Read Online The Ice House by Minette Walters - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Minette Walters
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'Pig-ignorant' and made up her mind to walk all over him. Damn!" she said with feeling. "Why can't she learn to compromise occasionally? She'll have us up to our necks in shit if she's not careful."
"Have they spoken to her yet?"
"No, they've told her they'll talk to her tomorrow. They seem very relaxed about it all. We have their official permission to go to bed."
Phoebe closed her eyes and pressed long fingers against her temples. "What did they ask you?"
Diana twisted in her chair to look at her friend. "From what they implied, exactly what they asked you."
"Except that I walked out and refused to answer their questions." She opened her eyes and looked ruefully at the other woman. "I know," she said. "It was very silly of me but they made me so angry. Strange, isn't it? I stood up to hours of interrogation when David went. This time, I lasted five minutes. I found myself hating that man so much, I wanted to claw his eyes out. I could have done it, too."
Diana reached out again and briefly touched her arm. "I don't think it's strange-any psychiatrist would tell you that anger is a normal reaction to stress-but it's probably unwise." She pulled a face. "Anne will say I've bottled out, of course, but my view is we should give them all the co-operation we can. The sooner they sort it out and leave us alone, the better."
"They want to question the children."
"I know and I don't think we can prevent it."
"I could ask Jane's psychiatrist to write a report advising against it. Would that stop them?"
"For a day or two perhaps before they secured an order for a second opinion. That would declare her competent to answer questions. You know yourself, her own psychiatrist pronounced her fit eighteen months ago."
"Not for this." Phoebe massaged her temples vigorously. "I'm frightened, Di. I really think she's managed to blot it all out. If they make her remember now, God knows what will happen."
"Talk to Anne," Diana said. "She can be more objective than you. You may find that you're underestimating Jane's strengths. She is your daughter, after all."
"Meaning that I am less able to be objective?"
Go easy
, Diana told herself. "Meaning that she will have inherited the rigid Gallagher backbone, you oaf."
"You're forgetting her father. However much I might like to pretend otherwise, there is some of David in each of them."
"He wasn't all bad, Pheeb."
Tears welled uncontrollably in Phoebe's eyes. She blinked them away angrily. "But he was, and you know it as well as I do. You told the Inspector so this afternoon and you were right. He was rotten to the core. In time, if we hadn't got shot of him, he'd have turned me and the children rotten too. He had a damn good try in all conscience." She was silent for a moment. "It's the only thing I hold against my parents. If they hadn't been so conventional I need never have married him. I could have had Johnny and brought him up on my own."
"It was difficult for them."
But I agree with her
, thought Diana.
There was no excuse for what her parents did, so why am I defending them?
"They did what they thought was right."
"I was seventeen, for Christ's sake-" Phoebe's nails bit deep into her palms-"younger than Jane is now. I allowed myself to be married off to a bastard twice my age simply because he'd seduced me, and then I just stood by and watched him rewarded for it. Christ," she spat, "it makes me sick to think of the money he bled from my father."
Then don't think about it
, Diana wanted to say.
You've tried to forget them, but there
were
good times, times at the beginning when Anne and I envied you because you were a woman and we were still gangling schoolgirls.
One weekend in particular, it was still vivid in her memory, when David on some mad whim had taken the three of them on a business trip to Paris. She forgot which company he was working for, there had been so many, but the weekend she would never forget. David, so assured, so deft in his choice of where to go and what
"Have they spoken to her yet?"
"No, they've told her they'll talk to her tomorrow. They seem very relaxed about it all. We have their official permission to go to bed."
Phoebe closed her eyes and pressed long fingers against her temples. "What did they ask you?"
Diana twisted in her chair to look at her friend. "From what they implied, exactly what they asked you."
"Except that I walked out and refused to answer their questions." She opened her eyes and looked ruefully at the other woman. "I know," she said. "It was very silly of me but they made me so angry. Strange, isn't it? I stood up to hours of interrogation when David went. This time, I lasted five minutes. I found myself hating that man so much, I wanted to claw his eyes out. I could have done it, too."
Diana reached out again and briefly touched her arm. "I don't think it's strange-any psychiatrist would tell you that anger is a normal reaction to stress-but it's probably unwise." She pulled a face. "Anne will say I've bottled out, of course, but my view is we should give them all the co-operation we can. The sooner they sort it out and leave us alone, the better."
"They want to question the children."
"I know and I don't think we can prevent it."
"I could ask Jane's psychiatrist to write a report advising against it. Would that stop them?"
"For a day or two perhaps before they secured an order for a second opinion. That would declare her competent to answer questions. You know yourself, her own psychiatrist pronounced her fit eighteen months ago."
"Not for this." Phoebe massaged her temples vigorously. "I'm frightened, Di. I really think she's managed to blot it all out. If they make her remember now, God knows what will happen."
"Talk to Anne," Diana said. "She can be more objective than you. You may find that you're underestimating Jane's strengths. She is your daughter, after all."
"Meaning that I am less able to be objective?"
Go easy
, Diana told herself. "Meaning that she will have inherited the rigid Gallagher backbone, you oaf."
"You're forgetting her father. However much I might like to pretend otherwise, there is some of David in each of them."
"He wasn't all bad, Pheeb."
Tears welled uncontrollably in Phoebe's eyes. She blinked them away angrily. "But he was, and you know it as well as I do. You told the Inspector so this afternoon and you were right. He was rotten to the core. In time, if we hadn't got shot of him, he'd have turned me and the children rotten too. He had a damn good try in all conscience." She was silent for a moment. "It's the only thing I hold against my parents. If they hadn't been so conventional I need never have married him. I could have had Johnny and brought him up on my own."
"It was difficult for them."
But I agree with her
, thought Diana.
There was no excuse for what her parents did, so why am I defending them?
"They did what they thought was right."
"I was seventeen, for Christ's sake-" Phoebe's nails bit deep into her palms-"younger than Jane is now. I allowed myself to be married off to a bastard twice my age simply because he'd seduced me, and then I just stood by and watched him rewarded for it. Christ," she spat, "it makes me sick to think of the money he bled from my father."
Then don't think about it
, Diana wanted to say.
You've tried to forget them, but there
were
good times, times at the beginning when Anne and I envied you because you were a woman and we were still gangling schoolgirls.
One weekend in particular, it was still vivid in her memory, when David on some mad whim had taken the three of them on a business trip to Paris. She forgot which company he was working for, there had been so many, but the weekend she would never forget. David, so assured, so deft in his choice of where to go and what
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