the letter box.
He held it up. “I came to see what had happened to my newspaper.”
She took the flowers into the kitchen and left them on the counter until she had the time to unpack them. Lexi and Will had helped themselves to breakfast. For once they weren’t arguing, but that was because they were watching TV. As James returned to his seat he picked up the remote and began flicking through the channels.
Will glanced up, his freckled face scowling. “We were watching that!”
“My house, my TV,” grunted James. Opening the newspaper, he turned automatically to the sports pages.
“You’re not even looking at it,” said Will.
Lexi surreptitiously picked up the remote and tried to flick back to the channel they had been watching. In error, she ended up on one of the lifestyle programmes. Before she could try again, James had confiscated the remote.
“I don’t want bloody cartoons playing while I’m trying to read.”
“You could read in the study?” suggested Lexi. At fourteen, she’d recently developed a tendency to argue with everything her parents said.
“No, I couldn’t,” said James. “It is important for us to sit together at mealtimes. Sometimes it’s the only chance we have to catch up on any news, talk about our achievements - ”
“But we don’t talk!” said Lexi. “You read the paper, we watch the TV, and no one talks about anything.”
“All right, so let’s talk.” James brought the remote back to table level and hit the off button. As Will was sat between the remote and TV, nothing happened. He was about to try again when Will let out an excited shriek.
“It’s Natalie! On TV!”
The kitchen TV was small, the screen needed dusting and Will’s ginger head obstructed a lot of the view, but after his sister had shoved him out of the way, sure enough there was Natalie, her usual insouciant self.
“You didn’t tell me Natalie was going to be on TV,” James said to Alicia.
“I didn’t know!”
“Which programme is this?”
“Camilla Hoffman. Every morning she reviews new books, music and films released during the week.”
“Natalie’s got a new book out?”
“Yes - that is, I knew she was working on something but she never tells me - ”
Alicia was interrupted by a horrific screech as Will scraped his chair closer to the TV. “I can’t hear!” he protested.
James racked the volume up as the camera flipped to the TV presenter, who was holding a book up at the camera.
Four heads craned forward to read the title.
Like all of Natalie’s books, the cover was black and had her name and the title - Obsession - picked out in silver. Beneath was a simple etching of a flower.
Alicia had a sense of foreboding.
The TV presenter was still talking, although she’d now put the book down on a small coffee table beside the lurid pink sofa she and Natalie were sitting on.
“You must get tired of people asking you this question, but do you ever base the plots of your books on what happened to your family? I’m speaking, of course, of the tragic death of your sister, who was murdered at the age of seventeen.”
Alicia held her breath.
She needn’t have worried; Natalie hardly paused before answering, “I never grow tired of talking about my sister. I adored her and I was devastated when she was killed. However, all my books are complete fiction.”
“Have you ever thought about writing a biography of your sister’s life?”
“My speciality is fiction,” Natalie repeated politely. “So I’d hardly know how to go about it.”
“You must have been only a child at the time of her death?”
“I was fifteen.”
“So much of what happened would have been kept from you?”
“Children understand a lot more than adults give them credit for. I was always aware of what was being said, what was going on. Adults would talk in front of me and think I wouldn’t understand what they were saying. But I did.”
“You were the one who found her
He held it up. “I came to see what had happened to my newspaper.”
She took the flowers into the kitchen and left them on the counter until she had the time to unpack them. Lexi and Will had helped themselves to breakfast. For once they weren’t arguing, but that was because they were watching TV. As James returned to his seat he picked up the remote and began flicking through the channels.
Will glanced up, his freckled face scowling. “We were watching that!”
“My house, my TV,” grunted James. Opening the newspaper, he turned automatically to the sports pages.
“You’re not even looking at it,” said Will.
Lexi surreptitiously picked up the remote and tried to flick back to the channel they had been watching. In error, she ended up on one of the lifestyle programmes. Before she could try again, James had confiscated the remote.
“I don’t want bloody cartoons playing while I’m trying to read.”
“You could read in the study?” suggested Lexi. At fourteen, she’d recently developed a tendency to argue with everything her parents said.
“No, I couldn’t,” said James. “It is important for us to sit together at mealtimes. Sometimes it’s the only chance we have to catch up on any news, talk about our achievements - ”
“But we don’t talk!” said Lexi. “You read the paper, we watch the TV, and no one talks about anything.”
“All right, so let’s talk.” James brought the remote back to table level and hit the off button. As Will was sat between the remote and TV, nothing happened. He was about to try again when Will let out an excited shriek.
“It’s Natalie! On TV!”
The kitchen TV was small, the screen needed dusting and Will’s ginger head obstructed a lot of the view, but after his sister had shoved him out of the way, sure enough there was Natalie, her usual insouciant self.
“You didn’t tell me Natalie was going to be on TV,” James said to Alicia.
“I didn’t know!”
“Which programme is this?”
“Camilla Hoffman. Every morning she reviews new books, music and films released during the week.”
“Natalie’s got a new book out?”
“Yes - that is, I knew she was working on something but she never tells me - ”
Alicia was interrupted by a horrific screech as Will scraped his chair closer to the TV. “I can’t hear!” he protested.
James racked the volume up as the camera flipped to the TV presenter, who was holding a book up at the camera.
Four heads craned forward to read the title.
Like all of Natalie’s books, the cover was black and had her name and the title - Obsession - picked out in silver. Beneath was a simple etching of a flower.
Alicia had a sense of foreboding.
The TV presenter was still talking, although she’d now put the book down on a small coffee table beside the lurid pink sofa she and Natalie were sitting on.
“You must get tired of people asking you this question, but do you ever base the plots of your books on what happened to your family? I’m speaking, of course, of the tragic death of your sister, who was murdered at the age of seventeen.”
Alicia held her breath.
She needn’t have worried; Natalie hardly paused before answering, “I never grow tired of talking about my sister. I adored her and I was devastated when she was killed. However, all my books are complete fiction.”
“Have you ever thought about writing a biography of your sister’s life?”
“My speciality is fiction,” Natalie repeated politely. “So I’d hardly know how to go about it.”
“You must have been only a child at the time of her death?”
“I was fifteen.”
“So much of what happened would have been kept from you?”
“Children understand a lot more than adults give them credit for. I was always aware of what was being said, what was going on. Adults would talk in front of me and think I wouldn’t understand what they were saying. But I did.”
“You were the one who found her
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