‘I can’t sleep.’
Spinning around, she found Ivan in his pyjamas. He looked paler than ever, and very gloomy.
‘My boy,’ she said, and opened her arms to offer him a hug. ‘I know you’ve made some mistakes today, but I do still love you so.’
Ivan walked into his mother’s arms. He didn’t return the squeeze, and just gazed at his reflection in the French windows behind her.
‘Dad is really disappointed in me, isn’t he?’
‘He’ll get over it.’ Angelica moved her hands to his shoulders, and straightened her arms. She took a long look at Ivan, gazing into his eyes. ‘You’re his only son,’ she said. ‘It’s important to him that you grow up with his values, just as he grew up with Grandpa’s. Killing people for kicks isn’t something they would ever consider.’
‘I didn’t do it on purpose,’ he said to remind her.
‘I know that, said Angelica. ‘Just don’t let it happen again, OK?’
Ivan nodded, and then turned along with his mother at the sound of a key in the front door. Angelica held her breath on hearing footsteps in the hall. When Titus walked into the kitchen, leaving an empty-looking holdall behind him, she forced a smile that he saw through immediately.
‘What’s the problem?’ he asked, shrugging off his coat.
Angelica glanced down at Ivan, indicating that the conversation could wait. Titus understood, and considered his son for a moment.
‘Ivan,’ he said finally. ‘I blame myself for what happened. I shouldn’t have shut myself away with work all morning. Not at the weekend. That’s family time. But we can’t go back. It’s done now. If you’ve learned a valuable lesson here, then that woman won’t have died in vain.’
The boy nodded, and then agreed with his father that it was time to return to bed. He scuttled off looking much brighter, which drew an admiring smile from Titus. Then he faced Angelica, and breathed out long and hard.
‘What a night,’ he said, crossing the floor to collect two wine glasses from the rack.
‘It isn’t over yet,’ said Angelica, and paused until she had his full attention. ‘Sasha hasn’t come home.’
Titus set down the glasses on the counter. He glanced at the clock on the wall, his eyes tightening at the same time. His gaze only shifted at the sound of a car pulling up outside. He looked at Angelica, who stared back, clearly straining to listen just like him. As the vehicle halted, the engine cut out immediately. Even before it came back into life, with barely a squeeze on the pedal, Titus knew for sure that there had to be batteries supporting the motor under the bonnet.
‘It’s her,’ he said. ‘The vegetarian drives a hybrid.’
Angelica knew he was talking about those eco-friendly cars, but was in no mood to discuss the advantages and disadvantages.
‘Go easy on her,’ she said, as if fearful that Titus might explode. ‘And let’s keep what happened today to ourselves. The model had an eating disorder, and we shouldn’t let our daughter dwell on that. She’s at an impressionable age.’
‘Which is why we need to know what kind of boy has kept her from home.’
A moment later, Sasha appeared at the kitchen door. She took a breath on finding her parents waiting for her, and pressed a hand to her chest. Judging by the state of her hair, it was also quite clear to Titus and Angelica that their daughter had been thoroughly ravished.
‘Oh,’ was all she had to say, and looked at the floor tiles between them. ‘It isn’t as bad as it looks.’ She paused there to adjust the neck of her top. ‘Well, not that bad,’ she added, and braved facing her mother and father.
A moment passed before Angelica regained the ability to close her mouth. Titus, however, appeared to see beyond Sasha’s late return and dishevelled state.
‘Hello, honey,’ he said, and stepped forward to hug her more tightly than ever before. In his embrace, Sasha looked in shock at her mother, who shared the same expression. ‘Everyone is home. Nothing horrible can happen now. We Savages are safe here. Always have been, always will.’ After a moment’s silence, Titus pulled back to look his speechless, puzzled daughter in the eyes. ‘Hey,’ he said, sounding uncomfortably bright, before smoothing her hair with his hand, ‘it was kind of Jack to make sure you got back in one piece. You really should’ve invited him in to say hello.’
‘I’m still not sure that’s such a good idea just yet.’
‘What? Are we embarrassing parents?’ Titus touched his fingers to his chest and flashed a grin at Angelica. ‘I insist, Sasha. Bring him round so we can meet him. I promise we won’t bite.’
SECOND COURSE
12
Ivan Savage had one big regret about the death of the model. Brooding in his bedroom several days later, he wished that he had rigged up a video camera alongside the iron that killed her. Yes, it had hit the wrong target, and he never meant to kill anyone, but surely his father would calm down if he saw what an effective job his son had made of the execution?
‘Upstairs is out of bounds,’ he grumbled to himself, while combing his hair in the mirror. ‘If you come upstairs, you don’t go down again.’
What really hurt, though, the thing that really cut and stung, was his father’s reaction. Even before he spelled out his disappointment in the boy, Ivan had seen it in his eyes. There was no hint of pride at a clean and imaginative kill. It was all ‘you foolish this’ and ‘stupid that’. He had never felt so small and insignificant in his life. Nor as misunderstood. Yes, his father had cooled down on his return from the drop off, but it was hard for the boy to simply brush off that kind of criticism.
All Ivan ever wanted was some recognition for his efforts. And yet where had his pranks got him? Psychiatric assessment with some picture cards of kids crying. Nobody laughed at his efforts. Not once had he been clapped on the back or talked about admiringly, and now this. A clean kill and yet all he’d earned for it was criticism.
There was only one person he blamed for the situation. Sasha’s boyfriend, Jack. Why? Because if he hadn’t cooked for Sasha that evening, and lured her from home, then she would’ve been on the receiving end of the iron, not Lulabelle. Of course, Ivan would’ve found himself in even more trouble had he slaughtered his sister, which came as some comfort. Nevertheless, he held the vegetarian accountable for the fact that he felt so worthless just then. It also left him all the more determined to prove himself to his dad.
The first thing to enter Ivan’s head left him staring at his reflection in the mirror. After a moment, he blinked and dismissed the idea out of hand. Depriving Sasha of a boyfriend wasn’t exactly going to help him regain some standing in the family. Jack’s fate lay in her hands, not his, he decided, before leaving all such thoughts behind to answer the front door.
Before the bell summoned Sasha from her room, she had been lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Only one thing occupied her thoughts: just where things were heading with Jack.
In her mind, she had put together a list of all his good points and his bad points. On the upside, he was smoulderingly handsome and passionate about food. He drove his own car, made her packed lunches and had set a challenge which Sasha found herself determined to take on. She wasn’t really doing it for him though, as she had come to realise. Instead, the prospect of turning her back on meat for a month felt like a chance for her to strike out as a Savage in her own right. She was close to her family, and had her parents to thank for that. Even so, going vegetarian felt like a shot at independence that she couldn’t refuse.