want to have to change planes in a foreign city.’
‘I’ll take an afternoon flight, either on Delta or Turkish Airlines. Both have direct flights.’
They went on talking about Justine’s trip for a short while longer, and then eventually Joanne stood up. ‘I’d better go. Thanks for dinner, the two of you. And I’m sorry.’ She stared at them. ‘What I mean is, I’m sorry your mother did this awful thing to Gabriele, and to you. But let’s face it, this is also wonderful news – your grandmother’s alive and not dead after all, and I for one can’t wait to see her again.’
‘We know you love her,’ Richard said, walking out of the drawing room with his sister and Joanne.
They saw her to the door, but stood talking to her on the step for several minutes longer.
Justine suddenly said, ‘I used to think you were wary of our mother, Joanne. Perhaps even a bit frightened of her when we were growing up. Were you?’
‘Wary perhaps, but not frightened,’ Joanne answered, frowning to herself. ‘You know, I think I was actually in awe of her, and also rather intimidated.’
‘That’s a funny word to use,’ Richard said, scrutinizing her for a moment. ‘She wasn’t particularly intimidating. Know what, I always thought our mother was ditzy. A real flake.’
Joanne nodded in agreement. ‘She was those things, yes. I suppose I was intimidated by her beauty, that’s the best way of describing it. And the way she affected grown men was incredible. They were struck dumb when they set eyes on her. To be honest, I never thought she was a bad person. Nor did I think she could ever do something so… so cruel, so very mean.’
‘Neither did we,’ Richard said in a hollow voice.
Justine was silent.
Justine awakened with a start, lay there feeling disoriented. There was light in her bedroom and for a split second she thought it was morning. Then she realized that it was the moonlight filling the space with its soft, silvery glow.
Throwing back the bedclothes, she slid her legs to the floor, went over to one of the windows overlooking the garden and stared out. Riding high in a cloudless black sky was a huge full moon. It was extraordinarily bright; the light it gave off was unusually powerful, and she stood admiring it for a moment, then turned away, got back into bed.
Thoughts she had had before falling asleep came back, gave her a jolt, as they had earlier. Did her mother know where her grandmother was living? Obviously Justine couldn’t be sure that she did, but there was a line in Anita’s letter which suggested differently: Get in touch with her before it’s too late, Anita had written. Of course, Anita might have just been making an assumption. Unless she had the true facts, was aware that Deborah could reach out, because she knew where to contact Gabriele directly. These were some of the thoughts that had hovered at the back of her mind over dinner. She had shoved them away. Now they were back again.
There was a sudden tapping on her door; it was opened gently. ‘Justine. Are you asleep?’
‘No, Rich,’ she answered, sitting up as her brother came into the bedroom and closed the door.
‘It’s okay, I’m wide awake,’ she murmured. He sat down at the end of the bed; there was a puzzled expression on his face.
‘What is it?’ she asked, noting a flicker of concern in his eyes.
‘I woke up about half an hour ago, because something was troubling me, I guess. I was remembering what Anita said in the letter to Mom. She told her to get in touch with Gran. But look, she didn’t say where, didn’t give Mom an address.’
‘I was thinking exactly the same thing only a few minutes ago! It woke me up… well, we do have the same thoughts fairly often, don’t we?’
‘Yep. So, do you think Mom has Gran’s address?’
‘It’s hard to say. Maybe. On the other hand, Anita might merely be making an assumption that she does. Why?’
‘I was wondering if we should call Mom after all? In China. Do you know the time difference?’
‘Thirteen hours. They’re ahead of us. I don’t think we should call her, Rich, honestly I don’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘It’s dangerous.’
‘In what way?’
‘In every way. First of all, she’ll go nuts if we say that we know Gran’s still alive, and that she lied to us. She’ll deny it, shout and scream. If we challenge her, explain how we found out, she’ll say the old lady who wrote the letter has dementia, doesn’t know what she’s doing or saying. You know what she’s like, and she’ll keep on denying everything, she’ll lie in her teeth. She’ll never admit Gran’s alive. And anyway—’
‘But we can cope with the hysteria and the histrionics. We have in the past.’
‘This situation is different, because I sense there’s something rather big, important behind the estrangement, and I think Mom’s the guilty one. Gran’s innocent of wrongdoing, of that I am really, really certain. Our grandmother always had her feet on the ground; she was extremely well mannered, even tempered, level headed, practical, and a very nice woman. I often wondered where Mom got her temperamental nature from – or rather, from whom. Listen to me, Rich, the thing is this… I believe it would be dangerous to let our mother know we know what she did, how she’s kept Gran away from us all these years. If she knows where Gran is, and also Anita, then who knows what could happen? She might go and see them, scare the wits out of them by harassing them.’
‘I don’t think she’d do them any physical harm,’ Richard protested, then frowned, ‘Is that what you’re getting at?’
‘No, I’m not. I agree, I don’t think she’d attack them physically. Verbally, yes. And that kind of abuse can be very disturbing to anyone, most especially two old ladies. And what if one of them had a heart attack or a stroke because our mother scared them?’
‘Yes, I see what you mean: she can be very voluble. And vicious. She’s got a nasty tongue.’
‘Only too true. She’s a loose cannon, in my opinion. Capable of anything. So no, I don’t want to phone her and ask her where Gran lives. I’ll find Anita, and she’ll take me to her. Don’t forget, I was a journalist before I became a filmmaker, and I know how to track someone down.’
‘And there’s Iffet. Jo thinks she’s going to be of great help to you.’
‘She probably is.’ Justine glanced at the clock. ‘My God, it’s almost two o’clock! Hey, Rich, I can call Eddie in London, get him to flip through the phonebook.’ She reached for the phone on the bedside table, and Richard grimaced. ‘Don’t call him at this hour, for heaven’s sake. It’s only seven o’clock in London.’
‘Knowing Ed, he’ll be up.’
‘But won’t he think it strange that you’re calling him in the middle of the night here?’
‘I guess so.’ Putting the receiver back in the cradle, she said, ‘I’ll give him a shout later. In the meantime, I wouldn’t
