.
‘Aunt Winnie left the house in Putney between us, so you can either sell it and buy something smaller or buy me out.’
‘Sell the house? But I couldn’t get anything remotely big enough alone unless I moved right out of London,’ stormed Opal. ‘This is so selfish of you!’
‘Poor Opal, this must be such a shock to you after all these years of living and working so closely with your sister,’ commiserated Verity. ‘And now you’ll have to lose your home, too!’
‘Well, it all seems perfectly reasonable tome,’ said Evie. ‘You’re both going your separate ways and making fresh starts, which will be good for the creativity, so I’d embrace the change if I were you, Opal.’
Opal ignored her and began to rant at her sister, but the days when she could browbeat Pearl into falling in with her wishes were long gone. Pearl looked upset but resolute as she said that it seemed very fair to her, and Toby backed her up.
Kate, emerging from a long texting session with, I suspected, Teddy Bear Man, said that a house in Putney would fetch a good sum, and Opal could think about moving out of the city altogether, if she needed somewhere bigger.
‘I’d be completely out of things, in the sticks,’ Opal replied dismissively but, finding no other supporter than Verity, took herself off to bed in high dudgeon.
I’d always wondered what high dudgeon looked like, and now I knew.
‘She’ll come round,’ Nerys said consolingly to Pearl, who still looked upset. ‘I’m sure it will do her good to move on, in all ways. I do feel your work was getting a bit repetitive.’
‘Yes, that’s what I felt too, and we thought coming here might give us a new direction, but Opal really just kept coming up with more of the same old ideas … and she never would listen to me.’
‘Never mind, you’re about to strike out in a direction of your own and it will be so exciting,’ said Timon. ‘Ceramics are your thing – you just took a wrong direction – and Liverpool is an excellent place to study the subject.’
‘Iamfeeling excited about it,’ she agreed. ‘It’s just that all my life I’ve been in Opal’s shadow. She was always the older, dominant one.’
She looked at Toby, who smiled tenderly at her.
‘Not any longer!’
‘No, because now, suddenly, I feel I’m becoming my own person.’
‘It will all be a big change,’ said Toby. ‘Let’s see what you think of the Formby area. But if you prefer, later we could move into Liverpool itself and you could get studio space there, when you’ve finished your course. It’s a very cosmopolitan and vibrant city.’
