The line was fuzzy, but Adam’s annoyance was unmistakable. ‘Are you a total bitch all of the time, or is it just when it comes to your sister?’
Rachel took a deep breath. He had caught her off guard with his call. She had spent most of the night struggling with the problem of whether to tell Diana about the developments in Washington, and had come to the conclusion that whilst honesty was the best policy, she was going to hang fire on telling her the whole uncomfortable truth. Having Julian’s brother ranting at her only added to the confusion and reminded her that other people were involved in this – a lot of other people. People who might also be able to shed light on what was going on.
‘Listen, Adam,’ she said, struggling to control her temper. ‘I’m only here because Diana asked me. If she’s got a problem with what I’m doing, then fine. Until then, please keep out of it.’
‘You want me to keep out of it?’ he said. ‘You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Let you get on with doing more damage to my family.’
‘It’s my family too, Adam.’
‘Really? Because I’m struggling to see why a member of this family would think it was a good idea to tell a grieving widow not only that her husband was having an affair, but that he wanted to have sex with her sister.’
‘I didn’t mean to,’ she said, feeling her cheeks burn hot.
‘You didn’t mean to?’ he said incredulously. ‘I was with her today. She’s so tight-wound, pale, nervy. She’s pretending she is okay, but I honestly think she’s on the edge.’
‘The edge of what?’ asked Rachel with alarm. ‘Is she all right?’
‘She will be. But it doesn’t take a genius to work out that she is really, really fragile at the moment. You know, I understood why she asked you back to London. I’m Julian’s brother. I want answers too. But you have to choose your moment.’
He was so bloody self-righteous, she thought, imagining his smug, good-looking face mocking her. She had a strong urge to smash her mobile against the wall, but mentally counted to ten to try and compose herself.
‘I tried to be discreet. But she went snooping through one of the files.’
‘Really? Knowing you, you’d have told her with the subtlety of a brick.’
‘Adam, this isn’t helping.’
‘No, it’s not.’
‘I’ll be more careful in future.’ She couldn’t believe she was actually apologising. Then again, she probably had told Diana too much. It had certainly not been the right moment to tell her about Julian’s proposition in Tuscany. But it had been like magma inside her, burning her up, desperate to get to the surface for years. She had always felt the family had overreacted about the newspaper story, that she had become the lightning rod for all the anger and lies. She had admitted that she hadn’t really stuck up for Julian when the story had been about to go to press, but she had never had occasion to explain why. She was glad her motives had been outed at last, but no, she hadn’t chosen her moment with any tact or elegance.
‘Good,’ said Adam finally. ‘So where are you now?’
‘Washington.’
‘I think we should talk.’
‘So do I,’ she said more excitedly. ‘I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for days. You see, I’m trying to build up a picture of Julian’s life before his death.’
‘Rachel, we need to set a few parameters.’
She almost laughed at his arrogance, but she needed to keep him on side, for now at least.
‘So when do you want to talk?’ she said flatly.
‘I have a space in my diary tomorrow.’
‘Well I happen to be in Washington.’
‘And I happen to have time to see you tomorrow.’
He was maddening, she thought, before reluctantly acquiescing to his demands.
Ross walked back into the room with a platter of French fries and sandwiches. But as Rachel said her goodbyes to Adam Denver, suddenly she wasn’t hungry any more.
27
Harrow School was both magnificent and terrifying. When Diana had first driven up the main road of the village, she could remember craning her neck to look up at the dark stone of the buildings with their leaded windows leaning in over the road.