Read Online Love Him to Death by Tanya Landman - Free Book Online Page B

into bed I knew there was something I was missing. Some clue I’d overlooked. If I could just catch hold of it, everything would fall into place. But right now it was like trying to grab a bar of soap – the tighter I tried to hold on, the faster it slipped away.

killer heels
    I slept fitfully – the noise of the party kept waking me up throughout the night. Then, as dawn approached, there was the banging of doors and the giggling of guests as they returned to the villa and fell into their beds. By the time the house was finally quiet, the sun was pouring through the thin curtains of my bedroom. I turned over crossly but couldn’t get back to sleep.
    Graham must have had the same problem, because soon afterwards there was a soft tapping on my door.
    “I was just seeing if you were awake,” he said as he stepped into the room. He was wearing his swimsuit and had a towel in one hand.
    “Awake?” I said grouchily “Of course I’m not. I’m sleeping like a log, me.”
    Graham ignored the sarcasm. “Fancy a swim?”
    Let me explain here and now that Graham is not what you might call a natural athlete. The fact that
he’d
woken
me
for an early-morning swim was so out of character that I realized he had Things on His Mind that He Wished to Discuss. As we couldn’t talk freely in the villa, the beach was our only option.
    “Give me five minutes,” I said, throwing back the covers and heading for the bathroom.
    As it turned out, I didn’t get to hear whatever it was that Graham wanted to say. When we got down to the cove we discovered that we weren’t the only ones to have woken up early. Bill was sitting on a rock, gazing out to sea, looking exhausted by the events of the past two days. We stopped dead, not wanting to disturb him, but he smiled when he saw us – that kind, friendly grin that warmed you right through.
    “All right, then?” he said. “Some night, eh? Enjoy the party?”
    “Erm…” I wasn’t quite sure what to say and didn’t want to lie.
    Bill laughed. “Guess it was a bit boring for kids.” He changed the subject. “Hey, I meant to say – I really appreciated you helping out like that. Them cupid costumes? They was Josie’s idea. And I felt like a right freak in that frock! But you’ve got to laugh, haven’t you? What can I do? I’m putty in her hands. She’s my one and only.”
    Neither of us could think of a reply, so Graham and I just stared silently at our feet. It wasn’t long before Bill spoke again.
    “Funny old day, wasn’t it? Poor mum!” A tear rolled down his cheek and he looked so sad and helpless, I wanted to wipe it away for him. “Why’d she forget them pills? She’s never done that before.”
    “She probably had a lot on her mind,” said Graham, trying to sound neutral. “That’s what the doctor said, isn’t it?”
    I wasn’t so cautious. This was the first opportunity we’d had to talk to Bill alone and I wasn’t going to waste it. “We wondered if someone had taken them from her bag,” I blurted out.
    Bill looked at me blankly. “You mean, like,
deliberately
? But that would kill her!” His eyes widened as he took in my meaning. “Blimey!”
    Graham said carefully, “Angelica wanted your mother to persuade you to call off the wedding.”
    Bill nodded. “Yeah, Mum said. But she knew how I feel about Josie. Ain’t no escaping love. It hit me like a ten-tonne truck.”
    His words sounded like they could have come from one of his songs, and for some reason I found it slightly unnerving.
    “Do you think Angelica might have been angry with your mum?” I asked him. “I mean, angry enough to want to hurt her?”
    “Angelica?” Bill winced as if even the mention of her name made him feel deeply uncomfortable. “Well, she’s always been a bit… I don’t know … unstable, I suppose you’d call it. Bit of a control freak. She doesn’t like it when people don’t do what she wants. You don’t reckon she…?” His eyes narrowed as he looked