Page 45 of High Season
“Come on,” said Barnaby. “Club’s closing. We should be getting back.”
As Hannah stood, she could swear that she could feel the heat of Tamara’s stare.
In the back of the car, Hannah leaned her head against Blake’s shoulder and closed her eyes. She knew that Tamara would probably shoot them a dirty look, if she saw. She knew that this thing between her and Blake was undefined, that resting against him wasthe kind of thing a girlfriend would do, and she was not his girlfriend. She knew that, if she hadn’t drunk so much, she would worry about all these things, overthink whether she was being too forward, if she was annoying Blake’s twin. But right now, she didn’t care.
Barnaby drove fast, his foot pressed hard against the accelerator, the car drifting into the center of the road. Once, he had to sway to avoid a lorry barreling toward them, the blast of the horn cutting through a sleepy, half-drunk daydream that Hannah had been having. She and Blake in Oxford together. Pints of beer in tumble-down pubs, sex in a single bed in her halls. She had gripped the back of her seat when Barnaby swerved, but then the lorry passed and they had all been laughing, saying what an idiot the truck driver was. As if he were the reckless one.
Later, Hannah would look back on that moment and cringe. She would be horrified by how untouchable they had all felt, as if they were asking the world to break them. The frightening hubris of seventeen-year-olds. She did not yet know that somehow, somewhere, someone was always going to get hurt.
But just then, Hannah sat in the back of the car and thought only of the warmth of Blake’s arm against hers. The twinge between her legs. An exquisite pain.
The sun was rising as they followed the coast home, the sky a shade of gold. The promise of another day. Another future, now within Hannah’s reach.
23 August 2004, 11:48
Extract from interview withEvelyn Drayton.
This extract is taken from Evelyn Drayton’s fourth interview with the police.
Present is legal representative for the Drayton family,Florent Portier, and translatorFelicity Carmichael.
Leading the interview is lead investigatorMartine Allard.
M Allard:OK, Ms. Drayton, we’re going to go through this again, but this time we’re really going to take our time with it. I understand that you’re upset, and I understand that you and your family have been through a lot—
E Drayton:That’s an understatement.
M Allard:You’ve been through a lot, and this process is extremely distressing for you. But we’re just going to go over, one more time, what your daughter told you yesterday.
E Drayton:I don’t know how many more times I can say this. Nina crawled into my bed, where I’d been napping, and she told me that she saw Josie Jackson fighting Tamara in the pool, and she saw Josie push Tamara underneath the water.
M Allard:And you said you were napping. Did Nina wake you up to tell you this?
E Drayton:I—I think so. I was dozing. Half-awake, I think. I’ve been sleeping a lot. It’s been hard to get out of bed lately.
M Allard:So there was no conversation leading up to this? You weren’t discussing Tamara’s death with Nina?
E Drayton:No. No, I don’t think so. I was sort of half-awake, andNina said, “Mummy, I know a secret.” Yes, that’s what she said. “I know a secret.” I know I’m not supposed to smoke in here, but…
M Allard:It’s fine. Go ahead. And how did you respond to that?
E Drayton:Well, I don’t really remember. I don’t think I said anything, at first. As I said, I wasn’t quite awake. And then she said, “Mummy, I saw Tamara and Josie fighting.” Well, I was awake then, let me tell you.
M Allard:What did you say then?
E Drayton:I don’t know, I suppose I asked her what she meant. And that’s when she said it. That she saw them fighting in the pool. That Josie… that JosiekilledTamara.
M Allard:Did she use those words? Did she say that Josie killed Tamara?
E Drayton:Well, I can’t remember, exactly. Maybe. Or she might have just said that she pushed her. I don’t know. And then I shouted for Blake, so that he could hear it. And I got Nina to repeat what she’d told me, and she said the exact same thing. “I saw Josie and Tamara fighting, and Josie pushed Tamara under the water.” Clear as a bell.
M Allard:And what happened next?
E Drayton:Well, we called the police, obviously.
M Allard:You didn’t ask Nina any more questions?
E Drayton:I can’t really remember. I don’t think so.
