The Couple at the Table by Sophie Hannah

Author:Sophie Hannah [Sophie Hannah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Published: 2021-11-17T17:00:00+00:00

17

Saturday, 11 January 2020

‘Can we come back here some time?’ said Charlie. It was a dry, bright, freezing cold day. She and Simon, wrapped in jumpers, coats and thick scarves, were reclining on cushionless sun-loungers beside the Tevendon resort pool, which was covered by a blue tarpaulin.

This was Simon’s idea, of course. Anita Khattou had given them full access – they could have been snug and warm inside any of the cottages now instead of here freezing their arses off, but Simon had mumbled something about physical discomfort being as good for their brains as luxury and warmth would have been detrimental, as if he were a scientist who’d researched the topic. Anita had said, ‘No problem,’ and tried to disguise her incredulity when Simon had refused her offer of cushions and blankets that would have made the loungers more bearable.

‘I’ll be coming back here constantly,’ he told Charlie. ‘Until we solve Brinkwood. Come with me whenever you want.’

‘Right. I meant: can we come back here properly one day? For a holiday.’

‘Here?’

‘Don’t look like that. It’s a holiday resort. Or rather it was.’ Ian Brinkwood could have reopened the resort by now if he’d wanted to, but according to Simon, he was adamant: it was staying shut until the police had found and charged whoever had murdered his daughter. Everything had been put on hold: the income the resort brought in, the plans for the new hotel. All deposits for future stays had been refunded with apologies and a distinct lack of ‘We’ll make it up to you’ promises.

‘Do you think it’ll ever reopen?’ said Charlie with a sigh.

‘Maybe. For the time being, Lord Brinkwood seems to want to forget the place exists, and I don’t blame him.’

‘All right, forget it then. It’ll never reopen and I can never have a holiday ever again, so I won’t bother to try.’

‘What do you mean?’ said Simon.

Charlie knew this was the worst possible time to raise it with him but she couldn’t help it. ‘Normal people have holidays. I’m a normal person. I used to go on holiday before I got together with you. It was hard enough to get you to agree to a three-day break here, and then that break turned into a case for you … Even our honeymoon got interrupted by your work, if you remember.’

‘Look, if you want to go somewhere, we’ll go somewhere, but I don’t want to talk about it or think about it now.’

‘Fair enough. But can we agree that as soon as Jane Brinkwood’s killer’s been caught, we book a holiday – abroad, if this place still hasn’t reopened? In fact, let’s just say abroad. Portugal or Spain or somewhere like that?’

‘Fine. Whatever.’

‘Really?’ He couldn’t be agreeing so readily. ‘You won’t have a late-night chat with your mother and then ambush me with a load of plane crash statistics?’

‘No one needs to fly to go abroad these days.’

Charlie closed her eyes and did her best to imagine that she was on a baking

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.