Page 86 of The Last Party

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“And it was thanks to the Urdd Eisteddfod and our very own music teacher, Mrs. Hughes, that Rhys Lloyd was discovered!” the head teacher had said in her introduction. It’d rankled a bit, the suggestion that without the youth competition—without the rehearsals at school—Rhys would be nobody.

“We didn’t book you for today, did we?” he says now to Mia. “You were supposed to do all the lodges before everyone arrived.”

“Chill, they’re all done. The Staffords have got a grocery order coming and they want me to unpack.” The list of supermarkets that deliver to The Shore is on the FAQ section of the website, along with whether Deliveroo covers the area (it doesn’t) and how far owners are from a Marks & Spencer (an hour and a half). All the essentials.

Mia walks up the path to number three. She’s wearing denim shorts and a sleeveless top under a pink cleaning apron a centimeter or two longer than the shorts. Long brown legs end in scruffy white trainers. She turns around, catching him looking.

“Was there something else?”

He could suggest a few things, Rhys thinks with a private smile. He goes to join the others at number one, stopping to take a picture of the row of lodges, the lake glistening behind them, so he can “check in” to The Shore on Facebook. Almost instantly there are two likes, and Rhys glows inside. He switches to Twitter and posts the same photo.Arrived at #TheShore for a much-needed break before my next recording session.There is no recording session, but no one on Twitter knows that. It’s all about generating the right impression.Creating a brand.

He catches up with the others in his study, where Yasmin is telling Jonty and Blythe what they already know. “We didn’t incorporate office space into the design,” Yasmin says, “because—well, we’re all supposed to be on holiday, right? But by stealing a little from the master bedroom and the same again from the two back bedrooms, we’ve ended up with quite a usable space.”

“Where did you find those gorgeous drawers?” Blythe says. “Is it Perch & Parrow?”

Yasmin runs a playful hand over the filing cabinet. “How much do you think it was? Go on, guess.” On its corners and around the handles, the red paint has worn off, exposing bare metal. Dents and scrapes cover the sides. It is the perfect industrial foil for Yasmin’s Scandi-themed interior. Rhys knows this because Yasmin has told him. Several times. Never mind that the drawers are locked and the key long lost, as long as it looks good.

“Oh, gosh,” Blythe says. “Four hundred? Five?”

“It was free!” Yasmin says gleefully. “Rhys’s dad had it in the old shed that was here before The Shore was built. Isn’t it fabulous?”

“Fabulous,” agrees Blythe. “I love how you’ve used the same red for these shelves.” She admires the awards displayed above Rhys’s desk. A bunch of regional trophies, two Echo awards, the Olivier he won forWest Side Story.

“I wouldn’t have brought them,” Rhys says. “Yasmin insisted.”

“She’s proud of you.” Blythe squeezes Rhys’s arm. “And gosh, is this all fan mail?” She looks at the stack of post on the desk. Yasmin opens her mouth, but Rhys jumps in. He doesn’t want the Charltons to know he’s effectively paying people to like him.

“Total ball ache, really, but what can you do?”

“I can’t imagine having strangers writing to me,” Blythe says. “It must be extraordinary.”

“Well…” Rhys opens his hands as though shrugging it off.

The sound of a car arriving makes them all look up. As one, they move into one of the two single rooms looking onto the driveway. Yasmin has had Tabby’s and Felicia’s bedrooms decorated in ice-cream pastels. A black-and-white photograph of Yasmin, gazing into the camera, adorns the walls in each room. Blythe gets to the window first. She claps her hands excitedly and spins around.

“They’re here!”

Rhys feels a bolt of excitement. This is it. The first of The Shore’s new residents has arrived.

Thirty-Three

Late July

Yasmin

“I wonder who it is!” Yasmin rushes to the stairs, keen to establish her position as The Shore’s First Lady.

“Who’s next to you and Rhys?” Blythe follows her, breathless with excitement.

“Clemence Northcote.” Yasmin has memorized the list. “IT professional, teenage son.” Downstairs, she stops to swipe a fresh bottle of champagne from the waiting ice bucket. “Rhys—glasses.” She clicks her fingers, and he picks up two flutes. “Gosh, I feel quite nervous!” She has been dreaming of this moment ever since Rhys outlined his visions for The Shore. A haven of well-connected, well-to-do, like-minded people, who will commission Yasmin to design interiors around the world.

“No need for nerves,” Rhys says. “They’ll fall in love with the place the second they see it. The view alone will take their breath away.”

“I agree,” Jonty says. “It’s pretty sensational.” He winks at Yasmin, waiting until Rhys’s attention is elsewhere before letting his eyes drop to her cleavage. Yasmin practically purrs. Six weeks ago, the two couples went out for dinner, downing several bottles of wine and splitting an Uber home. Rhys was in the front, boring the driver (who had turned out to be an unlikely fan of classical music) and Blythe was nodding off. Squashed in the middle, Yasmin had felt Jonty’s hand stroking her thigh. It was such a thrill, and although nothing has happened since, Yasmin knows it’s only a matter of time.

“Number three’s the soap actor, isn’t it?” Blythe says.

“Bobby Stafford,” Rhys confirms. “Middleweight champion years ago, then he started acting and now he’s pretty much retired from the ring, as far as I can tell. His wife’s the blond who was in that jungle reality TV show—the waterfall shower with the see-through bikini?”


Tags: Clare Mackintosh Mystery