‘Yes, prison,’ repeated Abby. ‘There’s no beating around the bush here, it’s manslaughter.’
‘Oh jeez,’ said Ellie, her voice cracking.
‘Now come on. Don’t do that, don’t cry,’ said Abby urgently. ‘Stop it, people will see.’
Ellie got a tissue, blew her nose.
‘If anyone should have gone to prison, it’s her for what she did to you. Just you remember that.’
‘So what do we do?’ asked Ellie helplessly.
‘I don’t know,’ said Abby. Ellie started to crumple again. ‘I’ll think of something,’ Abby added quickly. ‘Let’s sleep on it. I’ll think of something.’
SEVENTEEN
Matteo was surprised to see no lights on in his house as he pulled up outside. Helping his friend fix his boat had taken a little longer than he’d thought and he had expected to find his wife and her family at home. They were meant to all be having dinner together – he’d brought back some fish that his friend had caught. It was then he noticed that Abby’s car wasn’t there. Perturbed, he checked his watch – it was getting late. They would have left the beach hours ago.
He let himself in and listened out but the house was silent. Throwing his keys in the dish on the hall table, he went to put the fish in the fridge. The motor hummed and whirred and he stood there for a moment, wondering where his wife could be. He moved through the house towards the living room, which was also dark. As he entered, he switched on the light.
Matteo yelled out in fright. Sitting on a chair was Susanna. But not the woman he’d seen that morning. Her face was burned red by the sun; her hair was dishevelled. Then he saw she had a tissue in her hands, blotted with blood.
She looked up at him, an expression of consternation on her face.
‘Are you OK?’ he asked, growing more disconcerted as he now noticed her hair was matted with dried blood. He walked over to her but she held up a hand to make him stop. Confused, he did so, and that was when he saw the terrace through the patio doors: it was strewn with broken glass and a patch was stained dark.
Matteo started. ‘What’s happened? Where’s Abby?’
‘Gone,’ said Susanna.
‘Gone where?’
‘You need to call the police.’
‘But—’
‘Oh, I know, you are the police,’ said Susanna. ‘But not even you can handle this.’
‘You’re hurt,’ said Matteo, walking towards her again.
‘Stay away from me!’ Susanna said sharply. ‘And call them. It’s in your own and your wife’s best interests.’
Matteo slowly pulled his phone from his pocket and did as she bid. A cold, ugly fear gripped him as he dialled.
EIGHTEEN
‘I do not need to go to hospital,’ Susanna said imperiously to the paramedic, who had tended to the cut on the back of her head. ‘Nothing and no one will persuade me to, so you might as well leave me alone. I’m perfectly fine now, thanks to your medical assistance.’ She gave a brief but thankful smile for their application of steri-strips to the gash she’d sustained when she fell onto the broken glass. They’d said she needed stiches but she had no intention of leaving the house. ‘I just need time to rest and heal.’
And talk to these police people, added Susanna in her head, as she looked up at the two Carabinieri hovering at the side of the room, a man and a woman. She winced as she did so: her head was a ball of pain from the fall – and she had a lump the size of an egg to go along with her cut.
Eventually the paramedics were persuaded to leave and the Carabinieri sat either side of her. They’d been speaking in Italian to Matteo and, although she couldn’t understand the words, she’d thought by their body language that he had claimed ignorance of the day’s events. Susanna stretched a hand out towards the side table and the policeman who’d introduced himself as Captain Santini understood and handed over the glass of water. She sipped at it delicately through a straw. When she had finished, he took it from her and placed it back on the table.
‘If you would like to tell us what happened,’ said Lieutenant Colonel Baroni, in English. As the senior officer, she was leading the questioning. Susanna wondered if she had children. Whether they got on. If she did, they’d be young; Baroni was only in her thirties. Susanna felt a wave of sadness. Her own daughters had never been friends, not really. There had been too much jealousy, too much rivalry, for years.
The captain, tasked with writing down everything they were saying, was poised with a pen and notebook. Susanna took a deep breath.
‘We had gone for a lovely lunch,’ she started, ‘after our trip to the beach. Except that Abby and Ellie seemed tense around each other. They have a history – don’t all sisters?’ she said. ‘Except, their relationship is more complicated than most.’ She glanced up at Matteo, saw he was watching her intently.
‘When we got back, Ellie was upset. She went out onto the terrace . . .’ Susanna waved a hand towards the patio doors. ‘I went to get some water for us all and when I came back from the kitchen, Abby was here too.’ Susanna stopped. Took a breath. ‘Abby has always resented Ellie, ever since she was born. Oldest child syndrome. Found she had to share her mother with a new baby. And then, when Ellie was only five years old, she became ill. Quite severely ill. It lasted for several years. I was beside myself.’ Susanna’s voice began to break with anguish. ‘The doctors couldn’t find out what was wrong, and then . . .’ She trailed off.
‘Please continue,’ prompted Lieutenant Colonel Baroni.
‘Sorry,’ said Susanna. She inhaled. ‘I eventually discovered what it was. Why Ellie had been so very ill.’ She looked up at Baroni. ‘Her sister hated her so much she had been poisoning her.’
NINETEEN
Matteo was looking at her, dumbfounded. Let him look, thought Susanna, he needs to hear this.
He shook his head and gave a disbelieving laugh. ‘What did you just say?’
Susanna’s head dropped; it was hard enough to say the first time, and then Baroni spoke sharply to Matteo in Italian. It was clear she was telling him to be quiet.
‘How did you get your injury?’ Baroni asked Susanna.
‘Well, when I got the drinks for us all and came back outside I could see Abby was upsetting Ellie. You have to understand that Ellie knew nothing about what her sister had done to her. When she was a child, I thought it best not to tell her, and then after Abby left home at eighteen . . . well, so much time had passed. Why bring it all up again? I was so relieved when Abby moved to Italy as I thought the distance would be good for Ellie. She always wanted to be close to Abby, you see, but Abby would push her away.’ Susanna checked herself. ‘Sorry, I’ve gone off on a tangent. Ellie told me that Abby had invited her out here to Elba and I was immediately on alert – it was so out of character. I phoned Abby and asked her why she’d invited Ellie over and she said something about wanting to make amends. I didn’t believe a word of it. Why now? I asked her why she’d want to do that to a sister she couldn’t stand.’