‘Our friendship with the Braids.’
‘Did Lewis decide we weren’t bling enough, once he’d inherited all that money?’
‘Why would you think that?’
‘Beth, I’ve no idea. Idon’tthink that. You’re right, I don’t know why we stopped seeing them. I might have known once, but I’ve forgotten.’ He says all this in a God-help-us tone, as if it’s petty to care why a long friendship suddenly ended.
‘Money had nothing to do with it,’ I tell him. ‘It was because of Georgina.’
Chimpy.It’s the kind of nickname you might give your youngest child … but then why did talking to Georgina, if it was her, make Flora cry? Is the answer to that question something to do with Georgina being nowhere in evidence on Lewis’s Instagram? Is she, for some reason, a source of misery to both her parents?
‘Who’s Georgina?’ Dom chuckles. ‘Just kidding.’
‘For God’s sake, Dom.’
‘Beth, lighten up. And also … focus. We’re here to investigate number 16, not to analyse the breakdown of our friendship with the Braids or discuss the miscarriage.’
‘The miscarriage?’ Not a word I was expecting to hear today. ‘You meanmymiscarriage?’
‘Yeah. Should I not have mentioned it? You said the friendship ended because of Georgina. I thought you were implying that Flora having a third child just after you lost a baby … I guess I was wrong.’
‘I was nine weeks pregnant. I didn’t think of it as losing a baby. Do you really think I’d allow my closest friendship to end for such a stupid reason – my jealousy because Flora had successfully had a third child when I’d failed? Am I that pathetic?’
‘No, I … I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—’
‘I wasn’t jealous. Not at all.’
‘I believe you. But then what did you mean—’ He breaks off. ‘Look, shall we do what we came here to do? When Captain Cook arrived at Botany Bay after sailing all the way from England, did he disembark and explore the terrain or did he sit in his boat, chatting about his friends’ babies?’
I couldn’t know less about Captain Cook if I tried, but I play along. ‘The first, I’m guessing. Who’s going to do the talking, assuming someone’s home?’
Will he ask me later, or forget about it, content never to know in what way Georgina Braid caused the end of my friendship with Flora?
‘What if the door opens and Lewis is standing there?’ I ask.
‘That won’t happen, because Lewis lives in Delray Beach, Florida, but if it does – if he still owns this house too, and he happens to be in it today – I’ll say, “Hi, Lewis. Long time no see. Would you mind showing me your secret stash of tiny cloned children?”’
Soon Dom and I are both laughing uncontrollably. It’s probably nerves. We’re about to do something a lot of people would never dream of doing.
Once we’ve pulled ourselves together, we get out of the car and walk briskly acrossWyddial Lane towards the large wooden gates of number 16. Dom presses one of the illuminated buttons on the intercom. We stand and wait.
Nothing.
‘Fuck,’ I say. ‘They’re out.’
‘Then we wait,’ says Dom.
‘How long?’Please say, ‘All day.’
‘Half an hour?’
It’s not long enough. I want to wait until these gates open, however long it takes.
‘Maybe an hour,’ Dom concedes. ‘Not longer, surely? They might have set off on a family holiday last night and not be due back for a week. Why don’t we go for a walk and come back in a bit? It’s better than just standing here.’
‘No. If we go anywhere, we might miss them. What about the neighbours? We could try them. The people at numbers 14 and 18 will know the name of the family at number 16. I bet everyone knows everyone on this street. It’s a private road, so the council don’t deal with it – and yet look how well maintained it is.’
‘Tarmac smoother than a baby’s arse,’ Dom agrees.
