Page 51 of You Lied First

M argot is resting on the sofa in the orangery when Guy comes back from wherever he went.

The wine’s wearing off and she has a headache.

She’s getting more of those since she started relying on over-the-counter sleeping tablets to get her through the nights and wine to get her through the days.

She doesn’t open her eyes when she hears her husband walk in, nor when she feels the weight of him scrunch onto the sofa by her feet. Her finger is throbbing.

‘Where’ve you been?’ she asks.

‘I went to Sara’s to ask her about the phone. She didn’t take out the SIM. But she says she put it back to factory settings.’

‘That’s good enough, isn’t it? Maybe it’ll be okay.’

‘“Maybe it’ll be okay” isn’t really what I’m aiming for in a situation like this!’ Guy snaps. ‘I’d prefer “it’s watertight”, but nothing can be done now. How are you? How’s the finger?’

‘Agony. Anyway, listen. I’ve been thinking.

About the parents. That video. They’re still hoping she’s alive, and it’s destroying them.

I was wondering if there’s a way we could tell them that she’s no longer alive.

To give them closure. Without dumping ourselves in it.

Because, at the moment, they have so much hope. ’

‘Are you insane? No!’ Guy’s voice is like the crack of a whip, but Margot continues. She’s put a lot of thought into this while lying on the sofa.

‘Do you remember what Sara suggested at the time? That one of us could stay and explain? Maybe we could still do something like that.’

‘Nope. Not happening.’

‘Hear me out. One of us could say they were in the desert on their own – they got separated from everyone or went for a walk, or something. Then they stumbled across some disturbed sand that, with hindsight, looked a bit suspicious. At the time, they assumed it was just mess from when someone had camped there, but now being back and having heard about this missing woman, maybe it’s worth investigating?

The police did say they wanted all information, however trivial.

’ Margot’s even thinking that it could be she and Guy who could go forward.

She just wants to alleviate the pain of those poor parents.

‘You want to lead the police to where we buried her?’ Guy’s eyes flash and Margot realises she’s on dangerous ground.

Guy’s so tightly coiled right now. But he turns his back and moves away from her, slamming his balled fist into the palm of the other hand.

She watches as he paces up and down. Then he stops and speaks.

‘If we wanted her to be found, we’d have been better off just leaving her lying there and pretending we’d never seen her body in the first place.

But we decided to bury her. We all agreed, remember?

And let’s not forget there’ll be DNA – I don’t know what shit they’ll find that could be linked to us.

’ Guy runs his hand over his forehead. ‘Look, this isn’t a pleasant situation, is it?

And I hate to say it, but it’s dog eats dog.

Survival of the fittest. Our sanity or that of her parents.

And, when it comes down to it, if I’m choosing between them or me, I’m going to pick me every time.

Every. Single. Time. Remember, Celine is dead.

Saying something to her parents isn’t going to change what happened.

It’s only going to land us in deep shit.

Really deep shit. That woman needs to stay six feet under. ’

It wasn’t six feet, Margot thinks, not even half that – but she’s not going to tell Guy that. The whole plan seems so ill thought-out now. Maybe they should just confess. Maybe the police will give them some clemency in return for answers.

‘Believe me, I’d like to help them,’ Guy continues, ‘but there’s nothing we can do without compromising ourselves.

We can’t bring her back to life. You know that.

You want to know how I see it? Out there, we were caught in a difficult situation and we did what we had to do in order for us all to carry on living our lives.

To give our kids the chance to fulfil their destinies.

The Cremorne family is unfortunately the collateral damage.

That’s all. Sadly, they’re going to have to come to terms with the fact that she’s gone.

And we need to stick to the plan we agreed on.

’ He pauses. ‘Now, are you still with Sara and me? Or do you still want to blow up all our lives?’

He’s interrupted by the buzzer ringing from the gate. Guy goes to speak over the intercom. Margot hears some sort of high-pitched crackly commotion and Guy say, ‘Okay.’

‘Who is it?’ she calls.

‘Sara. Sounds upset. She was okay when I left her.’

‘Has something happened that we don’t know about?’ Margot checks her phone. It feels as if it’s never out of her hand these days. ‘There’s nothing on Breaking News.’

Curiosity brings her to the hallway as Guy opens the front door. Sara almost falls through it, mascara streaked down her blotchy face, and gasps: ‘Have you seen Facebook? Celine’s left a comment! She’s alive and she knows what we did!’

‘What?’ Margot’s heart thuds.

Guy takes Sara by her upper arms and gives her the tiniest shake.

‘Sara, calm down. Look at me. She’s dead. We all saw that she was dead.’

‘But what if she wasn’t?’ Sara wails. ‘What if she was just unconscious?’

Margot’s headachey brain is struggling to keep up.

‘We buried her,’ she says. ‘Under the sand. Didn’t we, Sara? It feels like a dream, but it wasn’t, was it? We dug a hole. We put her in it, and we filled it in. Right?’

Sara shakes Guy off her and walks this way and that in the hallway. ‘Yes! But maybe we didn’t do a good job, Margot! I’ve never dug a grave before! Maybe we didn’t pack it tightly enough! It wasn’t very deep.’

‘It’s not like we had a compactor, is it?’ Margot says. ‘The Jeeps were coming. We were in a hurry.’

‘Yes! We were literally just throwing the sand back in as quickly as we could. We should have pressed it down more! And we should have checked she was really dead! All three of us. We should have all stood there and confirmed it.’ She flings her hands over her face.

‘Now she knows what we did! She’ll tell the police and that’s it!

We’ll go to jail and she’s not even dead! ’

Margot sinks down onto the stairs. Guy is tapping his phone.

‘It’s on the appeal page?’

‘Top comment,’ Sara says.

‘Got it.’ He reads for a moment then scoffs. ‘For God’s sake, Sara. Clearly a prankster. Set up an account using her name and photos that are freely available. That’s all it is. Saw the news about the phone and thought they’d stir it up a bit. People can be such arseholes.’

‘How can you be sure?’ Sara says. ‘Sometimes I have nightmares that she’s alive …’

Guy holds out his arm. ‘She’s dead, trust me. Come on, let’s calm down.’ He leads her towards the orangery as if she’s a skittish foal, while mouthing to Margot, ‘Brandy.’

By the time Margot brings three crystal glasses and the brandy bottle on a tray, Sara’s sitting on the sofa in the orangery looking a bit calmer.

Margot pours them each a generous slug of brandy and Sara downs it in one.

Margot refills it. Sara downs that also, then leans back on the cushions, her hand on her chest.

‘Even if it is a crank, they’re not wrong, are they?’ she wails. ‘What if the police get wind of this? What if it opens up a new line of enquiry?’

Guy shrugs. ‘Let it. There’s nothing to lead them to us.’

‘And what if she is alive? Margot, you know what I mean? Do you ever have doubts?’

Margot opens her mouth, but Guy beats her to it.

‘Well,’ he says. ‘If she is alive, then there’s absolutely no way you should be telling her parents that she’s dead, Mar!’ He bites his lips, as if stifling a chuckle. ‘Imagine.’

‘What?’ Sara’s eyes shoot from Guy to Margot. ‘You were thinking of doing that? Why didn’t you tell me? I was just with you.’

Guy holds up a hand. ‘It’s okay. No one’s telling anyone anything.’

‘We need to stick together!’ Sara says. Her eyes latch desperately with Margot’s. ‘Any decisions need to be made together. Like we agreed!’

But since Sara mentioned the loosely packed sand, Margot’s been spiralling.

‘What if there was an air pocket?’ she muses.

She’s picturing the loose sheet over Celine’s face and the poorly packed sand over the top of the body.

Celine’s brightly coloured nails clawing at the sand.

‘It wouldn’t be impossible, would it? Maybe she was in a coma, and she came to and managed to dig her way out. ’

‘I think it’s entirely possible!’ Sara says.

Guy slams his hand on a table, causing them both to jump.

‘Stop it! Both of you! Listen to me: she’s dead.

And worrying that she’s alive is not going to change anything.

And if by any chance she is alive, until and unless she walks into a police station and dumps us in it, there’s nothing we can do.

All right? This Facebook account is a phoney.

It’s just some cretin causing trouble. Understood? ’

Margot can see that Sara is far from okay and she’ll definitely be having those nightmares again tonight. But, eventually, Sara nods, and Guy smiles and slaps his thighs.

‘Right. I think we need something to look forward to. Something to take our minds off all of this. Get some semblance of normality back. Agreed? Sara, why don’t you and Liv come over for supper one night?

We’ll have a lovely evening and look only to the future and speak of cheerful things … current topic banned. How about it?’

Margot looks at Sara and their eyes meet. Margot gives Sara a micro-shrug, a why not? Sara nods, and so does Margot, even though she feels as if Guy’s dinner invitation is more akin to trying to fix an open wound with an Elastoplast.

‘Okay, great,’ he says. He makes a show of looking at his watch. ‘I hereby declare that normality resumes now .’