Then She Vanishes(36)

Jack and I sit side by side on the sofa while Margot bustles out of the room again. Five minutes later she’s back with a bag of frozen peas that she hands to Jack. ‘For the eye,’ she says. ‘Hold it there for a good five to ten minutes to reduce the swelling. That’s it. Now, I’ll go and fetch some tea.’

She leaves the room again and Jack turns to me. He’s moved the bag of peas from his left eye to his swollen lip. ‘She seems really nice,’ he says, his voice muffled by the bag.

‘She is. She’s thawed a bit since I first called round. You don’t want to get on the wrong side of her, though. She’s …’

I fall silent as Margot returns, carrying a tray and setting it down on the coffee table. She pours us both tea and leaves us to add milk as she settles herself in one of the armchairs. She seems chirpier today and I wonder if she’s had news about Heather.

‘How is Heather?’ I ask, stirring my tea. ‘Is there any change?’

‘No. But she’s stable. The doctors say there’s no reason why she should still be in a coma. Apparently it’s her body’s way of resting. There is no longer any swelling or bleeding on the brain. So it’s good news.’ She smiles, tucking her slippered feet underneath her. For once she’s not wearing jodhpurs but a pair of jeggings and a long jumper with a horse on the front. ‘I’m hopeful.’

‘I’m so pleased. I’d …’ I hesitate, trying not to look at Jack. ‘I’d love to see her again. When she wakes up. That is, if she’d like to see me.’

There’s so much I wish I could say to her. To apologize for.

Margot’s expression is steadfast and I’m worried I’ve gone too far, asked for too much. But, to my surprise, she nods. ‘I think she might like that. Yes.’

I’m so relieved and grateful that I can feel myself smiling back gormlessly. Then I remember why we’re here. I reach down to the bag at my feet and retrieve my notebook and pen.

Margot’s eyes go to the notebook and I see her stiffen. I try to ease her in gently, just asking some anodyne questions, about the business and Heather’s set-up with Adam and Ethan. Margot’s answers are guarded and my heart falls. If she’s like this now, how will she react when I start probing further?

‘So, the day of the shooting. Last Friday …’

‘I can’t believe it’s only a week ago today,’ she mumbles. ‘So much has changed.’

Only a week. It feels much longer. ‘So that day,’ I try again, ‘where were you when you heard?’

She fidgets. ‘I was away. I hardly ever go away, and the one time I do … the one time …’

‘Who found Heather?’

She sniffs. ‘Sheila. Do you remember her? She still helps out with the horses once or twice a week.’

I nod. I do remember Sheila, a buxom, gossipy woman, who used to chat to everyone and anything incessantly, animals included. Heather and I used to giggle when we heard her talking to the plants.

‘She came in that day because I was on a yoga retreat with my friend, Pam.’

I scribble it down in shorthand. ‘Where was that?’

‘In Devon. But we were due back that day.’

‘And what time was this?’ I ask.

‘Sheila found her at about eight thirty a.m. in the barn. Heather had been unconscious for quite some time.’

I swallow, trying not to think of Heather lying in our favourite barn, bleeding and unconscious. ‘And Sheila called the ambulance?’

‘Yes. And then she called Adam. I was travelling home with Pam when Adam phoned me. He was distraught. He said they’d argued the night before and he’d walked out, staying at his mum’s with Ethan.’

This is news to me. I sit up straighter. ‘What did they row about?’

‘He didn’t say. Just that she’d been a little delusional and obsessed.’

‘Delusional and obsessed? About what?’

Margot stares at her lap. ‘I don’t know.’

I glance at her, wondering if she’s telling the truth. ‘You never asked him?’

‘I – I didn’t want to pry.’

‘But,’ I begin tentatively, ‘it might explain her state of mind.’

She suddenly looks unsure. ‘Yes. That’s true.’

There’s something not quite right here. Is she scared of Adam? If not, why wouldn’t she ask him?

For now I change tack. ‘So when Adam called you, did he know that Heather had shot the Wilsons?’

She shakes her head. ‘Not at that stage. All he knew was that it looked as though Heather had tried to take her own life and was in hospital. In a coma. So Pam drove me straight to the hospital. On the way Adam called me again to say he’d heard from the police. That’s when he told me what she had done. He was waiting for me in the atrium when I arrived, and he was devastated. As you can imagine …’ she leans forwards and places her teacup on the side table with a trembling hand.

The room falls silent as we take in her words. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Jack moving the frozen peas back to his eye with a grimace.

‘Did they have proof?’ I ask.

‘Yes. The gun. It was the same one that was used to kill the Wilsons.’