Page 58 of Someone in the Water
‘And Raphael has contacts in the police,’ Lola goes on. ‘And his uncle was in the mafia apparently, so it’s in his blood. And I heard he found her, so he was clearly close by.’
‘What? No.’ I shake my head, but my mind starts whirring. It’s true that Patrick said Raphael and Anna were arguing about Izzy, but he was only five, so could easily have been mistaken. It does seem that Raphael has police connections, but so will most Corsican business owners. And Raphael lived near the beach, so him being close by isn’t that suspicious. Maybe his uncle was in the mafia, but that doesn’t make Raphael a killer. If it points the finger at anyone, it would be Salvo because Izzy always suspected that he was involved in something illegal – but of course he didn’t write that note.
‘No, that’s crazy,’ I say, finding my voice at last. ‘We’ve been over this, Lola. I killed Izzy. Not on purpose, but I made a mistake, got scared when I shouldn’t have, and left her in trouble.’
Lola leans back in her chair. ‘What about Dom then?’ she says, ignoring my explanation. ‘He made it clear last night that he didn’t like her.’
‘That doesn’t make him a killer.’
Lola goes quiet for a moment, and I can tell that she’s thinking. ‘You said that you and Izzy were pretty drunk when you went swimming,’ she finally says. ‘Why was that? What had you been doing?’
I turn to look towards the garden. ‘We were holding a kind of wake, for Archie,’ I say quietly. ‘It was our way of saying goodbye.’
‘By getting drunk and going skinny-dipping?’
I close my eyes, a futile attempt to shield myself from how disrespectful that sounds. ‘We were young and thoughtless. Izzy suggested a midnight swim, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.’
‘Did everyone go in the sea?’
I shake my head. ‘Harriet didn’t want to get her hair wet. And Jack. Well, I guess he was hurting too much.’
‘Or maybe he thought it was out of line,’ Lola points out.
I look away. With hindsight, yes, it was an insensitive thing to do. But Jack has no right to take the moral high ground. ‘I’m not proud of any of it,’ I murmur.
‘No, I didn’t mean that. Jack must have been half-crazy with grief that night. Maybe he wanted to punish you and Izzy for being disrespectful?’
Jack tried to kill his family, Frankie.
Archie’s words, just hours before he died.
I tap my can of Coke. It’s true that Jack was ruthless. I can’t believe he’d attack us for the reason Lola suggests, but what if my outburst at Henri’s bar made him decide that I was a threat to his freedom? I tried to backtrack, to apologise, but maybe it was too late. With Archie gone, Izzy and I were the two people who knew the truth about him. Is there a chance that he tried to get rid of us both?
And if it was him, does that mean the note is a genuine threat?
Either way, the last thing I need is Lola putting herself in danger by digging for the truth.
‘Lola, you can’t go around blaming other people because you want me to be innocent.’
‘But why are you so determined not to?’ Lola snaps back. ‘Why can’t you at least consider the possibility that your instincts were right about there being someone else in the water?’
I take another gulp of Coke, feel a stab of pain as a bubble lodges in my chest. God, I just want to get her back to Lymington, away from this danger that I can’t quite articulate. ‘Have you heard from the British consulate yet?’ I ask.
‘Sorry?’
‘I guess they’ll email you with an update when your travel documents are completed?’
Lola shakes her head and slams her can down. ‘That’s your response? Ignoring my question and changing the subject? For fuck’s sake, Mum! Why are you being so stubborn?’
‘I just want to take you home,’ I whisper.
‘I don’t want to go home! I want to go to Sartène on Thursday, and spend my birthday here so I can actually celebrate, with you! And I want to compete in that windsurf race on Saturday. I only have you, Mum. Dad is half a world away; I have no siblings. And you’re treating me like I don’t matter.’
‘Of course you matter!’ I call out. ‘More than anything in the world.’
‘Look, you leaving me every birthday, keeping secrets from me. These are the things thatareyour fault, Mum,’ she says, the words harsh, but her voice softening. ‘But you’re still fixated on the one thing that isn’t. Whether it was an accident, or someone else’s doing, it happened over two decades ago, to a girl you knew for less than three months. It’s Izzy’s mother who should be grieving for eternity, not you. You’remymother.’ Lola pushes her fist against her chest. ‘You’re supposed to putmefirst.’
Tears come. I think I am putting Lola first, but I have I got it all wrong? ‘I’m so sorry,’ I whisper.
