r /> Diana felt disappointed that Rachel seemed so eager to revert to business matters.
‘Don’t worry about the money, I’ll book the flights. What are they for?’
Rachel handed over a piece of paper with some hastily scribbled details written on it.
‘Washington? Why do you need to go to Washington? And who’s Ross McKiney? The man who just left?’
Rachel nodded. ‘He’s an old friend of mine. A private investigator. I thought I’d get him to help with some things. He’s good, Di. Really good.’
‘But why Washington?’ she repeated, suddenly needing to know everything. ‘Has he found anything out? Got a lead?’
Rachel waved a hand. ‘We just need to go to the States to speak to some people about Julian.’ She was being blasé. Overly blasé, and vague, as if she was hiding something. Diana could feel her fretfulness returning, the good mood of the day evaporating immediately.
‘Who? Who do you need to speak to?’ she pressed.
‘I don’t exactly know yet,’ Rachel said haltingly. ‘Ross is finding the contacts.’
Diana could feel her pulse throbbing. Why was her sister lying? She was doing her damnedest to try and hide it, but there was definitely something she didn’t want to tell her.
‘But if you don’t know who you need to speak to, how do you know you need to go to Washington?’
Rachel gave a laugh. A nervous laugh she tried to disguise by sipping her tea.
‘Diana, this is the way it works. Don’t ask too many questions and I will tell you when I know stuff. I promise.’
‘You don’t have to shield me from anything, Rachel. The deal was I wanted to find out what had happened to Julian – that hasn’t changed.’
But Rachel was equally firm. ‘Just trust me, Di. Now, do you mind if I swim in the pool?’ she said, standing up and looking out of the back window towards Somerfold.
‘What? Now?’ replied Diana, feeling confused – had she missed a part of the conversation? Why was Rachel talking about swimming all of a sudden? She got the distinct feeling that her sister wanted to get rid of her, and she certainly didn’t want to talk about Washington.
‘You’ve got a beautiful pool. I saw it when I was taking a walk this morning. I was desperate for a dip, but I thought Mum might see me and have a go, so I thought I had better ask your permission . . .’
Diana knew it was an opportunity to take a different tack.
‘Okay,’ she said quietly. ‘Do you have a costume, or do you want to borrow one?’
‘I brought one on the off-chance.’
‘Well, go and get it. We can walk back up to the house together.’
As Rachel disappeared into the bedroom, Diana’s eyes darted around the room. The desk by the window was a mess, a leaning tower of books and papers that looked as if it might topple at any moment.
‘Do you have goggles?’ shouted Rachel.
‘Yes,’ replied Diana, walking towards the desk and rifling quickly through the papers. There was a blue file by the laptop, held shut by elastic ribbons. She opened it and read the first piece of paper that presented itself. It was a printout of a news report about a car crash.
‘What are you doing?’ asked a voice behind her. Rachel stood in the doorway holding a swimsuit and a carrier bag.
‘Who’s this Madison Kopek?’ asked Diana, wishing she’d had time to go through the whole file. She was sure that her sister had paled.
‘It’s just a news story, Di,’ Rachel said, stuffing the costume into the bag. ‘Come on, we should go before it gets totally dark.’
‘Why is it here?’
Rachel shrugged. ‘Ross left it.’
‘So this girl is part of the investigation. Is it someone Julian knew?’