Page 54 of You Lied First
Margot hands the paper back to Guy.
‘I guess it was bound to happen.’
Guy throws himself onto the sofa. ‘Yep.’
‘But what can we do?’ she says. ‘We just have to sit tight, right?’
‘Yep. Business as usual. And we need to keep an eye on Sara. Last thing we need is her cracking.’
The memory of the tent zip opening in the night comes back to Margot. The tick-tick-tick she thinks she heard. If it wasn’t Flynn … She doesn’t want to, but she has to ask.
‘Can I ask you something?’ She keeps her voice steady; doesn’t want to imply any sort of accusation.
‘Fire away.’
‘Please don’t get angry, I’m not accusing you of anything, okay? But on that night – the night we camped – I thought I heard the tent zip go down?’ She pauses. It’s out there now. She has to say it. ‘Did you get up for anything?’
His eyes narrow. ‘What are you asking?’
She holds her hands up like a surrender. ‘Nothing. I just wondered if you saw anything – if you did get up?’
He angles his head at her like he’s having trouble understanding. ‘You think I wouldn’t have said by now?’
Margot closes her eyes and exhales through her nose, aware that one wrong word will trigger him.
‘But, in answer to your question, no,’ Guy says. ‘I slept straight through. Drunken coma. You know me.’
It wouldn’t be the first time he passed out through alcohol.
‘I just wondered.’
‘You’d drunk a skinful, too, to be fair,’ Guy says. ‘If you heard something, it could have been an insect or anything.’
Margot twiddles her pencil in her fingers. ‘So, do you think they’ll find her?’
‘Honestly? The chances are minuscule. We were a hundred and fifty miles or more from the city, in thousands of square miles of sand. She’s a needle in a haystack.’
Maybe, but maybe not. This is no longer a tiny story in a newspaper in a foreign land. Celine is pretty and led a photogenic lifestyle, and there’s not much else going on in the news right now. For sure, the police will push and the tabloids will run with the story until someone, somewhere remembers or reveals something. Margot imagines that the next few weeks and months are going to feel like driving a dodgem blindfolded, never knowing when something will ram into her. The thought makes her want to throw up.
‘Well,’ she says. ‘We’ll need to tell Flynn something because he’s going to see this.’
‘She went missing after we got back. It’s sad, but nothing to do with us. Keep it simple.’ Of course he assumes that she’ll be the one to do it. ‘Just drop it in the conversation when you see him. Don’t make a big deal of it.’
Margot starts to rearrange the scattered pieces of wood back into the rooms of the mansion and Guy comes to stand behind her. He towers over her, watching while she works. It’s his way of reminding himself that he’s her manager, her boss. That he’s the power in the company she created. How did it come to this?
‘Don’t forget we’ve got a deadline,’ he says, as if he hasn’t just ruined her morning’s work. ‘You can’t afford to lose any more time on it.’ He drops the newspaper onto the sofa. ‘And one o’clock for lunch today, please. Something nice.’
44
SARA
I’ve just finished reading the morning’s colour pieces on Celine when Margot phones. She’s going to tell Flynn that Celine is missing straight after Flynn’s basketball practice. Liv is usually there, watching him, she says, so would I like to come too?
I find my way to the gym where Flynn’s playing a training match and spot Margot and Liv on the shallow bleachers to one side of the court. Like every secondary school gym, the smell is of disinfectant and stale sweat. Both Margot and Liv are on their phones. I’m hopeful that Liv will take the news about Celine relatively well, given she didn’t really like her. But I’m also aware of the tendency Liv has to make everything about her, so I’m steeled for a bit of drama.
‘Hey,’ I say, touching Liv’s arm as I slip into the seat next to her.
‘Mum! What are you doing here? You don’t usually come to school.’ Suddenly her face clouds. ‘Is Dad okay?’
