Thirteen Days By Sunset Beach Read online

  "Grow old in peace," Doug translated.

  "Or maybe grow old and peaceful," Pris said.

  "I don't see the difference."

  Neither did Ray, and he had an odd sense of preferring not to. He was ushering Sandra towards the main road when he heard Pris murmur "You know, I don't think we got it quite right. I think she said grow old but peaceful."

  He couldn't tell whether the ensuing silence signified agreement or unwillingness to talk. He didn't know if Sandra had heard, and he thought it best not to ask or to ponder the translation. He was glad to see the bus approaching as they came to the end of the road.

  The last of the light from Sunset Beach glided through the vehicle, lengthening the shadows within, and then there were only the headlamp beams poking at the dark. Soon enough they found the entrance to the Sunny View. The bus stopped around the bend, outside the Paradise Apartments. As the rear lights disappeared over the bridge and the low note of the wheels gave way to the whisper of ripples, Julian said "I'll be along shortly. I want a word with someone."

  "I'll come with you," Ray said at once.

  He did his best to overtake Julian in the entrance courtyard of the Paradise Apartments, but Julian didn't stand aside to let him into the boxy concrete office, where a small stocky woman stood behind a counter. A patchwork of family photographs and a latticework of pigeon-holes covered the wall at her back. She raised a wide smile, which didn't falter as Julian strode at her. "Yes, mister," she said.

  "This is where the late Mr Ditton was staying, we believe. We're the people who found him."

  "Yes, mister. Poor Mr Ditton," she said and let half her smile sag.

  "Oh, quite. A dismal business." After an instant's rather than a minute's silence Julian said "We were wondering how long it has been since you saw him."

  The woman let down the rest of her smile. "Not long."

  Ray sensed Julian's impatience with her attempt to communicate. "Could you say about how long?" Ray said. "Weeks? A month?"

  "Last week, mister."

  "I knew I couldn't have been mistaken," Julian declared. "Someone owes us an explanation."

  He turned towards the door as if he meant to find an informant at once, and then he faced the woman. "For the record," he said, "how old was Mr Ditton?"

  The woman rested a hand at the edge of the pigeon-holes. As old as him."

  "Not too old, then," Ray said.

  Did she think he was boasting? He was simply disconcerted by how much older the corpse had looked. "Not old, mister," she said.

  "Well, that's very kind of you."

  She responded with a puzzled smile and then a broader one. "Not you, mister," she said and moved her hand. "Him."

  For a moment Ray took her to be saying Ditton had been Julian's age, and then he saw the truth was worse. She wasn't merely resting her hand on the wall. She had been indicating one of the photographs, and now that she'd laid her fingertips on it there could be no mistake. The boy in the photograph was just a few years older than Jonquil and Tim.

  The Seventh Day: 26 August

  Will you be much longer up there?" Julian called. "Everyone is ready here."

  Sandra finished a last bite of yesterday's bread and picked up her mug. "Shall we go and see what it's all about? We can take our coffee with us."

  "So long as you aren't feeling rushed."

  "You could have wakened me sooner. I'm not here to sleep all day."

  "I wouldn't have let you," Ray said, though he hadn't liked to rouse her while she'd seemed so peaceful, even if he'd had to reassure himself more than once that she was breathing. "Let's find out why he's calling a conference."

  Coffee slopped over the rim of his mug as he followed her down the marble steps with one hand on the rail. He was ashamed of making more work for the staff, and could have fancied that the faces on the play equipment were grinning at his clumsiness. Beyond the apartments across the deserted play area he heard splashes from the swimming pool. Sandra tapped on the door of the Banks apartment with the back of her wedding ring. "It's only us," she called.

  "That's who it is," Ray said and couldn't help adding a knock.

  "No need to say so." Obviously Julian had no time for the local custom. "Please come through," he said.

  Ray was disconcerted by how tidy the rooms were, not least the one Jonquil shared with William. If it hadn't been for the laundered bear on the boy's pillow Ray might have wondered if it was their room. There wasn't a hint of the cheerful chaos he recalled from when Natalie and Doug had been either of their ages, not to mention the years between. Jonquil's room had been happily disarrayed while her father was married to Natalie, but then that had been true of their lives until those grew unhappily disorganised. It was pointless to recall how much he'd liked Jonquil's father except for the man's chronic aversion to criticism. "I apologise if we've taken you away from your breakfast," Julian said. "I just want to get this settled while we won't be overheard."

  Doug and Pris were with Natalie on the balcony, where they'd brought extra chairs from next door. "Where are the young ones?" Sandra seemed anxious to learn.

  "If they aren't in the play area they'll be at the pool," Natalie said. "I expect that'll help to wake them up."

  "Tim was a sleepyhead as well," Pris said.

  "I'm afraid our two were a bit more than that. I hope nobody else was disturbed."

  "William had to be told nobody had got into his room," Julian complained. "I'd like to ask you all not to give him ideas he doesn't need."

  "Maybe you should ask yourself," Natalie said. "Remind me why I should be singled out,"

  "You made enough of a fuss about that boy at the dance, didn't you? I don't want him near my daughter either, but you shouldn't be surprised if William dreamed about him."

  "All the more reason to make sure he doesn't hear what we have to discuss. Raymond, I've spoken to Evadne about Mr Ditton."

  "What about him?" Sandra said, peering through her sunglasses from the shade of her hat. "What did you find out last night?"

  Ray hadn't told her then, since he'd found her already asleep. "You'll agree with me, Raymond," Julian said. "Whatever killed him, it was a good deal worse than drowning."

  "It turns out he was a lot younger than he looked when we found him," Ray admitted.

  "Considerably too young to have had the seizure the police want us to believe he had. And he didn't just look a lot older than, you'll forgive me, either of you. How else would you say he looked, Raymond?"

  "I don't know." Since this was plainly insufficient, Ray said "Diseased?"

  "Exactly the word I would have used," Julian said by no means unlike a teacher encouraging a pupil. "We questioned the manager of his accommodation last night, Sandra, and Raymond will tell you how evasive she was. I'm afraid Evadne was just as unhelpful, but she's not the first person to learn they can't hide the truth from me."

  As Ray sensed how Sandra was refraining from looking at him Pris said "What do you think she was trying to hide?"

  "I asked her if there have been any other cases on the island. I put her on her honour and she said she was sure there haven't, but I'm very much of the opinion that she wasn't being honest with me."

  Doug visibly struggled but failed to keep quiet. "You put her on her honour."

  "I most certainly did, yes. Do you have some objection? Don't tell me I've offended against the local ways again."

  "I think you might have done something like that, Jules."

  "Perhaps you should be offended by their ways instead. Especially if it involves hiding some kind of epidemic from potential victims."

  "Now where has that come from, Julian?" Pris said. "All we really know—"

  "Kindly trust my judgement on this. I promise you Evadne was keeping quiet about the truth. I want us to consider our options, but as far as I'm concerned—"

  For a moment Ray thought a pout had silenced Julian, but he was pressing his lips together as a preamble to saying "Not now, William.
You were asked not to come till you were called, the three of you."

  Ray turned to see William running past the balconies ahead of Tim and Jonquil. "And you really didn't need to go out looking like that, Jonquil," Natalie said.

  Such of the girl's hair that wasn't tucked under her hat did look uncombed. "You wanted us out of the way," she said, blinking through her sunglasses.

  "I expect I'm looking just as windblown," Sandra said.

  The interruptions hadn't improved Julian's temper. "If you knew you weren't wanted, why did you come back?"

  "Jonquil took some pictures to show you."

  "We can see them later, William." When the boy grimaced with frustration Natalie said "What are they of?"

  "The stones I said I saw and daddy didn't think I did. The names on them."

  Julian lost any expression as he stared at the teenagers and William. "You've been to the graveyard."

  Ray thought the boy meant to defend Jonquil by insisting "I wanted you to see."

  "May I do so, then?"

  It wasn't a request or even a question, and Ray wasn't sure why it made his innards tighten. Julian held out an upturned hand until Jonquil produced her mobile and brought up her photograph album. As soon as she passed it over the balcony wall Julian moved out of her reach, and she leaned across the wall to see what he was doing. "That's the wrong one," she said as he tapped a command. "That's delete."

  "Which is precisely what I intend to do."

  "Don't," Jonquil cried. "You'll lose all my photos."

  "I hope that will remind you that when you're told to do something I mean what I say. You knew perfectly well that we don't want William anywhere near that place, and your instructions were to stay in the play area or the pool."

  "I made her go," William protested. "And Tim."

  "They were in charge of you, not the other way around. If they let you have the opposite impression that's another mark against them."

  As Julian held up the phone for Jonquil to watch, Ray saw her face crumple and felt as though his innards had. She lurched across the wall to grab the phone, but Julian stepped back. "Stop it, Julian," Ray said.

  "Kindly don't interfere. I'm dealing with the matter."

  Ray hadn't known he meant to speak, and he was just as unprepared to spring to his feet and seize Julian's wrist, pulling the hand away from Jonquil's phone before he could confirm the deletion. "You mustn't do that," he said low.

  "Please let go of me at once." Julian's lips had drawn inwards, restricting his voice. "This is wholly inappropriate," he said.

  "Don't you realise Jonquil has pictures of Sandra on there? You'd be deleting them."

  "The girl can take more if she behaves herself," Julian said and strained a finger towards the phone. "Now may we have an end to this ridiculous scene. Everyone is watching."

  "Can't you see taking more won't be the same, you damned bloody idiot? Sorry," Ray added at once but didn't release Julian's wrist. "You have to understand every one of them is precious."

  "I've no idea how valuable they may be to the girl, but I'm sure she has a long time yet to photograph her grandmother. Now for the last time—"

  "You mustn't say that, Julian," Sandra said.

  "I'm sure we've no reason to suppose you won't be with us for a good while yet, Sandra. Now will you please ask your husband—"

  "I'm asking you not to say that."

  "Why not?" The prohibition appeared to infuriate Julian as much as Ray's grip on his wrist. "Is it another of these wretched superstitions we seem to be surrounded by?"

  "No." Ray thought Sandra might manage to leave it at that, since the solitary word felt like a burden that was constricting his heart, until she said "It's the truth."

  "What is? All I said—"

  "For God's sake, Julian." Natalie snatched the phone out of his hand and gave it back to Jonquil. "Promise you won't do anything else wrong," she said and without giving Jonquil time to speak "You two take William to play and don't go out of the accommodation. I'll come and find you when we're ready."

  Ray saw that not only the teenagers understood how grave the situation might be. "We can go on the swings if you like," William said.

  Nobody spoke until he'd led Tim and Jonquil out of sight, and then nobody appeared to want to be the first to speak. Ray had begun to hope the silence might quieten everybody's speculations when Doug said "You shouldn't think the worst either, mum."

  "I can't say I wasn't."

  "Then you're as bad as you were telling Jules he was. I don't mean bad," Doug said as Julian remained sullen. "You both know what I mean."

  "And now you can stop thinking it, mum," Natalie said, "since you can't know."

  Sandra took a breath as loud as words. Ray thought she was using it to keep some of those unspoken, but she said "Natalie, it's the truth."

  Ray saw Julian make the effort to join in, and wished he'd found a different occasion. "What is, Sandra?"

  Perhaps it was his tone—the way a patient adult might have spoken to an unreasonable youngster—that made Sandra press her lips together, only to say "I'm not expected to see Christmas."

  Somebody gasped, but Ray didn't think it was him, although one of his feelings was a species of relief—a release from the dogged performance he had been maintaining for so long that it hardly felt like a choice, from having to keep so much not just unsaid but unsuspected. Everyone had frozen into a silent tableau with Sandra as its focus, where she seemed determined to fend off any sense that she was vulnerable or inviting sympathy—if anything, she looked angry with herself for having been provoked to speak. He didn't know how long the silence paralysed them all before Natalie demanded "Who says you aren't?" fiercely enough for a confrontation with the perpetrator.

  "The hospital." Sandra sounded close to apologetic. "The specialists," she said.

  Doug made to speak and had to clear his throat. "What kind?"

  "The favourite," Sandra said with a wry smile too brief to convey much. "When my grandmother had it I used to call it canker. That's what I thought it was called, because my parents always spelled it out if I could hear. It can still do for a name."

  "What treatment are you having, Sandra?" Pris seemed to find it hard to ask.

  "I'm not." To a chorus of murmurs Sandra said "I saw what it does to people who are as far gone as I am. It may give them a few extra months, it might even add on a year, but I don't think the way they are is living. I'd rather not spend whatever time I have left in that state."

  "But—" Ray thought Natalie hadn't set out to say "But how do you feel?"

  "Since we've come here, better than I have for quite a long time, so thank you all for making it that way."

  "We're glad if you're happy," Doug said, "but I think Nat was asking—"

  "Not just happy. More like revived." Sandra pondered and said "As if I've had some kind of transfusion. I actually feel younger than I did."

  "I expect that's the suit," Pris said.

  Ray saw she was trying to share Sandra's optimism, but the bid seemed to fall short of its goal. With a frown at the clouds Sandra said "Maybe it's the air."

  "So long as whatever it is does you good," Natalie said not quite steadily, and gazed out to sea.

  "You all are, and I don't want any of you feeling too sad for me." When this brought about another silence Sandra said "Including like that. Let's carry on with what we've planned, and don't go thinking you need to make any allowances. Just let's make sure the young ones don't find out about me. The last thing I want to do is spoil this holiday for them."

  As Ray realised that he would have to keep the pretence up after all, Julian said "May we ask when you both knew about the situation?"

  "After Doug booked us all in here," Ray said. "We thought of letting everyone know at the time, but I hope you understand why we didn't."

  "Was it also after I arranged everyone's insurance?"

  "I'm afraid it wasn't," Sandra said. "We couldn't very well let you know and exp
ect you to keep it from everyone else."

  "It needed to be taken into account, all the same."

  "It'll only affect my insurance, won't it?"

  "Not with the family package I bought, no."

  "Then I'm sorry, everyone. I ought to have asked how it worked."

  She looked sadder than she had over letting her secret be known. "There's no reason to suppose we'll need to claim, is there?" Ray said despite feeling that the discussion had turned insultingly banal. "We'll make sure there's no need."

  "You look as if you think there might be," Sandra told Julian.

  "Whatever I was thinking can't be allowed to matter now."

  "It was why you wanted us all here, wasn't it? We haven't finished talking about that. Were you going to suggest we should go home?"

  "Some of us won't be," Doug said at once.

  "I'm simply concerned for others," Julian said. "In particular William and now you, Sandra."

  "This disease you think is around here, you mean."

  "You mightn't dismiss it if you'd seen the effects, Sandra."

  "I saw as well," Ray reminded him.

  "Then surely you don't want to contradict me."

  "I went a lot closer than you did, but I don't seem to be infected, do I? And I don't believe we've seen anyone else in anything approaching that state."

  "Perhaps we don't know what to look for. Or perhaps other victims are being hidden away. I've told you the people round here are hiding the truth."

  "Can you blame them? We found one body and you're talking about an epidemic. If you were them, wouldn't you do everything you could to avoid that kind of panic? It could ruin their livelihood if people like us stayed away."

  "I'd be sad if you took William home," Sandra said, "but I'd understand."

  "I'll be staying with my mother," Natalie told Julian.

  "That's two of us," said Doug.

  "Count me in as well," Pris said.

  "I gather I'm voted down."

  "Jules, it's not a vote. You do what you feel you have to, because we are."

  "Julian?" before he could reply Sandra said "Will you be satisfied if we all watch out for any signs? Of this disease you think is about, I mean? And we'll all take special care of William."