We’ve reached the water’s edge. Cheddar isn’t impressed at first. He tentatively dips a paw into the water, then shakes his whole leg feverishly, looking disgusted. Iris takes off her shoes and socks and coaxes him into the water, but he gets spooked by a wave and runs out again. After a few minutes, though, he starts to enjoy himself and seems astounded to realize he can swim.
After our walk, we decide to get a coffee before heading back home. The café at the top of the beach is closed, so we go to the Saunton Sands Hotel. It’s a posh, four-star hotel and I feel very underdressed. Cheddar isn’t allowed inside, so we sit at an outdoor table on the terrasse, which overlooks the beach. We’re sheltered from the wind and sitting in the sun, which suits us perfectly. Cheddar, exhausted from the excitement of his first outing to the beach, instantly falls asleep at Iris’s feet.
As we sip our coffees, I have second thoughts about asking Iris about Olivia. I don’t want to ruin what is turning out to be a lovely day. But it’s now or never.
‘Iris, I wonder if I could ask you about something. Just say if it’s none of my business, OK? I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable or stick my nose—’
‘Mum, you can cut out the preamble,’ Iris says. ‘Get to the point?’
‘Right. Well, it’s about the Rohypnol. And, er, Olivia. I—’
‘How did you know I was talking about Olivia?’
I don’t tell her I didn’t know for sure. ‘Olly said something to your dad. He said she was sexually assaulted by some guy at a party.’
‘Yeah. She was drugged and raped.’
‘Do you want to tell me what happened?’
‘Not really, Mum.’ Iris sighs and turns away from me, shielding her eyes from the low sun and looking at the ocean. Then she pulls down her sunglasses, which were holding her hair back.
‘OK. That’s fine. I’m just concerned, you know? I don’t know how best to protect you, how to protect Margo. I think you were right about Margo, by the way.’
I probably shouldn’t have said that – Iris has had enough problems of her own to deal with and I don’t want to burden her with more – but it gets her attention. Her head snaps back and her eyes lock onto mine.
‘What do you mean?’
I have to tell her now. ‘I’m convinced Jordan and Jasper spiked Margo’s drink the night she spent at Hilltop House. It might sound stupid, or paranoid, and perhaps it is, but—’
‘Nah. That makes sense.’
‘—they were trying to sell pot outside Millie’s house on the night of her eighteenth birthday party as well. It doesn’t mean they push all sorts of drugs, but—’
‘How on earth do you know that?’
‘Your dad saw them when he went to pick you up that night. Anyway, I went round to Yvonne’s and demanded answers.’
‘Did you get any?’
‘No. I think Yvonne deliberately kept Margo at Hilltop House until the drugs were out of her system before taking her to hospital. I think she would have brought her home instead of going to the hospital if she’d managed to get hold of you the first time she rang. Or perhaps when Margo regained consciousness, Yvonne got really worried that there might be something seriously wrong with her and decided to play it safe by taking her to A&E, I don’t know. But I’m convinced those boys drugged Margo.’
‘What makes you so sure?’
Am I sure? I could be wrong about all this. But as I list everything, I’m more convinced than ever. ‘A few things. Margo’s symptoms – the memory loss, in particular – and the fact that Jordan and Jasper gave her a can of Red Bull, which is pretty much the last thing she remembers. It’s an energy drink. It shouldn’t have knocked her out.’
I look at Iris. She has a strange expression on her face. I wait for her to say something, but she doesn’t.
‘You don’t believe me, do you?’ I ask. As much as I’d like for none of this to be true, for Margo not to have been drugged, it’s really important to me for some reason that my daughter believes me.
‘Oh, yes, I do,’ Iris says. ‘I believe every word of what you’ve just said.’
The words hang in the air between us for a few seconds. I can almost picture the sentence Iris has just spoken as I try to read between the lines. I pick up Iris’s earlier line now –that makes sense. She didn’t find my theory illogical, far from it.
‘It was at Josh’s eighteenth birthday party,’ she says.
It sounds like the beginning of an account, a secret. I’ve confided in Iris and now she’s ready to confide in me. I hold my breath.
‘Olivia was drugged,’ Iris continues. ‘Josh and I had had a row. I mean, maybe not a row, but he’d upset me. I went for a walk to clear my head. Olly came with me. He tried to calm me down.’
