Here We Lie by Sophie McKenzie Read Free Book Online Page B

you’re doing . . .’ I check myself. What a stupid question. How on earth do I think he will be doing? ‘Just want you to know I love you.’ I
ring off.
    I wander around the living room of the villa, still numb, lost. Absently I clear the wine glasses Gary and Iveta used last night. As I’m placing them in the sink, Martin calls at last.
‘Oh, Emily.’ The love and concern in his voice finally releases my own tears. I bawl my eyes out as I tell Martin everything. To my relief, he reassures me that neither he nor Cameron
have touched the ExAche sachets which the police seem to think are the most likely cause of Dee Dee’s death and that they are already on their way back to Calvi. They arrive a few hours
later, shortly followed by yet another police officer who takes statements from them both. Rose insists that we all try to eat, though nobody has any appetite. All I can think is that Dee Dee is
gone and that poor Jed must be hurting beyond anything I can imagine. He calls at last, shortly after nightfall. He is with Dee Dee’s mother, Zoe, who has gone straight to the morgue and is
sitting with their daughter’s body. Jed sounds empty, wiped out.
    ‘Zoe will have to stay with us at the villa,’ he says.
    ‘Oh.’ I can’t help the sharp intake of breath with which I receive this news. I understand, of course. But I cannot imagine what on earth it will be like to be under the same
roof as a woman who has made it so clear she hates me. ‘Do you want me and Rose to . . . to find a hotel?’ I ask, thinking that maybe this will be easiest.
    ‘I just want you to deal with it,’ he says dully.
    ‘Of course, of course.’ My stomach churns with anxiety. ‘I was just thinking of what would be easiest for Zoe.’
    ‘She’s lost her daughter,’ he says, his voice strained to breaking point. ‘It seriously won’t make any difference where she sleeps.’
    ‘I’ll . . . I’ll make up Lish’s bed for her, he can take the sofa downstairs,’ I say, eager to be helpful. ‘I’ve seen where the linen
cup—’
    ‘She wants to sleep in Dee Dee’s room.’
    ‘But . . . but the police have put tape across the door.’ This is not really my overriding concern, but saying it seems morbid to take the girl’s bed seems unhelpful.
    ‘That won’t stop Zoe,’ Jed says with a sigh. ‘We’ll be back in an hour or so.’
    As soon as Rose hears about Zoe’s imminent arrival she suggests that she should leave the villa with Martin and Cameron and spend the night on the
Maggie May
. ‘So as not to be
in the way,’ she says, ‘then Zoe can have my room, if she wants.’
    I agree, not just for the room but because it seems best that there aren’t too many people here when Jed and Zoe arrive.
    After the others leave I check on Iveta, who is asleep, then on Lish, who appears to be drinking his way through the bottle of whisky that Gary bought the night we arrived. He receives the news
that his parents are on their way with a miserable shrug. The stars and the moon light the sky. It feels like years since this morning. I am ridiculously nervous at the prospect of seeing Zoe
again. Her angry rant in the school car park rings in my ears. Still, maybe losing Dee Dee will put all that in perspective. Most of all, I hope my presence here doesn’t make this terrible
evening any worse for her. I pour myself a glass of wine. My hands are shaking. I take a sip and then the front door key turns in the lock.
    My legs carry me across the open-plan living room as the door opens and Jed and his ex walk in.

June 2014
    My life is OVER. Seriously. I want to die. Everything is as bad as it could be. And I am SO stupid to have thought it would ever be any different. It started with those year
ten girls giggling on Friday, then on Saturday Mum took me and Ava and Poppy and Marietta Hingis – who doesn’t go to my school but who we have to include because she, like, thinks
she’s best friends with me though really it’s