An Unwanted Guest(29)

‘IT SEEMS TO me,’ Henry says, in his slightly pompous way, ‘that if this is a murder, it would be almost impossible to solve. It seems to have happened in the middle of the night. We were all asleep in our beds. There are no witnesses. Unless someone wants to confess, or share some helpful information about seeing someone creeping about in the night, I don’t see that there’s much to go on.’

Beverly listens to him, licks her lips nervously, and waits. No one else volunteers anything.

Finally, she blurts out, ‘There’s something I should probably say.’

All eyes turn her way. She almost loses courage. She doesn’t know if the argument between Dana and Matthew is relevant or not, but it will certainly sound damning.

‘What is it?’ David says calmly, as she hesitates.

‘I heard them arguing, last night.’

‘Dana and Matthew?’ David says, as if in surprise.

‘Yes.’

‘What was the argument about, do you know?’

She shakes her head. ‘I heard them shouting, but I couldn’t make out any words. Their room is next to ours, on the same side of the hall.’ She looks at her husband. ‘Henry slept through it all.’

‘What time was this?’

‘I don’t know, but late.’

‘Did it sound … violent?’ David asks.

‘I don’t know. It was just raised voices. No crying or anything. Nothing slamming, if that’s what you mean.’

There, she’s said it. If Matthew’s done something wrong, then it’s good that she’s told them.

David can sense the heightened distress of the others. They don’t like what Beverly has said; it makes them uneasy. They don’t like to think the unthinkable. He can see from their faces that they are all imagining it – the argument, the push down the stairs.

He’s sorry for their distress, but he’s only telling it how he sees it. It doesn’t seem possible that Dana could have been injured like that from her fall, and he doesn’t want them messing about with the body. And now this new information – Matthew had told him that he and Dana had not argued. If Beverly is to be believed, Matthew lied to him.

It depresses him. Matthew seemed so shattered, so genuinely grief-stricken. But David reminds himself that many a murderer – especially one who kills in passion – is genuinely regretful at what he’s done, and he’s still guilty.

Perhaps it’s more personal than that. Maybe David is giving Matthew the benefit of the doubt because he has himself been accused of killing his wife, and he knows how it feels. Perhaps that is all.

Perhaps he’s wrong, and Matthew did force Dana off the landing and then finish her off. He just doesn’t want to believe it.

But he definitely thinks it’s murder. And if Matthew didn’t do it, who did?

Gwen gets up suddenly and walks away from the little circle by the fireplace. She can’t bear to sit there any longer. She goes to the front of the room and paces back and forth before the windows. She glances out occasionally at the icy drive, as if hoping for rescue.

She flicks a look over her shoulder at the rest of them, still sitting by the fireplace. No one is pretending to carry on with the game of Scrabble without her. What David said – and now what Beverly has said – has unsettled them all far too much.

She couldn’t bear to be near David any longer. That delicious tension that had existed between them last night has been corrupted. Now she’s not sure what she feels when she looks at him – it’s a confusing mix of attraction and fear.

She digs her nails into the palms of her hands. How can he be so detached about a man – even if he is a complete stranger – killing a woman he purports to love?

After a while, Riley joins her by the windows. Gwen turns to her briefly. Riley’s eyes are large and alert. For a moment the two of them stand together looking out at the frozen landscape that holds them trapped here.

Finally, Gwen leans in close to Riley and speaks quietly. ‘Do you think David is right? That Dana may have been murdered?’

Riley looks back at her, her eyes huge. ‘I don’t know what to think.’

Gwen studies Riley closely. She’s very pale and there is perspiration on her face, as if she’s running a fever. Maybe she shouldn’t even be talking to her about this. Riley’s brought her wineglass with her; her hands are visibly trembling.

‘Are you all right?’ Gwen asks her.

‘No, I’m not fucking all right,’ Riley says. ‘Are you?’

‘No. I’m not all right either,’ Gwen says, her voice low. ‘But you have to pull yourself together, Riley. Ease up on the booze.’

Riley narrows her eyes at her. ‘Mind your own business.’

‘Oh, because you mind yours?’ Gwen snaps back bitterly. She doesn’t know, suddenly, whether she will remain Riley’s friend after they get out of here. And she’s not even sure she cares.

Riley softens a little. ‘I’m sorry. I did what I thought was best. But I think David Paley is exactly who I say he is.’

‘Well, I don’t.’

‘Why don’t you ask him?’

‘I’m not going to ask him.’

‘Then I will,’ Riley says, and turns away.

‘Stop!’ Gwen hisses, and reaches out and grabs Riley by the arm. ‘Wait.’