Page 311 of The Hallmarked Man
‘I’ve just been informed,’ said Longcaster, ‘that the jellyfish gatecrashed Sacha Legard’s birthday party.’
Cosima gave a forced laugh at the word ‘jellyfish’, but her father didn’t look amused.
‘And I hear you and Valentine spoke to him there.’
‘Only a bit,’ said Cosima. ‘It was nothing.’
‘Why didn’t you alert the police to his whereabouts?’ asked Longcaster. ‘Or call me, so I could do so?’
‘He just – he was there one moment, and then he left,’ said Cosima. ‘There wouldn’t have been time for the police to get him. He just sort of walked in and walked straight out again.’
Her right hand was playing with a set of gold rings on her left. She re-crossed her legs.
‘Sacha told my partner Rupert said or did something to make you cry,’ said Robin.
‘That’s—’
Robin could tell Cosima wanted to deny it, but that meant calling the famous, handsome actor a liar.
‘I think I actually – I wasn’t crying about Rupert.’
‘Sacha says you were,’ said Robin. ‘He says Rupert upset you.’
‘No, he didn’t,’ said Cosima, her colour mounting. ‘You weren’t there, you don’t know what happened. I was upset because he’d just, like, burst in on Sachy’s party, OK?’
‘You just said you weren’t crying about Rupert,’ said Robin.
She expected Longcaster to intervene, to protect his favourite child from her questions, but on the contrary, the club owner was staring at Cosima with a none-too-friendly look on his jowly face.
‘I wasn’t – there was a ton of drama going on that night, OK, I just felt kinda overwhelmed and then Rupert turning up was, like, the final straw, I thought there was gonna be a scene—’
‘What kind of scene?’ asked Robin.
‘Just, you know, that security would be involved and, like, people would think Val and I had invited Rupert or something—’
‘Why would anyone think you’d invited him?’ asked Robin. ‘Neither of you were friends with him, were you? He just worked here for a bit. Wouldn’t people be much more likely to think Sacha had invited Rupert, given that they’re cousins?’
‘Look,’ said Cosima, who’d flushed a deeper red, ‘I was just upset that night, OK, and I was, like,disgustedhe showed up, after he stole Daddy’s silver thing—’
‘But not disgusted enough to call the police,’ said Longcaster.
‘It was so quick, Daddy, one minute he was there and the next—’
‘He was there long enough to argue with Valentine, wasn’t he?’ said Robin.
‘I think Val just, um, like, he saw Rupert, and I think he tried to get him to leave,’ said Cosima, still flushed.
‘Again, that’s not what Sacha Legard says,’ said Robin. ‘He says Rupert arrived there looking for a fight. He sought out Valentine, rather than the other way round.’
‘Well, I don’t – I didn’t see everything, it was really crowded, I don’t know what happened.God, what’s the big deal?’ said Cosima, with a false laugh. ‘Why d’you evencare?’
‘I told you why, outside,’ said Robin. ‘Your sister’s very worried about Rupert. He’s disappeared.’
‘That’s notmyfault,’ said Cosima, but a curious look of panic crossed her lovely face. ‘That’s not on me. I didn’t know – it’s notmyfault.’
‘You “didn’t know” what?’ said Robin.
‘I meant, I didn’t make him steal the ship thing, it’s notmyfault he went off.’
