The Dinner Party

‘I didn’t think you wanted anything else to drink.’ Juliette’s face resumed its earlier suspicion.

‘As everyone else has had a refill …’ He nodded at the others’ glasses. ‘Right. Us then,’ Ted sighed, as if it were a chore. Now he regarded the thankfully sealed envelope in front of Juliette.

Juliette took hold of the lighter and flicked up a flame. She didn’t touch the envelope though. ‘Sure you want me to do this?’ She held the glow at face height so that her blue eyes were either side of it.

Ted shrugged. ‘You didn’t steam it open while I was with Georgie?’ Rhys said something in response, but Ted didn’t hear it.

Juliette’s face remained unchanged, her pupils locked on his and suddenly they were the only two people in the room.

‘OK.’ Juliette eventually glanced down at the orange envelope, picked it up and held the lighter to it. ‘I forgive you.’ But she only looked at the paper as it went up.

Ted wondered how he should react. He was aware of himself slowly nodding, of his stomach muscles relaxing.

Juliette kept her eyes on the envelope as it shrivelled in the ashtray. She scrutinized its blackened form for a moment, as if waiting for something to happen, and then blew the ash into fragments. ‘There, gone.’

Tiny pieces briefly hovered above the table before coming to rest there.

Ted didn’t wait for her eyes to return to his. ‘OK, just yours left.’ He wouldn’t milk the moment as some of the others had.

She put the lighter on the side of the ashtray, gently pushed it over to him and sat back.

Ted took her lavender envelope in one hand and the lighter in the other, holding both over the ashtray. When he refocused on Juliette, however, he found an emotion on her face he hadn’t expected. He’d been anticipating disapproval, a portent of a heated conversation to come, but Ted saw something he rarely did. Juliette looked scared. It unnerved him.

‘I forgive you.’ Ted quickly lit the envelope, as if doing so would also incinerate the fear in her expression. The flames burned between them. He dropped it and as the veil of smoke cleared her countenance changed. She was taking in the other guests now, smiling for their benefit.

‘Any other games?’ Jakob ribbed Evie.

She shook her head, stony-faced.

Rhys chuckled. The atmosphere of the room washed back in, as if all the tension had been blown away, and Ted suddenly felt a chill from the open window behind him.

The guests started chatting again, all except Ted and Juliette.

‘OK, cheese and port now?’ Connor asked impatiently.

Juliette nodded and started to rise.

‘I’ll get it.’ Ted stood faster. ‘I’ll shut this window now we’re done.’ He turned to the pane and sealed it against the darkness outside.

Strained conversation continued as he unwrapped the cheese behind the counter. He contemplated the ashtray on the table and wondered what unspoken moments hidden within four marriages had just been cremated. And even though they’d now been willingly reduced to ash, he was sure Evie’s game had given them more of a presence than they’d had before the eight of them had agreed to play.

CHAPTER NINE

Conversation was perfunctory as Ted and Juliette tidied after their guests had left. Even when most of the dishes were in the washer, the group’s unease still hung about the dining room. They decided to finish clearing up the following day. Juliette blew out the candles and they headed for the bedroom.

Ted listened at Georgie’s door to the sound of his heavy breathing. He nodded to Juliette that all was fine, and they padded into their room.

‘Have you made this year’s payment for the green collection bin yet?’ Juliette asked, as they both brushed their teeth, naked, in the en suite.

Ted sighed. He’d meant to do that a handful of times. ‘Sorry, remind me first thing.’

Juliette nodded but said nothing else, her toothbrush angled right to the back of her mouth and toothpaste foam running over her knuckles.

Ted was desperate to discuss Evie’s game. Wanted to reassure Juliette that the sudden apprehension between them was misplaced. He wished he’d put his foot down when Evie had suggested it. But Juliette had been more than OK about participating. Was that because she had nothing whatsoever to hide? But she had written something down. Was it significant or had she just scribbled something minor for the sake of joining in? And why had she looked so scared? They’d both forgiven each other, but now they would think of nothing else until they’d talked about it.

Even though he needed to, he knew this wasn’t the time. Besides, if he broached the subject he’d look even guiltier. He’d been too eager for her to burn his envelope and the whole table had noticed. He should have bided his time like Juliette.

She had a cooler head than him, could keep a secret when it mattered. She’d sprung surprise parties on him for his birthday and, when he’d thought back to the lies she’d calmly told to conceal them, he’d wondered if she’d ever used the same subterfuge to hide anything else. He was a hopeless liar. And maybe that was why she was acting like she was now.

Or was that to deflect her guilt? It seemed inconceivable that she’d been unfaithful to him. Did she still harbour doubts about his fidelity? She’d given him a hard time when they’d first started going out, got quite paranoid that he was seeing someone else. It had seemed like a huge compliment. He’d been so amazed that Juliette had even been interested in him at the time, so the idea she thought he was that in demand was a considerable boost to his self-esteem. That was when she’d tested him and sent him a valentine card from a girl she’d invented, to see if he would tell her about it. He did. He passed.

He considered what he would say if she asked him directly about what had been in his envelope. He would tell the truth, but that sounded easier in his head than in reality. Maybe they’d never have the conversation because neither of them wanted to divulge what they’d written. The best thing to do was wipe the slate clean and move on.

Juliette spat her toothpaste out, gargled and spat again and walked into the bedroom without meeting his eye.

How long would he have to ride this one out? Till tomorrow, for a few days or whenever the argument broke? He finished at the sink and switched off the light.

The lamp was on at Juliette’s side of the bed, but she’d clicked it off before he got in. That didn’t bode well. Juliette always snuggled down and read her Kindle, only her hands protruding from the duvet, and usually only turned off the lamp when the screen had fallen against her nose. But suddenly her warm hands held his face.

‘I love you,’ her minty lips kissed him in the darkness. Then she released him.

‘Love you too.’ But he sensed she didn’t want him to try to find her mouth again.

Juliette turned her back to him, as if she wanted him to nuzzle her shoulders. He did and her body nestled into him.

Ted felt relief but was sure her eyes remained open as well.

He was still checking the time at three o’clock and knew Juliette was too. But not long after 3.40 her breathing became shallow and Ted fell asleep.

At 4.02 they were both wrenched awake. After a moment, Ted realized it was the sound of their landline ringing. It very rarely rang now, and Juliette had suggested they disconnect it as most people used their personal numbers. Ted scrabbled for it on his side of the bed.

‘Quick, before it wakes Georgie.’ Juliette sounded groggy.

Ted knocked a framed photo of him and Juliette off the bedside, as he frantically searched for the handset. Sounded like the glass had broken. He squinted at the phone’s glowing green keys and tried to remember which one was answer. It had already rung a good few times. He focused and punched the pick-up button. ‘Hello?’

The line was dead.

‘They hung up,’ he explained.

They both hated getting phone calls in the middle of the night. The last one had been about Juliette’s father. Ted heard her swallow.

Then a muted buzzing started.

‘That’s mine.’ Juliette sat up.

‘Where is it?’

Juliette turned on her lamp, scrabbled naked out of bed and grabbed her phone from her handbag on a dressing table chair under the curtained window. ‘One missed call. Hello?’

Ted hinged upright, his circulation thudding between his eyes.

‘Evie?’ Juliette frowned. The only sound was muffled shouting on the other end of the line. ‘Wait, slow down.’

Evie. Why the hell was she calling at this hour?

‘Evie, take a breath.’

Even from the bed, Ted could hear Evie’s voice yelling in Juliette’s ear. What was going on?

‘OK, OK. Tell him I’m coming. I’ll talk to him about it. We’re on our way. Evie?’ Juliette glanced at the screen. ‘She hung up.’ Juliette speed-dialled her number. ‘It’s gone to message.’

‘What’s happening?’

Juliette shook her head and tried again.

CHAPTER TEN

‘Any update?’ Ted emerged from the bathroom wearing the taupe shirt and black jeans he’d had on earlier.

‘She’s still not picking up.’ Juliette had put on grey slacks and a navy sweatshirt.

‘Let me try Jakob.’ Ted speed-dialled with his phone but got his message. ‘No luck. So what exactly did she say?’

‘Just that Jakob had gone berserk. I couldn’t understand anymore.’

‘Should we call the police?’

‘She called us. If we were having a fight, would you want the police turning up?’

‘So they’re definitely having a fight?’

‘From what I could understand.’

‘I’d better get round there.’ Ted scanned the bright room for his shoes.

‘I’m going too. Evie’s my friend.’ She slipped on some black suede ankle boots.

‘We can’t leave Georgie on his own.’

‘I’ve spoken to Zoe. She’s on her way round.’

Ted shook his head. ‘You shouldn’t have disturbed her at this hour.’

‘She was up with Pip anyway.’

Their next-door neighbour had an eight-month-old daughter, so she and Juliette often babysat for each other. ‘That’s a big ask.’

‘I’m sure I’ll return the favour.’

Ted slid his feet into his leather shoes. ‘All right, I’ll get the car.’

‘You can’t drive. You were still drinking a couple of hours ago. I’ve ordered a cab and it’s nearly here.’

‘That was fast work.’ As he’d thrown water in his face to wake himself and then dressed he thought Juliette had been talking to Evie.

Juliette picked her phone up from the bed and checked the cab’s progress. ‘Let’s be ready to go as soon as it arrives.’ She tucked the phone in her back pocket and headed for the door.

Ted followed and they both paused at Georgie’s. No sound from within.

‘We won’t wake him,’ Juliette whispered. ‘Zoe can let him know what’s happening when he does.’

Ted kept his voice low too. ‘Hopefully, we’ll be back before he’s up.’

Juliette said nothing and stepped carefully down the stairs.

As they reached the bottom somebody knocked lightly on the front door. Juliette crept up the hallway runner and opened it. ‘Hi Zoe, you should have used your key.’

‘I didn’t like to when you were in.’ She whispered too. Zoe Cabot was a young single mother, in her mid-twenties. She was gently bouncing her new baby. She wore a paisley headscarf and a worried expression. Her pale eyelashes rapidly blinked. ‘Everything OK?’

Juliette nodded. ‘Just a little emergency, friends of ours in Ibbotson. I’ll phone you when we know what’s going on. Help yourself to anything you want. Georgie is usually up at seven on Saturday.’

Zoe nodded gravely at Juliette and then put on a warm smile for Ted. ‘Don’t worry about anything here.’ She dumped down a changing bag.

A car beeped.

‘Really appreciate you doing this.’ Ted stood aside so she could squeeze by, grabbed his leather coat from the rack and hurried out into the dark. There was a frost on their small front lawn, and he zipped up and shivered as he trotted to the car outside the gate. Juliette remained inside, so he greeted the driver of the white Seat, sat in the front and pulled his door shut.

‘Ibbotson, please. Just waiting for my wife.’

The young Japanese driver nodded and there was a short awkward delay until Juliette dropped into the back seat.

‘Zoe all right?’

Juliette closed her door and didn’t answer Ted immediately. ‘She’s fine.’

‘You OK?’

Again her response was delayed. ‘Yes, just worried about Evie.’

The driver pulled out.

‘They’re only fifteen minutes away. We’ll soon find out what’s going on.’ But Ted suspected it was serious. Evie had never called them like this before. It was difficult to imagine them even raising their voices to each other. Who knew what went on behind closed doors though? Jakob had been very quiet when they left and pretty unsteady on his feet. ‘Try her again.’

Juliette did, then shook her head and hung up.

The driver turned left at the end of the street.

‘What was Jakob doing?’

‘I told you I don’t know.’

‘So what’s “it”?’

Juliette leaned forward and replied in the ear furthest from the driver. ‘What d’you mean?’

Ted turned. ‘When you were on the phone to Evie you said you’d talk to him about “it”. What is “it”?’

‘She just said he’d gone berserk. The rest was incoherent.’

‘There’s nothing you’re not telling me?’

‘Why would there be?’

Ted wondered if there was a little too much mortification in her response. ‘You just seem so determined to come with me.’

‘I told you, she’s my friend.’

‘Has this happened before. Them fighting?’

‘I don’t think so.’

Ted turned front again. He couldn’t imagine it. There was sometimes sniping between them, but Jakob always seemed to be a gentle giant.

They drove the rest of the way to Ibbotson in silence.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The small hamlet that Evie and Jakob lived in had very few streetlights and the narrow road that ran through it was often manned by retired residents taking speeding drivers’ registration numbers. Ted had been caught on more than one occasion and had received stiff letters through the post. He wouldn’t have been surprised to find pensioners with clipboards lurking in the hedges even at this hour of the morning.

The driver took the sharp right into Fencham Place and the headlights illuminated a tall hedge that bordered the left side. Evie and Jakob’s redbrick Victorian house was opposite the crossroads at the end. Lights burned in the downstairs and upstairs windows.

‘This is it. Just drop us in front of here,’ Juliette instructed.

The driver did and she paid him.

‘D’you mind waiting?’ Ted asked.

‘It’s OK.’ Juliette gave him a tip. ‘We might be a while.’

As soon as they got out, he pulled away without a word.

They both crunched up the long, gravelled driveway. Ted studied the lit panes for either of their friends, but there was no movement.

He rang the bell. No sound of anyone coming to answer it. Ted tried again and Juliette thumped the panel with her fist. He stood back from the door and scanned the windows above.

‘Evie!’ Juliette yelled and banged a second time.

‘Call her again. I’ll try Jakob.’

She did but shook her head.

He left a message. ‘Jakob, let us in. We’re outside your front door and we’re worried about Evie. Please ring me straight away.’ He hung up. ‘They don’t have a landline?’

‘No. Let’s try the back.’

Ted felt uneasy as he followed Juliette down the side of the house to the rear of the property. Maybe they were upstairs having a tête-à-tête, but surely they would have heard them at the door. Something felt badly wrong.

The glass door to the kitchen was wide open. The light was on, the room empty.

Ted peered at the darkened lawn. ‘Anybody out here?’ he said loudly. His breath drifted back to him, but the only response was the muted sound of the motorway.

Juliette had already stepped over the threshold and edged across the wooden tiled floor to the breakfast bar in the middle of the kitchen. The polished tiles were Jakob’s pride and joy. He’d rescued them from a gutted church nearby and lovingly laid them there, all the way through the hall and into the dining room.

‘Evie? Jakob? We’re coming in!’ There was a nervous tremor in Juliette’s voice. She reached the sealed door into the hallway and paused. ‘I’ll try her again.’ She hit Evie’s number.

A loud extract of Funktown America’s ‘Celebrate Good Times’ made them both jump and their attention shifted to the phone vibrating on the floor in the kitchen.

Ted walked over to where it lay beneath the sink unit, then froze.

‘What is it?’ Juliette joined him there and examined it more closely too.

There were dark smears over the handset.

‘That is blood, isn’t it?’ Ted straightened.

Juliette nodded and turned back to the sealed door.

‘Wait. We should be careful.’

There was panic in Juliette’s eyes. ‘Call the police?’

‘Yes.’ Ted took out his phone.

A series of thumps from above them. They both looked upwards. Sounded like somebody walking across the floor.

Juliette hurried to the door, but Ted intercepted her there. ‘I’ll shout up the stairs. If there’s any sign of trouble we should both leave.’

Juliette nodded.

Before Ted could open the door they heard more thumping. ‘They’re coming down the stairs.’ He swung it wide and they hastened along a darkened passage with three open doors off it that led to the hallway. They glanced into each deserted room they passed. The third was the familiar dining area where they’d spent many an evening, the chairs tucked neatly under the long table at its centre.

When they reached the hallway, they heard the front door click shut. The light was on, but nobody was at the bottom of the stairs.

‘Have they just left?’ Juliette rushed to the front door and opened it.

They could hear the sound of receding footsteps on gravel.

‘Evie! Jakob!’ Juliette shouted.

They both held their breath and under the sound of his thudding circulation Ted heard the footsteps falter and stop.

‘It’s Juliette!’

They both gazed into the pitch blackness.

Then the footsteps started again and picked up speed.

CHAPTER TWELVE

‘Maybe that wasn’t Evie or Jakob,’ Ted said as soon as the footfalls had faded.

Juliette turned to Ted in alarm and then directed her attention back to the hallway.

Ted closed the door.

‘Evie!’ Juliette called up the stairs. ‘Jakob!’

No response.

Ted clenched his stomach, put his palm on the banister and took the first couple of steps slowly, their boards creaking under the dark-blue carpet. His mouth was already dry.

Juliette was right behind him. ‘Be careful,’ she whispered.

She was right. There could still be intruders in the house. Maybe Evie and Jakob were lying injured upstairs. His pace quickened. But they were there because of an argument between the couple. Could there really be anyone else involved?

They reached the landing and found five closed doors.

‘Evie?’ Juliette’s voice sounded loud in the enclosed space.

Ted had never been upstairs in their house. There was a downstairs bathroom, which they used when they visited, so he’d never had any reason to.

‘Jakob?’ Juliette said quieter.

‘Look.’ Ted pointed.

There was a long smudge of blood at shoulder height along the right-hand wall.

They both halted.

‘Ring the police.’ Ted whispered and didn’t take his eyes from the stain. All he could hear was their breathing.

Juliette took out her phone and dialled. ‘Police,’ she hissed.

While she relayed the specifics, Ted seized the nearest door handle.

Juliette put her hand firmly on his. ‘OK. As fast as you can though.’ She hung up. ‘They said we should leave the house immediately and wait for them outside.’

‘But they could be hurt.’

‘They’re sending an ambulance.’

‘God knows how quickly that will arrive though.’ Ted kept his grip on the door. ‘Somebody fled. I’m not leaving if either of them could be bleeding up here and need our help.’

‘Nobody’s answered us.’

‘They could be unconscious.’

She bit her lip.

He could tell how shaken she was by what they’d found but already knew what her reaction would be to what he suggested next. ‘Go and wait outside while I look.’

Juliette shook her head resolutely. ‘We do it now, quickly.’

‘Sure?’ But Ted knew it was pointless arguing.

‘Evie?’ She called again.

They both listened to the silence for a moment.

Both their breathing stopped as he depressed the handle, the spring in the mechanism creaking as he pushed inside.

The large sparsely decorated space looked like an office, with only a table and swivel chair skulking under the window. The blinds were sealed. An open laptop glowed on the desk and illuminated the empty room. There was nobody here.

They moved down the passage and Juliette opened the next right-hand door.

It was a spotless bathroom: nobody inside and no signs of a disturbance. The heat from the towel radiators and an aroma of tea tree oil rolled out at them.

Ted was at the third left door first. These had to be the bedrooms. ‘Jakob.’ But he didn’t wait for an answer.

It was a spare room. A double bed made up, but lots of paperwork and magazines stacked on the duvet.

Juliette had already moved to the last two doors at the end of the passage. ‘Evie?’

Ted opened the one nearest to him. It probably used to be a bedroom but now it was a generous changing room with doorless wardrobes along the right wall. Evie’s clothes took up considerably more space than Jakob’s. He recognized the outfit Evie had been wearing lying on top of a laundry basket. A familiar feminine scent hung around the room. No trace of a struggle in here either.

There was only one door left to open and they both paused outside. This had to be the main bedroom.

Ted yanked the handle down but stayed where he was as the panel swung wide. It bumped against the wall as they took in its interior.

No Evie or Jakob and the king-size was still made.

Juliette switched on the light and the bulb buzzed overhead.

‘So the argument started before they went to bed.’

‘Look.’ Juliette nodded to the far side of the room.

There was brown blood smeared on the long radiator under the window.

She crossed to examine it and Ted joined her there. On the oatmeal carpet in front of it were more dark red patches. The heat from the radiator had dried the fingerprint stains but the ones on the floor still looked wet.

Ted scanned the rest of the carpet. ‘Let’s not touch anything.’

‘We’d better go outside.’ Juliette gulped. ‘I don’t want to be in here.’

Ted was about to move when the light in the room changed. He turned to the window and realized the security light had come on at the rear. A cat was slinking across the back lawn. ‘Motion detector.’

But Juliette moved her face closer to the pane. ‘Is that …?’

Ted followed her gaze. Somebody was lying on the frosted grass by the summerhouse.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Ted and Juliette raced back down the stairs, across the hallway, along the passage and through the kitchen to the lawn. Just as they reached it the security light went out shrouding them in darkness again.

Ted waved his arms and it lit up once more. The person lying on their back by the summerhouse was about thirty yards away and as his feet crunched over the crisp grass he could see dark footprints leading to them.