‘On her own?’ Justin cut in.
‘Yes. A studio apartment, I think she said. She saw some somewhere. And with everything that’s happened, I was assuming you wouldn’t be rushing to get back with her.’
‘Where?’ Justin said. ‘The apartments, where was it she saw them?’
Jessica looked flustered. ‘I don’t know. I can’t remember. The Moseley area somewhere, I think. I’ve had a lot on my mind, too, Justin. Luke was my nephew. Sophie’s my niece. I’m just trying to make sure you’re both all right. I’m not quite sure why I’m suddenly under interrogation.’
Justin kneaded his forehead. ‘You’re not. I’m sorry.’ He offered her a small smile. ‘I’m just a bit confused, that’s all. Emotional, I guess.’
Jessica looked him over uncertainly. ‘You’re bound to be,’ she said, her tone back to sympathetic, her voice full of concern as she reached to fluff up his pillows. He didn’t need his pillows fluffing. He needed to know what the hell was going on.
‘Thanks.’ He forced a smile anyway. ‘Can I ask you something else, Jess? If you don’t mind, that is?’
‘Of course you can,’ she said, seating herself on the edge of his bed.
‘She said she’d been drinking,’ Justin started cautiously. He didn’t want to go in heavily. He simply needed to know how far Jessica was willing to go.
Jessica drew in a breath. Was that expression judgemental? Shouldn’t it be guarded, for her sister’s sake? ‘That’s right,’ she said. ‘She’s drinking quite a bit now, actually. Regularly, sadly. It’s understandable, I suppose, under the circumstances, but it’s a worry, as you can imagine.’
Alicia wasn’t teetotal. They’d both drunk more than was healthy on the odd occasion, but Alicia had never drunk regularly.
‘How much? How much had she drunk, Jess?’ he asked, running a hand across his neck. He didn’t need to work at looking like a troubled man. ‘Was she drinking a lot back then?’
Jessica looked hesitant, then, ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘unfortunately.’
‘So she could have been paralytic then?’
Again, Jessica hesitated. ‘Not too paralytic to make her way to his room.’ Her expression was definitely disapproving as she glanced briefly away and back again.
‘No, I suppose not.’ Justin heaved out a sigh.
He looked away then, appearing to ponder. ‘There’s something else,’ he said, looking back at her.
Smiling caringly, Jessica took hold of his hand. Justin couldn’t quite believe it. ‘Why didn’t you tell her about the forensic search?’
Jessica looked confused.
‘Was it because you hoped we wouldn’t be able to talk with police officers poking around?’ Justin asked her point-blank.
‘No.’ Jessica snatched her hand away from his. ‘Why on earth would I do that?’
‘The photographs I asked about,’ Justin went on. ‘Why did you tell me Alicia had them?’
Jessica paled, considerably. ‘I didn’t. I just assumed, because of what you said.’
Justin nodded slowly. ‘Making a lot of assumptions, aren’t you, Jess?’ he said, studying her carefully. ‘Tell me, how much bullshit have you been feeding me, precisely?’
Dropping her gaze fast, Jessica got to her feet, her cheeks flushing furiously as she collected up her bag.
‘It never was a date, Jessica,’ Justin said quietly, as she walked to the door. All of this without once making eye contact with him.
Watching her leave, Justin cursed his naive stupidity. He really must be completely blind not to have seen what was right under his nose, he thought angrily, heaving his legs over the bed and pulling the tube from his arm. He didn’t know how many lies he was being told, but one thing he did know for certain was that Alicia wasn’t a closet alcoholic, as implied by her sister. If her propensity was to hit the bottle in a crisis, wouldn’t she have done that when Luke died? Would she have been capable of coherent, albeit emotional, conversation every day since?
He also knew that photographs didn’t lie.
She’d said she wasn’t well. The photos he had of her at that wedding told him there was a hell of a lot more to this than met the eye. Alicia was holding something back. And Justin intended to find out what. Why she would hold anything back now, he wasn’t sure. But he intended to get to the truth, one way or another.
Sixty-One
ALICIA
Rounding the corner of the corridor Justin was on, Alicia was surprised to see Jessica coming towards her. Shouldn’t she be at work? Concentrating on her phone as she walked towards her, Jessica didn’t appear to notice her.
‘Jess?’ Alicia said, eyeing her curiously. Typing out a text, she still hadn’t seen her.
Jessica’s head snapped up. ‘Alicia!’ She looked surprised. ‘I didn’t think you were coming until later.’
‘I had a few things I wanted to get for Justin, and then I had my doctor’s appointment, but, to be honest, I couldn’t face it. You know, having to go over why I’m not sleeping well.’
‘Ah.’ Jessica nodded, and pushed her mobile into her bag.
‘I take it you came to see Justin?’ Alicia asked, when Jessica didn’t add anything else.
‘I thought I would pay him a visit,’ Jessica said, glancing down at her shoes. They must be killing her, Alicia thought. They were a least six inches high, and definite toe-pinchers. Not the sort of shoes she’d want to wear to troop along hospital corridors. ‘He was a bit tired though, so I didn’t stay long. I left him a few bits and bobs.’
‘Well, I’m sure he appreciated the visit, and the bits and bobs.’ Alicia smiled. ‘But shouldn’t you be at work?’
‘I had to deliver some papers to a client. I’ve wangled the rest of the day off,’ Jessica said quickly.
‘Oh right. Well, I’ll see you back at yours then.’ Leaning in to give her a hug, Alicia noticed the troubled look in her eyes. ‘Jessica? Is everything all right?’
‘Yes.’ Jessica said, her gaze flicking down and back. ‘It’s probably nothing, but…’
‘But?’ Her antennae on red alert for the next bad thing to happen, Alicia urged her on.
‘Justin seems a bit… confused,’ Jessica said, her expression now a mixture of sympathetic and guarded. ‘Mixed up,’ she elaborated, as Alicia looked at her worriedly.
‘Mixed up how?’ she asked apprehensively, praying that he wasn’t heading back to the pit of despair he’d been in once before.
‘It’s probably just the stress of everything catching up with him,’ Jessica said. ‘He seems to think I’ve said things which I haven’t, that you’ve told him things. He’ll be fine after a good rest. Don’t worry, Ali.’
But Alicia was worried. ‘What kind of things?’ She felt her eyes filling up all over again.
‘Little things,’ Jessica said, seeming reluctant. ‘The missing photographs, for instance. He seems convinced that I told him you had them, and I distinctly remember I didn’t. I mean, why would I when you don’t? Like I say, it’s nothing major. I thought I should warn you though.’ Jessica gave her arm a squeeze. ‘He’s just a bit muddled. He’ll be fine.’
Alicia nodded bewilderedly.
‘I’d better get back to work,’ Jessica said, kissing her cheek. ‘See you later, sweetheart.’
Watching her go, Alicia ferreted in her pocket for the loo roll she’d grabbed from the patients’ toilet, in the absence of tissue, and wiped her eyes. Earlier, she’d decided she would try again to talk to him. Not here, obviously, while he was so ill. She wasn’t sure whether she would be able to talk sensibly, feeling as confused as she was, consumed with guilt, her heart fit to burst in her chest. And she wasn’t sure whether he would ever be able to listen, but she knew she had to try. She’d even considered writing to him, because then she wouldn’t have to see his face, read the expression in his eyes.