‘Will, I don’t know.’ She felt overwhelmed with emotion. ‘She doesn’t want to talk about it, but it’s not good. And it’s all the more reason to do something about your family. She might not be around for too much longer.’
Will exhaled deeply.
‘Amy, listen. There’s something you should know . . .’
‘I know all about it!’ snapped Amy. ‘The rape allegation, Edward and Christopher – Georgia told me everything.’
Will sucked in air through his nose and puffed out his cheeks.
‘Is it too early to have a beer?’ he said, getting up.
‘Definitely not, if you’ve got any.’
She perched on the edge of the sofa as Will went into the small galley kitchen and she heard the distinctive ‘hiss-clunk, hiss-clunk’ of two bottletops dropping into a sink. He walked back and handed Amy a cold bottle and sat down opposite her.
‘I think “assault” was the term they used when I first began asking questions about why the family had nothing to do with Georgia,’ he said. ‘I kind of filled the gaps in myself. As you can imagine, we don’t exactly discuss it over the Christmas dinner table.’
‘Do you believe the story?’
‘Which bit?’
‘The rape. Do you think Clarissa told the truth about what happened that night?’
Will took a long swig of Stella.
‘You think she wanted to have sex with Edward?’ he said.
‘Georgia is adamant that Edward didn’t have sex with Clarissa at all that night. Neither rape nor consensual sex.’
He gave her a sideways look.
‘How is she so sure?’
‘Did you know that he proposed to Georgia that night?’
Will looked surprised and shook his head.
‘As I said this morning, no one’s ever given me a blow-by-blow account. I’ve had to piece things together.’
‘Well, I’ve been thinking it over,’ said Amy. ‘And I just don’t believe it makes sense that Edward would rape Clarissa that night, not after he’d been planning a new life with Georgia.’
‘With respect,’ said Will, ‘having spent a few days with Georgia doesn’t make you an expert on our family.’
‘Of course not,’ said Amy, irritated. ‘And I was as sceptical as you when Georgia was telling me all this. But you should listen to her side of things. She’s very compelling. She just doesn’t believe that Edward raped Clarissa, never has, not even after all this time.’
Will shrugged.
‘You believe what you want to believe, don’t you?’
‘But have you ever asked your Aunt Clarissa?’
‘No, of course not! Have you ever asked your family about their sex lives?’
Amy pouted. It was a good point.
‘But Will, you’re a writer, you understand how stories work. You know how versions of events can get twisted over time.’
He took another long drink, seeming to mull it over.