Page 72 of The Perfect Guests
Sadie laughs. “It’s not like that, though. Hendrik would buy me a different house if I asked him—he even says he’ll find me a job in his company if I want it. But weirdly, it makes me realize—”
Wendy pulls a face as she sits down. “Oh, please. Don’t start with theLove is more powerful than moneystuff.”
“No, honestly, it’s just a weird situation to be in. I want to take my time, that’s all. I actually quite like my life as it is...”
“How can you say that? You’ve already changed loads.”
“Yeah, but that was nothing to do with Hendrik,” Sadie says. “That was me.”
After their ordeal at Raven Hall, Beth finally opened up to Sadie about her past. As well as telling Sadie about her time at Raven Hall, Beth described the months she spent sleeping on the streets afterward, and the homeless charity that helped her—the same charity that she in turn has tried to support ever since. When Sadie spotted the charity’s name on a job advert in the local newspaper a few weeks later, she drew a circle around it and rang the number straightaway.
“So, when do you start?” Wendy asks her.
“In three weeks.” Sadie can’t disguise her excitement. “They’ll be training me at first, of course, and I know it’ll be hard, but—I really can’t wait. To actually feel like I’m making a difference to people...”
Wendy sighs. “So no more mermaid auditions?”
“Nope,” Sadie says with a grin. “Not for the time being, anyway.”
“Oh well.” Wendy sips her coffee, then tips in a packet of sugar. “At least your mum sounds happier now. How’s her new man working out?”
“Pretty well, actually.” Sadie smiles. “I mean, he’s not that new, but... yeah, I think he’s good for her. I really like him.”
“Oh, it’s no good.” Wendy gets to her feet. “I’ve got to have some of that carrot cake. It’s calling me.”
Sadie watches Wendy weave between tables to reach the counter, and then she drops her gaze to the charm bracelet on her wrist.After years of hardly ever wearing it, she decided to put it on this morning. She twists it slowly, admiring the charms and enjoying the sense of connection it gives her to her grandfather Markus.
Wendy returns with her cake. “So, fill me in, then. Is there a date for the trial? Have you seen any of the other guests? What’s the latest?”
Sadie sighs. She’s not supposed to talk about the case, but that doesn’t stop everyone asking her for details. There’s been plenty of information in the press, though, so she sticks to this and pretends it’s all she knows.
“They’re still collating evidence,” she says. “There’s no date yet.”
“And Nina Averell’s still locked up?”
“Yep.”
Wendy’s eyes are enormous. “I can’t believe your mum was friends with amurderer.”
“It was only attempted murder,” Sadie says weakly.
“I know, but—Nina was so devious, wasn’t she? Hiring those people to refurbish the house, and they all believed her when she said she was the owner... And knocking back the poisoned gin herself, to try to make the rest of you drink it...”
“It was whiskey, actually. And the active compound had broken down, so it didn’t have much effect anyway.”
“Still.” Wendy’s eyes shine with admiration. “You’re lucky to be alive. I was saying that to—actually, do you know what? You could step straight into that mermaid commercial now, if you still wanted it. I’d just need to make one call...”
Sadie laughs. “No, thanks—and listen. Don’t go around talking about this too much, will you?”
“Gosh no, don’t worry.” Wendy nods seriously. “My lips are sealed.”
They sip their coffees. Sadie closes her eyes for a moment, relishing the buzz of happy chatter all around them in the café. In fact, there have been two major developments in Nina’s case—neither of which Sadie can share with Wendy.
Shortly after Nina learned the truth, in jail, about Beth being Markus’s biological daughter, Beth was called back to the police station to be interviewed about a new accusation that Nina had leveled against Leonora. Nina is now claiming that Leonora sent Markus out onto the ice deliberately, knowing it was likely that he would fall through.
“My mother knew I wouldn’t have carried on following Beth,” Nina had stated to her solicitor. “She knew I’d have turned around and gone back to the house—I wasn’t allowed to leave Raven Hall, or go into the village. So there was no need for her to send Dad out after me. But she sent him anyway, because she knew the ice was weakening, and she was desperate to silence him. She wanted to protect my fraudulent inheritance of Raven Hall.”
Sadie and Beth can’t agree on whether they think this is even remotely possible.
