‘It’s a legal matter,’ said Jenna, but she felt she was on shaky ground now. She could hardly implicate Lawrence Harville in a century-old crime.
‘Don’t be silly. Nothing can possibly be proved this far after the event. I’m assuming it’s the bones of my ancestor’s second wife, the one who committed suicide but has no grave.’
‘Don’t assume too much,’ said Jenna, satisfied by the thought that she knew more about this particular Harville business than Lawrence did. ‘You might be shocked when the truth comes out.’
Harville narrowed his eyes.
‘What do you mean? Are you saying you have information about the body? Or are you just bluffing? Of course you are. You’ve made your entire life and career out of making people think you know something, when you’re just a talentless chancer. You’re a vampire, Jenna. You’ve elevated yourself on the back of other people’s talent. Yet I bet you think you’ve earned all this, don’t you?’
He waved his hand in the direction of the house, the exhibition, the well-heeled guests and beautifully dressed garden.
‘You think you deserve all your success and all your money and all your disgusting sordid goings-on with that rat from the estate. Well, let me tell you, you’ve earned nothing. You’re a leech.’
‘Get out.’ Jenna could no longer keep the tremble from her voice.
‘Ordering me out of my own home? My birthright? How dare you?’
‘I’m calling the police.’ She reached in her handbag for her phone.
Harville knocked her arm away and grasped it so tightly that Jenna gasped.
‘Oh, don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I’m off. I’ve done what I wanted to do, and that’s deliver my little snippet of news. You won’t see me again.’ He paused. ‘At least, you won’t see me first.’
He let go of Jenna and began to wade through the waist-high grasses and brambles.
While she stood there, staring after him, rooted to the spot, he turned and spoke casually over his shoulder.
‘Oh, and tell darling Jason and dear Kayley that I can’t wait to catch up with all their news. Won’t you?’
She said nothing, just let out an exhalation of horror and watched him forge his way out of her sight.
For a few moments, she was as still as the tree trunk she stood beside.
It was OK, she told herself. He just wanted to make a nuisance of himself. He wouldn’t go any further than that. She wouldn’t hesitate to call the police and have him dealt with for harassment if he showed his face here again.
She held the cards.
He held none.
It was OK.
She took a breath and began to wend her way back to the patio, clearing now as the first drops of a shower that promised to be heavy began to fall.
She found Kayley, doing her best to clear anything that might not be waterproof from the patio area.
Jenna helped out, scooping up some bowls of olives from the tables and following Kayley back into the kitchen.
‘You’ll never guess who I just bumped into,’ said Jenna as they slid shut the patio doors.
‘Did you find Linda? Is she ratted yet?’
‘What? Oh. No. I didn’t.’
‘So?’ Kayley turned to look at Jenna. ‘Christ, you’re white as a sheet. Who was it then? Tell me.’
‘Lawrence Harville.’
Kayley gawped then sank on to a chair as if her legs had turned to rubber.