An Unwanted Guest(59)

‘I don’t see how that matters much, right now,’ Henry says. ‘Who cares about your brother?’

David sends Henry a look to shut him up. ‘I want to know why he was lying.’

‘I’ve never told anyone this before,’ Ian says nervously. He glances at Lauren. ‘I was thirteen. And Jason, he was ten. He could be difficult. I didn’t like hanging out with him, keeping an eye on him. Jason wanted to go to the pond that day. He wasn’t allowed to go by himself. So I went with him. But when we got there we got into a fight about something stupid. He was so stubborn. I got pissed off and I left. I left him there alone. I didn’t think he’d go in the water. He knew better.’ He pauses, takes a breath, and exhales heavily.

‘When I got home, later, and we couldn’t find him, I went back to the pond. He was floating there, dead. And I knew it was my fault for leaving him. I never should have left him there. I’ve had to live with that my whole life.

‘I lied to my parents. They didn’t know we’d gone to the pond together. I let them believe that he’d gone on his own. That it was just a fluke that I was the one to find him. All these years, I’ve been living with the guilt. And my parents still don’t know.’ He looks up at the rest of them. ‘I don’t know if I’m guilty under the law. I left him there alone, and I’ve been lying about it ever since. I probably knew he’d go in the water. I told you the same story I’ve told everyone, even my parents.’ He looks at David – he’s afraid to look at Lauren. ‘This is the first time I’ve told the truth about it.’ He slumps back in his seat, exhausted. ‘Now you all know.’





Chapter Thirty


LAUREN WATCHES IAN, her lover, through startled eyes. Then she glances at the attorney, tries to gauge what he’s thinking. He looks as if he believes Ian now. But she doesn’t know what to believe. Maybe it happened the way Ian says. Or maybe Ian pushed his brother in. Maybe he held him down.

He’d told her about his younger brother before, the original version – the lie.

He’s sitting close to her, their bodies touching, but now she pulls away. He looks back at her in consternation.

‘Why didn’t you tell me the truth?’ she says, her eyes glancing off his.

‘I didn’t even tell my parents! I couldn’t tell you – I was afraid of losing you.’ He looks back at her imploringly. ‘I didn’t mean for it to happen. Do you think I haven’t blamed myself every single day since then? Do you think I don’t feel guilty every time I think about my parents? Every time I talk to them?’

She turns her eyes away from him.

‘C’mon, Lauren. Don’t let this come between us.’

She doesn’t answer him for a moment. Then she turns to him in the dark. ‘You should have told your parents the truth.’ It comes out sounding a little too pious.

‘I was a kid,’ he says defensively.

Lauren shifts further away from Ian on the sofa, and speaks nervously, without looking at him. She feels everyone staring at her. She takes a deep breath and says, ‘You’re not a kid now. And we have to tell the truth, Ian. It will come out eventually.’

‘What?’ Ian says, startled.

‘What is it you want to tell us?’ David asks.

She says reluctantly, ‘When we went upstairs after lunch – I know I said that we were together, but – I went to the little sitting room on the second floor to be alone for a bit, to read. Ian said he was going to have a nap. I wasn’t with him.’ She feels Ian stir on the sofa beside her uneasily. ‘We weren’t together all afternoon like we said.’

‘Why did you lie?’ Beverly says.

‘Because I didn’t think’ – Lauren’s voice falters – ‘I still don’t think that Ian had anything to do with this.’

Ian says, ‘It’s true that Lauren went to read in the sitting room in the afternoon while I was alone in our room. We probably should have said so. But I’m not a killer. That’s ridiculous. It’s not me!’ He turns to Lauren. ‘You don’t think it’s me, do you?’ He sounds a little worried.

‘No.’ She shakes her head but she sounds uncertain, and she knows it. She can hear it in her own voice. Perhaps they all can.

‘Why on earth would anyone think it’s me?’ Ian asks. He looks nervously at the others seated around the fireplace. ‘Why me? It could be anyone.’

‘It might be you,’ Lauren whispers suddenly. ‘Maybe I’ve just been too blind to see it.’

‘What?’ Ian splutters. ‘Lauren, come on.’ He looks genuinely alarmed now. ‘This is insane.’

‘When Dana was killed, I just assumed that you were with me all night.’

‘I was with you all night! I never left the room. I swear.’ He runs his hand through his hair nervously. ‘And how would you even know? You were asleep.’

‘That’s just it, Ian.’ She looks doubtfully at him now. ‘You know I take sleeping pills. I took two on Friday night. You knew I took them. You could have left our room for hours and I wouldn’t have known.’

‘But that doesn’t mean I did!’ He runs his hands up and down his thighs. ‘So you can’t vouch for me being in the room all night.’ He looks uneasily at the others. ‘So what? None of you can prove where you were all night. Why are you pointing the finger at me?’ He says, ‘I think we all need to take a step back here. We’re all getting a little paranoid.’