‘Oh my God,’ Holly is saying. ‘I didn’t mean to … I’m so sorry … I just thought. I mean … I just couldn’t work out where I knew your face from and then—’
Heinrich places a hand on Holly’s arm.
‘Shush,’ he says, not unkindly. Holly stops speaking. Cosima’s nausea subsides. She tries to prop herself up to a seated position.
‘Careful,’ Rudy says. ‘Do you want us to get you a Coke or something?’
She nods, gratefully.
‘Yeah. Anything sugary.’
‘I’ll go,’ Holly says.
‘Ya. Me too,’ Heinrich adds.
The two of them drop their rubbish sacks and start making their way to the nearest beach café.
When they’re out of earshot, Cosima starts apologising.
‘I’m so sorry. God, how embarrassing. I’m meant to be the one in charge.’
The words come out in a muddled rush.
‘Don’t worry,’ Rudy says. ‘I used to faint all the time. I got nosebleeds.’
She tries to stand but her legs are too weak. Rudy doesn’t say anything. Instead, he takes off his gloves and his face mask and sits cross-legged next to her.
‘Nosebleeds, huh?’ Cosima says.
He shrugs, his face serious.
‘School was shit,’ Rudy says.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Me too. For whatever Holly said to you.’
She sighs.
‘It’s not Holly’s fault. My dad was arrested for—’
‘I know.’
This surprises her. She had thought, foolishly, that she would be able to leave everything that had happened behind, thousands of miles across several oceans. She never spoke about her family to her fellow volunteers. The only person who knew about it was Derek and even they didn’t talk about it that much because, for different reasons, they both found it too upsetting.
‘How?’ Cosima asks.
Rudy laughs.
‘The internet.’
‘Oh. Right. Yeah.’
The story had been everywhere. Stupid to think that Bali was the one place she could ignore it. Her father had been arrested and charged with five counts of bribery. The new Prime Minister, Richard Take,was said to want to make an example of his former colleague. The day after his ‘unprecedented’ election (this being the first time the Conservative Party had cited ‘highly extenuating circumstances’ in order to change the rules and allow a late-declaring candidate to stand), Take had given an interview to theSunday Times, calling for ‘due process’.
‘Ben Fitzmaurice certainly has questions to answer,’ Prime Minister Take told the reporter. ‘The wheels of justice must turn for him as they would for any other citizen of this great country, and these alleged payments will be investigated without further delay.’
Three of the payments were said to have been made to two senior Tipworth police detectives seven years ago, just after Ben’s fortieth birthday party. That was the time, Cosima knew now, when Martin had been pushed out by the Fitzmaurice family and, with nothing left to lose, had told the authorities about the Vicky Dillane cover-up. He had revealed – finally – that it had been Ben drunkenly at the wheel that night, driving the speeding car that had killed her.
