* * *
The next morning, while they all played around the pool, I went into Ella and Jamie’s bedroom. I quickly checked the en suite first, where high-end face creams sat like fat little soldiers in tubs, no doubt waiting to have their photo taken. I checked the cabinet, the side of the bath, to see if there was a detachable panel, all the time aware that I had probably watched too many thrillers and smiling to myself about Dan saying, ‘Miss Marple goes to Amalfi’. I also knew (like Miss Marple) that finding stolen earrings in someone’s bedroom was like looking for a needle in a haystack, and unlike the crime thrillers, they wouldn’t suddenly fall into my hands. Ella could have hidden them anywhere, and having climbed over her clothes on the floor, gone through most of her messy drawers and wardrobes, I was about to leave and give up the whole idea, when I had one last look in the drawer of her bedside table. There were a couple of chargers, a lipstick, some tissues, but when I pushed my hand right to the back of the drawer, I felt something – a box? I had to grab it with both hands; it was quite large – a jewellery box. It would be audacious to say the least for her to steal someone else’s earrings and hide them in her own jewellery box, but then that was Ella – audacious. So I opened up the lid, and inside it was as messy as the room. Everything was piled in there, so I rummaged around among the bits of cheap metal, the broken clasps, plastic hoops, nothing of value – until I spotted a glint of diamond, then another. Joy’s earrings! I’d know them anywhere – the shape of the diamond was unusual, and so was the tiny drop. I remember Joy saying, ‘it’s like a tiny tear’.
I couldn’t believe my luck. I sat there holding them for a few minutes, dying to rush outside, shouting about what I’d just found. But if I did that, how could I prove that I found them in Ella’s jewellery box? She could say I planted them there, and the others might believe that, thinking I’d taken them myself to drop Ella in it. No, I had to leave the earrings where I’d found them and later, when the children were in bed and everyone else was present, I would confront her. She’d probably lie and say it wasn’t true but I’d ask one of the others to go upstairs with us as a witness to prove what I was saying was true. I’d be there when she opened the box and she’d have no choice but to own up. Joy would confirm the earrings were hers and Ella would finally be seen for the thief, the fake, that she was. As sad as it would be for Jamie, he would one day thank me for pulling back the curtain on this woman he thought he loved. He’d be fine after a while, probably do what he always does and go off around the world. I was doing this for the family. I was also doing it for my marriage and the business – I had a strong feeling she was a danger to both.
The more I thought about it, the happier everyone would be if she wasn’t around, and it looked like I’d just found exactly what I needed to get her out of our lives.
Chapter Twenty
I put the earrings back in the jewellery box and stowed it away in the back of the side table drawer where I’d found it. I discreetly left Ella and Jamie’s bedroom, and was just in my room grabbing a spare bottle of sun cream to slather on the kids when I heard voices and a commotion coming from outside.
I immediately thought of the children, so dashed to the landing to look through the window, my mind already tearing downstairs. The thudding in my chest and dry mouth abated slightly when I saw my three standing in the garden with Bob, watching something in the pool. At this point, I allowed myself a few seconds of relief while I tried to work out what was going on. Jamie and Ella were in the pool, and at first I thought she was splashing him, that they were messing about. But from the way Joy was yelling, I could tell something was wrong and it now looked like Jamie was attempting to get hold of Ella. He looked so scared and, watching her erratic movements, I wondered if perhaps she was having a seizure. I immediately ran down the stairs to try and help. If she was having a fit and went under, it could be horrific. From my training, I knew if this was the case, she had to be dragged out of the water and made safe immediately.
It took about twenty seconds for me to get to the poolside, by which time Dan had dived in and was helping Jamie to carry her while she flailed and screamed. They were now dragging her to the side, where Joy waited anxiously with a towel. It was classic Joy – Ella might need lifesaving treatment, but there was Joy with her pale-grey John Lewis beach towel, like being dry was all that mattered.
As I approached, Dan looked at me. ‘She fell in, I think she must have had cramp or something—’ He turned back to Ella, now sitting on the ground, Jamie’s arm around her.
‘Ella, let Clare take a look at you. She’s a nurse.’
‘Can you breathe okay?’ I asked her, bending down.
She nodded.
‘Cough for me?’ I asked.
‘I’m… fine,’ she said, irritated. She clearly didn’t want me anywhere near her, and I looked questioningly at Jamie, who just nodded as if to say, leave it. From what I could see she didn’t seem to have any issues or injuries, so perhaps it had just been a touch of cramp?
‘Is there anything I can do for you Ella?’ I asked, standing up.
‘You could move your children’s toys,’ she snapped.
I followed her eyes to a small plastic truck that belonged to Alfie. I looked back at her and my confusion must have shown because Jamie said, ‘She fell over it, I think, didn’t you?’
She nodded, looking up at him like a child, making him hug her even closer.
‘It’s a small plastic toy,’ I said. ‘I don’t understand how—’
‘So dangerous to leave it there – but don’t blame yourself, Clare,’ she said in that sickly voice.
‘I wasn’t,’ I snapped, unable to control myself – I’d just run out there to save her life and now she was insinuating it was my fault. ‘Kids leave their stuff around. It’s annoying, but you just have to be careful,’ I said, standing over her.
‘She fell over the toy, it was just lying there – she could have really hurt herself,’ Jamie said over his shoulder at me as he hugged her.
‘This isn’t about falling over a plastic truck – it didn’t try to drown her, there must be another reason,’ I said, puzzled as to what exactly had happened. ‘Did you get cramp when you fell in, Ella?’ I asked.
She muttered something inaudible through her tears into Jamie’s shoulder, and he translated, ‘She says she needs to go and lie down. She thought she was drowning.’
‘She wouldn’t have drowned – even if she had cramp there are several strong swimmers around – including my nine-year-old,’ I said, trying to put this into perspective. ‘You and Dan got her out before anything happened, and I was downstairs in seconds.’
‘Come on, let’s get you upstairs,’ Jamie said tenderly, ignoring my comment.
Ella flashed a hateful look at me as he lifted her up. I glanced around; no one had even noticed. They slowly walked away, Jamie with his arm under hers, virtually carrying her.
‘If she almost drowned, there’s a reason,’ I called after them.
Jamie turned, but continued to walk away and, over his shoulder, yelled, ‘Clare, there IS – she can’t SWIM.’