“She wasn’t this old, you know. At the time, she only would’ve been about thirty. She could’ve done it,” Evie said with a sigh. “It was a long time ago.”
“That’s true,” Charmaine admitted, the lump in her throat growing. She didn’t want to cry. It was silly to cry because a murderer had turned out not to be the nice person you thought they were. Silly and embarrassing. She held back the tears with a cough.
“We were all fooled,” Bea said, patting Charmaine’s back. “It’s true that you didn’t see it, but none of us did. We all love Betsy. The whole island adores her. She’s part of the furniture around here—a fact she reminded me of. She said no one would believe me if I told them she admitted to the murder. Still, I’m going to the police. If they don’t believe me, I’ll deal with that when it happens.”
“Well, I believe you,” Evie said.
“Me too,” Charmaine whispered. “I don’t want to, but I do.”
“Thank you,” Bea said with a shake of her head. Her brow furrowed. “But can I ask why you believe me, Chaz? You love Betsy. You’ve told us before you can’t believe she’d be part of this, yet now you’re ready to accept that I haven’t made this story up. That it’s all true, even though it means your friend and boss is a murderer. Has something changed?”
Charmaine didn’t want to say it, but she had to. There was no keeping it to herself now. And if she didn’t speak up, she’d be putting herself in harm’s way. It was time to bring everything out into the open, no matter what the consequences might be.
“I know you’re telling the truth because my mother witnessed the murder.”
“What?” Evie bounded to her feet. “What are you talking about? Who is your mother?”
“My mother was Helen Hilton.”
Bea stared at her, blinking. Evie pressed her hands to her forehead as tears filled her eyes. “You’re Helen’s daughter?”
Charmaine nodded.
Evie and Bea exchanged a glance. Tears snaked down Evie’s cheeks, and Bea sat suddenly with a huff of air and looked blankly at the wall ahead of her.
Charmaine felt lighter. Most of her secrets had been uncovered. It’d been so long since she’d been able to open up to anyone in her life. All this time she’d kept the truth close to her chest, guarding it as though anything else might leave her bereft of security. But now that it was out, there was no pushing it back in. It was time to tell them everything.
Twelve
It tooka long while before Beatrice and Evie finally stopped asking questions. Charmaine did her best to give the answers they wanted. This was all new for her — opening up and sharing information about her family and their history wasn’t something she’d ever been comfortable doing.
Perhaps she shouldn’t have told them. It was a lot for them to take in, and they were more emotional than she’d thought they would be. Clearly they’d known her mother, but whether that was a good or bad thing, she couldn’t quite tell yet.
Bea cleared her throat and blew her nose on a tissue, then walked over to Charmaine and threw her arms around her, holding her tight. Evie followed, squeezing both in a bear hug that left Charmaine breathless. They stood that way for several long seconds. Then Evie stepped back to blow her nose again, and Bea let go to peer directly into Charmaine’s eyes.
“Yes, you have her eyes. And her nose. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before now.”
“You knew her?”
“Of course we did,” Bea replied. “She was a few years older than us, of course. We looked up to her. She was so much fun and a great athlete. I still remember watching her do the one-hundred-metre sprint when I was in year seven and she was in year twelve.”
“She was amazing,” Evie sighed. “And then after school, we became friends. The gaps between the years close when you’re older.”
“I was gone, back to the city by then,” Bea said. “But Evie was here for a little while.”
“Then I left as well,” Evie said. “And when I returned years later, your mother was already divorced and had left town with the kids. When I asked her parents and sister about it, they were tight-lipped and wouldn’t tell me where she’d gone. It’s been a mystery on the island for decades. Whatever happened to Helen? Her sister Finn is still here — have you met her yet?”
“Yes, I met her. She’s the reason I came to Coral Island. I wanted to find her,” Charmaine said, sliding back into her chair. “Anyway, I shared that with you because I know where some of the jewellery is that Betsy stole from her thieving husband.”
Bea ceased blowing her nose and stared at Charmaine in wonder. “Where is it?”
“It’s in the bank vault. My mother found it in a cave, I’m assuming it might’ve been the one near your beach cottage, and she kept it hidden all these years. Betsy tried to steal it back—I guess it was Betsy, although it could’ve been Buck, I suppose. Someone broke into Mum’s house and then into my grandparents’ house repeatedly looking for it. I think it’s worth a lot of money. But I’ve got it now—I found it after Mum died. In fact, that’s why my brother was here — he got wind of it and wanted to take it. So I put it in the bank vault, where it’s safe. But I think we should take it to the police when you go. It’s evidence, and it’ll probably help put Betsy away. They’ll believe your story if we have the diamonds, won’t they?”
“If we have the diamonds with us, they’ll have to,” Bea stated with an emphatic nod.
Thirteen
Taya bustledabout the dining room setting silverware in place, fixing a folded napkin, rearranging the vase of flowers. She shouldn’t be nervous — lunch with the girls used to be a regular affair. But it’d been so long since all four of them had gathered, she felt butterflies in the pit of her stomach. She’d missed Penny so much. With everything that’d been going on in her life, having her sweet friend nearby to encourage and support her would’ve been exactly what she needed. But there was no use worrying about it now because that wasn’t to be. Penny lived abroad with her husband, traveling for the stories he covered, and that was their new reality. Taya simply had to deal with it.
