The Sculptress by Minette Walters Page B

she couldn’t open her mouth without telling
stories. Oh dear, let me see now. All right, she used
to talk about boyfriends that didn’t exist, and she said
the family had been on holiday to France one summer
but it turned out they’d stayed at home, and she kept
talking about her dog, but everyone knew she didn’t
have a dog.’ She pulled a face. ‘And she used to cheat,
of course, all the time. It was really annoying that.
She’d steal your homework out of your satchel when
you weren’t looking and crib your ideas.’
    ‘She was bright, though, wasn’t she? She got three
A-levels.’
    ‘She passed them all but I don’t think her grades
were anything to shout home about.’ It was said with
a touch of malice. ‘Anyway, if she was so bright, why
couldn’t she get herself a decent job? My mother said
it was embarrassing going to Pettit’s and being served
by Olive.’
    Roz looked away from the colourless face to gaze
out over the view from the window. She let some
moments pass while common sense battled with the
angry reproaches that were clamouring inside her
head. After all, she thought, she could be wrong. And
yet . . . And yet it seemed so clear to her that Olive
must have been a deeply unhappy child. She forced
herself to smile. ‘Olive was obviously closer to you
than anyone else, except, perhaps, her sister. Why do
you think that was?’
    ‘Oh, goodness, I haven’t a clue. My mother says
it’s because I reminded her of Amber. I couldn’t see
it myself, but it’s true that people who saw the three
of us together always assumed Amber was my sister
and not Olive’s.’ She thought back. ‘Mother’s probably
right. Olive stopped following me around quite
so much when Amber joined the school.’
    ‘That must have been a relief.’ There was a certain
acidity in her tone, mercifully lost on Geraldine.
    ‘I suppose so. Except’ – she added this as a wistful
afterthought – ‘nobody dared tease when Olive was
with me.’
    Roz watched her for a moment. ‘Sister Bridget said
Olive was devoted to Amber.’
    ‘She was. But then everyone liked Amber.’
    ‘Why?’
    Geraldine shrugged. ‘She was nice.’
    Roz laughed suddenly. ‘To be frank, Amber’s
beginning to get up my nose. She sounds too damn
good to be true. What was so special about her?’
    ‘Oh dear.’ She frowned in recollection. ‘Mother
said it was because she was willing. People put on her,
but she never seemed to mind. She smiled a lot, of
course.’
    Roz drew her cherub doodle on the notepad and
thought about the unwanted pregnancy. ‘How was
she put upon?’
    ‘I suppose she just wanted to please. It was only
little things, like lending out her pencils and running
errands for the nuns. I needed a clean sports shirt
once for a netball match, so I borrowed Amber’s.
That sort of thing.’
    ‘Without asking?’
    Surprisingly, Geraldine blushed. ‘You didn’t need
to, not with Amber. She never minded. It was only
Olive who got angry. She was perfectly beastly about
that sports shirt.’ She looked at the clock. ‘I shall have
to go. It’s getting late.’ She stood up. ‘I haven’t been
very helpful, I’m afraid.’
    ‘On the contrary,’ said Roz, pushing herself out of
her chair, ‘you’ve been extremely helpful. Thank you
very much.’
    They walked into the hall together.
    ‘Did it never seem odd to you,’ Roz asked as
Geraldine opened the front door, ‘that Olive should
kill her sister?’
    ‘Well, yes, of course it did. I was terribly shocked.’
    ‘Shocked enough to wonder if she actually did it?
In view of all you’ve said about their relationship
it seems a very unlikely thing for her to do.’
    The wide grey eyes clouded with uncertainty.
‘How strange. That’s just what my mother always
said. But if she didn’t do it, then why did she say
she did?’
    ‘I don’t know. Perhaps because she makes a habit
of protecting people.’ She smiled in