‘We’re off to get some air,’ Janet said.
‘At this hour?’ Dorothy said.
‘They called it walking the dog in my day,’ Ade grumbled from the living room. In my day? He talked like an old fogey sometimes.
‘Won’t be long,’ Janet said, glancing at Rachel who looked lairy, wondering if she’d put her foot in it. Janet gave her a little nod, it’s OK. Grabbed her coat.
‘It’s raining,’ Dorothy said.
‘It’s stopped, actually,’ Rachel pointed out.
Dorothy rolled her eyes. Before there could be any more sniping Janet opened the front door and got them out of the house.
She took a gulp of air, cool, damp, and another.
‘How is she?’ Rachel took her arm.
‘Asleep now. Oh God, I need a drink. Come on.’ As they walked up to the junction where the pub was, Janet filled her in. ‘You know Elise never puts a foot wrong, quick to point the finger, moral high ground and all that, then… it’s like she’s fallen off a cliff, Rachel.’ She thought of the look on Elise’s face, the deep sadness but worse than that the shame. ‘She lied to us about everything, about this party, she said there was a group going and everyone’s parents had said yes. But Vivien and Ken, Olivia’s parents, had gone off on a romantic weekend in Edinburgh thinking Olivia was having a sleepover at our house. Next thing they know, Olivia is dead. And of course Elise had told us she was staying at Olivia’s.’
‘That’s an old one,’ Rachel said.
‘Yes,’ Janet said. Her own teenage years had been disruptive in a very different way, the breakdown at sixteen had seen her in a mental hospital for several weeks. Recovering from that, supported by Ade, she’d never really had the wild teenage rebellion other people did.
The pub was warm and not too busy. Janet and Rachel got seats in one of the old-fashioned booths, benches with wooden panelling and frosted glass above which afforded them some privacy.
Rachel went for drinks. Janet asked for a double gin and tonic. She closed her eyes for a moment, images from the last twenty-four hours crowding in her head, the shocked tableau of youngsters at the party, Olivia on the stretcher, Elise sobbing when she learned about the death, Vivien alternately bewildered and frantic.
‘Where did you get the drugs?’ Janet had asked Elise when they got home from the hospital. Ade there, looking thunderstruck.
Elise had tugged at her hair, stalling.
Janet waited. Something she was used to, practised in. One of the tools of her trade as an interviewer. Patience, silence.
Ade opened his mouth to speak, Janet moved her hand, don’t.