Page 45 of The Mother-in-Law

‘Okay, you can start, Bells,’ Eamon says. ‘Truth or dare?’

‘Hmmm,’ she says. ‘I should say dare. Because I like a physical challenge. But given the location, and the fact that we’re having lunch I’ll say . . . truth.’ She shrugs gaily.

‘What was it about Eamon that you first found attractive?’ It comes out of my mouth before I can help it. Normally I’d be cautious, in case it implied that there wasn’t anything attractive about Eamon and thus hurt his feelings, but lately I am less concerned about his ego. As for Bella, I expect her to fumble, to be shy, but she just reaches across the table and takes his hand, smiling unabashedly. ‘Before him, I’d only been with boys. Eamon is a man.’

Ollie and I exchange a glance. I try not to vomit.

‘It’s a tough job,’ Eamon says, stretching his arms out, ‘but someone has to do it.’

‘All righty then,’ Ollie says, clearly as appalled as I am. I take a moment to bask in the simplicity of my mostly normal husband.

‘Your turn, buddy,’ Eamon says to Ollie. ‘Truth or dare?’

‘Dare,’ he says, which is a surprise because who, above the age of twelve, saysdare? I tell myself he’s just answering quickly to move things along. I am trying to think of something, my mind going to ideas of knocking on the neighbours’ doors and running away, when Eamon puts down his glass.

‘I dare you to borrow a million bucks from your dad!’ he says. ‘His dad’s minted,’ he explains to Bella. ‘He’d probably have a million bucks in pocket change.’

He laughs loudly, and I’m reminded of Jeffrey Greenan, Tom’s friend. Same awful laugh, same chauvinistic manner. Though at least Jeffrey had a very nice wife.

‘Unfortunately,’ Ollie wipes the corners of his mouth with a paper serviette. From his body language I get the feeling this isn’t the first time this has come up. ‘There’s my mum to deal with.’

‘His mum’s tight,’ Eamon explains to Bella, and Ollie bristles. Eamon’s treading on rocky terrain here. EvenI’malways careful about what I say about Diana. Ollie understands that she’s difficult, but she is, after all, his mother.

‘Your turn, Eamon,’ I say quickly, because the sooner this game is over the better. ‘Truth or dare?’

‘Truth,’ he says.

‘Let me do this one,’ Bella says, and she takes a painfully long time to come up with something, humming and huffing and pressing a forefinger dramatically to her lips.

‘What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you?’ she says finally.

Eamon is clearly surprised, and I get the feeling he was expecting something along the lines of ‘Have you ever had a threesome?’. I have to hand it to Bella, it’s not a bad question.

‘Well, divorce hasn’t been pretty,’ he says, after a slight pause. ‘The financial ruin of it, I mean,’ he says quickly to Bella. ‘I lost my house and a fair chunk of my savings. But I learned from it too.’

He presses a forkful of sausage into his mouth and chews slowly.

‘What have you learned?’ I ask.

‘You know.’ He shrugs. ‘To put safeguards in place. That kind of thing.’

‘Safeguards against what?’ I ask, with a laugh. ‘Divorce?’

‘Safeguards against everything,’ Eamon says, as if it’s obvious.

Even Bella is looking perplexed now. It warms her to me a little. ‘There’s no safeguard againsteverything,’ she says.

Eamon swills his champagne, and winks revoltingly. ‘Money,’ he says, ‘is a safeguard against everything.’

24

LUCY

The present . . .

The next day we go to the lawyer’s office. I try to get out of it, but Gerard, Diana’s lawyer, told Ollie it would be a good idea for us all to attend, so even though Diana’s funeral is tomorrow and I have several hundred booklets to fold, readings to choose and catering to confirm, I go. But as we sit in the waiting room, my mind is a Newton’s cradle, flicking back and forth over everything I know. Diana was found dead with an empty bottle of poison by her body . . . but there was no sign of poison in her system. There is a missing cushion and evidence of smothering. Even I can see that it’s starting to look like someone staged Diana’s death to look like a suicide. But, if that was the case, why would they hide the letter away in a drawer instead of leaving it in plain sight?

None of it makes any sense.