Page 169 of Deep Blue Sea

Elizabeth lifted up a hand. ‘Hang on. Don’t make me out to be the bad guy here. Julian’s gone. Rheladrex stays on the market, although we will fully co-operate with any regulatory board when matters come to a head. That’s if we still own the company.’

‘You still want the deal to go through?’ asked Diana in horror.

‘Of course I do,’ she snapped. ‘My job is to make money for the company.’

‘At what expense?’

Elizabeth looked incandescent. ‘No one knows anything concrete about Rheladrex. Not yet. The buyers are doing their own due diligence and nothing has been thrown up there. It’s not the evil drug you think it is, Diana. And the success of Denver depends on it.’

‘Have you been dealing with Greg on this, then?’ asked Adam.

‘Yes,’ confirmed Elizabeth.

Diana and Adam looked at each other.

‘Greg had a motive to kill Julian, Liz.’

‘We all had a motive,’ said Elizabeth, looking around the table. ‘It doesn’t mean that any of us did it.’

‘There’s something you should know, something odd,’ said Diana, and she began to tell her about Greg’s guest Eva not leaving the party.

Elizabeth didn’t say anything after she had finished speaking.

‘We should talk to Greg,’ said Adam eventually.

‘As if he’s going to admit anything,’ scoffed Elizabeth with her usual superior expression.

‘Phone him,’ pressed Diana.

Adam picked up his mobile and made a call, but there was no reply.

‘He’s probably out fucking Patty Reynolds,’ said Elizabeth under her breath.

‘Sorry?’ said Diana, unable to believe what she had just heard.

Elizabeth looked up. ‘Well Michael’s gone to Africa, hasn’t he? And whilst the cat’s away . . .’

‘Patty and Greg?’ replied Diana after the implication of what her sister-in-law had revealed fully registered.

‘Come on, you’ve heard the rumours,’ said Elizabeth dismissively.

‘No I have not,’ she gasped. ‘Their marriage is the strongest out of anyone we know.’

Elizabeth snorted with contempt. ‘Look at Patty, look at Michael and ask yourself why she isn’t going to fool around with someone a decade younger.’

‘But they love one another. Michael is a great guy . . .’

She felt a wave of fear and was desperate for reassurance. Her first and only thought was to speak to Patty. Picking up her phone, her fingers like putty, she called her friend and was surprised when the older woman answered.

‘Patty, it’s me.’ She had no idea what to say next.

‘Is everything okay, Di?’

‘Yes,’ she said, composing herself. ‘I’m just trying to track down Rachel. She said she was coming to see you this morning.’

‘No, she hasn’t arrived. Michael phoned me from the airport to say she might drop by, but she’s not come. I hope everything is all right.’

‘I’m sure it is,’ Diana replied, feeling cold.