‘So, you hit him on the head from behind because he said he was going to take your friend’s baby?’
‘Yes.’
‘And why was he going to take your baby?’ she asks Tallulah.
‘Because … I told him …’ She looks at Scarlett, who nods, just once. ‘I told him that I was in love with Scarlett.’
She waits to see what this pronouncement does to the perfect angles of Scarlett’s mother’s face, but it does nothing. Her face does not move in any way or register any kind of reaction. Instead, she simply sighs and says, ‘OK. So he was angry. And hurt. And maybe slightly disgusted. He said he was going to take your baby. He went to leave and then …’ All three of them look again at the body on the floor.
For a moment, nobody says anything. Then Scarlett’s mother sighs and says, ‘What a fucking mess. Right. Who knows you two were here?’ she asks Tallulah.
Tallulah tries to arrange her thoughts. ‘Er, nobody. My mum knows I’m at someone’s house, but I didn’t tell her whose.’
‘And what about your friends, Scarlett?’
‘Well, they all knew because we were all at the pub together. And Liam and Lexie, obviously, because they were here. And Mimi. And maybe some other people.’
‘Right, so eventually, people are going to realise that something’s up when this boy doesn’t come home.’
Tallulah nods and thinks of her mother and thinks of her baby and thinks of her bed and thinks that all she wants is her baby and her mother and her bed.
‘What time was your mother expecting you home?’ Scarlett’s mother asks Tallulah.
‘I don’t know, really. No particular time.’
‘Right, so we have a few hours at least before we need to make an account of ourselves.’
‘Aren’t we going to call the police?’ Tallulah asks.
‘What? No. This is manslaughter. Scarlett will end up in prison. You too, probably. And you’ll never see your baby grow up. No, this is a disaster, this is an absolute fucking disaster.’ She puts her hands on her hips and surveys the area. ‘So,’ she begins. ‘Mimi. What are we going to do about Mimi? Where is she?’
‘I told you. I don’t know. She came indoors to charge her phone.’
‘Go and find her,’ she says to Scarlett, without turning around. She goes to the sink, pours herself a glass of water and knocks back two painkillers with it. ‘Urgh. My head.’
Scarlett nods and disappears. Then for a moment or two, it is just Tallulah, Scarlett’s mother and the dog. ‘Well, life is never dull with Scarlett around, that’s for sure,’ says her mother. ‘Jesus Christ. One thing after another after another. From the moment she was born. I was so excited when I found out I was having a girl after the whirlwind of Rex. I thought it would be all calm afternoons doing crafts and playing with each other’s hair. But no, Scarlett was even worse than Rex, if anything, always wantingto be outdoors, always wanting to run, to disobey, to talk. Oh my God, to talk.’ She rests a delicate hand against her cheekbone and then rubs it across her forehead. ‘Such a nightmare of a child. And then the teenage years. Oh my goodness.The boys– you know, she lost her virginity when she was thirteen.Thirteen.She was obsessed with boys. Then came the girls. Then more boys. More girls. Always being suspended from school after school. Never where she said she was going to be. Never cared, that was the thing. As much as I broke the rules when I was a teenager, I always cared about the consequences. But Scarlett never did. And what can you do with a child like that?’
Scarlett returns. ‘She’s out cold on my bed,’ she says.
‘Good,’ says Scarlett’s mother. ‘Leave her there. OK. Now. First things first. We need to get rid of him.’
Tallulah shakes her head. Although she is almost entirely numb, she also can’t quite accept that Zach is now an object, that he is no different from the strange piece of bronze on the floor next to him, the Pipin, a thing to be got rid of. It feels wrong. She battles with these sickening, dizzying emotions for a short moment, trying to untwine them from each other, then feels weak with the realisation that there is only one solution and it is the one that Scarlett’s mother is suggesting.
She sees Scarlett and her mother exchange a look, an almost imperceptible nod. ‘The tunnel?’ says her mother.
‘Yes,’ says Scarlett. ‘The tunnel.’
57
September 2018
Kim and Sophie are sent away before the body bag is brought from the house. Noah has cried himself into a stupefied sleep and is snoring gently in the back seat as they turn onto the main road back to the village.
Kim’s hands grip the steering wheel hard, her knuckles like nubs of ivory through her skin. ‘Those people,’ she says. ‘That woman. That girl. I knew. I knew when I was there. They were bad people. I could feel it in my gut. You know? That house, it had badness in it. Even on that perfect summer’s day. And there they were! In the swimming pool! Laughing! Drinking beer! It sickens me. But why? Why, for God’s sake? And then to carry on living there for weeks afterwards. With that … down there …’ Kim starts to cry again.
‘Shall we pull over?’ Sophie suggests softly. ‘Just for a minute.’
Kim nods and signals and tucks the car into the kerb. She flops her head on to the steering wheel and cries for a short while. After a minute or two she pulls herself together and moves the car back into the traffic and back towards the village.