Page 108 of Deep Blue Sea

‘What is it?’ asked Sylvia, looking as if she had never seen one before.

Rachel stroked the tiny dolphin that was peeking round her T-shirt.

‘It was a present to myself when I started free-diving.’

‘She’s really good,’ added Liam, taking the umbrella off Sylvia and standing it up in the corner. ‘Got one of the best teachers in South East Asia, who reckons she should compete internationally.’

Sylvia smiled politely, and Diana felt the frostiness around the room.

‘So who fancies some lunch?’ said Rachel quickly.

Diana put her hand in the air. ‘I can send Mrs Bills down with something.’

‘No, she’s already brought us a sandwich once this morning.’

‘We do have people to do these things,’ said Sylvia quietly.

Liam put a hand on her shoulder. ‘I can go to the shops. Sylvia, do you fancy joining me?’

His smile was so impossible to resist that Diana half wished he had invited her to go with him instead.

‘So how was Jamaica?’ she asked when Liam and Sylvia had left.

Rachel described the abandoned clinic, Ross’s injuries, Detective Henry’s hunch that he had been beaten up more than the average. It didn’t seem to add up to much.

‘Tell me about New York,’ she said when she had finished.

Diana could feel her cheeks flushing. She got up and stood by the open window, hoping that the breeze might cool her down and disguise her embarrassment. She was desperate to tell her sister what had happened. Rachel might not be able to sort out her own love life, but she had always been a sage counsel on other people’s dilemmas.

Diana had slept with Adam, but more than that, she had feelings for him. Was that so terribly wrong, or was it a sign that she could stop living in the past, a sign that she could love again and have a future without Julian in it?

Cowardice stopped her from speaking her thoughts out loud. Instead she described the meeting with Simon Michaels.

‘I got the sense that Michaels wasn’t that happy about the company being sold,’ she concluded.

‘So he had a beef with Julian?’ asked Rachel.

‘I didn’t say that.’

‘And what did Adam think?’

Even the mention of his name made her heart thud harder.

‘He didn’t really say. I think he felt it was all a bit of a wild goose chase.’

‘Perhaps I should phone him,’ said Rachel.

Diana felt territorial at her sister’s suggestion. ‘No, I’ll call him,’ she replied, knowing that it might be a good excuse to speak to him again. ‘But maybe he has a point.’

‘So you think we’re on a wild goose chase?’ said Rachel, looking hurt.

‘I know how hard you’re working on this,’ Diana said kindly. ‘But what I don’t understand is that if Julian was trying to build up some sort of case about Rheladrex, whether it was for or against, with or without Madison Kopek, then where is all the stuff about it? He was organised. He would have collected files and papers. He wouldn’t think about nixing the pharm division’s pet project without any sort of thought process behind it.’ Julian’s laptop had been returned by the police, and she knew that Rachel had already been through its files and found nothing relating to Rheladrex.

Rachel was the type to always have a ready answer for everything, but right now she looked flummoxed.

Outside, there was the grumble of the hire car returning, and Liam and Sylvia came in, each holding a bag from the village stores. They were laughing over some shared joke and went straight into the kitchen, where Diana could hear him teaching her mother how to make a Thai soup called tom ka kai.

‘I think Liam’s a hit,’ she grinned.