‘Yes, I think I saw Paul outside by the canapé stand.’
‘Ahh, yes, of course.’ Agnes caught Opal’s eye again, andbizarrely, Opal felt the urge to giggle, as though the tension between them was bidding for any means of escape.
Opal watched Agnes, and those long legs of hers, walk away. She jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Debbie.
‘Can I talk to you for a second?’ Her friend looked anxious.
‘Of course. I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while. I’m sorry if that dinner was—’ Opal started, but Debbie cut her off.
‘Not here, maybe upstairs?’ Debbie was slightly wild-eyed, and Opal followed her without any more questions.
Upstairs on the landing Debbie dropped her voice low. ‘I don’t really know how to say this, Pol, and if I’m being honest I’ve been a bit of a coward about the whole thing. I couldn’t even answer your calls; I just felt so rotten, but I wasn’t sure so I didn’t want to …’ Debbie was getting increasingly frantic.
Opal laid a hand on her shoulder. ‘Shhh, Debbie, it’s OK. Deep breaths.’
Debbie looked up at Opal, and tears welled in her eyes. ‘I think it’s Aggy. She’s the one …’ Debbie’s voice cracked. ‘She’s the one who Martin has been …’ Debbie looked pained as she finished her sentence, ‘who Martin has been having his affair with.’
Opal was impassive. She wasn’t sure how to react.
Debbie took her silence as rage. ‘I’m so sorry. I had no idea. And then at that dinner when that girl – Ruby is it? – made that comment about Martin hopping over the fence, it got me thinking. And then all last week I was trying to really pay attention to Agnes’s comings and goings, and then when she agreed to come tonight …’ Debbie was falling over her words ‘… I thought, it can’t be, surely she wouldn’t be as brazen asto agree to come tonight if there was anything untoward happening with the husband of the hostess!’
Debbie was growing hysterical. She stopped for a moment to take a couple of deep breaths. ‘But then I saw them together, Opal, and there’s just no question. I’m so sorry. I can’t believe it. I raised her better than this, but it’s her … She’s …’ Debbie broke down then, her sobs racking her whole body.
Opal took her by the arm and led Debbie into the master bedroom, shutting the door behind them. This had been where Debbie had found her in a state not so long ago, and now she would repay the favour.
‘Listen to me, Debbie.’ Opal placed a palm on each of Debbie’s damp, streaked cheeks. ‘None of this is your fault. Agnes is a grown woman now. She’s made her own decisions, and they do not reflect on you.’
‘Oh, Pol, I’m so sorry. This must all be so devastating, to know it was happening right under your nose, and just as you find out, I’m making it all about me! What a terrible friend I am …’ Debbie burst into a bout of wailing and Opal drew her to her chest. As Debbie’s sobs slowed again, Opal tried not to think about the mascara undoubtedly being smeared into her dress.
‘Don’t worry about it, Debbie,’ Opal whispered, stroking her friend’s hair softly. ‘I already know about Agnes.’ As the words left her lips, Opal felt Debbie stiffen in her arms. She stopped sniffing and an eerie silence descended. When Debbie pulled herself away, there was the slightest furrow of confusion on her face.
‘Youknew?’ The venom in those two words from Debbie made Opal’s blood run cold.
‘I … well I suspected. I mean I …’
‘How did you suspect?’ Debbie’s expression was stony, and Opal knew that she couldn’t lie to her friend anymore.
‘I … I saw them. That day you found me, I’d already found them, in the guest bedroom.’ Opal kept her eyes trained on Debbie as she rose to her feet and backed away. Opal was the ringmaster and Debbie the animal that didn’t want to be tamed.
‘You saw them.’ It wasn’t a question, and Debbie’s voice was quiet.
‘I should have told you. I’m sorry,’ Opal started, but Debbie held her hand up.
‘You have no idea. How could you? What it’s like to try and protect a daughter in this world. To try and guide her, without pressuring her, to help her without coddling her, to let her spread her wings, but all the while know that a creature as beautiful as she is, is a risk to herself.’ Debbie looked Opal in the eye. ‘Because of men like Martin, men who capture beautiful things just so that they can be the ones to take their spirits from them.’
Opal felt a hot tear run down her cheek.
‘How could you watch him do that to her, and not save her? Not save her or even let me save her?’ Those last four words Debbie shouted. It wasn’t something Opal had ever heard before. It was fierce and it was terrifying, and Opal could do nothing but shake her head helplessly as Debbie slammed the door behind her.
Chapter 33
Adam had never been much of a drinker; generally he preferred pills. Alcohol made him feel clumsy and sluggish, where ecstasy made him energised and perceptive, receptive not only to the details of the world he was in, but more acutely aware of the others as well, the ones who were usually just out of sight.
Tonight, though, he was enjoying the wine; perhaps it was because it was expensive, or perhaps it was because with each sip he felt less and less nervous about being around Noah. Tonight he was eager to keep his feet firmly in the realms of reality.
Whilst they’d been setting up the ballroom together, rigging up the sound system, they had worked mostly in silence. Only occasionally exchanging a sly smile, or a short instruction, but steering clear of any real conversation.
As the guests arrived, Adam had felt that familiar sensation of becoming outnumbered, of sudden hyperfocus on the self as a minority in the room. He’d noticed it happening to Noah too.
