Page 92 of He's the One

“Who has a key?”

“James. My father.”

Theo was too quiet, his tone of voice different.

“Did something bad happen in there?”

Theo stopped walking and turned to him. “It’s been untouched since my sister died. When I was little, I used to play in here with her and Piers. Well, notwiththem. They mostly tolerated me being around. Felicity loved this garden. It was her favourite place. She used to pretend it was Fairyland, so I did too. Piers built dens and once he made a treehouse but I fell out and James demolished it.”

“Did she die here?”

“No. On a beach. That’s why…”

“You don’t like the sea, or sand.” Col squeezed Theo’s fingers. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Theo nodded. He took his time, mouth opening and shutting several times, then he took a deep breath. “We were on holiday in Wales. I was seven, Felicity was eleven and Piers was sixteen. We stayed in a house belonging to friends of our parents. A big rambling place. We went every year and we all liked it. Piers was in charge when we went down onto the sand. Felicity and I weren’t allowed to go without him. He had orders not to let me go into the sea because on the first day, I’d been knocked over by a wave and Piers had to rescue me. The water was shallow but the pull was so strong, I couldn’t get to my feet. He didn’t need to stop me going in again. As far as I was concerned, I was only ever going to swim in a pool for the rest of my life.”

He shot Col a sad smile. “That day, I made a castle and decorated it with stones and shells while Piers and Felicity played on surf boards. Then I started to dig a hole and they came out of the water and sort of took over. We ended up with two deep holes, almost as tall as Piers, and Felicity and I jumped in and began to tunnel between them. Piers told us not to and leaned down and pulled me out. Felicity ignored him, so Piers jumped down to pull her back and suddenly there was thiswoofingsound and the sand collapsed on top of her and partly on Piers.”

Col took hold of Theo’s other hand. He could feel Theo shaking.

“Piers told me to run for help. I raced back to the house screaming. By the time I returned with my father and the chauffeur, Piers had got Felicity out but…she was dead. I remember them trying to bring her back to life, but it was too late.”

“Oh my God. That’s awful.”

“It was a turning point for our family. Nothing was ever the same. I like to think of my parents as being different before that, happier somehow, less critical, but I don’t know if that’s true or not, whether I didn’t see their unhappiness before. Our mother shut herself in her room and a doctor came. Our father made us go over everything we’d already told him and the police. Piers blamed himself. Our parents blamed both of us. Piers because he’d not stopped her sooner. Me for having started the game. I said Piers had told us not to tunnel, but it made no difference.”

“Oh Theo.” Col’s heart broke for him.

“We went straight home, of course. Our parents stopped talking about what happened. We weren’t allowed to talk about it. Looking back, I feel as if it was the beginning of the end. My father adored Felicity. She was devoted to him. Daddy’s girl. She could wrap him around her finger. She had the relationship with him that Piers and I both wanted but weren’t allowed to have. I don’t think my father ever got over losing her. Then when Piers disappeared it was like a bomb had gone off. I gave up then on anything ever being right again.”

“No, you didn’t. You’ve never given up. You never will. If I can see that, then your father will one day.”

“Maybe.” Theo exhaled. “Felicity was cremated and her ashes scattered in the hidden garden. My father said no one was to ever go in there again and it was locked up. I think he’s wrong, but he’s in charge. I feel sad that the garden’s been abandoned. We all loved it.”

“Is the folly part of it?”

“No, it just backs onto the wall.

“Show me.”

They walked round until they reached the tumble-down structure. Col looked it over carefully, checking the stones that lay around while Theo sat on a piece of masonry and watched.

“Can you rebuild it?” Theo asked.

“Yes. Want to send James a list of what I need?”

Theo texted the details as Col spoke.

“How did this fall?” Col asked. “Accident or deliberate?”

“I assumed it was an accident. You think it was deliberate?”

“When did it happen?”

“After Felicity died.”

Col ran his fingers along a gouge in a block of stone. “I’m pretty sure it was knocked down.”

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