The Silent Girls by Ann Troup

Author:Ann Troup [Troup, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781474046794
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2016-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

At precisely ten twenty-five a.m. Lionel White laid out a tea tray using his mother’s best china, a starched and ironed tray cloth and the silver sugar tongs that had proved to be such handy little things over the years. It had been some time since he’d had a visitor and it was nice to make an effort for someone other than himself.

The night before, after his serendipitous meeting in the communal garden, he’d spent a happy few hours gathering together his photograph albums and his cuttings file – it had been a while since he’d relished looking at those. Now that he had someone to share them with, an air of excitement had coloured his morning and he found himself feeling happy. Life brought few pleasures these days, but company was one of them so when the doorbell rang at precisely ten-thirty he felt a huge sense of satisfaction, he liked punctuality and was immensely pleased that he had not lost his ability to judge character. Edie Byrne was as predictable as they came, and it gratified him greatly.

He kept her waiting for just a minute while he checked that his cravat was straight and that his hair was smooth; he’d gone to a great deal of trouble to impress her and didn’t want to be let down by any imprecision. Impressions were delicate things and needed to be managed carefully. When he opened the door and met her with his most charming smile, he was gratified to see that she had made an equal effort. The dishevelled state she had been in on their previous meeting was no more, and though she was casually dressed in the modern style – something which Lionel thought was a regrettable social evolution – she was clean and neat. He appreciated the effort and greeted her warmly. ‘Edie, how lovely to see you, and right on time. I do like punctuality in a person, it shows such respect. Do come in.’

Edie stepped into the communal hallway and gave Lionel a weak smile. She had been awake all night, tossing and turning on the lumpy sofa, trying to make sense of Matt’s revelations. The only thing that had become clear by the time the early morning light had filtered through the curtains was that she couldn’t ignore what she’d been told. Up and ready by six o’clock and champing at the bit by eight, she’d thought about phoning Rose and demanding answers but had reasoned that if Rose was aware of any nefarious family history she would have told her. Besides, calling a cruise ship would be frighteningly expensive. There had also been some internal debate regarding the wisdom of involving Lionel, a man she barely knew and who’s clear eccentricity had been both endearing and alarming. In the end, she had figured that seeing him could do no harm and might answer her questions in a reasonably unbiased way. Matt was so convinced of her family’s guilt it would be pointless

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