Julius: I’d not seen Emma since the previous night – but when I spotted her walking around the side of the pool, I knew there was something different about her. A determination, I suppose. She looked annoyed.
Emma: Julius was on a lounger close to the small pool, where the twins were playing on the waterslides. He was reading a British newspaper in a not reading it kind of way. There were three blonde women in tiny bikinis sunbathing on the other side of that pool and he wasn’t being too subtle about watching them.
Julius: Amy and Chloe wanted to play on the slides, so we went to the small pool. I didn’t choose that spot.
When Emma came over, she sat on the edge of the sunbed and said that Dad was being brought out of his coma the following day. I’d spoken to Mum as she went past, so already knew that. I figured that would probably be it. We’re not the type of brother and sister who say we’re best friends and have deep conversations. I’ve always found those families weird. Emma sighed and didn’t seem ready to move, so I asked her if the girls had really been good the night before.
Emma: I told him we’d chatted a lot and he said something about all women loving to gossip. I probably rolled my eyes. Julius is full of comments like that. He’s a ‘while you’re down there, love’-type.
He wanted to know if the twins had asked me about prison, so I told him that of course they had. They’re kids – and kids are always intrigued by the things adults decide should be kept from them.
Julius: My biggest worry about leaving the girls with Emma was that I didn’t want them having nightmares about prison. Simone would be fuming if that happened and I didn’t want to deal with it.
Emma: After that, he goes: ‘Did they say anything else?’ I replied: ‘Like what?’, not knowing what he meant. He didn’t reply.
Julius: I thought Emma would go after we talked about the girls, but it looked like she was set. She wanted to talk.
Emma: Mum didn’t want to listen, so who else was there? I told him about Victor having Dad’s ring and his explanation about finding it on the first night. I was trying to get someone to understand that it was important – but Julius brushed it off the same way Mum had.
Julius: I didn’t think it was that big a deal. Dad dropped something and Victor found it. That’s perfectly believable. Even if Dad rarely took it off, it was a hot day and a hot night. I have a ring that gets too tight when it’s warm.
Emma: I told him about seeing Jin on the cliffs the day before and how he seemed to think that Dad had simply fallen.
Julius: At that time, with the information we had, it was the most likely outcome. Dad had been drinking wine at dinner, gone out to the cliffs for some peace or to watch the sunset, and then accidents happen.
I tried to tell Emma that the reason Jin was thinking that is because that’s the natural thing to believe. When Alan fell, the sensible voices were saying the same thing. We were the sensible voices then – now she’d gone the other way.
Emma: I told him I’d spoken to the person in the village who’d found Dad. That he’d heard more than one voice coming from above.
Julius: When you’re on the beach below the cliffs, the noise of the whole island swirls around. Emma should know that better than anyone, considering the amount of time she used to spend there with her island boyfriend.
She kept pushing the point, saying someone was with Dad on the cliffs and that Victor had his ring. There was something about Daniel walking by the cottages. There were all these little incidents that weren’t connected that she’d somehow turned into a conspiracy. I wasn’t going along with any of it, but, at the same time, it felt like she wasn’t coping too well with being back on the island. I could hardly tell her it sounded like she was losing her mind.
Emma: I couldn’t tell whether Julius was humouring me or if he had some of the same doubts. I don’t think we’ve ever been on the same wavelength as brother and sister.
He was dropping in little nuggets that would feed what I was saying. He said that, when they were at the airport, he’d heard Daniel complaining about Dad’s spending. He wasn’t clear on details but said that, since Mum’s diagnosis, Dad hadn’t been as strict with budgets as he used to be. I’d not thought about that, but I suppose the holiday was an example. He’d also bought Mum a new car and I remembered a pair of shoes she’d shown me. There were probably other things.
I figured that if he was spending money to make Mum happier in her final months, then good for him. It was certainly no business of Daniel’s.
Julius: We talked for a bit and then the girls wanted to go inside to get some food. They said ‘hi’ to Emma – and then Emma went back to her cottage. I figured her conspiracy theory would peter itself out. Everyone was concerned about Dad – but I don’t know how she thought she was helping.
Emma: I didn’t make it back to my cottage. As I passed Mum’s, I could see through the window that Daniel was in there. She was supposed to be sleeping, but I’d barely left her half an hour before and he couldn’t leave it.
I went inside to find out what was going on and he was talking about some sort of problem with the business back at home. He’d got reception to print out some documents and said something about ‘problem tenants’. He needed her signature to cover a bill that had come up.
Daniel: I’m not getting into specifics – but the business account needs two signatures for payments over a certain amount. That would usually be Geoff and myself. With Geoff in hospital, there were two choices – let the bill go unpaid or ask Beth to sign it.
Emma: Mum was sitting on the sofa, struggling to stay awake and he was looming over her, talking and talking. If I’d not got there, I think she’d have actually signed those papers.
Daniel: Sticking her nose in where it wasn’t wanted.
Emma: I told Daniel to leave Mum alone and that she needed to rest. Mum said she’d have a look later and that left Daniel nowhere to go. He could hardly continue to pressure her while I was there. He turned between us, but he wasn’t going to get his own way this time, so he had to leave.
Julius had just told me how Daniel was annoyed about Dad’s spending. If Dad remained unconscious or, worse, if he’d died, it wouldn’t be long until Mum had enough of co-signing documents. She’d have altered the paperwork so that Daniel had sole control of the company.
That’s why it was only as Daniel flounced out that I remembered what Scott had said that morning. I’d dismissed it at the time, but there was one person who benefitted the most from Dad falling off that cliff.
It was Daniel.
Chapter Seventeen
WHERE IS SHERGAR?
Emma: The phone rang when I was in the cottage half dozing, half keeping an eye out in case Daniel returned. At first I didn’t realise what was happening. My phone was charging on the table next to the bed. I picked it up, but there were no notifications. I then realised there was a landline phone on a table close to the door. When I picked it up, there was a woman from the lobby who said that I had a visitor.