Nicola Upson - Angel with Two Faces

‘Good day?’ Ronnie asked, pouring her triumph into a glass.

‘No,’ said Josephine, ‘most definitely not one of my best.’ She accepted the drink that was offered and was surprised to realise how much she needed it.

‘Is the book going badly, darling?’ Lettice lit a cigarette for each of them and passed Josephine’s over to her.

‘It would be an exaggeration at this point to say that it was going at all,’ Josephine replied tartly. ‘I’ve managed eighteen hundred words, seventeen hundred of which will almost certainly be thrown away tomorrow, and Grant’s had to up sticks and move along the coast. I can hardly set a shocker here after everything that’s happened – it wouldn’t be right. All that, and I’ve had to put up with a wigging from Morwenna Pinching into the bargain.’

‘Really? What on earth for?’

‘Oh, just something that Archie wanted me to talk to Loveday about.’

‘Is there anything you’d like to share with us?’ Lettice asked hopefully.

‘No, I’d better not. Let’s just say that I’m sorely tempted to tell Archie what he can do with his investigation and his Cornish holidays.’ Was this the moment? she asked herself as she sipped her drink, and decided that it probably was. ‘Anyway, I certainly wish I’d never asked him to move in with me,’ she said casually, and was pleased to see that she had chosen well. Lettice choked on her olive, and Ronnie’s astonishment made its way slowly out from behind a cloud of cigarette smoke. William, to his credit, simply smiled.

‘Archie’s moving into the Lodge?’ Lettice asked, when her sister had finished hitting her on the back.

‘Yes – didn’t he mention it?’ Josephine asked nonchalantly. ‘I asked him to tell you.’

‘And you’re not moving out?’

‘Of course not. Don’t be so provincial.’

‘Then none of us will be safe in our beds except you,’ Ronnie said, a wicked glint in her eye.

‘What do you mean?’ she asked, bewildered.

‘Well, with his mind on other things, I doubt that Inspector Penrose could run a fuck in a brothel, let alone a murder investigation,’ she explained.

Josephine glanced – provincially – at William, but he seemed unperturbed by his younger daughter’s choice turn of phrase. ‘Don’t be silly,’ she said, beginning to feel that the joke had backfired somewhat. ‘You know he always puts his work first. I only wish I could say the same.’

‘Well, I think it’s lovely,’ Lettice said, beaming. ‘I’m sure you’ll get on like a house on fire.’

‘Which brings us full circle to the Pinchings,’ Ronnie quipped, and this time she did get a frown from her father. ‘Is that why Morwenna’s been stamping her foot? Because she caught Archie smuggling his pyjamas past the boathouse?’

Josephine handed Ronnie an empty glass to give her something else to think about. ‘By the way – I’ve been meaning to ask,’ she said to Lettice. ‘Do you know anything about the Fowey woman? She’s causing quite a stir up in town.’

The clumsy change of subject was greeted by a loud scoff from the cocktail cabinet but Lettice – starved of gossip for at least a week – took the bait, as Josephine had known she would. ‘Daphne, you mean?’ she asked eagerly. ‘What’s she been up to? We’ve never met her, but if she takes after Gerald du Maurier, I’m not surprised there’s talk.’

‘Oh, it’s nothing like that,’ Josephine said, conscious that she was about to be a disappointment. ‘It’s just that I had lunch with Victor Gollancz before I came down here – you know he pinched her from Heinemann last year, just after he started publishing – and he’s very excited about the new novel. Full of smugglers and adventure, apparently.’

‘Sounds like any night at the Ship Inn,’ William said.

Josephine smiled. ‘Well perhaps that’s where she’s done her research. Anyway, he’s so pleased he’s thinking of taking out full-page advertisements in the papers.’

‘Oh, how vulgar,’ Lettice said, in a tone that most people reserved for American divorcees.

‘There speaks a woman who’s never looked in disappointment at her royalty cheque.’

‘Yes, I know, but I really do think that…’

The rest of the sentence was lost in the slamming of the front door, and they heard the sound of quick, purposeful steps across the hallway. ‘Forgotten your toothbrush?’ Ronnie called but the joke died on her lips when she saw the expression on her cousin’s face. Without a word of greeting, Archie walked straight over to the drinks table and poured himself a large whisky, which he drank down in one. His glass refilled, he turned to face them.

‘Jasper’s had a stroke,’ he said, looking at his uncle. ‘It happened late this afternoon, while I was questioning him about Nathaniel’s murder.’

‘Good God,’ William said, ‘what a terrible thing to happen. How is he? Is he…?’

Josephine got up to go over to Archie but something in his face made her stay where she was. ‘I’m sorry to say that yes – he is still alive,’ he said bitterly. ‘But it was serious, so there’s every reason to hope that he may take a turn for the worse in the next few hours.’

‘I know he’s done some despicable things, Archie, but surely you don’t mean that.’

‘Oh, I mean it. And do you know why?’ he asked. ‘No? Well, I’ll tell you. Just before he collapsed, he admitted to raping my mother.’ Josephine glanced at William, who was staring at his nephew as though he were speaking a foreign language. Ronnie moved protectively over to her father’s side. ‘How could you let something like that happen?’ Archie continued. ‘And how long did she have to put up with it before someone did something about it?’ William’s silence seemed only to increase his anger. ‘Didn’t it ever occur to you that it might be something I should know about?’

‘Archie…’ Josephine began, but he cut her off.

‘Don’t, Josephine. I know this is nothing to do with you, and I’m sorry you have to be caught in the middle of it, but there are things that need to be said.’

‘William couldn’t tell you, Archie,’ she said, ignoring him, ‘because he didn’t know himself.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. They were all under the same roof – how could he not know?’ Suddenly, the significance of what she had said dawned on him and he turned to her, horrified. ‘ You knew?’ he asked in disbelief.

She hesitated, unable to see a way of vindicating William without betraying her own unwilling collusion in something that had never concerned her. ‘I found out last night,’ she admitted. ‘Morveth told me when we were at the Minack. Your mother told her years ago, but no one else knew except your father.’

‘So that’s what all those questions were about this morning at breakfast?’

‘No – that was to do with…’ She tailed off, unable to continue without exposing another family lie, and unwilling to use Morwenna’s plight to defend herself. ‘You know what that was about,’ she said quietly, uncomfortably aware that all eyes in the room were now on her.

‘Yes. It was about you being as bad as the rest of them,’ he retorted sharply. ‘Worse, in fact, because this isn’t your secret to keep. You don’t belong here, and you have no loyalty to anyone on this estate except me. So why keep quiet? What sort of thrill did you get out of knowing more about my life than I do?’

‘Archie, it was never like that.’ She tried to explain, but he was in no mood to listen.

‘Or is it more serious than that? Are you still trying to punish me for Jack’s death?’

‘Don’t you dare accuse me of something like that,’ she said, her fury suddenly matching his. ‘And stop bringing Jack into our relationship – I thought we’d put that behind us. Anyway, while I was grieving for him, you were busy having your cosy little chats with Morwenna. Does the Lady of Shalott ring a bell?’