The Yacht Party (Lara Stone)

‘I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to tell you. I can’t believe you ghosted me for three whole days.’

‘I felt bad. I was avoiding you.’

‘Yeah,’ he said with a twisted smile, ‘I got that message.’

She sighed heavily, thinking about what she’d just heard, thinking about Stefan’s betrayal, both of Sandrine and of her.

‘I’ve been so stupid,’ she whispered. ‘How could I have been taken in by him?’

‘We’ve all had the wool pulled over our eyes at some point.’

Lara reached out and squeezed his hand. She thought about Alex, alone in bed, wondering why Alicia had gone looking for the attention of another man. She pictured him there, naked save for a white sheet… then she quickly pulled away from him and held up the USB stick. ‘We should take a look.’

They went through into Lara’s study. The walls were now stripped, empty of all those photos, maps, and notes relating to the story. Lara was actually glad; it felt as if they were starting afresh – and now they had real information, not guesses. She pushed the stick into her laptop as Alex bent to look over her shoulder.

‘Wow,’ he whispered as Lara clicked on each file. It was just as Stefan had said: emails, documents, a transcript of Sandrine’s interviews with Helen Groves, even a shaky video of the lawyer offering Helen a bribe to keep quiet.

‘We’ve got them,’ said Lara.

‘No,’ said Alex. ‘Not quite.’

‘What do you mean?’ she said, looking up. ‘This is evidence.’

‘Evidence of a scandal at a small aid agency on the other side of the world. It’s barely enough to get half a page in the “World News” section. There’s motive here, and it’s a PR nightmare, but there’s nothing to prove anyone was murdered.’

Lara opened her mouth to object, then stopped herself. Alex was right. Three people were dead and yet at best, they had evidence of an attempted cover-up. They’d come so far and yet they still had so little.

‘So what do we do now?’

‘Number one, I’m going to call Stella; she will be frantic with worry.’ He explained how Stella had accompanied him to Stefan’s flat and how she had wanted to call in a SWAT team when Eduardo had told her Stefan was heading to Lara’s boat.

‘It took all my powers of persuasion to make her stand down.’

‘I definitely need to give that girl a raise,’ smiled Lara.

‘Next, you’re coming to stay at mine,’ said Alex, straightening up. ‘We might not have concrete proof, but they don’t know that.’ He gestured around the boat. ‘And they’re obviously getting jumpy.’

Lara shook her head decisively. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I appreciate the offer, but I won’t be pushed out of my home again.’

He looked at her. ‘Lar, I just keeping thinking…’

She stopped him.

‘Maybe you could stay here? I mean, the mattress over there has been slashed, but we can probably improvise something.’

Alex smiled.

‘I’ve slept in tougher spots.’

‘Is this where you start telling me your war stories again?’

‘I would but… Can you smell something burning?’

‘Oh crap!’ she cried, dashing to the kitchen, yanking the oven open. Smoke poured out, immediately setting off the fire alarm. Lara grabbed a tea towel and waved it in front of the charred bird as Alex ran around opening the door and windows. Finally, the ringing cut off. They both looked at each other and burst out laughing.

‘Takeaway?’ she asked.

Alex grinned.