‘So were you. You’re the one who found her. She owes her life to you.’
‘We’ll argue about that another time,’ Jenna managed to say. She looked to her side, at Nikolai and Irina. ‘You’re to blame for this,’ she said, ‘I hope you realise that.’
Irina flinched, but Nikolai stared back at Jenna, his expression defiantly impassive. His eyes devoid of emotion, he muttered something inaudible.
Jenna glared at him. ‘What did you say?’
‘I said nobody made her go swimming. It was her choice.’
His blatant coolness incensed Jenna. ‘She’d had too much to drink and was incapable of making the right decision! And you knew that. You knew that! But you still encouraged her.’
‘What about you leaving us in the water the way you did? What if I had got into difficulty?’ This was from Irina.
Jenna seethed with anger. ‘Then your precious brother would have saved you, if he could be bothered!’
‘Jenna,’ said Blake softly, his hand touching her shoulder. ‘Not the time.’
She bit her lip, knowing he was right, and forcing herself to concentrate on rubbing at Rachel’s arms to try and warm her, she told her friend over and over that everything was going to be all right.
*
Downstairs in the kitchen, Frankie was frantic with worry.
She knew in her bones something was horribly wrong. If only she had thought to remind Danny to take his mobile with him she’d be able to ring him and find out what was going on. She also wished she had insisted that she had gone with him, but he wouldn’t hear of it. ‘It’s probably just me being irrational and overreacting,’ he’d said, ‘but I have a bad feeling about them going out so late inSwallowtail. I just need to reassure myself they’re okay.’
Frankie had watched him from the bedroom window take the launch from the boathouse and cruise out of the dyke. That was when she saw a shadowy figure appear on the bank in front of the Mill. It looked like Jenna’s friend, Blake, and after Danny had crossed the stretch of water, he pulled in close to the bank and Blake hopped on board. They’d been gone now for nearly an hour and Frankie was growing ever more anxious. Had there been an accident? Had Danny’s concern pushed his heart to breaking point?
Don’t, she told herself. Stop fearing the worst.
She wrapped her hands around the mug of tea she had made and switching off the under-light, she went and stood at the open French doors, a cool breeze blowing in. Seconds passed while her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Watching. Waiting. It was all she could do.
‘Another one who can’t sleep, then?’
She started at the sound of Simon’s voice as he came into the kitchen behind her. ‘Not much chance of that,’ she said. She explained about Danny going off in the boat.
‘Bloody fool going out on his own! Why didn’t he wake me, I’d have gone with him.’
‘He’s not alone. From the upstairs window I saw him picking up Laura’s son from the Mill.’
‘What was Blake doing out on the river bank in the middle of the night?’
‘I have no idea. But at least it gives me a degree of peace of mind knowing Danny isn’t alone.’
‘Did he take his mobile with him?’
She shook her head.
‘Bloody fool,’ Simon repeated, standing alongside her and staring into the darkness. ‘And bloody fools those kids of ours going out on the river after drinking so much, and after all the lectures we’ve given them ever since they were teenagers. I bet it was those bloody stepkids of Valentina’s leading them astray.’
‘Best not to leap to conclusions.’
‘Well, I’ll tell you this for nothing; if he’d been here, Callum would have stopped them from going out. God, why couldn’t Rachel have been born with half her brother’s common sense? I’m surprised Jenna went, though, she’s usually more sensible.’
That same thought had occurred to Frankie, as had the thought that Rachel had not been too subtle in her flirting with Nikolai during the evening. Would that have led her to show off and do something silly? ‘Maybe Jenna went to keep an eye on them,’ she said lightly.
‘Yes, thank God for Jenna. She’s always been the sensible one of those two girls, ever since they were little. You know, I’ve always been grateful for her friendship to Rachel; for the most part she’s been a steadying influence.’
Frankie smiled. ‘Sometimes I think Jenna’s a little too level-headed for her own good; she needs to have more fun in her life.’
