‘Still.’
‘Well who else are we supposed to get three quarters of a million quid from? Because that’s how much it’s going to cost us.’
‘I’m not asking Diana, if that’s what you’re hinting at.’
‘I never asked you to speak to Diana. In case you’d forgotten, you’re the one who wants the hotel. I was simply doing my best to make it happen.’
‘Well you could have told me you were meeting Alicia.’
‘You sound like you’re jealous.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she barked. ‘We’re friends. I thought we made that clear the other night on the beach.’
He looked at her and she was sure she saw a flicker of contempt in his gaze.
‘Can you remember what you were like when you came to Ko Tao? You were all wound up, snap, snap, snap, like a little crocodile.’
‘I never knew you had such a great first impression of me,’ she said sarcastically.
Liam continued. ‘It took you about six months to calm down, and when you did, you were a different person. Happier, more relaxed, better company. You were the real you, not this person. Angry, shouty, stressed, ungrateful . . .’
‘I’ve got a lot on my mind,’ she said, as if she was talking to a child.
‘Are you coming home?’ he said flatly.
‘I’ll get someone to drop me off later,’ she said sulkily.
‘I meant Ko Tao. You said you’d stay in London for two or three weeks when Diana came out to Thailand to get you.’
‘Well, I might be a little longer,’ she said without looking at him. She could feel the conversation spiralling out of control. She just wanted to stop it, take it back to the easy-going companionship that used to exist between them.
But you spoilt that, she told herself. You spoilt that on Sairee Beach.
‘Are you ever coming back, because if you’re not, you had better tell me now.’
‘I’ll be back, Liam, but I want to finish the job here.’
‘Job? Rachel, this is a fantasy,’ said Liam angrily. ‘Julian was found locked inside a house, the alarm on, CCTV showing no one going in or out. Now unless you’ve suddenly started to suspect that your sister is secretly a homicidal maniac with the ability to subdue a grown man twice her size, I’d say this idea that Julian was murdered is wearing a bit thin.’
‘But all the evidence . . .’
‘What evidence, Rachel? Okay, so Madison was pregnant when she died and maybe it was Julian’s kid but we don’t know for sure. Maybe she was run off the road in Maryland – maybe not. But then why haven’t all the other people making complaints about Rheladrex been silenced too? And Ross, perhaps he could have been beaten up for getting too close to the test clinic, I’ll give you that one – if the detective in Jamaica hadn’t called Diana to say he’d caught the culprit.’
He took a thin cardboard wallet out of his back pocket and gave it to her.
‘What’s this?’ she said without even looking at it.
‘A plane ticket back to Samui for a week’s time.’
She glanced down and saw something written on the back of it.
‘And that number. It’s for Kroll,’ he added. ‘I know some people in London who have used them. They are one of the best investigative and security services in the world. Give it to Diana. Tell her to call them up and let them take over the baton. If anyone’s going to turn something up, it’s them.’
‘You’re telling me to give up,’ she said incredulously. ‘You’re saying I’m not good enough to get the job done.’
‘You’re good enough to do anything, Rachel. You don’t need me to tell you that. What I am telling you is that I don’t think this investigation, or however you’d describe it, is helping anyone, least of all you. It’s not about Julian or Diana any more. It’s about you, trying to prove something to the world. And you don’t need to do that. You never have.’
‘Don’t tell me what I need to do.’