Nemesis

by Marley, Louise

  Simon glanced up and smiled.

  The woman turned her head.

  Then shrieked, “Mum!”

  Lexi?

  Alicia felt as though she’d landed in a parallel universe. How could this chic beauty be her own gothic princess? How could the sensible Lexi, who’d always been more interested in books and music than boys, have allowed herself to fall for the cliché of being seduced by a teacher?

  Lexi wrenched the blonde wig from her head and dropped it onto the floor, as though that would make it better. Then, while Alicia was still searching for the right words to say, her daughter was the old Lexi once again, awkward and uncertain.

  In a flash of inspiration, Alicia understood how an urbane man like Simon could be attracted to a gawky teenager. In the blonde wig Lexi was a younger, prettier and more biddable version of Natalie. Who had once been a younger, prettier and more biddable version of Sarah.

  Was there any man in Calahurst who had not been obsessed with Sarah?

  “I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Lexi,” she said, forcing herself to remain calm. “I’m so sorry I’m late. Are you ready to go?”

  Lexi regarded her uncertainly, and then glanced at Simon, as though for approval.

  “It’s probably for the best,” he said.

  Alicia inwardly fumed. If anyone knew the best for her daughter it was herself.

  It was with incredible effort she curved her mouth into a pleasant smile. “Could you wait in the car for me, Lexi? I’ll be with you in a moment.”

  Lexi, with one last, nervous glance at her mother, grabbed her bag from the dressing table and slipped around the costume rail and out of view. A moment later, Alicia heard Lexi’s high heels, tap, tap, tapping along the corridor and out of earshot. And she prayed, as she had never prayed before, that Lexi would do exactly as she had been told, and get into the car. If she didn’t, Alicia had no idea what to do next.

  In the meantime, however, let battle commence! Because Alicia was quite sure that if she had any kind of sharp implement handy, she could easily and quite dispassionately plunge it straight into Simon’s chest.

  “You’re taking this very well,” he said.

  It was a strange thing for him to say.

  “How am I supposed to take it?” she asked coldly.

  He shrugged. “Shout, threaten me with bodily harm, throw things?”

  Is that what he wanted? “Why would I do that?”

  “I would have thought it was obvious. That stiff upper lip of yours must have gone into overdrive. I’m seriously impressed.”

  The rage that simmered within Alicia threatened to boil over. It took every ounce of willpower not to launch herself at him and rake the smirk from his face with her fingernails. But if she did that, he would have won. This was not random, she was sure of that. This was personal.

  “I have always thought you a deeply unpleasant person,” she said carefully, “but I never thought you were stupid.”

  “Stupid?” The corner of his mouth lifted. “OK, I’ll bite. Why am I stupid?”

  “Caught in a compromising situation with an under-age student? You can get ten years in prison for that. It will be the end of your career at the very least.”

  “I suppose it would, if you had any kind of proof, or evidence, or even a witness. Unfortunately there are none and even your family’s connections to the County’s finest, will not count for anything in a court of law.”

  He was right. Her only proof was Lexi herself - and how could she put her daughter through the rigours of a court case? That was assuming Lexi would even agree to testify against him.

  “Whereas I could counter-claim that your children are neglected.”

  “What?”

  “Each time you forget to collect them from school, it is recorded on their attendance record. Did you know that?”

  “I may be a little bit absent-minded, but it hardly constitutes neglect!”

  “Lexi tells me everything - ”

  “Only because you gave her attention! You capitalised on the anxieties of typically insecure teenager and wormed your way into her confidence.”

  “I told her that her parents found her an inconvenience, which is the truth.”

  “It certainly is not! How dare you? I love my children!”

  “You have a strange way of showing it. Lexi has always known you and James only married because you were pregnant. You got together because of her, you stayed together because of her and Will. She’s watched your marriage collapse, while her father works his way through a succession of blondes not much older than herself, and she holds herself entirely responsible.” He shook his head and tutted. “It was text book stuff and far too easy to persuade her to transfer her affections to me.”

  “You bastard!” Instinctively she raised her hand to slap him but he moved too fast, catching hold of her wrist and forcing it down.

  “I expected something more original from you, Alicia. All your advantages in life, all those opportunities - ”

  Something stirred in her memory. Simon had said this before, when he’d dropped the children off at her house.

  “Why did you choose Lexi?” she asked him.

  “She’s very attractive. Have you never told her so?”

  “There are prettier girls in the village, more sophisticated girls. Why take an innocent fourteen-year-old, plaster her in make-up and stick a blonde wig on her? Effectively you’ve made her into something she’s not.”

  “As much as I admire your attempts to understand my psyche, I would point out that Lexi is wearing a costume.”

  “A costume for what? Jean Harlow does Glinda the Good? I think not!”

  “To be honest, I don’t particularly care what you think.”

  “That’s a shame, because what I think is this. Wearing that stupid wig, Lexi is the spitting image of Sarah Grove, which why you’ve been dating Natalie all these years. I’ve always known how you like to control what she does, where she goes, who she meets, even what she wears. It doesn’t bother her, because she sees it as a sign that you care. After the disaster that was her childhood, Natalie needed someone in her life that cared.

  “But she hasn’t been that child for a long time, Simon. She’s thirty; she doesn’t need a father figure in her life anymore and quite soon she will tire of you bossing her about, if she hasn’t done so already? Is that why you’re attracted to Lexi? Here’s another vulnerable girl you can tell what to do and what to wear and what to be? Because I’ll tell you this, you’d never have been able to do that with Sarah. She’d never have looked twice at a creep like you. That’s why you hate James so much. Not because he got the job you wanted, which is what I always thought, but because he got to have the only woman you really wanted - Sarah Grove.”

  “Shut up!” He slapped her with such force, she fell back against the rail of clothes. “You know nothing!”

  As she fell, her arms flailed, and she was able to catch hold of the costumes and keep herself upright, but the side of her face burned painfully and there was a ringing in her ears. As she stared up at him, quite terrified, his expression told her she was onto something. But her sense of self-preservation kicked in and she knew she had to get out before he did worse. The important thing was to get away, to take her children as far from this damaged, twisted man as she could, and to repair her fractured relationship with her daughter. To regroup.

  Retribution could happen later.

  She pulled herself back to her feet and began to edge away, keeping a wary eye on him all the while. The strange smile was back on his face. He was enjoying this, she realised, like a cat would torment a mouse to death and then lose interest. It was a real effort to make no comment, to step around the rail of costumes and head towards the exit, listening all the while for the heavy footsteps that would mean he was following her.

  She had reached the door when she heard him call after her.

  “Lexi doesn’t know, does she?”

  Alicia kept walking bu
t did not turn her head, even though she knew he was now behind her.

  “The poor girl has no idea she’s not your daughter - she’s Natalie’s.”

  Just put one foot in front of the other.

  “I can’t believe I never noticed it before. All it took was a cheap blonde wig and there was Sarah, back from the dead.”

  Once in the corridor, it was a short step onto the stage and into the hall.

  “I knew at once a lump like you could never have produced an ethereal creature like that.”

  But when Alicia reached the door, she found she was quite unable to take that final step through it, and away from him. For a moment she stood there, willing herself on, but it was no good, she couldn’t do it. Instead, she drew strength from goodness knew where and spun round to face him.

  She’d forgotten how quietly he moved. He was standing so close behind her she could have reached out and touched him.

  “Stay away from my family,” she told him, as calmly as she could.

  “Lexi is mature enough to make up her own decisions.”

  “She’s a child.”

  “Be careful not to antagonise me, Alicia. You’ll come off worse.”

  “No,” she said. “If you threaten me, or my family, it shall be you who comes off worse.”

  This time she was able to walk through the door but when she reached the comparative safety of the hall, her resolve disintegrated and she broke into a run.

  But she couldn’t escape the echo of his laughter.

  52

  When Alicia emerged from the school, both children were sat quietly in the car. Will was in the back, absorbed in his Nintendo game. Lexi was shivering in the front seat, still wearing her silver dress. Alicia had expected to find a truculent teenager, spoiling for a fight - but Lexi appeared close to tears, once again the child she still was.

  Wary of rejection, Alicia fought the urge to sweep her daughter into a hug and to tell her everything would be all right.

  “Are you cold, Lexi?” she asked instead. “Would you like to borrow my jacket?”

  Lexi kept her eyes cast down and shook her head. Alicia realised that instead of the panda-like rings of make-up she usually wore, her eyelids had been painted in something subtle and silver to match the dress. She resembled a creature from a fairy tale, liable to vanish in the cold light of day.

  Alicia started the car and Classic FM came blaring out of the speakers. Unusually neither child commented. It was only as she drove through the huge gates of Hurst Castle that Will finally spoke.

  “Are we going to visit Granny?”

  “Yes.” Where else could they go?

  “Will we be having dinner there?”

  “Yes, darling.” They would probably have to sleep at the castle too, if the police hadn’t finished searching the house. Once she’d got the children settled, she’d return home and find out what was happening.

  Lexi predictably said nothing, although Alicia noticed two streaks of silver glitter smudged across her cheeks. She’d been crying. Again, Alicia had to fight the urge to take her in her arms and tell her that whatever she’d done, she still loved her. She was still her beautiful princess. She was still her daughter.

  Why hadn’t her own mother felt this way? Clare always seemed so cold and distant, and while Henry had called her ‘his girl’, she had often thought he cared only for his books; spending hours closeted away in the library, with strict instructions never to be disturbed. So when she thought about it, Kenzie had been the one who effectively brought her up.

  “Mum?” Will’s voice broke into her thoughts. “What are we waiting for?”

  How long had she been sat here, parked outside the castle entrance, staring into space? No wonder the children were regarding her warily.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I’m afraid I have a lot on my mind.”

  In the seat beside her, Lexi cringed. Alicia would have patted her shoulder reassuringly, but her daughter was already out of the car and running up to the door. By the time Alicia joined her, she’d already banged on the door twice.

  Will, trailing behind, finally looked up from his Nintendo, a frown wrinkling his forehead. “Where’s Kenzie?”

  Where indeed? Hopefully not making love to Clare in one of the castle’s sixteen bedrooms.

  “Perhaps he didn’t hear us,” she said. “We’ll go through the breakfast room. That door is always unlocked at this time of day.”

  Hardly were the words out of her mouth before Will had sprinted off across the terrace and through the rose garden. By the time Alicia managed to catch up with him, he was halfway across the breakfast room.

  She made a grab for his jacket. “Now, Will, please don’t rush into the library unannounced. You know how Granny hates to be disturbed. Why not go downstairs into the kitchen? I’m sure Cook will be able to rustle up some sandwiches to keep you going until dinner.”

  “What about me?” Lexi said in a small voice, as Will ran off into the great hall. “I can’t spend all evening in this stupid costume.”

  “Why not go to your room and change? I’m sure there must be some clothes left behind after your last visit.”

  Lexi hesitated. “I didn’t sleep with him, Mum.”

  Alicia felt a huge rush of relief but didn’t dare say anything.

  “He kept asking me to wear that blonde wig. It was kind of weird.”

  “It does sound a bit odd,” Alicia agreed.

  “I don’t think I want to go to Drama Club any more.”

  And with that, Lexi went up the grand staircase to the gallery above, leaving Alicia standing outside the library door, feeling as though she’d just survived a hurricane.

  She knocked on the door. At least she now had one less thing to worry about. Once the children were settled, she’d return to the house and see what kind of a mess the police had left it in and how soon they could return. Tomorrow she’d see a solicitor about a divorce and arrange for the children to change schools.

  Realising her mother had failed to answer, she knocked again, louder this time. When she received no reply, she threw open the door regardless. It was her castle after all.

  Her first thought was that the library was empty. It was so still and quiet. Then she caught a glimpse of Clare at the other end, a picture of cool elegance in black trousers and sweater. She was sat at Henry’s old writing desk as she always did but, instead of working on the castle accounts, she was slumped over, apparently lost in a world of her own.

  Alicia hesitated, unwilling to interrupt. Or was her mother asleep?

  She lightly touched Clare’s shoulder and watched as her mother’s head lolled back, and then realised she could not be asleep, because Clare’s eyes were open wide and staring sightlessly into own. Alicia screamed.

  In the centre of her mother’s forehead was a small neat hole.

  A bullet hole.

  53

  “Does that mean I’m a suspect?” Natalie asked.

  DCI Bloom shook his head. “How many sets of keys to the Lodge were there?”

  “I have no idea. This set belonged to my father. After the accident he had no need of them, so my mother gave them to me.”

  “It’s logical that he would have a key to the well; it is unfortunate we don’t know how many copies were in circulation.”

  Geraint was convinced one of the Vyne family had been complicit in his cousin’s death; now DCI Bloom was suggesting the same thing. And her father had worked for them. Was that why Sir Henry had paid for his medical bills all these years - to ensure her family’s silence? It was too horrible to contemplate.

  “I really can’t deal with - ” she broke off to wave her hand in the direction of the pond. “You understand? I’m fast getting to the point where I can’t take any more. Finding Summer, my father’s death - and now you’re suggesting he might have been behind Bryn’s murder, or at least the disposing of his body? I can’t do it. I’m sorry.”

  “Of course,” he said smoothly. “I complete
ly understand. Why don’t you go home, have something to eat and make sure you get some rest? We can continue this conversation tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow? Natalie was close to tears. Hadn’t she said all there had been to say? But the DCI’s attention had been taken by Geraint, who was heading across the terrace towards them. Sitting on the wet ground had cleaned some of the dirt from his clothes, but the rest of him was filthy, much like herself.

  “Your knight in shining armour,” the DCI said dourly.

  “He told me everything, you know.”

  The DCI raised an eyebrow. “Everything?”

  “I know who he is and that he didn’t kill Sarah.”

  His expression didn’t change. “You’re sure of that?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I am.”

  Geraint was another who’d appeared to have reached his very limit. “Can we leave now?” he asked DCI Bloom, perfectly politely but with a definite edge to his voice.

  “Of course you may,” said the DCI. “Thank you once again for all your help.”

  If the DCI was being sarcastic, Natalie decided she no longer cared.

  Once the DCI had left the summer house and was safely out of earshot, Geraint turned to her and said, “Do you still want to meet up with your friend Alicia?”

  Natalie remembered the way her key had slotted so easily into the padlock to the well. “I’ll give her a call later,” she said. Once she’d got her head around everything that had happened. “That might be best.”

  “I’ll give you a lift home.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate it.”

  For the first time, he laughed. “You see, cariad? You can be nice.”

  They walked back along the woodland path, to where Geraint’s truck was parked outside the Lodge. Natalie had not paid it much attention earlier. She knew it was painted green and had black letters on each side, advertising his landscaping business, but she’d never bothered to read it. This time, while she waited for Geraint to fish his keys out from his pocket, she did. It said:

  Llewellyn Brothers

  Landscaping

  The Old Mill

  Buckley