I have to say something. I can’t just let her do this, not knowing what my brother’s really like.
I take a deep breath, and the words all come rushing out at once.
“Don’t get me wrong, Holly – you seem fantastic, but are you really sure you want to marry my brother?”
Holly laughs. Yes, actually laughs.
“Don’t worry about me, Isabel. I know his reputation. I know what I’m getting myself into.”
I feel a little taken aback. This isn’t the reaction I was expecting.
“Well, just as long as you know. I would hate for you to get hurt.”
“Don’t worry,” she says, with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Julio’s met his match with me, I can promise you that.”
Well, she seems sure enough!
I wrap my cardy a little more tightly round me as a cool draft blows through the room.
“Are you cold?”
“No, I’m fine.”
Despite my protests, Holly strikes a match and lets it flutter onto the coals. I hadn’t realised it was a real fireplace. I’d just assumed it was gas, like mine.
For the first time in weeks, I enjoy the hiss and spit of a fire, without worrying about whether the house is going to burn down. Holly puts on some soft, soothing music and we warm ourselves in companionable silence. My eyes begin to droop as the blue and orange flames crackle and snap in front of me.
“Izzy?” I hear Julio coming downstairs.
“Shh! She’s asleep.”
I am in that no-man’s land between the waking world and the sleeping one. I am aware of Holly and Julio tiptoeing around me, but my closed eyes are still faintly focused on the fire. I can almost make out a ghostly face amidst the black plumes of smoke. I see a girl with pale skin and wild curls. She throws back her head and laughs. I struggle to shake off the image, but I am no longer in control. I give in to the lull of sleep.
“Hi, sleepy head,” Julio says, when I finally emerge from my nap.
“Sorry – I didn’t sleep very well last night,” I apologise, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
“We were thinking of going to the pub over the road if you fancy it?” Holly suggests.
“Sounds good. I just need to freshen up.”
“Of course, come on – I’ll show you your room.”
She leads me upstairs to a neat little guest room. I smile politely while she points out the bathroom and explains the trick for getting the hot water going in the morning. I wait until I hear her feet pad back down the stairs before I ring Kate.
Kate sounds a little frosty when she answers.
“You’re at Julio’s then?”
“Yes.”
“So what’s she like, his new fiancée?”
“She’s…” I pause. Kate wants to hear that Holly’s a screaming lunatic with a hunch-back and a heroin habit but after all Holly’s lovely hospitality, the words stick in my throat.
“You like her, don’t you?” I can hear the hurt in her voice.
“She’s…” I search desperately for something negative to say.
“She’s not you,” I finish truthfully.
Holly wakes me on Christmas Day with yet another cup of tea and a piece of homemade gingerbread. It’s the first Christmas in years that I’ve been allowed to sleep in late. Mum seems to start the festivities earlier and earlier every year. Not so much out of enthusiasm, but an eagerness to get it all out of the way. Last year, we were both tucked up in bed by half past nine in the evening. I try not to hold it against her though. After all, I like to be up bright and early to hit the Boxing Day sales.
I put on my dressing gown and walk downstairs, eager to begin opening my presents.
“Here – I saw this and thought of you,” Julio says, holding out a large, rectangular parcel.
“Thanks!”
I rip open the paper. It’s a framed picture of a little girl gazing out of her bedroom window at a purple moon.
“I can’t believe you remembered this!”
“Of course I did!”
When I was a little girl, I would often dream of a purple moon – it became a bit of an obsession. Every night, when I was supposed to be asleep, I would wrap my duvet around me and tiptoe over to the wide bay window. There, I would sit and watch, waiting to see if the moon changed colour. I often fell asleep like that, my face pressed up against the glass, my warm breath leaving a strange smudge on the window that mystified my poor Mum in the morning.
“This is really lovely, thank you.” I smile guiltily, remembering what I said to Holly about him yesterday.
Oh god, I hope she’s not going to tell him.
But I get the feeling Holly is someone who can be trusted. Somehow, I don’t think she’s going to repeat my warning to Julio.
“So how are Deacon and the others?” my brother asks later, over Christmas lunch.
I adjust my paper hat. “I don’t know. Everything’s a bit weird at the moment.”
“How do you mean?”
I fill them in on the situation with Alicia.
Holly takes a deep breath. “You should be careful,” she says, stabbing a pea with her fork. “There are some very weird people out there. I should know – I meet enough of them in my line of work.”
“Why? What do you do?”
She flicks back her long, shiny hair.
“I’m a private detective.”
“Wow! That sounds exciting.”
“Hardly. I spend most of my time sitting in the car waiting to take pictures of cheating wives and husbands.”
My eyes flicker to Julio.
Ha! Ha! You aren’t going to get anything past this one, Julio.
“So what would you do, if you were me?” I ask.
“Well, first of all, I wouldn’t have let her give me an alibi!” she says sternly. “It’s not like they’ve got any real evidence against you, anyway. The CCTV images would have put you in the clear – if they had any.”
“That’s it!” I exclaim, snapping my fingers. “There must be cameras outside Filbert’s – why don’t they look at those to find out what happened?”
Holly shakes her head. “They don’t always help. Some cameras only record the last 24 hours and others only show live feed, so there would have to be someone monitoring them at the time.”
“What? Can’t they go back and look at the footage?”
“Only if they were recording. And now you’ve lied and said you weren’t there, it’s probably for the best if they don’t have anything on camera.”
“I suppose so.”
“So what do we know about this Alicia girl?”
“Very little. She gives nothing away.”
“Have you managed to find out anything at all?”
“Well,” I say hesitantly. “I did manage to get a copy of her personnel file.”
“Oh, you bad girl!” Julio clicks his tongue in mock disapproval.
“It didn’t tell me much, though.”
I reach into my handbag and pull out the crumpled piece of paper.
“Leave that with me,” says Holly. “I’ll do some digging around.”
“Oh, would you? That would be great!”
“I can’t promise that I’m going to find anything,” she warns. “But I’ll definitely take a look.”
I nod, appreciatively. It’s so great to finally have someone I can talk to about this stuff. Holly doesn’t seem to think I’m mad, and with her help, I may finally have the upper hand.
“And in the meantime, it would be best if you keep your distance from this girl.”
“That’s easier said than done. She’s got in pretty deep with my friends.”
“Well, you be careful. And whatever you do, don’t let her know we’re investigating her. It sounds like she could be dangerous.”
Her words send a chill down my spine… I’m not imagining it, then.
“Are you sure you can’t stay another night?” Holly asks, as I collect up all my stuff. “We’d love to have you.”