Page 195 of Original Sin

‘Oh my God!’ she whispered. Suddenly she knew why. The last piece of the puzzle slipped into place with a flash of such clarity that Tess cursed herself for not seeing it before. Shutting off the water, she jumped out of the cubicle, and rubbed a towel across her body vigorously.

Scrambling into a white T–shirt dress and flip–flops, she grabbed her mobile.

‘Hey sexy,’ called Sean from the bed, ‘see you here for lunch?’

‘Yeah, sure,’ she said distractedly, hurrying out of the room as she called Jemma. She glanced at the time on the phone’s screen, hoping that Jemma had arrived in Florida from Toronto.

‘Are you here yet?’ she asked anxiously as soon as her friend picked up.

‘I’m at the hotel. I called you ten minutes ago, didn’t you get my message?’ said Jemma. ‘I got in really late last night but didn’t want to disturb you.’

‘What room are you in?’

‘One of the cottages by the pool. The blue one at the end of the row.’

Tess ran down the stairwell, her flip–flops clattering against the marble floor. The door to the cottage was open and inside she could see Jemma sitting on the patio having breakfast under a gently fluttering palm tree.

‘Hey there you,’ said Jemma, clearly enjoying herself, ‘come and try these croissants, they’re amazing.’

Putting her finger to her lips, Tess glanced up and down the beach, then beckoned to Jemma to come back inside the cottage.

Frowning, Jemma pulled the patio door closed and followed Tess over to a white sofa under the ceiling fan.

‘You’ve found something out, haven’t you?’ said Jemma quietly, and Tess nodded.

‘What I’ve found out is that Meredith was having an affair with Olivia Martin.’

Jemma looked wide–eyed. ‘You’re kidding!’

‘It seems Olivia was trying to blackmail Meredith to keep quiet about their affair, which is why Mary–Ann Henner saw them arguing before the fireworks display.’

Jemma mulled it over. ‘How much was she blackmailing her for?’

‘Five thousand dollars a month,’ replied Tess. ‘That was a lot of money in the Sixties.’

‘So much for the broke, depressed Olivia theory, then. That certainly doesn’t sound like the mind–set of someone who was going to commit suicide a couple of hours later.’

Tess nodded. ‘Exactly what I thought, especially as Meredith didn’t cough up immediately. She says she asked her to wait and discuss it after she got back from her honeymoon, so all the more reason for Olivia to hang around.’

‘It could still have been an accident,’ said Jemma, distractedly brushing flakes of almond croissant from her shirt. ‘She was a boozer and a pill–popper, wasn’t she?’

Tess stared down at her fingers, deep in thought.

‘Have you got Mary–Ann Henner’s phone number?’ asked Tess.

‘Sure.’

Jemma was already scrolling through her BlackBerry. ‘What do you want me to ask her?’

‘Ask her who she had sex with in the rose garden on the night of Meredith and Howard’s wedding.’

Jemma winced in disbelief. ‘Come on, Tess. That’s a bit hardcore, even for someone as shameless as me.’

Tess had a firm look on her face.

‘You said Mary–Ann told you that she had sex with someone in the rose garden some time around eleven fifteen, right? Well that’s just around the time Olivia tried to blackmail Meredith, also in the rose garden,’ said Tess. She thought back to her visit to Riverview, how she and Lori, the assistant manager, had walked past the secluded garden around that time of night; how still and clear it had been; how she could hear every noise, from the crickets in the trees to a couple walking across the lawns to their room.

‘It was all go in the rose bushes that night,’ said Jemma, raising a shaped brow.