In Denial (19 page)

‘
Are you saying, Mr Jacobs, that -’

‘
I’m not having dinner with someone who calls me Mr Jacobs. My name is Jeremy and I’m going to call you Gabrielle unless you tell me you object.’

‘
That’s my name,’ she said, smiling.

‘
You have a lovely smile,’ Jeremy told her. ‘You ought to try it more often.’

‘
I do when the circumstances are right.’

‘
That’s me told.’

‘
Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude, it’s just that -’

‘
No, that was my fault. We’re talking about the murders of three people. Not really the time for smiling.’

‘
You say you were friends. Did they mix a lot with others?’

Jeremy thought for a moment. ‘No, not really. Adam is a bit of an introvert. I’m not saying he’s anti-social in any way, he just sometimes prefers his own company, unlike me that is.’ He smiled. ‘As I said they went to the duty dinner parties, and of course they held their own. But Adam eventually worked in the city and was away all week, so to a great extent the weekends were sacrosanct. No, Annabelle and I were privileged, and I mean privileged, to be one of the few couples who were allowed into the Harrison’s inner sanctum.’

‘
Did Annabelle and Lucinda stay friends after you separated?’

‘
Yes, we both did. In fact Lucinda and Adam did their damndest to keep us together, and I hasten to add they nearly succeeded. They seemed more distraught by the whole affair than we were.’

Gabrielle wanted to ask why they had separated but thought better of it. ‘Does Annabelle still live locally?’ she asked.

‘
Yes, not far from here, in Church Street, in a converted school of all places.’ Gabrielle logged that piece of information away.

She sipped her wine, noticing that the second glass had almost gone as well. ‘Are the police still investigating the murders?’

‘
As far as I know, yes. It’s a big embarrassment for them but I suppose it’s not their fault there isn’t or wasn’t a scrap of evidence. They say that all murderers leave clues behind. Well, this one didn’t. The last mystery murder in the area was a couple of years ago when a German girl was found by a hiker dead in the Dove Dale woods north of the town. They solved that one eventually, but as far as the Harrisons are concerned, nothing.’

‘
Do you have any thoughts?’

‘
I have a theory, yes, but let me get us some more to drink. The table is booked for eight o’clock so we’ve got another forty-five minutes.’

‘
No, not for me. As I said, I normally don’t drink.’

‘
Something soft then, we can have a bottle of wine with dinner.’

‘
Yes, an orange and lemonade would be nice.’

*  *  *

Adam woke suddenly.

A combination of the throb of the engines, a good wine with dinner and a very large brandy to follow had sent him into an alcoholic sleep. After dinner he’d been given a scented blanket so he had slipped off his shoes and drifted off. He was pleased he’d booked club class so he was able to stretch out.

He listened to the engines. There didn’t seem to be any change in pitch. The lights were dimmed but he could see there were one or two reading lights on.

He looked across the aisle.

The middle-aged couple with whom he’d exchanged pleasantries appeared to be fast asleep and he smiled as he noted they were holding hands. They had told him they were on a nostalgic trip back to Hong Kong. Desmond had been a young officer in the 1st Gurkha Rifles and Pamela the daughter of a senior officer in headquarters on Hong Kong Island. They met at a cocktail party, fell in love and married two years later. That was in the late sixties, and now they were in their sixties and were going back for what they hoped would be a worthwhile trip down memory lane.

Adam wanted to tell them he was doing much the same thing but there would be questions and the last thing he wanted was to relive the last few months. He did that often enough in his dreams, but it wasn’t one of those dreams that had woken him.

A passing stewardess stopped to check that he was all right and asked whether he wanted any refreshments. Adam declined. Instead he lifted the window blind so that he could see the night sky. The stars were very bright but he didn’t try to identify any of them. He had never been into astronomy although Timothy had shown an enthusiastic interest. Glancing down he saw the blinking lights of another jet passing well underneath them in the opposite direction.

What had woken him?

Was it anything he should worry about? His meeting with his mother and father had certainly not gone as he had hoped or planned. In fact it went ten times worse than anything he’d imagined. It was his worst nightmare. He saw in his mother’s eyes that if she’d had her way it would have gone differently, but his father’s stubbornness had got worse with age. The deaths of his only daughter and grandchildren were too much for him - for anybody - to accept and he had to find somebody to blame. As there was no identified culprit, Adam was the next best thing. Although being ostracised was bad enough, Adam wondered how long his father had actually harboured the disgust he now felt. Was he telling the truth when he said he hadn’t just been honouring a promise to take Adam in? Had he been any more than a gweilo orphan who needed looking after?

If his mother had not felt unwell that day then everything might have been different. They would not have been discovered, he might not have been sent away to school, they might not have moved to the UK, he might not have become an accountant, and Lucinda, Charlotte and Timothy might still be alive.

Is that what had woken him? Had he dreamt they were still alive?

No. Their lives and deaths were on his mind constantly so why would it be them that woke him? There was no revelation, no realisation, no conclusion and certainly no closure.

Adam turned away from the window and squeezed his eyes tightly together in a frown, trying to recall what he’d been dreaming about.

Nothing.

Whatever it had been, it was not going to come back to him.

But he did need to plan.

He hadn’t decided yet what he was going to do and where he was going to stay. There were another twelve hours flying time for him to do that. His reason for going to Hong Kong would dawn on him eventually.

Wouldn’t it?

*  *  *

Jeremy sipped his third pint of lager and Gabrielle eyed him with interest as she in turn sipped her orange and lemonade.

‘
For me it seems the most likely explanation,’ Jeremy said, ‘and I believe the police did fully investigate this particular avenue, but as with all other possibilities they didn’t get anywhere.’

‘
And do you still think that’s why they were murdered?’ Gabrielle asked incredulously. The possibility of the murders being racially motivated had crossed her own mind when she had first read the account in the paper, but she’d dismissed the thought: children had been murdered and not even the most racially prejudiced individual could do that, surely? Or was she just being terribly naive?

‘
There are some very warped minds out there. I wouldn’t put anything beyond the way some people think.’

‘
But thinking it and then murdering are poles apart.’

‘
Agreed, but it happens.’

‘
So you really believe they were murdered just because of the colour of their skin?’

‘
Yes, and I think it’s a probability rather than a possibility. Plus of course there’s the fact that Lucinda was married to a white man.’

‘
It’s unbelievable.’

‘
Although perfectly plausible. Nevertheless the police didn’t get anywhere.’ The bar had filled up considerably and after looking at his watch Jeremy added, ‘We’ll go through in another few minutes. Might get a bit of hush then. This place is very popular, as you can see.’

Gabrielle had not really noticed the noise because she’d been hanging on to Jeremy’s every word. There was only one ethnic family in her parish - an Indian family - and they were among the nicest people she had ever met. She could not imagine anybody ever wanting to harm the parents let alone the children.

Of course she was not totally unaware of what went on in the rest of the UK but when it didn’t happen on your own doorstep it tended to attract less attention. So why did she remember the detail of the report on the Harrison murders so well? There wasn’t any mention of the murders being racially motivated in the report she had read.

Gabrielle’s imagination conjured up pictures she would have preferred not to think about. The murders were not the reason why she was here. She had come to Ashbourne in search of Adam and so far she and Jeremy Jacobs had hardly talked about him, but as they were having dinner together there would still be time.

*  *  *

As he followed Gabrielle through to the dining room Jeremy Jacobs could not help admiring her strong calf muscles, contrasting with the delicate ankles and feet. He assumed her knees and thighs, under the expensive linen skirt, were equally shapely. He allowed his imagination to run away with him as he watched the slight sway of her hips.

Miss Gabrielle Brooks, he thought, was obviously fascinated by Adam Harrison and his family. He had deliberately not talked about Adam that much but he guessed her questions would come soon. There was something very secretive about this young woman: the answer she gave when he asked what she did was a little strange, but beguiling. There was a reserved sparkle in her eyes; they smiled at him but he sensed it was more of a challenge than an invitation. She was the exact opposite to Lucinda, except in attractiveness.

Jeremy Jacobs decided he was going to enjoy dinner.

After they were seated the waiter appeared with the menus and Gabrielle immediately disappeared behind hers so that she could hide her smile. Now was not the time for flippancy but Jeremy Jacobs was making his misguided intentions rather obvious. He was in for a shock. She wondered when he would make his move because it was pretty obvious that the reason he was here was little to do with the Harrison murders or Adam.

‘
The fish is very good here,’ she heard him say.

She lowered her menu. ‘I’m not that partial to fish, and I’m not that keen on red meat either. It’s either chicken or a vegetarian dish for me.’

‘
There are a couple of pasta dishes.’

‘
No, I’ll have the chicken Caesar salad, please.’

‘
What about a starter?’

‘
No, thank you, the salad will be fine and then if I need filling up I can always have a dessert.’

‘
True. Would you like a white wine with your salad?’

‘
What are you having?’

‘
The lamb I think.’

‘
You’ll want red with that.’

‘
I’ll get a white and a red.’

‘
No, no, no, there’s no need. I won’t have more than a glass. Please just get a red.’

Jeremy seemed a little frustrated as he signalled for the waiter.

‘
Before I carry on, perhaps now is an appropriate moment for you to tell me what your connection with Adam actually is.’

Gabrielle decided she really had annoyed him. The smile had gone and his body language had become quite defensive. As she began to speak she reached across the table and put her fingers on his hand. ‘Yes, I am rather expecting you to do all the talking. Sorry.’ She let the tips of her fingers caress his hand before withdrawing them. ‘I suppose some would say my connection is a little tenuous and others would perhaps say we, under the circumstances, became very close very quickly.’

‘
And what circumstances were those?’ Jeremy asked a little more lightly.

‘
You were right with something you said earlier because I think I may have stopped him from taking his own life.’

‘
What?’ The surprise was genuine.

‘
Do you know Loch Lomond?’

‘
I went there as a child many years ago with my parents but I wouldn’t say I know it.’

There was little point in complicating matters so she decided to leave out a lot of the detail, but perhaps what she was going to say was complicated enough. She smiled. ‘There’s an area called Balmaha on the south east shoreline that is particularly beautiful. I go there when I need some form of inspiration. I was there just over a week ago when I saw a man a few yards from the water’s edge and it seemed obvious to me from his posture what he intended doing. I couldn’t just let him go ahead so I went over to him.’

‘
Are you saying that Adam was contemplating drowning himself?’