Guns in the Gallery

Chervil Whittaker walked through into the sitting room of Woodside Cottage in silence and sat herself down in one of the armchairs. She was, as ever, perfectly groomed in designer jeans and polo shirt, but her face had lost its animated sparkle.

Jude took a seat opposite her. ‘So . . .?’ she said.

‘Daddy told me you’d found out about the suicide note.’

‘Yes. You didn’t destroy it after Fennel’s first attempt?’

‘No.’

‘Can I ask why?’

‘You can ask. I’m not sure how coherent an answer I can give you.’

‘Oh?’

‘Have you got a sister?’ Jude shook her head. ‘Well then, you’ll just have to take my word for it that relationships between sisters can be quite complex.’

‘I know that from my work as a therapist.’

‘Yes, of course you would. I’m sure there are all kinds of psychological terms applied to the situation – “sibling rivalry”, that kind of thing – but I don’t know that they quite cover it. The fact is, within our family I’ve always felt that I was kind of playing second fiddle to Fennel.’

‘Because she was your father’s favourite?’

‘It’s not as simple as that. Daddy loves both of us, in his way, but if there ever was a direct competition for his attention, Fennel would win it.’

‘Because she was needy?’

‘I guess, yes. You might imagine that someone with power over other people has to be pushy and upfront . . .’

‘I wouldn’t imagine that, actually. I know how potent vulnerability can be.’

‘I’m sorry, of course you’d understand. Presumably you deal with that kind of stuff every day. Anyway, that’s how it worked with Fennel. She was always fragile emotionally, and you could tell Daddy was almost literally afraid she might break if he didn’t rush to look after her. To be fair, I don’t think Fennel actually played on that. It’s just how she was.’

‘But your mother didn’t respond to her in the same way as your father?’

‘It was different with Mummy. She’d act tougher about it, say, “Don’t worry about Fennel – she’s just having one of her prima donna moments.” She’d say that, but in many ways she was as much in thrall to Fennel as Daddy was.’

‘But she’s not been as affected by her death as Ned is. She’s even referred to it as being a relief.’

‘Yes, but you can’t always believe what Mummy says. She can be quite devious at times. With her there’s a lot going on that you don’t see on the surface.’

Jude nodded, having received confirmation of the impression that she had of Sheena Whittaker.

‘So what I’m saying is,’ Chervil went on, ‘I’ve always felt inferior to Fennel. In spite of the fact that, by any kind of public criterion, I’ve always been much more successful than she has. I did better than her at school, and in my business career. And my relationships with men were always better. I didn’t end up with the kind of no-hopers Fennel did.’

Jude was struck, not for the first time, by how deeply ingrained childhood perceptions could prove to be in adult personalities. Family designations, like ‘the pretty one’ or ‘the clever one’ could cast long shadows into the future.

But she did pick up on one thing Chervil had just said. ‘You’re not describing Giles as a “no-hoper”, are you?’

‘How do you mean?’

‘I know that Fennel had a relationship with him too.’

Chervil looked annoyed. ‘Who did you hear that from?’

‘Denzil Willoughby.’

‘I might have guessed. There’s a streak of vindictive gossip in Denzil. Anyway, Giles is far from being a no-hoper. He was a rare exception in Fennel’s catalogue of masculine disaster areas. They weren’t together very long, and they were always bound to split up sooner or later –’ she smiled smugly – ‘which was of course very good news for me.’

There was a silence. Jude asked if Chervil would like a drink, but the offer was refused. ‘Maybe we could get back to the suicide note . . .?’ Jude suggested.

‘Yes. I’m trying to explain why I kept it. I don’t know, it seemed logical at the time. Fennel had just staged another of her dramas. As usual, Daddy had dropped everything and come rushing to her aid. And once again I knew he’d smooth the whole thing over, keep it quiet, see that news of what had happened didn’t spread beyond the family and close friends. And no one would believe the kind of panic and aggravation Fennel had caused us. So I kept the suicide note as kind of, I don’t know . . . evidence against her, if I ever needed it.’

‘And did you ever need it?’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

Jude left that line of questioning for a moment and moved on in another direction. ‘You realize there are certain logical consequences from your admission that you kept the suicide note . . . and even more from the fact that it was found by Fennel’s dead body.’

Again Chervil said, ‘I don’t know what you mean.’ Jude couldn’t decide whether the girl was playing for time or whether she genuinely hadn’t followed the logic through.

‘Well, to put it bluntly, it means that your sister didn’t commit suicide.’

‘Not necessarily.’