An Unwanted Guest(58)

Suddenly, James shakes off his apathy, and springing up out of his chair, cries, ‘Who did this? Which of you killed my son?’ He feels an overwhelming grief and rage. ‘Why? Why in God’s name would anyone kill my son?’ His voice is wild, accusing, as he looks at each of them in turn. He can see that he has frightened them.

David rises and approaches him, tries to calm him, but James doesn’t want to be calmed. He wants an answer.

‘I don’t know, James,’ David says. ‘I’m so sorry. But we will find out. You will know who murdered your son.’

‘One of you killed him!’

‘Unless there’s someone else here,’ Lauren reminds him shakily.

‘There’s no one else here!’ James screams. Then he collapses back into his chair, puts his face in his hands and sobs.





Sunday, 3:30 AM


Despite how late it is, Lauren is wide awake. Everyone is glancing uneasily at everyone else and then looking away again. Everyone but Henry and Beverly. Henry and Beverly are sitting side by side now and watching her and Ian intently. She finds it unnerving. She wonders what they’re thinking.

‘Why are you staring at us like that?’ she says to Henry at last, her voice sharp.

‘I’m not staring,’ Henry says, quickly averting his eyes.

‘Yes, you were,’ Lauren accuses him. ‘Is there something you want to say?’

The air is sharp with tension. She doesn’t care. She wants to know why he’s looking at them like that, and she wants him to stop.

But it’s Beverly who speaks up, surprising her.

‘I thought I saw something.’

David turns to Beverly. ‘What? What did you see?’

‘I saw something on Ian’s face,’ Beverly says.

‘What are you talking about?’ David asks impatiently.

‘I saw Ian looking at Bradley when you brought him in.’

‘We were all looking at Bradley,’ Lauren says sharply. ‘So what?’

‘It’s the way he was looking at him,’ Beverly says nervously.

‘What the hell do you mean?’ Ian asks.

Now Beverly looks at Ian more boldly and says, ‘You were looking at him – as if – as if you were glad he was dead.’

‘What?’ Ian looks shocked. ‘That’s ridiculous!’ he protests.

‘How dare you!’ Lauren exclaims, turning from Ian to glare at Beverly. ‘I was right there beside him. He did no such thing.’

Beverly turns on her, and says with conviction, ‘I know what I saw.’

‘You were imagining things,’ Lauren says. She flicks her eyes towards Ian.

‘My wife wouldn’t make something like that up,’ Henry says in her defence. His face flushes in the firelight, and he sounds belligerent. ‘Why would she?’

Lauren can’t think of an answer.

David is startled at this outburst of Beverly’s. He doubts the reliability of what she says. No one knows better than he how notoriously unreliable eyewitnesses are. They see a black car and think it was red. They miss things that are right in front of them and see things that aren’t there at all. How much is she projecting her own fear? Beverly had seemed fairly solid until now.

Yet he had himself been suspicious of Ian, ever since he sensed he might be lying about the death of his younger brother. He’d wondered about the sleeping pills, how much they could rely on Lauren even knowing where Ian was the night Dana was killed. He too would like to know more about Ian. He would like to press him.

Gwen watches this exchange, appalled. Beverly seems to be accusing Ian of being the killer. It seems impossible – he’s so charming, so easy to get along with, and he has that wonderful smile. She thinks suddenly of that line from Shakespeare – where was it from? – One may smile, and smile, and be a villain. Her body has gone rigid, every muscle tight and stiff. Ian could have done it. He could have killed Dana while Lauren was knocked out with her sleeping pills. He was upstairs, with Lauren, when Candice was murdered. And he was running around in the dark like the rest of them when Bradley was killed. It was so dark – he could have done it. Lauren might be lying for him. Gwen clenches her hands tight.

She looks across the coffee table at David but she can’t tell what he’s thinking.

‘Something’s been bothering me,’ David says. And now they all turn to look at David, who is watching Ian. ‘Something about the story about your brother.’

‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ Ian asks sharply.

‘It’s just that something didn’t quite ring true,’ David says.

‘What makes you think that?’ Ian asks, licking his lips nervously.

Gwen, watching, feels sick.

‘I can usually tell when someone is lying,’ David asserts. He leans forward, out of the shadows. ‘Was there something more to that story? Something you aren’t telling us?’ He waits a beat and adds, ‘If there is, maybe you’d better share it with us now.’

Ian swallows nervously and considers his position. David had caught him in a lie. He had lied about his brother. He feels cornered.

‘Okay,’ Ian says, his voice low and distraught. He looks up at the attorney. ‘You’re right. I didn’t tell the whole truth about my brother.’